Medievalist Comics and the American Century

by Chris Bishop

The comic book has become an essential icon of the American Century, an era defined by optimism in the face of change and by recognition of the intrinsic value of democracy and modernization. For many, the Middle Ages stand as an antithesis to these ideals, and yet medievalist comics have emerged and endured, even thrived alongside their superhero counterparts. Chris Bishop presents a reception history of medievalist comics, setting them against a greater backdrop of modern American history.

From its genesis in the 1930s to the present, Bishop surveys the medievalist comic, its stories, characters, settings, and themes drawn from the European Middle Ages. Hal Foster's Prince Valiant emerged from an America at odds with monarchy, but still in love with King Arthur. Green Arrow remains the continuation of a long fascination with Robin Hood that has become as central to the American identity as it was to the British. The Mighty Thor reflects the legacy of Germanic migration into the United States. The rugged individualism of Conan the Barbarian owes more to the western cowboy than it does to the continental knight-errant. In the narrative of Red Sonja, we can trace a parallel history of feminism. Bishop regards these comics as not merely happenchance, but each success (Prince Valiant and The Mighty Thor) or failure (Beowulf: Dragon Slayer) as a result and an indicator of certain American preoccupations amid a larger cultural context.

Intrinsically modernist paragons of pop-culture ephemera, American comics have ironically continued to engage with the European Middle Ages. Bishop illuminates some of the ways in which we use an imagined past to navigate the present and plots some possible futures as we valiantly shape a new century.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2016

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointing, mainly because it was not what I was expecting. It is not so much about comics with medieval elements as it is about the contexts in which they emerged. It's a reception history exploring the traditions form which the comics emerged--e.g. how Prince Valiant emerged from the scholarly and popular traditions surrounding Arthurian lit; how Green Arrow was explicitly modeled as a copyrightable version of Robin Hood, who had been championed as a folk hero beginning in the nineteenth century, as medieval ballads were rediscovered, reclaimed for serious attention, and converted to popular ends, etc. There's a lot of useful information that clarifies the genesis of the comics considered--other than those mentioned already, Marvel's Thor, Conan, and Red Sonja, and DC's Beowulf and Northlanders. On the other hand, there's not a lot of discussion of the comics themselves, and what there is is mainly descriptive, rather than analytical (e.g. documenting popularity by detailing appearances). Unfortunately, there are no images, even on the rare occasions when the text refers explicitly to imagery. There are also numerous errors, both of fact (Action Comics selling 100 million copies a month in its early years????? and many others, though not that obviously wrong) and of grammar (lie/lay, palate/palette, etc). This needed another round of editing/refereeing. Still, lots of interesting information.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a fairly narrow subject, this book covers a lot of ground. It provides an excellent history of comics overview and does a lot to clarify the concept of midievalism as a genre and as a shared understanding of history (or misunderstanding, as the case may be). Despite a fairly academic treatment of the subject matter, it was remarkably easy to read and I would recommend it to anybody interested in comics generally, 20th century fiction -- including sword and sorcery and weird fiction, and the history of the European middle ages.