It took place during the middle of 20th century:
During World War II, literally half the population, 70 million people, were reading comic books. I’d knew the numbers were high, but I didn’t know they had that kind of penetration, most of which I’d have to guess were due to the fact that superheroes were fighting the same war Americans were, and it was a war where people could feel unironically good about seeing mayhem perpetrated on the bad guys. Michael Chabon suggests in the documentary that G.I.s, in particular, wanted to read comics, but not superhero comics, because the superheroes didn’t seem relevant without a world war.
The Dish 