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Collecting Comic Art ..... Part Two |
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When Hearst hired Outcault away from Pulitzer, a great legal battle ensued. From this debacle,the term "Yellow Journalism" emerged. Other phrases in the American vocabulary have their origins in the strips as well. "Happy Hooligan" by Frederic Burr Opper was about a bumbling, unlucky idiot whose antics were so ridiculous that parents constantly reminded their rascally children not to be "hooligans". |
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There have also been a plethora of contributions from comic strips that have enhanced American culture. Winsor McCay; the creator of "Little Nemo"; was also the creator of the animated cartoon, and his "Gertie the Dinosaur" was a major stepping stone in the development of cartoons. It was also a great personal feat for McCay. "Gertie" was made so that she could "appear" with McCay on the vaudeville stage, and there was interaction between them. Video tapes of their mutual performance exhibit McCay's great talent. Many comic characters made the transition to Movies and Radio. Some of the most memorable films of the thirties were the "Flash Gordon" & "Dick Tracy" serials. "Batman" & "Superman" were brought to the silver screen in the 1940's, and one of the longest running film series were the "Blondie" films which were made from 1938 through the forties. It is this depiction of Blondie & Dagwood that stands as the epitomical image of the strip. |
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Collecting tastes vary as widely as the comics themselves. Some collect Humor strips while other collect comic book pages & not comic strips & still others collect adventure strips & comic pages.From Krazy Kat & Flash Gordon to Superman & Archie, there are ardent collectors in every area. One more reason to collect is the potential investment value which has only become prevalent in more recent years, particularly as the prices of art escalate in value, and as the artform becomes more widely acknowledged by the art community. |
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His Tarzan pages from 1933 and 1934 are much more in demand than later pages because his interest in doing the strip waned, and his work on the art in this period (1935-1937) is not nearly as consistent as his earlier or later work. This inconsistency leads to some pages with downright badly drawn panels. Another artist whose changing style reflects collector interest is Alex Raymond. His Flash Gordon originals of 1935 to 1939 are very impressive. Flash Gordon was introduced on January 7, 1934. Alex, a young cartoonist at age 24, had previously assisted Lyman Young & his brother Chic on "Tim Tylers Luck" & "Blondie" respectively. When the strip began, along with it's companion strip Jungle Jim, the art was crude - almost pedestrian. As Alex' talent progressed, the bold brush-strokes became elegant & free flowing. By the middle of 1935, he had developed a sensual, dry-brush style that influenced many of his contemporaries, including Phil Davis' "Mandrake"; Ray Moore's "the Phantom"; and comic artists Lou Fine and Wayne Boring. |
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Others prefer his Rip Kirby, which appeared from 1946 until his death in 1956 (and still appears by John Prentice). With Rip Kirby, he introduced a new style some classify "photo-realistic", and this style inspired a new group of artists that included Al Williamson, the legendary Frank Frazetta, Leonard Starr & Stan Drake. Rip Kirby art also sells for a fraction of his earlier work, and this makes it a much more attractive way for some to collect Raymond when they are unable to spend thousands of dollars for a single piece by him. It is universally agreed that Raymond & Foster were the two greatest "adventure" strip artists ever. I prefer Foster. Someone else prefers Raymond. They are the best. |
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On a visual level, the imagery is no less bizarre than the plot is simple. Constantly metamorphosing backgrounds, coupled with the interjections of American Indian symbols & south-west American landscapes splashed with generous portions of india ink create a breath taking experience with every look. One character that has certainly become a legend is Popeye. Classified as a humor strip by most, it is actually a baroque image of an adventure strip. Packed with cynic sarcasm, it is probably the most hilarious strip ever. Introduced into the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip in 1929, Popeye had a rather inauspicious debut when Castor Oyl, eyeing & in need of a sailor, asks Popeye "Are you a sailor?" Popeye, dressed in his usual garb retorts "Whadja think I'm a cowboy". The muscle-bound hero is anything but one of the "palookas" (another comicism) that he dispatches regularly after warning them "Milk an' spinach has gimme the strenk' of two elephinks" and "Better be careful. I might take a notion to hit ya". Hounded by the homely but hard-to-get "Olive Oyl",and constantly accosted by his friend (one of the Jones boys) "J.Wellington Wimpy" to the tune of "I will gladly pay you Tuesday..for a hamburger today", Popeye slugs his way through life with Olive on one arm & a can of spinach on the other, and with Olive's nephew "Swea Pea" crawling behind. One of the most enduring characters from the strip was made more so by the cartoons of the 1930's & 40's than by the strip itself. Bluto, Popeye's arch rival, appeared in only one episode in the papers in 1932. A peak sequence has brutish bully Bluto threatening to kill Popeye the next day. The spinach eating seaman then prays on hands & knees "Please give Bluto strenk to stan' up & fight good, or else I'll knock him out from in between his ears the first pop"!!! Well blow me down........ When it comes to comics, one of the best is Joe Kubert. Heavily influenced by such greats as Foster, Raymond, Eisner & Noel Sickles; Kubert has one of the most visceral styles introduced to the medium. His "Hawkman" and his "Sgt.Rock" are two of the stand out creations of the comic book. Sgt. Rock in particular, is renowned for the realistic approach it brought to the comics concerning the war theme. A famous story is "What's the Color of Blood" which dealt with racism on the battlefield. Soldiers frequently occupied the slots on the letters pages, acknowledging the realistic stories. |
A Pictorial History of Sequential Art from Cave painting to Spider-Man The History of Comic Art A Chronological History of Comic Art in America This site created & maintained by Graffix Multimedia ©1992-2006 |