A Proposed Theory and Method for the Incorporation of Comic Books as Primary Sources

Abstract

Taking as its imperative the democratisation of the discipline and the reconsideration of the nature of evidence, both central tenets of New Cultural History, and in conjunction with an understanding of the task of the historian as derived from the seminal theories of Robin Collingwood and Edward Carr, this proposal determines to argue for, and demonstrate the potential of, the inclusion of comics as record, document and evidence in the process, or discipline, of history. What follows is the presentation of a theory which centres on ideas of subjectivity, narrative and, crucially, subject location or position, to suggest that comic books, here contemporary comic books and strips of the First and Second World Wars, are liable to contain actual historical content. Despite being ostensibly fictional, even works of apparently pure fantasy, these comics are nevertheless likely to hold some mark, some degree, of the ‘real’ within their pages. The second part of this chapter will detail a proposed methodology by which the historian may determine this historical content. The approach, consisting of close reading and cross-reference, derives from a consideration of the deferential nature of truth and historical meaning. The principal influences here are Collingwood and Jacques Derrida. Finally, before its deployment in the case studies which succeed this chapter, a demonstration of the methodology akin to a scientific ‘control’ experiment will be provided. Whereas the case studies will be conducted within the confines of particular historiographical contexts, this control, focused on the first adventures of the All-American Publications (and later DC Comics) character, Wonder Woman, will simply seek to draw out and categorise the record of historical content residing in the comics.