Malthus meets Green Lantern: comic book representation of Malthusian concerns

ABSTRACT

With growing concerns of overpopulation in the developing world in the 1960s, Thomas Malthus’ work was rediscovered as an answer to social problems. Neo-Malthusian thought was centred on the pessimistic view of the coming ‘population bomb’ that would create worldwide ills that even developed nations such as the United States and United Kingdom could not ignore. This pessimistic mood found its way into comic books of the era (1960s–1980s). This coincided with a new interest in problems with society at large, epitomised by Bronze Age comic books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Throughout this era, comic book stories occasionally featured villains and/or social settings based on overpopulation. For the first time, our superheroes had to deal with over-urbanised cityscapes, environmental degradation from humans, and crime as a result of population pressure. The ways that comic book creators dealt with this social problem reveals a great deal about the general mood of this issue.

KEYWORDS:

• Sociology
• demography
• culture
• social problems
• population

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For historical data on comic book sales, comichron.com was used. This website compiles sales figures that are available. Modern graphic novel sales can be found at diamondcomics.com. Diamond is the official distributor of comic books and graphic novels in the modern era.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Veitch

Adam Veitch is a Ph.D. student at Kansas State University.

Laszlo Kulcsar

Laszlo Kulcsar is department head of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, as well professor of rural sociology and demography at The Pennsylvania State University