PROJECT B Offbeat. Unexpected. Vernacular Photography & Curatorial Projects
  • Books
    • People Kissing: A Century of Photographs
    • People Fishing: A Century of Photographs
    • People Knitting: A Century of Photographs
    • CAMERA ERA
    • Finding Frida Kahlo
    • Around The World: The Grand Tour in Photo Albums
    • Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing The American Photo Album
  • Projects
    • Collection
    • Curatorial
    • Artwork
  • Pop-ups
    • Camera Comics
    • Sideshow Stars
    • Tiny People
    • Bottoms Up
    • Carnival Cowboys
    • Embroidered Photo Postcards
    • Fotoescultura
  • About
    • About us
    • Media
(0) $0.00
PROJECT B Offbeat. Unexpected. Vernacular Photography & Curatorial Projects
  • Books
    • People Kissing: A Century of Photographs
    • People Fishing: A Century of Photographs
    • People Knitting: A Century of Photographs
    • CAMERA ERA
    • Finding Frida Kahlo
    • Around The World: The Grand Tour in Photo Albums
    • Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing The American Photo Album
  • Projects
    • Collection
    • Curatorial
    • Artwork
  • Pop-ups
    • Camera Comics
    • Sideshow Stars
    • Tiny People
    • Bottoms Up
    • Carnival Cowboys
    • Embroidered Photo Postcards
    • Fotoescultura
  • About
    • About us
    • Media
(0) $0.00

Pop-up: Camera Comics

Welcome to our Pop Up Gallery. Here we curate artifacts and oddities in the Project B vintage photography collection. Featured now is: Camera Comics

A true comics rarity, only nine issues of Camera Comics were ever published by U. S. Camera Publishing Corporation, appearing between 1944 and 1946. The series featured action heroes whose exploits involved not guns or superhuman strength, but cameras. There’s Linda Lens, woman photographer – the first and only female action-adventure photographer. We meet Bob Scott, Crash Photographer, Jim Lane, Insurance Investigator, Grey Comet and others, including a teenager named Kid Click.

Swipe or click to view more.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 1
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 3
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 4
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Bob Scott: Crash Photographer
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Kid Click
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Linda Lens

The comic even included fact-based stories about famous figures in photographic history such as Eadweard Muybridge and George Eastman, and instructive articles such as how to build a darkroom, making fun photos using everyday kitchen items and tips for better picture-taking.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE The Life of Eadweard Muybridge (1)
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE The Life of Eadweard Muybridge (2)
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE The Life of Eadweard Muybridge (3)
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Comic side of ordinary objects
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Tips for better picture taking

The short-lived series emerged when popular media like B-movies, detective novels and radio serials were awash in the drama, danger and ideology of the ongoing war in Europe and the Pacific. The booming genre of comic books was no exception, and in its imagery, storylines and even advertisements, Camera Comics gleefully conflates the action of shooting a camera with shooting a weapon. Boys too young to enlist as soldiers could fantasize about aiming their long lens out of an airplane to expose an enemy operation. “Snapshots at night mean bad days for the Japs!” screams an ad for flash photography.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 2
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 6
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Boys, too, could help the war effort
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Kodak ad highlighting war effort

Boys aren’t the only target audience, either: Camera Comics boasts its own endearing (if also patronizing) Rosie-the-Riveter egalitarianism. In Issue #4 (pictured), lifestyle photographer Linda Lens is sent to an unnamed South American country to photograph a folkloric “Festival of Color,” only to stumble—in her evening gown—onto a rebel-led coup d’etat in progress. Her photos save the day, foil the revolution and spare the life of her handsome Latin suitor—son of El Presidente. All in a day’s work for Linda Lens!

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Linda Lens: Woman Photographer (1)
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Linda Lens: Woman Photographer (2)

Camera Comics appeared just as photography as a hobby was becoming affordable for an ever-growing number of school-age children. Advertisers like Kodak were eager to reach this new generation of photography fans, preparing for the peacetime boom they hoped would soon arrive: “Here’s one camera you’ll want right after the war...” urges one ad.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Kodak linking products with war effort
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Kodak marketing to kids

But despite efforts to widen the comic’s appeal through the exploits of newsreel sleuths and insurance photographers, the single-topic focus of the series doomed it to a short life.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 5
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 7
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Jim Lane: Insurance Investigator
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Art Fenton: Detective
OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 8

Once the war was over, so was Camera Comics. Young photo buffs would soon turn to more specialized hobby magazines, while comics lovers would soon see their action heroes transformed by the Atomic Age, or like Captain America, disappear altogether.

OPTIONAL_TITLE_FOR_IMAGE Camera Comics No. 9
Grid Camera Comics covers 1-9

Loving this Pop-up show?
Check out: Sideshow Stars Japanese Film Noir Tiny People Bottoms Up It's a Dog's Life Carnival Cowboys Embroidered Postcards Fotoescultura

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