Cartoons, a small daily pleasure. I have a collection of my favorite cartoons most of which I used as a teacher. Cartoons are wonderful; they can make you smile in four frames or think in one frame as in political cartoons. And in past years cartoons have become controversial and even dangerous for the cartoonist, but not a subject I will write about today.
My focus is past favorites and my all-time favorite is Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, who retired some years ago but is still in print in book collections. I have always marveled at his drawing ability which not all cartoonists have. The example here is Calvin, a very precocious little boy in a Sam Spade daydream drawn in a typical film noir setting, dark shadows and unusual angles. As he daydreams in class he is supposed to be finishing a test, but it's more fun to be a detective. I have several Calvin books bought used at Amazon, kids love reading them.
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Gary Larsen, of The Far Side Fame, is also not publishing his work anymore, except in greeting cards, sold mostly at car washes. His forte was humanizing animals with satirical comments and was the "Saturday Night Live" of cartoonists. Peanuts by Charles Schultz, is another classic.
Paul Conrad, of the Los Angeles Times, was an outstanding political cartoonist, and excellent artist from years ago. Garry Trudeau writes a four- frame cartoon, "Doonsbury," which is more political than most. My favorites from today are: Lu Ann by Greg Evans, Funky Winkerbean and Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers. And there are many more, past and present.
But sadly, I see the demise of the hometown newspaper. Here in Denver, we only have one, The Denver Post, and it is getting slimmer and slimmer as more columnists are eliminated and features are shortened.
As a kid, one of my fondest memories is of reading the Sunday funnies spread out on the living room floor.
How do you see the future of cartoons? More Anime like Japan? Everything on the internet? On IPad? And do you have favorites?
Thank you for your sweet comment! I've replied to it on my blog, I loved hearing about your impression of Scandinavia :)
ReplyDeleteI love cartoons, I still flip over the newspaper when I get it to find the cartoons on the back! They never get old :) I'm following your lovely blog now, this was a great post. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's!
Nikki – inspire nordic
Thanks, Nikki. I have so much to learn on the technical aspects of posting, etc. The fun is really reading other people's blogs. I had so many cartoons to illustrate my story, but. . .oh well.
DeleteI've heard that newspapers are going to be exclusively digital within the next 6 yrs. I am afraid that will eliminate most cartoons and that makes me sad. I always read the Sunday cartoons and it's what my kids fight over to read first now.
ReplyDeleteAs I too believe newspapers are on the way out, it naturally means cartoons are also on their way too. 'Bout the only ones I ever see are on Facebook these days.
ReplyDeleteI take it from the name of your blog that you are a Lewis Carroll fan - my father was and taught me to be as well. So what happened to the sealing wax?
Hi Jo: I guess I wanted to jazz up my blog with a more "with it" illustration. But I love Lewis Carroll and I did have a picture of the tea party on my blog. LC was a fascinating man and really reflected the Victorian era and the fact that he was a "maths" man also intrigued me. I am following your blog.
ReplyDeleteI adore Calvin and Hobbes! I agree with Adena that cartoons will be all digital. In fact, my brother is working on his own digital comic strip, and he's attending a digital comic strip Con this weekend.
ReplyDeleteA new generation. How old is your brother. You could post a few samples of his work on one of the letters? Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI don't think cartoons will ever leave us. There will always be a need for that visual representation. It's just that they will be online instead. The Gazette is getting slimmer and slimmer, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm your co-host for the A-to-Z! If you didn't get an email from me the other day, it may have gone in your spam box. Please feel free to contact me via my profile or reply to that email if you need anything or have any questions.
Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z
I did get your email. Thank you for commenting on the Denver Post story. I will hop on your blog now--I have a question about your blog.
DeleteI loved reading Calvin and Hobbs when I was a kid. It was my favorite comic. I liked Ziggy, too. I'm not really into the comics they have these days. I just don't think they're very funny.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the Lu Ann strip. My other favorite was the Baby Blues one.
ReplyDeleteI remember every Sunday afternoon spreading out the comics page and reading it... or waiting for my sisters to finish reading it. We used to argue about who was the fastest reader and, therefore, got to read it first. :)
- Lauren @Word Art
It was always better if the comics came in two sections, less fighting with siblings. Funny how those simple things done in the past, stay in our minds.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteWe seriously considered naming our first born son Calvin after the beloved cartoon character but opted for Kevin instead. :)
I'm still a fan of For Better of Worse and I absolutely adore Zits by Jerry Scott. Jeremy is every 17 year old boy I know.
Stopping in via the A-Z blogging challenge.
Bev @ Blue Velvet Vincent
Isn't that true about Jeremy? Check out my blog when the "H" comes around, I will have a story you might like. Thanks for stopping.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite ...For Better or Worse. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Calvin and Hobbes. My other favourites are The Far Side and Dilbert. I used to love reading the colour comics on Sunday mornings.
ReplyDeleteI definitely, definitely have a favorite: http://www.teamdroid.com/img-2/weinburger-opus.jpg
ReplyDeleteWill be a Bloom County girl until, well ... whenever.
I remember reading lots of Peanuts, Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes. I agree with you on the newspaper-ours is seeming more and more . . . thin.
ReplyDeleteCartoons will never go out of fashion...
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your challenge run…
--Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
In Australia as a child, I loved reading The Phantom. I'm not sure how the publishing world in general s going--let alone comics.
ReplyDeleteComics have always been my favorite part of the newspaper! I especially loooooove Calvin and Hobbes! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI don't see comic strips going away, but they will probably migrate away from newspapers. The Internet and paperback collections are likely the future, but it'll be a trick to balance the transition, to try and find a new way to hook new readers when there's no longer a central place to find them anyone can stumble across. It may make comic strips better.
ReplyDeleteMy current favorite is Pearls Before Swine.
Pearls Before Swine is Good, very quirky sense of humor. Will have to look up where Stephen Pastis is from.
DeleteGrowing up I liked For Better or Worse, BC, and The Wizard of ID. I read them every day, even if I didn't quite understand the humor. Now I really enjoy Pearls Before Swine.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it seems like more and more content will be exclusively online, but with declining newspaper revenues and sales, how can you blame publishers for saving money where they can?
Wherever the content is, however, I think people will still be reading it.