According to Michelle Nolan, romance comics saturated the newsstands in 1950, resulting in "the Love Glut. In 1950, publishers kissed off no fewer than 117 of 147 romance titles" (62). Harvey's First Romance was one of the titles to survive. This…
This issue of DC’s long-running Detective Comics series reintroduces the Mad Hatter, a Batman villain who first appeared in the 1940s. As the Mad Hatter’s villainous ambition here makes clear—he wants to add Batman’s signature cowl to his collection…
Wielding an ebony blade forged by Merlin, the Black Knight was created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely in this Atlas Comics title, which only ran for five issues. Taking place during the reign of King Arthur, the comic blends medieval romance with ideas…
Black Cat went through a number of title changes from its launch in 1946 to its eventual end in 1963. Initially a title named after the "Black Cat," a stunt woman and actress named Linda Turner who dons a costume to fight crime, the series would…
As the cover to this issue makes clear, Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica focuses on the romantic high-school shenanigans between the blonde girl-next-door Betty Cooper, the brunette Veronica Lodge, daughter of the wealthiest family in Riverdale, and…
Modern Man in the Making, p. 131. Modern Man in the Making describes the process by which the modern world was coming into existence. But Neurath was under no illusions that this process was inevitable. As this final graphic shows, there are vestiges…
Modern Man in the Making, p. 68-9. These charts from Modern Man in the Making show the connection between energy production, industrialization, and urbanization which, we saw earlier, is a sign of lower death rates. Constructing these charts and…
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #101, "Society and Economy — Introduction". In his Introduction to the portfolio "Society and Economy" Neurath explains some of the many principles that guided both the genesis of the project and its execution:…
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #91, "Wealth Distribution in Germany". This plate uses only a few simple symbols to present several layers of economic data. It shows that a relatively small number of people—1-2% of the population—have significant…
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #82, "Worldwide Employment". This plate shows the distribution of various occupations across different parts of the world. Isotype's visual representation makes it immediately obvious that in some parts of the…