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This chapter explores how government comics can be incorporated into historical scholarship as an alternative kind of primary source. Very few scholars have studied government comics, be it through a historical lens or otherwise. In an attempt to facilitate the reversal of this trend, this chapter discusses how to conceptualize the historical role of government comics in Canada, followed by contextual and visual cultural analyses of two comics published by government departments in the 1960s and 1970s – The Adventures of Binkly and Doinkel (Canada Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs) and Our Forest Lands (Ontario Department of Lands and Forests).

Thai cartoons and comics exhibited unusual quirks during their century of existence, such as one of the earliest cartoons being drawn by a king, other cartoons and comics appearing in one-panel montages, or in two different sizes simultaneously, or in cheap one-baht editions. In this chapter, these phenomena are described, as are the origins of pioneer publisher Banlue Sarn, the tendency to reprint American works, and the invasion of Japanese manga. Since the 1990s, comics have had a resurgence with the establishment of the Cartoon Association of Thailand and Cartoonthai Institute and their training and awareness campaigns, new publishing companies, and educational comics. Cartoonists have become popular, one even commissioned by the king to illustrate two of his books.

Taking up a considerable portion of this chapter is interviewee Anant Pai’s Amar Chitra Katha, which he started in the 1960s when he noticed that Indian children knew very little about their country’s history, religion, and mythology, which became the emphases of ACK. In recent years, the comics industry has thrived, today dominated by Diamond, whose star cartoonist is interviewee Pran Kumar. Pran has an unusual, but lucrative industry, paying a couple of young people working on the third floor of his home to put the finishing touches on strips he draws and self syndicates to about 20 newspapers. The strips are compiled into comic books by Diamond. Other equally interesting cartoonists are briefly profiled and recent professional advancements such as the first successful comics convention are discussed.

During World War II, the American comic book industry continued to experience growth as the number of titles proliferated. In addition, contents became increasingly diverse and recurring characters multiplied in comic magazines. Comic books gave rise to an industry that became a source of considerable revenue and acknowledged by the public to be different from newspaper comics and pulp magazines. The increase in household income, coupled with reduced availability of consumer durables, provided the impetus for comic books and all forms of mass entertainment. The war also witnessed the emergence of illustrated magazines, which benefited from the momentum gathered by the nascent industry before the war. This chapter examines the status of the comic book industry during World War II, its competition with newspapers, and the publishing of comic books that targeted preadolescent readers by injecting them with juvenile characters and humor. It also looks at the rise of educational comic books based on history and literature.

The comic book industry reached its commercial apogee over the course of the seven years that followed the end of World War II. Although the number of releases and combined print runs was never equaled afterward, the enormous demand for comic books—courtesy of young consumers—gave rise to an economic boom and increased visibility in the media. As a result, comic magazines were stigmatized as one of the main causes of the ills of America’s youth. More specifically, juvenile delinquency was blamed on comic magazines for their allegedly crime-inducing nature. The industry suffered a long economic decline in 1953, regaining stability only in the early 1960s. This chapter examines the rise and fall of the comic book industry in America in the period 1945–1954. It first looks at the industry’s commercial golden age and the publishing of comic books geared toward women readers, including romance comics. It then discusses the decline of superhero comics and how publishers tried to fill the void left by superheroes by offering western comics and crime comics. It also looks at the legacy of William Gaines, publisher of Educational Comics.