Why Just Have "Okay" Comic Book Art When You Can Have GREAT Comic Book Art?

With more opportunity that came during the 1970's, comic book companies like Marvel and DC strived to make their artwork even better since comic book artwork was not as critically acclaimed as it could have been. Companies were no longer looking at the morals and the way that they affected the youth, but instead they were looking at ways to enhance the comic books themselves. During this time, artists began to play with the idea of more color - changing up the art and adding more detail and a variety of colors to the comics. Although the new art was critically acclaimed, all of the comic book companies began to see a decrease in sales. Comics were still being sold on newsstands, but it was at this time that book store chains were evolving, so it made it harder to get the comics sold the way the companies wanted. As an attempt to revive the comic book industry, the companies came together and formed the Academy of Comic-Books Art (ACBA), and eventually the Comic Guild in hopes to do "for comic books what Academy Awards do for movies," as said by the creator of Spider-Man, Stan Lee.

These organizations helped comics become more widely accepted by Americans, and though the sales still saw a decline, the popularity of television gave comics the opportunity to branch out. Marvel and DC both gave out licensing for their characters in order to create the popular Saturday morning cartoons that everyone remembers so much. DC gained profits from Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superfriends series while Marvel licensed The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four - Marvel even got the rights to print Star Wars comic books which helped their profit extremely. All of these cartoon series were most likely the reason for the movies considering television helped spread the word, keeping Marvel and DC as the leaders in the comic book world.

"Archetypes, Commercialism, and Hollywood." A History of the Comic Book. Random History, 18 Mar. 2008. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html>.