SOURCE: "Darkness at the Mall: The 'New Wave' in Adult Comic Books Features Defeat, Cynicism and Despair," in Psychology Today, Vol. 18, No. 2, February, 1984, pp. 48-52.

In the following essay, DeMott takes a dim view of the dystopias presented in more recent adult comic books like American Flagg and Edge of Chaos.

The world of comic books is no match for the violent world of video games, but it does change significantly from generation to generation. And there is a major transformation in full progress right now, with potentially large cultural consequences. The good news is commercial; a hitherto untapped national market is emerging, made up of young males in their late teens and early 20s. They patronize an estimated 3,000 specialty outlets, mostly in shopping malls, spending up to $50 a month to stay abreast of such current adult comic-book favorites as Edge of Chaos, Camelot 3000, Warp, E-Man, Ronin, The...