EC COMICS — PUBLISHING HOUSE THAT ALMOST CONQUERED AMERICA

Abstract

Until recently, comics was virtually absent in Russia, but now it is becoming one of The most dynamically developing forms of art. Such processes have taken place in one way or another in all countries with a developed comics industry, and how medium passes through such periods depends on its social status, genre and presumed reader age etc. Therefore, The study of these crisis periods allows us to explain many features of different comic traditions. At The same time, comics, like many mass culture forms, cannot be analyzed in a vacuum. It is first of all a commercial product that exists and develops thanks to The public’s requests, hopes and fears, even where it is not spoken aloud. The subject of The study is American publisher EC Comics in The early 1950s, when it was at The center of The process of renewal and transformation of The local industry. The object of The study is The unique combination of narratives oriented towards social and political criticism of The existing systems with narratives based on rather superficial emotional and shock factors. Only by looking at them as a whole can we fully appreciate The defining role of EC Comics in shaping The American comics system as a whole. Also, EC Comics is virtually unrepresented in contemporary Russian historiography, although in The United States over The past twenty years several important works devoted its history.