The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic HistoryUniv. Press of Mississippi, 1994 - 252 sivua The comic strip was created by rival newspapers of the Hearst and the Pulitzer organizations as a device for increasing circulation. In the United States it quickly became an institution that soon spread worldwide as a favorite form of popular culture. What made the comic strip so enduring? This fascinating study by one of the few comics critics to develop sound critical principles by which to evaluate the comics as works of art and literature unfolds the history of the funnies and reveals the subtle art of how the comic strip blends words and pictures to make its impact. Together, these create meaning that neither conveys by itself. The Art of The Funnies offers a critical vocabulary for the appreciation of the newspaper comic strip as an art form and shows that full awareness of the artistry comes from considering both the verbal and the visual elements of the medium. The techniques of creating a comic strip - breaking down the narrative, composition of the panel, planning the layout - have remained constant since comic strips were originated. Since 1900 with Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland key cartoonists have relied on the union of words and pictures to give the funnies their continuing appeal. This art has persisted in such milestone achievements as Bud Fisher's Mutt and Jeff, George McManus's Bringing Up Father, Sidney Smith's The Gumps, Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie, Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Zack Mosley's Smilin' Jack, Harold Foster's Tarzan, Alex Raymond's Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim, and Flash Gordon, Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, E. C. Segar's Popeye, George Herriman's Krazy Kat, and Walt Kelly's Pogo. In morerecent times with Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey, Charles Schulz's Peanuts. Johnny Hart's B.C., T.K. Ryan's Tumbleweeds, Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury, and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, the artform has evolved with new developments, yet the aesthetics of the funnies remain basic. The Art of The Funnies unearths new information and weighs the influence of syndication upon the medium. Though the funnies go in ever new directions, perceiving the interdependency of words and pictures, as this book shows, remains the key to understanding the art. |
Sisältö
The Aesthetics of the Comics A Preamble through History and Form | 3 |
Somnambulist of a Vanished Dream Winsor McCays Exploration of the Mediums Potential | 21 |
Establishing the Daily Comic Strip The Thematic Choruses of Bud Fisher and George McManus | 35 |
Continuity and Syndication The Popularity and Proliferation of Comic Strips | 60 |
A Flourish of Trumpets Roy Crane and the Adventure Strip | 70 |
The Captain and the Comics How a Noncartoonist Shaped the Medium | 92 |
Exoticism Made Real The Advent of Illustrators | 116 |
Redefining the Art Milton Caniff and Terry and the Dragon Lady | 138 |
What This Country Needed Was a Good Segar Popeye and the Great Depression | 159 |
Peddlers and Poets The Lyric Clowns Who Captivated the Intelligentsia | 171 |
Of Infinite Jest The Dawn of the Modern Comic Strip | 202 |
Meanwhile An Ending to Begin With | 239 |
Muita painoksia - Näytä kaikki
Yleiset termit ja lausekkeet
achieved adventure strip American animated Annie appeared artist artwork Beetle Bailey began blending brick Bud Fisher Calvin Calvin and Hobbes Captain cartoonist cartoons characters Charlie Brown Chicago circulation comedy comic strip continuity strip Copyright Crane create daily strips Dick Tracy Doonesbury Dragon Lady drawing drawn drew editors Figure Fisher Flash Gordon funny gag strips girl Gould graphic Gray Gumps Hearst hero Herriman Hobbes humor Ignatz illustrative Jiggs Kelly Kelly's King Features Syndicate KNOW Krazy Kat last panel later look Maggie McCay McCay's McManus medium ment Milton Caniff Mosley Mutt and Jeff Mutt's narrative never newspaper once paper Patterson Peanuts Pogo Popeye popular punch line Raymond readers realistic satire says scene Schulz Segar sequence Smith speech balloons story storytelling style Sunday suspense Tarzan tell Terry thing tion toonists Tribune ture verbal visual visual-verbal Walker Walt Walt Kelly WANT Wash Tubbs week York