10 Things I Would Like in Jurassic World: Evolution

Jurassic World Evolution

Long time readers will know that I am a huge fan of the Jurassic Park franchise and of dinosaurs as a whole. For years I have played Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. For those who don't know JPOG is a game where you have to build your own Jurassic Park and open it to the public. Despite being released in 2003 this game still has a massive fanbase and I personally play it with mods. Unfortunately it never got a sequel as the company which made it went bust in 2011. Luckily a group of fans started making a spiritual successor a couple of years ago and just last week they dropped the pre-alpha demo for Prehistoric Kingdom. So far this demo has drastically exceeded expectations and made everyone hopeful for the full game. However, just a few days after Prehistoric Kingdom released its demo we received this trailer:

Yes to coincide with the new Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom we'll be getting the long awaited sequel to JPOG. After over a decade of waiting I've got many ideas for what I would want in a sequel. Today we'll look at ten things which I would like in Jurassic World: Evolution (JWE).

10- Creative Exhibit Designs

Above I've linked a video to one of my favorite YouTubers, Best in Slot, to show how creative exhibit design can be. He used one of my all time favorite games, Zoo Tycoon 2, to make that exhibit. Although I love JPOG exhibit design is incredibly limited, especially compared to ZT2. One of the reasons for this is that ZT2 was solely on PC while JPOG was on both. JWE will be for both as well so I am worried that this will hamper creative design. When ZT2 finally got a sequel it was only on X-Box One and although it looked beautiful it was extremely limiting, (you couldn't make your own exhibits only dragging and dropping pre-made ones). I'll give X-Box Zoo Tycoon the benefit of the doubt as it was a launch title for the X-Box One so likely the team were cautious. As both consoles have been released for several years now, and how much more powerful the PS4 and X-Box One are compared to the PS2 we should hopefully see the ability to make unique exhibits.

9- A wide range of Dinosaurs

JPOG could only handle a maximum of 40 species of dinosaurs in the game at one time and base game (without mods) only had 25 dinosaurs. Game engines have phenomenally improved since 2003 so now it is impossible to have so many animals in game. Possibly even an infinite amount judging by the number of modded animals you can have in ZT2 which came out just a year after JPOG. JWE could have lots of animals in the game and not just ones shown in Jurassic World. JPOG had dinosaurs from all three movies as well as many other dinosaurs not shown even in the franchise before. JPOG introduced me to many obscure dinosaurs such as Ouranosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus so JWE could do the same. Bizarre dinosaurs like Therizinosaurus and Oviraptor could fit perfectly in the game. Also, since 2003 many new dinosaur species have been discovered which could be good additions to the roster like the Chinese tyrannosaur ancestor Guanlong or even the feathered tyrannosaurus Yutyrannus.

8- Some Scientifically Accurate Dinosaurs

The actual size of velociraptor

Jurassic Park is full of scientifically inaccurate dinosaurs. They've even mentioned this fact in the novel which started the franchise, by Michael Crichton, and Jurassic World. JWE could change that. Of course dinosaurs which have already appeared in the series like Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus should remain inaccurate through continuity. However new additions could possibly be accurate. We now know that theropods, (bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs), were feathered so newly introduced theropods could be feathered. Prehistoric Kingdom has sort of implemented this mechanic. It primarily has accurate models but it has a few, optional, scaly ones. For JWE having some accurate dinosaurs, or alternate accurate skins for dinosaurs like T-Rex, could be a novel gameplay mechanic. 

7- Animals that aren't Dinosaurs 

Mosasaurus in Jurassic World

Jurassic World featured three extinct animals that aren't dinosaurs: Mosasaurus, Pteranodon and Dimorphodon. At the end of JWE's trailer you can see the Mosasaur tank from the movie. Hopefully that means we can have a Mosasaurus in JWE but it would be better if we could have more types of extinct animals in the game. We could have an aviary filled with a wide variety of pterosaurs including the weird looking Dsungaripterus or the giant Quetzalcoatlus, or we could have an aquatic area full of the Loch Ness Monster like Plesiosaurs. We don't have to to just limit it to flying and aquatic life. We could have animals from before the time of the dinosaurs or after the dinosaurs went extinct. During the Triassic, when dinosaurs first appeared, there were many big animals which the young dinosaurs lived in the shadow of. During the Cretaceous, the last period which the dinosaurs lived in, there was a crocodile called Deinosuchus which could eat dinosaurs. A Deinosuchus could be perfect for JWE.

6- Not too many hybrids

Indominus Rex

The main plot point of Jurassic World was the hybrid dinosaur Indominus Rex. Technically every dinosaur in the franchise is a hybrid so when I say 'not too many hybrids' I mean 'not too many Indominus-style hybrids'. The movie emphasizes how important the Indominus is being the first hybrid dinosaur so having too many hybrid dinosaurs will dilute this aspect to it. The series already has a few good hybrids that aren't Indominus, (shown in games and comics etc.). Stegoceratops in particular is my favorite hybrid. Hybrids should be something that you get when you have the best park instead of a principal game mechanic.

5- Better Dinosaur AI

For what JPOG was the dinosaur AI was good. Except that was in 2003. For 2018 we need something far better. The AI for all carnivores largely were the same and the same could be said for the herbivores. If the X-Box 360 and PS3 could handle the intense amount of AI for Skyrim and if their successors can handle the intense AI of Witcher 3 they should be able to handle unique AI for JWE. Each animal could have their own behavior and more intelligent animals could have more complex AI. Velociraptors could test the fences for weaknesses, as mentioned in Jurassic Park, and could be extremely aggressive until tamed by Owen Grady. Furthermore, raptors could form packs and form plans to catch prey. Small dinosaurs like Dryosaurus could hide under the legs of large ones like Stegosaurus where they act as the eyes for the larger dinosaurs. The Parasaurolophus could have different honks for different things: a long one for sighting a predator, a series of short ones for being friendly etc. Dilophosaurs could be shy dinosaurs in contrast to the bolder raptors. Finally the Indominus could set traps and communicate with the raptors as what happened in Jurassic World.

4- A First Person View

ZT2 had a very fun and unique game mode where you go into 'Zookeeper Mode' where you walk about in your zoo and do jobs. Primarily people, (including myself), used this to experience their zoo as a guest and so far no other zoo/park builder has managed to capture this mode. A simple guest mode would be fantastic for JWE. With modern graphics a first person view would be fantastic. You could start off in the center of Jurassic World seeing the futuristic and glitz of the park. You could go see the Mosasaur Feeding Show or take a trip in a Gyrosphere. Except when things go wrong. There's a thunderstorm and your Gyrosphere breaks down. You here something breaking. Then a Tyrannosaurus steps out from the trees. Seeing that through a first person mode would make JWE exceptional.

3- Animal Buildings

Concept image from Prehistoric Kingdom

The above image is from a Prehistoric Kingdom concept art. It also exemplifies this idea of animal buildings. Wildlife parks and zoos often have special buildings for smaller or animals with special needs. In the original JPOG they wanted to have the tiny Compsognathus but they thought it would be too small to be shot at from the helicopter. Having a building for smaller dinosaurs could solve this issue. This idea was almost implemented in the movie itself. There was going to be a scene featuring an almost Microceratus petting area. Also, this doesn't have to be limited to dinosaurs. There could be a bug house for the giant bugs of the past. An aviary would work perfectly and was actually shown in the movie. Despite the many flaws Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game made a very good design for Jurassic Park and had a good idea. It featured an almost underground area for an aquarium for giant creatures like mosasaurs. This could be perfect for JWE.

2- Fix the Guests

Guests in JPOG

In JPOG, and ZT2, the guests drove me to insanity. Always complaining, complaining that there was nothing which my park had an abundance of, and not actually seeing the park the guests accurately represented the real life general public but it's not good for enjoying a game. I was never happier deleting the fences and letting my T-Rex eat the b*******. The only way for guests to explore the entire park was either to build a small guest area and have the rest of the park being a safari, or put in lots of visitor centers. Actually giving the guests AI would make, I think, everyone's lives a whole lot easier. Another point with the guests is the matter of nationality. JPOG stated where your guests were from and it was a neat concept although I never managed to see the practical side of it. Possibly for JWE where your guests are from represents your fame: lower fame only gives you guests from one place but as your fame increases your guests come from a wider area. 

1- Breakouts

The iconic scene

The trailer for JWE shows a T-Rex breakout and the most famous scene in Jurassic Park is when the T-Rex breaks out. In JPOG when your dinosaurs escaped, except when you let them do that, it wasn't overly tense. It was only a matter of having your helicopter tranquilize it. Only when it broke out near guests did it become tense. The trailer gives us an idea that a dinosaur breakout is something extremely stressful and dangerous. This will add another thing for you to manage. You would have to make sure that your fences are up to scratch, (especially if being tested by raptors), and make sure that dinosaurs cannot damage the fences. Have you used the correct fencing to keep a dinosaur in? Can you use the same fencing for a Triceratops as you do a T-Rex? If a dinosaur breaks out what do you do? Do you just have it shot or can you tranquilize it? This level of thought can make JWE truly immersive.

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please like our Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. 

History in Focus: The Partition of India

Muslim Refugees Fleeing India

As of writing this week has seen the 70th anniversary of the Partition of the British Raj forming the new states of India and Pakistan. The Partition is the single most important event in the modern history of the Indian subcontinent which still continues to greatly shape the lives of those living there. This divided subcontinent can be clearly seen in the extravagent closing of the border each evening at Wagah:

The Partition was an event of great trauma brought on about the incompetency of British rule and diverging Indian nationalist movements. To understand why the Indian subcontinent was divided into primarily Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India we have to go back to the 1800s.

British Rule and Early Nationalism

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

By the late-nineteenth century Britain had established its rule over the Indian subcontinent. Britain was the first state to establish formal or informal rule over the entire continent. In 1900 what parts of the subcontinent that weren't directly administered by the British were ruled by the so-called 'Princely States'. Princely States were ruled by princes but they had to answer to the British. Other European powers did control some of the subcontinent but they were largely confined to singular cities, like Goa for Portugal and Pondicherry for France. India was ruled from London. A secretary of state for India controlled affairs from the British cabinet, a governor-general ruled in India, and Indians were brought into the British army where they were used to govern the empire. There are photos of the British section of Shanghai where Sikh soldiers are patrolling the streets. Britain had also created a trade surplus in India. Through a mixture of Britain's industrial power and the destruction of large Indian industries, such as the Bengali cotton weaving, so Britain could dominate the Indian economy. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the East Indian Company was dissolved and the British state formally took over. To aid in administration in 1861 they started bringing more Indians into the administration; Indians were increasingly ruling Indians for the British. It was in this context that the seeds of Indian nationalism took root.

To create administrators you needed education but the British looked down on India. As a result they built their own universities and institutions which taught European philosophies and politics, including liberalism. Slowly a European educated elite emerged. One thing to know about the subcontinent is how diverse it is. Today's India contains over 2000 languages not including those in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is divided by caste and religion with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Pagans, and Jains to name the largest religions in the subcontinent. Making matters worse was Britain's 'divide-and-rule' policy. This was done in all their colonies ranging from Cyprus to Palestine to Malaysia. On the surface this was done to prevent minorities from being dominated by larger populations, however it was a policy used to make the colonized view each other as the enemy so they could not form a united front. In India this was done over religious lines. Muslims were a minority and through farcical Social Darwinistic thinking the British viewed India's Muslims as being racially superior to Hindus so readily brought them administration, (although this is an oversimplification. British racial attitudes favored Muslims in some places and times and Hindus/Sikhs in other areas and times). As a result European educated high-caste Hindus formed reform movements which acted as early nationalist movements. One of the most famous was the Brahmo Savaj who was founded as early as 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, often called 'the Maker of Modern India'. Roy and the Brahmo Savaj wished to 'modernize' Hinduism, which meant making it more European, by abolishing certain practices like child marriage and sati (burning high-caste widows on their husband's funeral pyre). In 1875 the Arya Samaj was founded by Bengali Dayananda Saraswati to continue the work of the Brahmo Savaj but it went further rejecting idols. Muslims too made their own groups like the Deobandi Movement which tried to reject British colonial rule and the Khalifat . These separate movements focused solely on religion and were elitist. 

The Inspiration for the Nationalist Movement

The Swadeshi Movement

The two main organizations for Indian nationalism and independence were the Indian National Congress, (INC/Congress, formed 1885), and the All-India Muslim League, (formed 1906). These movements grew from elitist movements to mass movements thanks to the new viceroy, Lord Curzon. In the late 1890s and early 1900s Curzon had earned the ire of educated Indians by reducing the numbers of elected Indian officials to reduce radicalism. Then in 1905 for administrative purposes he divided Bengal. Bengal had been going through a 'Renaissance' where a largely nationalist movement based on Hindu revivalism had grown. As his division fell on religious lines Bengalis saw this as an attempt to divide their homeland. This even caused the creation of the Muslim League as they feared that this would lead to Hindu domination. The Swadeshi movement was soon born which was India's largest mass movement since the 1857 Rebellion. Swadeshi means 'of one's own country' which describes the aims of the movement: boycott British goods. It soon spread across India where leading politician in west India, Lokamanya Tilak, said:

We are not armed and there is no necessity for arms either. We have a stronger weapon, a political weapon, in boycott. We have perceived one fact that the whole of this administration...is carried on with our assistance. We are all subordinate servants...Self government is our goal, we want control over our administrative machinery...We shall not give them assistance to collect revenue and keep peace. We shall not assist them in fighting beyond the frontiers or outside India with Indian blood and money. We shall not assist them in carrying on the administration of justice. We shall have our own courts, and when the time comes, we shall not pay taxes. Can you do that by your united efforts? If you can you are free from tomorrow.

We see the rise of violence in the independence movement here as British repression created two very different armed groups: the right-wing, Hindu Anushilan and the smaller but left-wing and secular Jugantar. In Punjab the Arya Samajists took over turning Swadeshi into a Hindu movement alienating Muslims. Tilak himself was arrested for talking about terrorism which provoked riots which the British shot at. Through a mixture of repression, arresting Swadeshi leaders and the outbreak of the First World War the movement petered out but it had inspired many people. British repression during the First World War radicalized many and some even became inspired by Irish nationalists. After the 1916 Easter Dublin Rising a group named themselves the Indian Republican Army (IRA), in solidarity with the Irish. Around 1.2 million Indians fought in the British army during the war inspiring many to fight for Indian autonomy, if not independence. In 1919 the Government of India Act created a Council of State and an Imperial Legislative Assembly electing 1.5 million of the wealthiest Indians despite it having a population of 300 million. It also introduced special seats for Muslims and non-Brahmin categories. Acceptance of this was called the Lucknow Pact and was made by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, later a prominent promoter of Pakistan. This limited reform still left millions disenfranchised but it took the steam out of nationalism. That is until a lawyer who had worked in South Africa and London returned to India: Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi, Popular Movement and Divisions

Gandhi

Gandhi had practiced non-violent protest in South Africa. Focusing on just one issue he had managed to improve rights for Indians in South Africa, although at the expense of discriminating against Africans. While in South Africa the racism he had seen made him come to the conclusion that Indians were subjects and not citizens of the British Empire. In his 1909 publication Hind Swaraj he condemned all things modern and Western in favor of a communalistic 'Golden Age' of a self-reliant, Indian past. He also coined the word satyagraha to describe his non-violent protests which focused on one issue at a time. Styling himself as a Hindu holy man and a peasant Gandhi returned to India where he started agitating with his fellow Gujaratis in Kheda where they boycotted British goods, (he was heavily inspired by the Swadeshi movement), in protest of a revision of raising land taxes to cover wartime, and post-war, expenditure. This and more satyagraha protests started to increase Gandhi's profile but he became widely prominent thanks to his condemnation of Britain's whitewashing of the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre which had left 379 dead. In 1921 Gandhi became head of the INC. Gandhi wished the INC to welcome all Indians regardless of caste, class or religion. He supported the Muslim Khilafat movement where Indian Muslims tried to campaign to preserve the Ottoman Caliph, called for Muslims to give up eating beef and Hindus pork to respect one another, and created an alliance with the Sikh Akali Dal. During the 1920s and 1930s the INC led a mass movement bringing together 70 million peoples to peacefully fight British imperialism.

However, things were never united. Muhammad Ali Jinnah split from the INC shortly after Gandhi advocated supporting Khalifat despite being a Muslim himself. Jinnah opposed Gandhi's emphasis on religion and viewed the Khalifat movement as being religious zealotry, (as well as seeing Gandhi himself as being overly pro-Hindu). Others opposed non-violence. Subhas Chandra Bose believed that violence should have been used much to Gandhi's ire, and that of future INC leader Jawaharlal Nehru. By the Second World War he had become radicalized and formed an alliance with the Axis where he formed the Free India Legion from 3,000 Indian POWs from North Africa, and later Japan got him the 40,000 strong Indian National Army made out of recruited Indian POWs captured when Japan took control of South East Asia. Caste was also an issue. Gandhi supported the emancipation of the 'untouchables' or Dalits but he clashed with INC member B.R. Ambedkar on how to do this. Ambedkar was a Dalit and believed that to emancipate them they had to have certain privileges until they reached equality such as separate electorates and reservations in government positions. Gandhi disagreed believing that this would make higher castes actively discriminate against lower castes. Instead he argued that treating everyone the same and giving Dalits the name harijan, (person of Vishnu). Ambedkar saw this as just papering over the issues and only relented when Gandhi threatened another hunger strike. Finally the main division was religion. Although the INC had many non-Hindu members it was overwhelmingly Hindu, and Gandhi's persona of a Hindu holy man disgruntled many Muslims. Furthermore, Ambedkar saw Hinduism as the religion of Dalit oppression, (he later converted to Buddhism), so this didn't help him much. This religious division set the stage for Partition.

An Idea of Pakistan

Muhammad Iqbal

In 1928 the INC had become so powerful and organized that Jawaharlal Nehru declared that in a report that the INC could form a government in waiting based on a strong central government with a command economy. Five years later a Cambridge educated Punjabi called Choudhry Rahmat Ali released a pamphlet advocating a new state called 'Pakistan'. This new state was designed to be a separate state from a Hindu dominated India comprising of India's Muslims provinces. Even the name amalgamated the names of the provinces with an 'i' added to ease pronunciation: Punjab, Afghan Province, Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan. This was seen by poet and politician Muhammad Iqbal who took it as his personal goal and is sometimes referred to as the 'Spiritual Founder of Pakistan'. Iqbal knew Jinnah and some believe that Jinnah's permanent split with the INC to promote Pakistan was through Iqbal's influence. Until his death in 1938 Iqbal tried to strengthen Jinnah and the Muslim League saying: 

There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it, our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defense of our national existence.... The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims.

Jinnah's devotion to Pakistan is heavily debated. It took the Lahore Resolution of 1940 for Jinnah to vocally call for Muslim provinces to be 'autonomous and sovereign'. Ayesha Jalal has argued that Jinnah only threatened Partition as a bargaining chip with Congress which backfired whereas Faisal Deviji has argued that Partition would only be temporary, Pakistan and India would be formed and then come together again. It is important to note that Pakistan and the Muslim League remained an elite movement compared to Congress which cut across all of society. This is shown with the 1937 elections. In 1935 the Government of India Act gave India more independence than the 1919 act but the British still kept a grip on India. It did allow elections which were held in 1937 where Congress won eight out of eleven provinces, and the League won no provinces. Punjab was even outright hostile to the League! Nehru went ahead with his plans but he was both secular and a socialist which meant no distinctions for religion and a centralized government. In a position of overwhelming power he ignored the League's demands for Muslim electorates. When the Second World War broke out the Congress government resigned in protest of the viceroy declaring war despite not consulting them. In 1942 Gandhi organized the 'Quit India Campaign' where it got particular support in the countryside. When it became violent Gandhi said that the British should either 'leave India to God or leave India to anarchy'. Three groups refused to take part: Communists, (as they feared it would distract from the fight against fascism), the borderline far-right Hindu Mahasabha under V.D. Savarkar and B.S. Munje (as subalterns, women and Congress were organizing it), and the Muslim League. Not being in government and not taking part in Quite India let the League gain prominence and with it Partition.

Partition

Buildings destroyed during Partition

Partition can be described as a tragedy that no-one wanted but everyone was to blame. British incompetence and shirking of responsibility, Jinnah's gamble backfiring, and Nehru's intransigence can all be argued to have played roles in causing Partition. Following the defeat of European fascism and Japanese ultra-nationalism Indian soldiers returned home politicized by Franklin Roosevelt's Atlantic Charter promising self-determination for all peoples. Although Jinnah remained unpopular with many educated Muslims (in modern North-West Frontier Province, then Afghan Province, around 50% disliked him), many Muslims viewed him positively. An attempt during the war by Labour called the Cripps Mission to work for a post-war, independent united India was sabotaged by Winston Churchill who virulently opposed any notion of independence. Churchill soon lost the post-war election bringing in the reformist Labour party of Clement Attlee. Attlee wanted Indian independence, mostly as it was a drain on the British economy by now, Nehru wanted independence, and Jinnah wanted independence but none wanted Partition. The long standing religious based nationalist movements exacerbated recently by the Great Depression, (which forced communities to look inward), and the actions of recent nationalists created a tense situation. In 1946 when Indian soldiers were ordered to go to Vietnam to restore French rule they mutinied and the Communist Party ordered strikes. When members Bose's Indian National Army, (a Hindu, Sikh and Muslim), were tried for 'waging war against the king' leading Congressmen, including Nehru offered to represent them. Slowly communalistic violence and communist agitation lead to a breakdown of the state with the newly appointed Lord Mountbatten proving to be utterly useless and aloof to the violence. Despite Gandhi threatening a hunger strike it was decided that the only way to stop it was Partition and soon.

Wishing to cut its losses Britain sped up the date for the Partition to August 14 1947 for Pakistan and August 15 for India. Jinnah tried to protest against Britain creating a 'truncated or mutilated moth-eaten Pakistan' where India would inherit all of the British Raj's wealth and resources. The Princely States were informed that they would have to join either one of the two states; primarily Muslim states to Pakistan and primarily Hindu states to India. Britain had allotted Sir Cyril Radcliffe to draw a border between the two new states. However there were three issues with this: he had never been to India, he was given out of date maps and censuses to see which communities were which religion, and he finished drawing the border the day after Indian independence. The general masses went into panic. Primary sources tell a harrowing story of how communities fearing that they would be dominated in the opposite state resorted to massacring their neighbors in a form of ethnic cleansing to ensure that they would end up in the correct state. People have recounted how the people who they regarded as auntie, grandmother or grandfather were suddenly set upon because they were the wrong religion. Muslims massacred Hindus and Sikhs while Hindus and Sikhs massacred Muslims. To avoid murder, and for women rape, millions fled their homes becoming refugees. Only in Bengal was this less of a case, (although many thousands were either murdered or fled). It was particularly bad in the Punjab which was split directly in the middle. It is estimated that 6 million Muslims fled to Pakistan and 4.5 million Hindus and Sikhs fled. As late as 1958 over 800,000 refugees remained in camps in Indian Bengal. Most tragically we do not know how many women were raped during Partition. Post-Partition narratives of this kind have been silenced by the states. Although heavily affected Dalits managed to survive. Particularly in the Punjab after being treated horrifically by communities for years they managed to hide out as communities massacred one another which then allowed them to move in and basically loot what remained. 

The only figure who could have stopped the spontaneous violence was Gandhi. After fasting had failed to stop Partition he devoted himself to traveling across India to call for peace. In Delhi and Calcutta he succeeded by fasting until he almost died. He was also planning to go to Pakistan and had accepted to speak at a Muslim shrine in Delhi in hope that it could bring peace. Soon Partition consumed the person who many regard as the 'Father of India'. On January 13 1948 Gandhi was assassinated by a member of the Hindu Mahasabha called Nathuram Godse. Historian Crispin Bates has described the consequence of Gandhi's assassination best: Since it was a Hindu, not a Muslim, who ended his [Gandhi's] life, in the horrified hush that followed the fans of communalism were suddenly stilled.

Legacy

Image from the 2002 Gujarat Riots

Jinnah didn't want a truncated Pakistan but that is what he got. More Muslims lived in the new India than Pakistan and the Muslim areas of northern India which were meant to connect Pakistan to Pakistani Bengal were given to India. The Princely State of Kashmir went to India despite being largely Muslim as the prince not only was a Hindu but a personal friend of Nehru. Almost immediately a small war broke out over Kashmir and there have been two wars since. Another war won Bengal's independence, modern Bangladesh, where the Muslim Bengalis had more in common with their Hindu neighbors than their fellow Muslims. India also inherited most of the Raj's wealth, 90% of the Raj's industry and taxable income went to India, as well as 70% of the defense force. Indian democracy has succeeded, other than a small blip of authoritarian rule under Indira Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma) in the late 1970s, while Pakistan has gone from military rule to even more military rule. This is because Congress was a mass party and the League was an elite party. Wealthy Punjabi land owners fled to Pakistan and dominated politics preventing a democracy from emerging like India. Jinnah could have saved Pakistani democracy but he died in 1948 through tuberculosis. Prior to Partition there was some excitement over Pakistan and India. These two states were imagined to be the two new power states. Pakistan in particular excited the left with it being a state made for a minority. Early Zionism had Israel being a state for Jews and not a Jewish state, and Pakistan was seen similarly; it was to be a state for Muslims and not a Muslim state. There were talks that it could be a pioneer of socialism with the USSR and could emancipate women and lower castes. With a weak democratic footing these dreams were soon shattered.

Partition has left a scar on the subcontinent which has been brushed over until recently. Decades after Partition the two states came together to repatriate women who had been kidnapped and forced to marry their kidnappers. However, the women weren't consulted and quite a few didn't want to be repatriated as it meant abandoning their children. The video at the start of the article is the more pleasant side to the Indo-Pakistan rivalry. Bollywood has produced many films over the most recent conflict with Pakistan. Currently the Bharatriya Janata Party (BJP) ruling India is a descendant from the Hindu Mahasabha which took Gandhi's life. Their ideology, Hindutva, has become particularly large since the 1990s when the destruction of a large mosque called the Babri Masjid happened, and even then it was popularized by the Hindutva groups. At the start of this section I showed a photo from the 2002 Gujarat Riots. These riots were communal causing clashes between Hindus and Muslims. In Muslim areas of Gujarat 'Pakistan' and 'Return to Pakistan' were graffitied on Muslim homes and businesses. Finally, Britain has whitewashed its abandoning and role in Partition. Only recently with newer generations have the British public become aware of their role in scarring the Indian subcontinent and it may be generations more before Britain accepts its responsibility for it. For India and Pakistan millions are still living with the consequences of Partition.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-Subalterns and the Raj: South Asia since 1600 by Crispin Bates

-Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal

-The Origins of the Partition of India, 1936-1947 by Anita Inder Singh

-Asim Roy, 'The High Politics of India's Partition: The Revisionist Perspective', Modern Asia Studies, 1990, 24:2

-The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories by Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar

-The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan

Thank you for reading. If you found this interesting please leave a comment or share this post. For more blog updates we have a Facebook page or you can find me on Twitter @LewisTwiby

World History: The Inca

Machu Picchu, an Inkan Site

Last time on World History we looked at the Triple Alliance, or as they are more widely referred to as the Aztecs. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 the Americas were home to a wide variety of civilizations and cultures, and today we'll look at another one. Originating in the Andes there was a short lived city-based empire which stretched from the Ecuadorian/Colombian border all the way down to Santiago in Chile. This empire was the Incan Empire. For the purposes of this post we shall refer to the empire and the people who made it as Tawantinsuyu, (the empire), and the Inka, (the ruling people). We will not be using Inca as this is the European spelling of the ruling people; Inka is the spelling in Quechua. The Inkas ruled a unique empire with the Spanish seeing it as a wealthy kingdom possibly home to El Dorado while in the twentieth-century some historians had started to portray them as the first socialists or even the first communists. Before we look the Tawantinsuyu and the Inka we must first look at the world they emerged in.

Pre-Inka Andes

Image of the Andes

Historians, such as Nigel Davies, have stressed the continuation of the Inka with earlier Andean civilizations. You may be wondering how so many civilizations emerged in a mountain range though. When we've looked at other emerging civilizations ranging from the Maya to China to the Mexica to the Greeks none have appeared in mountain ranges. Peru, the heart of the Inkan Empire, has a very complex topography containing 84 of the 117 different types of life zones that can be found. It also experiences two ocean currents: El Niño and the Humboldt. In a small area we have coasts, puna (high grasslands), wet grasslands, rainforests, deserts, fog meadows (lomas) and rivers. El Niño supplies torrential rain to Peru's northern coast while fifty rivers cross the Peruvian desert. This helped create fertile land rich in nutrients for the first agriculturalists over 4,000 years ago. Through terracing great areas of arable land emerged in the Andes themselves. From around 1800 BCE the first pottery was made in the Peruvian lands.

Tawantinsuyu was not the first empire to exist in the Andes. Craig Morris and Adriana von Hagen put emphasis on two societies which laid the groundwork for the Inka, (although there were many others): Wari and Tiwanaku. These were both city states which both inspired the Inka and allowed them to rise. Tiwanaku was founded by 200 CE on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca which prospered for almost a thousand years with buildings made of sun-dried mudbrick. Around 600 CE to the north of Tiwanaku in the Ayacucho basin Wari was founded. Wari founded an empire which helped spread its art style across the central Andes, although it shares some iconography with Tiwanaku indicating that Wari borrowed some elements from Tiwanaku or that they shared a common ancestral tradition. Tawantinsuyu emerged four centuries after the collapse of Wari and Tiwanaku in Cuzco where the city-states either held sway, (Wari), or bordered, (Tiwanaku). There was a void in the Cuzco region left by these empires which the Inka filled. However, they borrowed or were inspired by both, particularly the Wari. The Inka adopted administrative tools and models from the Wari, (such as the khipu which we shall later address), and possibly even Quechua as a lingua franca for the empire. Now we must deal with the origins of the Inka and Tawantinsuyu.

Origins

Colonial image of the first king, Manco Capac

Through archaeological evidence, Spanish sources, and what remains of Inkan sources we can piece together the origins of the Inka. Until around 1200 CE the people who would become the Inka were pastoralists until they settled and founded the Kingdom of Cuzco. Through oral and Spanish written sources we do have a story for how the Kingdom of Cuzco was formed. The Inkan people emerged from a cave, called Pacariqtambo, led by four brothers and four sisters, (the brothers and sisters were married as well). They were led by Ayar Manco and his sister/wife Mama Ocllo. Manco had a golden staff which when planted would offer his people a place to live. On the way the strongest brother, who could level mountains, Ayar Cachi was sent into a cave to retrieve some golden cups, (in some versions a llama), to stop his boasting. When inside his brothers sealed the cave and Cachi was turned to stone becoming a huaca, a sacred object. When they reached Huanacauri, a hill, a second brother, Ayar Uchu, was turned into a huaca as he wished to stay to watch over the people. The last brother, Ayar Auca, grew tired and then grew wings so he could travel alone. He flew to Cuzco and became the Cuzco Huaca becoming the first city guardian. With no one to challenge him Manco goes to Cuzco with his sisters where they encounter the Huallas and Alcavizas. Depending on the version either the small band defeats the two tribes, or one of the sisters (Mama Huaca) kills a soldier with a bola scaring the rest off. After the battle Ayar Manco builds the first Coricancha temple and founds Cuzco and he changes his name to Manco Capac. Compared to the origin stories of Rome, the Aztecs and Athens this is a rather humble story. In some versions Manco Capac becomes undisputed king basically by accident rather than his own efforts. 

That story deals with the origins of Cuzco. There is a second myth which deals with the founding of Tawantinsuyu. Our sources are more reliable as we enter the fifteenth-century but then again Nigel Davies highlights how we can't take them at face value. The Inkas didn't really use their writing system to record chronology saving it instead for mainly recording things like censuses and tribute, and many which did record history were unfortunately burnt by the Spanish. Many of the chronicles that we do have are written post-Conquest and act more as histories, such as Comentaries Reales written in 1609 by Garcilasco de la Vega. We do have some good idea of what happened though. Bordering Cuzco was a loose confederation of the Chankas, (not a solidified threat as many chronicles made out), but it was enough to be a threat to the rising Inkas. During the reign of the eighth ruler Wiraqocha the Chankas sent a message to Cuzco demanding that the ruler surrender. He fled with his heir, Inka Urco, so his other son Inka Yupanki decided to defend Cuzco. He had a dream where the creator god Inti told him that he would be 'greater than any of his ancestors...because he would conquer the Chankas who were marching on Cuzco'. As the Chankas approached Cuzco the stones in the fields surrounding Cuzco turned into warriors, called pururaucas, who helped him defeat the Chankas. When he took the prisoners to his father, who was expected to tread on them as expected, his father got Inka Urco to do so disrespecting Yupanki. Apparently he staged a palace coup killing Urco, and then returning to Cuzco to fight the regrouping Chankas. The battle saw the slaughter of the Chankas and afterwards Yupanki became known as Pachakuti or 'transformer of the world'. It is quite possible though that this all never happened and that Inkan conquest of the Chankas was less sudden. Apparently Pachakuti had Machu Picchu constructed as a family retreat and he reorganized the empire around 1438. At the center was Cuzco surrounded by four provincial governments: Chinchasuyu, Antisuyu, Kuntisuyu and Qullasuyu. This formed Tawantisuyu, or the 'Four Regions'.

Khipu

Khipu

The khipu is so unique that I believe that it deserves to be talked about by itself. Charles Mann has described the khipu as being 'reminiscent of today's computer languages'. This was the Inkan writing system. Made of camelid fiber the khipu is a series of knots which recorded numbers in primarily a decimal system. For years it was believed that they only recorded numbers for purposes of tribute, censuses etc. but since 1981 when Robert and Marcia Ascher that it actually recorded writing. The material, spin, ply, and color of each string, and the direction of the knot referred to what we would call a letter. Gary Urton has described it as a 'seven-bit binary array' which had 1,536 'information units' compared to 1,500 cuneiform signs and the 600-800 Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics by the time of the Conquest. The Inka likely did not pioneer the khipu. Evidence suggests that the Wari had a similar system as well. As the khipu was made of string and knots it was easy for the Spanish conquerors to burn them compared to the stone writing system of the Maya and Mexica. 

Administration

Someone using a khipu. Image by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in the later 16th/early 17th century

The Inka had a very efficient administrative system recorded on the khipu. All this was done with Quechua as a uniting language as the empire covered many different cultures outside the Valley of Cuzco. Aymara and Uru were also widely used in the empire with Aymara being most popular after Quechua. As a result 'conquest' and 'annexation' of peripheral regions were never completed and what was conquered through force was done through other means. The Inkan roads were famous and linked the empire together. The roads were some of the greatest in history. Cuzco was the administrative center and the largest settlement which was described by Cristobal de Molina as being 'a town of more than forty thousand citizens in the city-center alone-with suburbs and outlying settlements around Cuzco to 10 or 12 leagues, I believe there must have been 200,000 Indians'. In Cuzco the emperor resided and was honored, Louis Baudin refers to him as a 'Man-God'. Incest happened as the emperor had to marry his eldest sister, as in keeping with their origin myth. The empress could hold immense power. Pachakuti's wife often ruled in his place when he was away conquering and personally organized relief for victims of an intense earthquake in Arequipa. Tupac Yupanqui's wife, (Pachakuti's daughter), even got the Yanayacu to join the empire. As mentioned earlier outside of Cuzco there were the four suyu ruled by what can be described as a governor. 

The empire also used a policy called mitmaq or mitma. This was a policy which combined colonization with ethnic cleansing at its worst. The mitmaq was a policy to encourage submission without wasting resources suppressing an unruly people. This policy of ethnic cleansing moved less cooperative communities to loyal communities breaking up the unruly peoples so they could not organize resistance against Cuzco. It was described by Spanish chronicler Juan de Betanzos: These Indians were young married men with their wives, their things, and seeds from their lands so they could be placed as mitimaes in the valleys and lands surrounding Cuzco...If the natives should rebel, and the [mitmaq] supported the [Inka] governor, the natives would be punished and reduced to service of the Incas. Likewise, if the [mitmaq] stirred up disorder, the natives put them down. In this way these rulers had their empire assured against revolt.'Thousands could be moved with this system. This was done via the roads.

An Inkan Road

The Inkas built over 20,000 km of road! They are now officially a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These systems were linked by way-stations offering shelter to official travelers. The roads aren't consistent throughout the empire. From Cuzco to Quito in modern Ecuador with large impressive roads whereas in the south, (Chile and Argentina), they are rather small. 

Religion

An image of Viracocha

Religion was extremely important for the Inka. Many different religions existed in the empire, and like the Romans knew that imposing their religion onto the conquered meant that they could not sustain an empire. To ensure their power sometimes the Inka would associate themselves with local deities and oracles, as well as honoring local shrines. However, the conquered had to acknowledge that the sun and moon were superior to local gods. A Spanish chronicler, Juan de Betanzos, who spoke Quechua and was married to Emperor Atawallpa's niece/consort has spoken in detail about Inkan religion. The Inkas were polytheistic and even have several creation stories, (with one concerning Lake Titicaca to possibly link themselves to the Wari). The creator god, Viracocha, had created a race of shadowy people but was displeased with them so turned them to stone. He then emerged from Lake Titicaca where he created the sun, moon and the first humans. It was also stated that he was the ancestor/father to Manco Capac. The sun god Inti, however, was most revered where in some stories he is the father of Manco Capac. It is believed that the worship of Inti above all was put forward by Pachakuti. 

Religion varied for the aristocracy and commoners. For one, commoners could not utter the name Viracocha. Rituals were vital for everyone and were recorded on a lunar calendar of 354 days although the elite used a precise solar calendar to link with Inti. Temples were important centers, especially the temple for Inti in Cuzco called Qorikancha, where thousands congregated to observe sunrises and sunsets. Sacrifice was done but this was largely a sacrifice of maize or a llama. Human sacrifice did occur but in many areas figurines made of silver, good or wood were used. Here we see a difference between the Mexica and the Inka. For the Mexica humanity was in debt so repaid the debt via blood sacrifice; for the Inka this was not present and veneration of ancestors was more prevalent. Mummification was common for the ruling elite, especially for emperors. For commoners religious worship was common with many praying daily to household gods. Pregnant women offered more in sacrifice to ensure that her baby would survive, (curious side note Inkan children weren't referred to as a human until age 2/3 due to high infant mortality rate and not given a gender specific name until age 7). 

Economy

An Inkan terrace for farming

At the start I mentioned that the Inkas have sometimes been described as being communist or socialist. The reason for this is that the Inkas didn't have markets or currency. While in Mexico the Spanish spoke often of the markets being blown away by them; in Peru they make no mention of them. Instead of a market economy the economy was ran through reciprocity. In exchange for corvee labor, military obligations and taxes in the form of crops or textiles people would be supplied with food during hard times, feasts, and projects terraces. Although bartering did occur most of the economy was ran via reciprocity. The Inkas were famous for their precious metals like gold and silver. How then did this fit into the Inkan world? The value of goods depended on their role in the system of social relationships and rituals. Gold and silver were needed for ceremony which formed the backbone of society. Hence these precious metals became important in society.

Conquest

Depiction of the Conquest

In less than a hundred years since the formation of Tawantinsuyu under Pachakuti the empire fell to invaders from another world. In 1492 Christopher Columbus brought the Americas to the attention of Europe. In the 1520s Wayna Qhapaq was consolidating his northernmost conquests in the far north, (modern Columbia and Ecuador). While there he heard stories of strangers being spotted. In 1521 Hernan Cortes had destroyed the Triple Alliance, (Aztec Empire), in Mexico. The Spanish Empire had been building an empire in the Americas bringing with it explorers and colonists but more importantly disease. Smallpox had devastated the people of Mesoamerica and the disease would spread across the Americas killing thousands if not millions in something called the Great Dying. Tawantinsuyu was no exception. Before they met the Spanish they encountered their diseases-measles, influenza and smallpox-and lacking resistance to the disease thousands died in the Inkan Empire. Wayna Qhapaq and his designated heir both succumbed to one of the diseases sometime between 1524 and 1528 causing a succession war. While this was happening a conquistador named Francisco Pizarro in 1524 had attempted to find a rich 'tribe', (and tried again in 1525), and in 1530/1 he made landfall at Tumbas in northern Peru. In 1532 with 150 men on foot and horse he set off to meet one of the brothers in the succession war, Atawallpa. Like Cortes in Mexico he recruited locals who had opposed Atawallpa. On November 15, 1532 they arrived at Atawallpa's temporary capital of Cajamarca where Pizarro's secretary commented that the city was 'larger than any city in Spain'. Atawallpa greeted them warmly but Pizarro feared that he would betray them so conspired to kidnap the emperor. They met with Atawallpa demanding that he accept Christianity and that he submit to the Spanish king. Due to translation errors the emperor threw a Bible which the Spanish used as a provocation to attack. It was a massacre leaving hundreds of Atawallpa's men dead. The emperor was captured but he had a chance to be released: he had to fill a room full of gold and twice that of silver. He did but Pizarro would not let him go. When the other brother was assassinated the Spanish used this as an excuse to blame Atawallpa and used it to execute him in 1533. Over the next thirty-five years the Spanish began a bloody genocide against the Inka. Atawallpa's nephew, Tupac Amaru, was leading the resistance against them until 1572 when he was captured and executed.

Although many died in fighting more were killed thanks to diseases including typhus, smallpox and influenza. Between 60 and 90% of the Inkan population died thanks to European diseases. Already broken thanks to disease and civil war the conquest was easy for the Spanish. With thousands dead through disease by the time of Tupac Amaru's death in 1572 nothing could bring back the Inkas.

Conclusion

The Inka remain a key point in South American history. Often overlooked their brief empire offered a way to unite a huge swath of land, (just 1000 km smaller than Alexander the Great's empire). With a unique writing system and an economic system which can be easily described as communistic the Inkas are a key point in history. Their legacy is also important. Their usage of Quechua spread the language so much that it is the official language of several countries, including Peru. Several sites including the roads and Machu Picchu are UNESCO World Heritage Sites showing their importance. Finally the leader of a Peruvian independence movement in the late eighteenth-century changed his name to be named after Tupac Amaru who resisted the Spanish years earlier. They may have been a short-lived society but they left a huge impact. Next time we will look closer at the Great Dying as well as other aspects of European colonialism.

Thank you for reading and the sources I have used are as follows:

-The Incas by Craig Morris and Adriana von Hagen

-The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by Pedro de Cieza de Leon, (translated by Alexandra Parma Cook and Noble David Cook)

-The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru by Nigel Davies

-Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas by Louis Baudin, (translated by Winifred Bradford)

-'Andean Societies before 1532' by John Murra, in The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 1: Colonial Latin America edited by Leslie Bethell

-1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

-'South America on the eve of European Conquest' in The Times Complete History of the World edited by Richard Overy

For other World History posts please see here. Please like our Facebook page and follow me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave any comments and I'll see you at the next World History post when we discuss colonialism.

DC's First Comic

The DC logos until today

Even non-comic book fans know DC comics. Alongside Marvel it is the largest comic book company in at least the English speaking world giving us characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and my personal favorite of Batman. For decades this company has dominated the world of comic books and pulp fiction. How then did DC comics start? To answer this question we must go back to 1935...

The World of 1935

What would become DC comics came about in 1935 in a time when the world was in crisis. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash had plunged the world economy into crisis leading to the Great Depression. In the United States over 20% of the workforce became unemployed and in Germany it stood at 25%. The only country to be largely unaffected was the Soviet Union who had become a social pariah in a capitalist world. In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president and he began a program named the 'New Deal' which redefined the American left and began lifting the USA out of Depression, (although it would take until American entry into the Second World War for the economy to recover). Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia the far-right was taking over. Imperial Japan started to become ultra-nationalist and in 1937 would reinvade China, the Kuomintang in China drifted towards fascism under Chiang Kai-shek, Italy under Mussolini hoping to rebuild the Roman Empire invaded Ethiopia in 1935 committing horrible atrocities, and in 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. In 1935 he would start German rearmament in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and would pass the Nuremberg Laws which stripped German Jews of their rights. 1935 also saw the friendship ruining game Monopoly being released by the Parker Brothers and in I Haven't Got a Hat Porky Pig made his debut. It was in this setting that comic book history was made.

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

The man who made comic book history

Who would have thought that a former army major would shape comic book history so much? The man pictured, (while in his army uniform sometime in the 1890s), is Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. He had written an open letter criticizing army command causing him to face a lawsuit and even being shot, something which his family described as being down to the army attempting to assassinate him. After resigning in 1923 he began writing pulp stories in Adventure and Argosy writing about historical and military adventure stories. He even acted as a ghost writer for six novels for Street and Smith Publications. In 1925 he first stepped into the comic book industry by founding Wheeler-Nicholson Inc. which published a daily comic-strip adaptation of Treasure Island. Then came the Depression. With the economy in tatters Wheeler-Nicholson had to find a way to keep things a float and Famous Funnies seemed to be the answer. In 1933 Famous Funnies published what can be seen as the very first comic book. Instead of just comic-strips this new comic book offered many comics in one for just 10 cents. The next year Famous Funnies became regularly sold with the first issue offering 100 comics and games for just 10 cents. Cash strapped people bought this book by the thousands. The equivalent today would be a company selling the seven main Harry Potter books for $10. Although Wheeler-Nicholson didn't realize that the comic's success also made the company go over four grand in the red he saw dollar signs. In 1934 National Allied Publishing was founded and the next year New Fun #1 was published.

New Fun #1

The First Comic

New Fun would act like Famous Funnies where Wheeler-Nicholson would reprint famous or at least somewhat popular comic-strips in a book format. It was subtitled 'The Big Comic Magazine' as it was literally larger than the competition at 25.4 x 38.1 cm (10 x 15 inches). In this one issue there were several stories including the cowboy Jack Woods fighting cattle rustlers (depicted on the cover), Super-Police fighting crime in 2023, Native Americans attacking a band moving West, and some kids being sent to Ancient Egypt by a crystal ball just to name a few stories. All these would be brief, one page, and would continue in the next issue. However, Wheeler-Nicholson was at a disadvantage. Although he wanted to reprint famous comic-strips he couldn't: licensing was expensive and many of the famous strips were already being licensed by Famous Funnies. Although later they did manage to publish a story involving Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; the character Walt Disney made before Mickey. Not only that but New Fun could only afford color on the front while Famous Funnies could afford color throughout. It would take until issue three for it to have color on the inside. New Fun did pioneer something though which would revolutionize comic book history. Wheeler-Nicholson, to save money, got people to write original stories so he didn't have to pay the expensive licensing costs. Although they were comic-strips they served as a landmark in comics as they were original stories. Issue one came out in February and in October, with issue six, something important happened: DC's first super hero was introduced.

DC's First Character

Issue Six

On first glance New Fun #6 appeared to be like the five preceding comics. Several of the stories featured happened to be 'part 6' of the ones from the first issue. For this issue a pair named Jerry Siegel (the writer) and Joe Shuster (the artist) were hired to write two stories. The first was 'Henri Duval, Famed Soldier of Fortune' went on to appear in in only four installments. Their second story, written under pseudonym, was 'Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective'. In this story the titular hero and his assistant, Rose Psychic, attempt to save a man and his wife from a vampire. Those who know their DC comics will understand the significance of this. For those who don't Dr. Occult and Rose Psychic regularly feature in stories to this day, and are DC's 'superheroes'. Siegel and Shuster went on though to write an even more important character.

Siegel's and Shuster's Second Character

By 1937 with the Depression still ravaging the world economy Wheeler-Nicholson was going under despite owning two titles, More Fun Comics, (formerly New Fun), and New Adventure Comics, and he couldn't afford to create his desired third. He wanted a title devoted to detective stories and mysteries after seeing the success of the Green Hornet and the Phantom but neither of his titles could accommodate them. He turned to his distributor Harry Donenfeld who helped get Detective Comics #1 released as well as forming Detective Comics Inc. Still Wheeler-Nicholson was not seeing profits so by the end of the year he was forced out. Donenfeld's business adviser Jack Liebowitz was eager to buy Wheeler-Nicholson's shares saying that 'I had a feel for it [comic books], that it was a good field'. While this was happening Siegel and Shuster were continuing to write comics. They had a love for science-fiction and started implementing it into their comics. In More Fun Comics #15 they had Dr. Occult don a blue costume and red cape to resemble a character which they had pitched years earlier. This character was a bald-headed, cape-wearing powerful alien trying to dominate the world but their plan had been rejected. In 1938 Detective Comics Inc. bought More Fun Comics and New Adventure Comics with many of the writers/artists coming with them. Siegel and Shuster were hired to write a story for the new title, Action Comics, and they decided to bring back their old character. However, they changed him. Instead of a villain he would be hero. As Siegel and Shuster were Jews in a time of intense hatred to not only Jews but other minorities including African-Americans and Asian-Americans they decided to make this character an alien. That way minorities could see themselves as this character, another minority. In fact, the subtitle for this story was 'Champion of the Oppressed'. Although other stories were featured alongside it Siegel's and Shuster's story was granted the cover page. Thus the world was introduced to the Superman.

The Arrival of Superman

From there DC produced more and more memorable characters. A year after Superman's debut the world was introduced to the Batman. However the last words of Superman's debut story would reverberate in the history of pop culture: And so begins the adventures of the most sensational strip character of all time.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this. For future posts please see our Facebook or follow me on Twitter @LewisTwiby