National Icons
Comic book heroes
American comic books are typically small magazines containing fictional stories in the artistic medium of drawn comics. Throughout their history, a huge number of comic books have been produced in the United States. It is difficult to say much in general about them, because of their huge range in quality, subject matter and audience through the past.
Their mass publication started in the 1920s and 1930s and one of the first major characters, Superman was introduced in 1938. He rose to enormous popularity over the next decade, which included the Second World War, and he became firmly fixed as an icon of patriotism and his war against evil was in parallel with the war against the Nazis and the Japanese.
Others such as Captain America also were symbols of patriotism but all were beaten by Superman in the popular imagination. The comic book cover is from 1942.
Comic book heroes have been, and continue to be, a major source of inspiration for Hollywood and many blockbusters over the years have portrayed Batman, Superman, Blade, Spiderman, the X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, the Punisher and many others.
More recently, comics have reflected contemporary conditions and problems of society, a trend pioneered by Marvel Comics, where, for example, Spiderman was bothered by his teenage and work problems almost as much as by his war with crime and evil.
Comics have been used as ideological tools, not only to attack and denigrate Nazis, Communists, Japanese and later the Vietnamese, but also economic enemies such as those who owned land in the US. An example is "Geronimo and his Apache Murderers".
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is located in South Dakota. Between 1927 and 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the 18 m busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history.
The rock formation is carved on a sacred Native American site. A Memorial to the Native American Chief Crazy Horse, begun in 1948, is currently being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain nearby in South Dakota. When complete, it will be 223 m wide and 195 m high and the world's largest sculpture.