It’s a term we used for what have also been called commercial projects and propaganda. There’s a great history of benevolent ones, including the story of Martin Luther King Jr and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts that the Quakers sponsored and which helped inspire John Lewis (MARCH) to join the Civil Rights Movement. As a business guy I’ve been involved in everything from comics to keep kids from being blown up by landmines in the Balkans and Latin America, to drug awareness comics starring the Teen Titans, to some gorgeous mini-comics packed in with Atari video cartridges. The winner in terms of reach was CELEBRATE THE CENTURY, Volume 1, for the US Post Office, trying to entice kids to collect stamps again, but the landmine comics definitely were the best for my soul.
I recently posted about SKETCHES ON THE SIDEWALK: The Secret History of NYC’S Jewish Comic Creators, a new one with Joe Staton. Admittedly to serious comic fans it’s not a secret history, but for most of the comic’s readers I imagine it’ll be surprising. It’s a lovely comic, with appearances by many folks who I knew, and a few who were dear to me. It’s by far the best of these that I’ve done so far, but I’ve dipped my keyboard into the custom world before: working on EDGE OF NIGHT comics for the US Department of Agriculture to encourage better eating habits, or writing mini-comics of Superman and Wonder Woman to go into General Foods cereal boxes (maybe not quite encouraging better eating habits, but tastier ones?). SKETCHES is the first of these I’ve gotten to sign, though.
And I remember the fun of getting these when I was a kid: cowboy stories in new pairs of Wrangler Jeans, our even better, Batman adventures folded up in early Pop-Tarts boxes. Here’s hoping we’re putting smiles on kids’ faces too!
