Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism

by Paul S. Hirsch

Winner of the Popular Culture Association's Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Book in Popular or American Culture

In the 1940s and ’50s, comic books were some of the most popular—and most unfiltered—entertainment in the United States. Publishers sold hundreds of millions of copies a year of violent, racist, and luridly sexual comics to Americans of all ages until a 1954 Senate investigation led to a censorship code that nearly destroyed the industry. But this was far from the first time the US government actively involved itself with comics—it was simply the most dramatic manifestation of a long, strange relationship between high-level policy makers and a medium that even artists and writers often dismissed as a creative sewer. In Pulp Empire , Paul S. Hirsch uncovers the gripping untold story of how the US government both attacked and appropriated comic books to help wage World War II and the Cold War, promote official—and clandestine—foreign policy and deflect global critiques of American racism.

As Hirsch details, during World War II—and the concurrent golden age of comic books—government agencies worked directly with comic book publishers to stoke hatred for the Axis powers while simultaneously attempting to dispel racial tensions at home. Later, as the Cold War defense industry ballooned—and as comic book sales reached historic heights—the government again turned to the medium, this time trying to win hearts and minds in the decolonizing world through cartoon propaganda.

Hirsch’s groundbreaking research weaves together a wealth of previously classified material, including secret wartime records, official legislative documents, and caches of personal papers. His book explores the uneasy contradiction of how comics were both vital expressions of American freedom and unsettling glimpses into the national id—scourged and repressed on the one hand and deployed as official propaganda on the other. Pulp Empire is a riveting illumination of underexplored chapters in the histories of comic books, foreign policy, and race.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, Politics

344 pages, Hardcover

First published July 21, 2021

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Hirsch's book is an excellent examination of how comic books were employed from the 1940s until the 1960s to develop and spread American ideals throughout the nation and the world. If only he could have included more about their reception among their intended audience!

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent piece of comic book research and cultural analysis. While I've read a lot about the moral panic over comics in the US and other countries, much of the other material here is new to me. This book is a view of American foreign policy and international cultural influence, both deliberate and incidental, in the second half of the 20th Century through the lens of the lowly comic book. I knew almost nothing about the comic-related work of the Writers' War Board in the second world war and even less about official US use of propaganda comics in the post-colonial world. Side trips into national atomic jitters and the nationalistic side of early Marvel comics are bonuses. Hirsch's writing is clear and engaging and his insights are sharp. Recommended to anyone with an interest in comics and their power as a cultural influence.

[Richard Derus]

The PDF is on sale for $7.50 through the 23rd! Just enter code EBOOK75 at checkout...and dayum is it worth the price.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best kind of history, the kind that helps you understand the "why" of a time as much what happened. Hirsch digs into the American comics published during the mid-twentieth-century (mostly the 40s and the 50s, though earlier and later comics get addressed as well), unearthing a lot of material that shows how our collective memory has became distorted and sanitized as the era receded into the past.

Without overlooking his many flaws, Fredric Wertham's crusade against comics makes a lot more sense when you consider the state of the market: a lot of the comics of the time were awful. Not just vicious and bloody -- though they were -- but racist and sexist in ways that are frankly, pretty horrifying. (One of the things about Wertham that seems to been conveniently forgotten was that he was a fierce advocate against racism, in comics and in other social structures. I certainly had never heard anything about this before.) At the same time, the brutality and horror of those comics accurately reflected the fears and trauma of post-war Americans, and some of the comics that most worried authorities were the war comics written by World War II veterans -- comics that depicted combat in a realistic fashion and refused to ignore the humanity of new enemies such as the North Koreans.

Hirsch suggests that this anti-jingoist viewpoint, as well as the bad name comics were giving America around the world by showing the actual fissures in American society, were big factors in the 1954 Kefauver hearings and the eventual crackdown on comics, and it's a disturbingly plausible scenario.

It's especially ironic that the government was so concerned about the effect of commercial comics on its image, since for most of this period it was busy massaging that image with its own propaganda comics distributed in Latin America, Asia, and other places. This turns out to be an equally rich topic that Hirsch could probably have done a whole book about, if the CIA had been more cooperative about opening up some of its archives. (Spoiler: it wasn't.) He gives it a significant amount of attention here, and there's clearly some fascinating history remaining to be unearthed about this period.

[Afonso Lourenço · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but I think it has many flaws.
In the introduction the writer tells us a general history of the comic books as a political expression and then he says to us that every topic will explain a certain point in his history. The problem is that he divides this history in 3 parts. This, in my opinion, is reducing the comic book history because, in his interpretation, the final part of this history is when the superheroes genre flourishes with the Marvel Comics first publication in 1939 till 1960s. There are still like 50 years to cover that are neglected and in my opinion would be interesting to know about. Besides that, even if the division was good enough, why would he spend 1 chapter talking about the first part of this history, 1 chapter talking about the last part and then surprisingly *5 parts* talking about the middle part.
There is also a difficulty to understand what is in fact the main points in the “pulp empire” since the author, in his way to define every part of this history as different and unique, falls in a simplification of every one of them. The first part is described as very patriotic, the second as very violent and the third as very family-friendly. The problem is that, while making every part unique, the author fails to explain why they, in a whole, are part of the same history, since it seems like every one of them is completely different from the former.
My final question is: what is, in fact, the Pulp Empire?

[Dave Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning of the art form, comic books were both under close scrutiny by the US Government and exploited as a way to communicate ideas of national importance to a demographic that didn't read novels. In World War II they were not only widely read by people in the military (estimates suggest that up to 50% of soldiers frequently read comic books while overseas) but were left for locals to pick up and read too.

Which proved problematic: Contradictions in propaganda versus publication were jarring and undermined American authority overseas (especially in decolonized nations). How could America be extolling its virtues as an egalitarian society when its comic books were full of over-the-top racism, sexism, violence, and inequality?

Hirsch does a great job digging into these essential aspects - portrayals of non-White characters, the role of women in stories, even illustration styles - of the history of comic books, including how it changed during the self-censorship of the Comics Code Authority and its questionable seal of approval, and the subsequent Cold War between democratic capitalism and communism. The included images from various historical comics are eye-opening (and a bit cringeworthy). My only wish is that it included more examples, or even had a companion title that included the full stories of referenced comics. Well worth the read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing new research into the history of comics

I was blown away by some of the revelations in this book, about the ongoing cooperation between theUnited States government and comic book publishers during WWII and beyond. I was also intrigued by this view of Dr Wertham and his attack on comics. Though I had often heard that Wertham was a liberal, not a conservative, I never fully understood or appreciated his more subtle critique of comics as pertains to race and the perception of the United States in the post WWII world.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeously designed and richly illustrated history of comics as an ambiguous reflection of American politics and concrete propaganda efforts. Most of the historical narrative here will be pretty familiar to anyone who’s studied the field, and Hirsch can be repetitive at times. But his analyses are nuanced and very sharp, he’s particularly attentive to the crucial role played by race in US comics, and his prose is tremendously readable.

[bravenewtrav2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic and little impersonal read, but very much my niche, I love a good examination into propaganda, especially into an underdog art form. Sometimes Hirsch’s text reads like one of my essays explaining why the sea is so crucial in “Moby-Dick,” but there’s still a lot of fun history and examples that I was quite unaware of, like Tony Stark’s origins taking place in Vietnam!

[Williwaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging and well-written. Provides a great overview of the history of the American comic book and how the form was recognized and manipulated by the U.S. government as a useful, international propaganda tool.

[Emily Posthumus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting and well researched. I found that the chapters jumped back in forth and time - not sure if a different layout would have worked better. However, I really loved it.

[Cordellya Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I don't even like comic books and I loved this book. The research Hirsch did, the history he relates, and the images that accompany it are all spectacular. Add this to your must read list!