The environment in Superhero comics.

Nature became an essential argument for the supernatural fiction comic industry starting in 1940. Today we will briefly tell you this story.

The fascination of human beings for telling stories through drawing seems to be made of the same substance as our DNA. Not in vain, critics and experts point out, the origin of fictional comics could have started more than 70,000 years ago with Paleolithic cave paintings, a primitive art form that recreated the need to invoke supernatural powers for its heroes of that time, the hunters, whose skills and abilities provided sustenance to the rest of the members of the tribe or village, often risking their lives for the benefit of others.

This seduction by the small vignettes that recreated daily life, the battles or the most important events of each time, has been an essential element in the culture of civilizations of all times and places in the world, from the hieroglyphics of Egypt, the Mayan engravings, the Trajan column or the medieval Bayeux tapestry. Even The Epic of Gilgamesh, considered one of the first books in history, recreates the adventures of a Sumerian king gifted with superhuman powers.

The presence and prominence of nature in fictional comics varied throughout the history of this fabulous art. Based on its chronology, the great impact that the novel by E. Rice Burroughs had on Anglo-Saxon society, Tarzan of the Monkeys (1912), made the popular character jump into the world of comics in 1929, competing with him Superman on the charts and sales charts. Tarzan, with his undulating voice in the jungle and his ability to communicate with animals, contains a philosophy of returning to extreme nature in the face of Mohino conventionalism and the hypocrisy of Western civilization.

The following decades would experience the “dictatorship” of the Superman-Batman binomial, almost nothing to the device. The “double saint” of the DC factory between the Man of Steel And the Dark Knight, exercised such a predicament among his millions of followers that, even today, almost a century later, they are still taking the sales and success stories.

Among them, in the midst of the golden age of fictional comics, the character of Aquaman (1940), a hybrid superhero of a human father and an Atlantean mother with powers to communicate and train all underwater creatures and who tried to prevent his powerful race from destroying humanity, in revenge for the pollution that humans inflict on ocean ecosystems. The same as the submarine superhero broke in with force Green Lantern (Green Lantern, 1940), a kind of intergalactic superhero who uses cosmic, inexhaustible and infinite force as the source of his powers, a first nod to renewable and clean energies as opposed to fossil fuels. Only a year later would it appear Wonderwoman (1941), one of the first media heroines born with the clear purpose of opening the market in the female sector of American society through a character who invoked the femininity of Nature in a patriarchal world and who, unlike Batman, flew in an invisible ship moved by gravitational particles that did not need fossil fuels.

Along the same lines, the 1960s would mark the undisputed reign of Stan Lee and MARVEL with their successful saga of mutant superheroes: Spiderman (1962), The unbelievable Hulk (1962) or X-Men (1963), the latter based on humans who had undergone gene mutations that had given them superhuman powers based all on titanic forces of nature; the abilities of the wolf (Wolverine, Wolverine), the power of snow (Iceman), climate control (Storm) or solar energy and fire (Vulcan).

The comic book characters, faithful reflections of the concerns of each time, were not insensitive to the changes in values in American society after the Vietnam War or the expansion of the environmental movement. In this context, the collective imagination had to be penetrated through other characters that would bring different profiles and messages to fictional comics that addressed other themes and social dynamics. At this time, perhaps the most recognizable and most successful character was The Swamp Thing (The Swamp Thing, 1971), which would reach its moment of greatest popularity with the character of Allec Holland, a brilliant scientist who suffers a chemical accident and is transformed into a kind of anthropomorphic being half plant, half human.

At this time, it is no longer enough to fight conventional crime or to permanently rescue intrepid reporters (Lois Lane in Superman), enigmatic and beautiful businesswomen (Vicky Vale in Batman) or university candidates (Mary Jane Watson in Spiderman) from the clutches of villains, but, in addition, it provides a message of respect and conservation for nature and ecosystems that permeates the entire plot, as has never been told before in comics. In this way, The Thing would deal with land speculators, poachers, illegal logging and responsible for discharges into wetland waters, also establishing a vital link with all the living beings that shared that nemorous habitat with him.

Already in the 90s, one of the last creations to combine superhero comics and the environment would come from the hand of Captain Planet, a new hero who merged the four elements of the Earth plus a fifth, the heart of all humanity, to save and protect our nature. Its success, however, did not reach the following and popular levels of its predecessors.

In short, these are some examples of many others that we could cite to highlight the clear link between fictional comics and nature, its elemental forces, the fight against pollution and respect for wildlife, showing the consequences of the abuse of power with disastrous effects on human civilization, creating an ecological message that has transcended generation after generation and whose argument was based on philanthropy, the common good, the placing of power at the service of humanity and everyone's involvement in the defense of planet Earth's environmental heritage.

One more way to tell the world about the urgent need to take care of our environment as an essential objective of our own life.