Comics

Article Outline

Introduction; Origins; Newspaper Comic Strips; Comic Books; Current Trends

1910s and 1920s

In the second and third decades of the 20th century, comics began to flower as an art form. Cartoonist George Herriman ushered in a new era in American comics with “Krazy Kat,” which first appeared on newspaper pages as part of another strip in 1910 and became a separate strip in 1913. The strip revolved around three characters: Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse, and Offissa Pupp (a bulldog). Krazy loved Ignatz, but the mouse did not return the feelings and threw bricks at Krazy. Offissa Pupp, a police officer, was constantly putting Ignatz in jail. “Krazy Kat” was especially noted for its innovative artistic style and its use of shifting, abstract backgrounds.

Many comic strips of this era reflected the social changes of the time. For example, in 1912, as the women’s suffrage movement gained strength, Cliff Sterrett created “Polly and Her Pals,” a comic strip about an independent woman. George McManus’s work reflected immigrant and ethnic themes, such as in “Bringing Up Father” (1913), which chronicled the life of an Irish immigrant worker and his social-climbing wife. In 1914 Harry Hershfield created the strip “Abie the Agent,” about a middle-class Jewish businessman. By appealing to adult readers, these features helped broaden the audience for comic strips.

Another unique comic of the era that appealed mostly to adults was “The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts” (1914), created by Rube Goldberg. Goldberg’s work featured wildly complex and ingenious contraptions rigged to fulfill what were often trivial purposes, such as turning on a light. The phrase “a Rube Goldberg device” has become a part of the American lexicon, referring to anything that is unnecessarily intricate or complex.

The growth of the comic strip industry in the late 1910s was greatly helped by the syndication of comic strips. In journalism, syndication is the contracting for the publication of the same piece of work in multiple newspapers. The business practice was made possible by the formation of newspaper syndicates such as King Features, founded in 1914. While the major newspaper chains still hired and featured their own comic strip artists, syndication allowed small-town newspapers to run daily comic strips relatively inexpensively by purchasing them from the syndicates, who employed their own cartoonists.

1930s to Mid-1940s

In the 1930s adventure and action strips dominated the comic strip form. The first example of this type appeared as early as 1906, with “Hairbreadth Harry,” the first strip that did not have a distinct ending each week. Instead, the strip introduced a suspense situation, which forced readers to wait until the next appearance of the strip to discover how events turned out. The cliffhanger, as the final panel of impending danger was called, became an essential element of adventure comic strips.

The adventure trend truly began in 1929 when two major comic strips of this type were introduced. One was “Buck Rogers,” a science-fiction strip about a military man and his adventures in the 25th century. The other was “Tarzan,” which was based on the jungle tales of American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and drawn exceptionally well by Harold Foster and, later, Burne Hogarth. In 1931 Chester Gould created the first detective strip, “Dick Tracy,” which became a model for similar comics and featured hard-hitting stories on contemporary themes such as Prohibition. In 1934 Alex Raymond produced three strips of international renown: “Secret Agent X-9,” “Jungle Jim,” and “Flash Gordon.” Of these, “Flash Gordon” is perhaps the most famous, following the adventures of a space traveler as he battles evildoers such as Ming the Merciless, emperor of the planet Mongo.

Other action-adventure strips became hugely successful during this era. One long-lasting strip was Foster’s “Prince Valiant” (1937), which incorporated themes of Arthurian legend and described the exploits of one of the knights of the Round Table. Other well-known strips of the time included Milton Caniff’s “Terry and the Pirates” (1934) and Frank Godwin’s “Connie,” which began in 1927 as a conventional daughter-of-the-house strip but evolved into an adventure strip in the 1930s. Another adventure strip starring a woman, Dalia (Dale) Messick’s “Brenda Starr” (1940), featured an intrepid reporter. Two other important action-adventure strips of this period were created by Lee Falk: “Mandrake the Magician” (1934) and “The Phantom” (1936).

Despite the dominance of these action strips, popular humorous comics also appeared in the late 1920s and 1930s. Popeye the Sailor, famous for his reliance on spinach to make him strong, debuted in “Thimble Theater” in 1929. In 1930 Chic Young created “Blondie,” which featured a typical American suburban family: Blondie, her husband Dagwood, and (eventually) their children Alexander and Cookie. Over time, the changes in “Blondie” have reflected social changes, especially among women, as Blondie has evolved from a flapper (a term used to describe fun-loving fashionable women in the 1920s and 1930s) to a housewife to an entrepreneur with her own business.

Another successful humor strip was “Li’l Abner,” which Al Capp debuted in 1934. The strip depicted small-town life and featured many memorable characters, including Li’l Abner himself, his wife Daisy Mae, his parents Mammy and Pappy Yokum, and the detective Fearless Fosdick. Another character from the strip was Sadie Hawkins, and from her fictional attempts to catch a husband comes the modern tradition of Sadie Hawkins Day, when girls take the initiative and ask boys out. The Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse was successfully adapted from the movie screen to the comics in 1930, and Donald Duck followed in 1936. Another gently humorous newspaper comic strip that proved popular was “Archie” (1947), which focused on a group of high school students and their daily lives. The “Archie” characters first appeared in another format—comic books—beginning in 1941.

During World War II (1939-1945), many comic strip artists created heroes who served in the armed services, and war themes dominated the stories. The two most noteworthy strips were Roy Crane’s “Buz Sawyer” (1943) and Frank Robbin’s “Johnny Hazard” (1944). Another strip that came out shortly after the war, “Steve Canyon” (1947) by Milton Caniff, starred a United States Air Force colonel.

Late 1940s and 1950s

After World War II ended, the trend in comics moved toward strips that dealt thoughtfully with intellectual questions. The forerunner was Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” (1948), a strip with animals as the main characters, but that nonetheless dealt with some of the major social, political, and moral questions of the times. Charles Schulz, whose “Peanuts” strip (1950) became one of the most beloved and successful comics ever, created such characters as Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, his dog Snoopy, the bird Woodstock, and friends Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Peppermint Patty. These characters—all of them children or animals—dealt with the trials of life using penetrating humor and insight, reflecting on issues such as self-worth, unrequited love, and the pursuit of happiness. “Peanuts” was turned into a series of popular animated television specials beginning in the 1960s.

Other strips that broadened the editorial voice of the comics included Jules Feiffer’s eponymous “Feiffer” (1956), a weekly strip featuring a nameless modern dancer who served as the artist’s voice for social and political issues of the times; Mell Lazarus’s “Miss Peach” (1957), set in a school; and Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” (1958), which explored human nature with cavemen and cavewomen who have modern sensibilities.

Another notable development of this period was the soap-opera strip. Such comics concentrated on relationships and typically featured more conversation than action. One of the earliest such strips was “Mary Worth” (1940; begun as “Apple Mary” in 1934). Later followed soap-opera strips such as “Rex Morgan, M.D.” (1948) and “On Stage” (1957). Traditional humor also remained popular, with creations such as Mort Walker’s “Beetle Bailey” (1950), featuring a hapless private in the United States Army; “Hi and Lois” (1954), also created by Walker, about a traditional suburban family; and Hank Ketcham’s “Dennis the Menace” (1951), about a young boy constantly finding his way into trouble.

1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s and early 1970s, fewer comic strips of lasting popularity appeared, but there were some exceptions. “The Wizard of Id” (1964), by Johnny Hart and Brant Parker, had a medieval setting and featured an insecure king. “Wee Pals” (1965) by Morrie Turner, one of the first successful black cartoonists, was a pioneer in featuring a multicultural cast of characters—in this case, a group of schoolchildren. “Broom Hilda” (1970), by Russ Myers, used a humorous witch as its main character.

The political turmoil of the 1960s and early 1970s proved fertile ground for a young cartoonist named Garry Trudeau. His strip “Doonesbury” (1970) focused on a group of college-aged friends but also provided commentary on real people and political events. Frequently controversial, “Doonesbury” became the first comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize, capturing the 1975 award for editorial cartooning. Other important comics included “Quincy” (1970), by Ted Shearer, starring an interracial group of children; “Zippy the Pinhead” (1970), an unconventional strip featuring the skewed observations and catch phrases of a clown. “Hägar the Horrible” (1973), by Dik Browne, focused on the adventures—both military and domestic—of a rotund Viking.

In the late 1970s, there was a strong resurgence of innovative humor strips. “Cathy” (1976), by Cathy Guisewite, chronicled the challenges that women face in the modern world. In 1977 the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Jeff McNelly created “Shoe,” a newsroom satire in which the assorted characters are different types of birds. In 1978 Jim Davis’s “Garfield,” a strip about a demanding cat and his befuddled master, made its first appearance. “For Better or for Worse” (1978), by Canadian Lynn Johnston, focused on the comical aspects of everyday family life. Unlike most cartoonists, Johnston has allowed the characters of her strip to age and even die.

1980s to the Present

The decade of the 1980s saw several new comic strips that explored the edges of the form both editorially and artistically. Berkeley Breathed’s “Bloom County” (1980) was an unconventional and satiric strip with a bizarre cast of characters, including Bill, a scrawny, addiction-prone cat; Opus, a lusty, self-obsessed penguin; Milo, a little boy who is a tabloid-style journalist; Oliver Wendell Jones, a young scientist and computer hacker; the neurotic Binky; and other assorted quirky animals and humans. Another very popular strip of the era was Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” (1985), about a hyperactive six-year-old and his tiger sidekick, a stuffed animal who only comes alive for the boy. The little boy’s frequent imaginary interactions with space aliens and dinosaurs allowed Watterson to produce extremely ambitious and creative strips, especially in the larger Sunday format. Other, more conventional strips that emerged during the decade included “Kudzu” (1981), “Sally Forth” (1982), and “Mother Goose and Grimm” (1984).

As the modern workplace became more technological, few strips reflected this change. One that did, Scott Adams’s “Dilbert” (1989), examined the trials and travails of corporate office workers and became a huge success. Another social trend that the comics slowly began to catch up with during this period was the rise in single-parent and nontraditional households. The strip “Stone Soup” (1995), by Jan Eliot, followed the lives of two sisters, one widowed and one divorced, who struggle to raise their children and maintain their sanity.

The late 1980s and 1990s saw an influx of black artists to the comics page. The strips “Curtis” (1988), “Herb & Jamaal” (1989), and “Jump Start” (1990) all emerged within a short time span and feature black characters in a variety of situations. In 1996 Aaron McGruder debuted “The Boondocks,” a sometimes-controversial comic strip about two black boys who have to adjust when they move from the city to live with their grandfather in the suburbs.

Other new strips in the 1990s could be construed as designed to fill in audience slots pertaining to specific family situations. Examples of this included “Baby Blues” (1990), about new parents; “Zits” (1997), about a teenage boy and his bewildered parents; and “Nest Heads” (1998), about a couple dealing with their grown children moving out. Occupying its own niche is “Mutts” (1994), a strip about two dogs and a cat in the tradition of “Krazy Kat.”

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1910s and 1920s

1930s to Mid-1940s

Late 1940s and 1950s

1960s and 1970s

1980s to the Present