Comic books are an essential representation of twentieth-century American popular culture. They have entertained readers since the time of the Great Depression, indulging their audience in imaginary worlds born of childhood fantasies. Their function within American culture has been therapeutic, explanatory, and commercial. By appealing to the tastes of adolescents and incorporating real-world concerns into fantasy narratives, comic books have offered their impressionable readers a means for developing self-identification within the context of American popular culture. In the process, they have worked ultimately to integrate young people into an expanding consumer society, wherein fantasy and reality seem increasingly linked.

With their consistent presence on the fringes of the immense American entertainment industry, comic books have historically been a filter and repository for values communicated to and from below. Fashioned for a mostly adolescent audience by individuals often little older than their readers, comic books have not...