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Comic Books (Golden Age)

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charleshatfield

There are different ways to define comics, including formalist and sociocultural approaches. Formalist definitions focus on artistic elements like panels, word balloons, and sequencing, while sociocultural definitions examine historical and social contexts. Some definitions combine both approaches. The way comics are defined shapes the histories that are constructed, such as whether comics originate in 15th century mass reproduction or 19th century American newspaper strips.

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Ways of defining comics: Formalist: through analysis of comics various formal components, e.g., the panel, the panel sequence, the word balloon Sociocultural: through analysis of historical relations (e.g., comic strips in relation to newspapers, comics in relation to animation), social functions (comics as Pop culture), marketing & reception (e.g., who reads them?) As Delany argues, comics may be seen as social objects
Some definitions may combine formalist & sociocultural features: Waugh calls for not only image sequencing and word balloons but also recognizable continuing characters that can be branded & merchandised Kunzle calls for image sequencing and the dominance of image over text, but also topical content, a popular idiom and mass reproduction for popular consumption
Specific definitions shape (even enable) specific histories: By Waughs definition, comics originate in the commercial comic strips of the late 19 th to early 20 th century By Kunzles, comics originate in the 15 th century with mass reproduction (e.g., broadsheets) By McClouds, comics are as old as narrative art, perhaps as old as art itself
Different ways of defining comics: Formalist / aesthetic: through analysis of comics various formal components, e.g., the panel, the panel sequence, the word balloon Sociocultural: historical, sociological, ideological, economic, etc.
Competing histories of comics: The Americanist: locates the origins of comics in the American comic strips of the 1880s-1890s, particularly in the rise of popular continuing characters (Outcaults Yellow Kid in 1895) Some call this view the Yellow Kid thesis
Competing histories of comics: The T 旦 pfferian: locates the origins of comics in the comic albums of Swiss author-artist Rodolphe T 旦 pffer (c. 1820s to 1840s), e.g., Histoire de Mr. Vieux-Bois (1839), trans. as The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck This more Eurocentric view has been adopted by many scholars, including, increasingly, many Americans
The dawn of the weekly (later daily) American comic strip: WHERE: New York City in the 1890s, multiethnic metropolis, crucible of modern America, home to many immigrants and first-generation Americans and site of fierce economic competition among newspaper publishers HOW: By pioneering cartoonists such as R. F. Outcault, Rudolph Dirks, Fred Opper, James Swinnerton, George Herriman, Winsor McCay, and George Herriman

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Comic Books (Golden Age)

  • 1. Ways of defining comics: Formalist: through analysis of comics various formal components, e.g., the panel, the panel sequence, the word balloon Sociocultural: through analysis of historical relations (e.g., comic strips in relation to newspapers, comics in relation to animation), social functions (comics as Pop culture), marketing & reception (e.g., who reads them?) As Delany argues, comics may be seen as social objects
  • 2. Some definitions may combine formalist & sociocultural features: Waugh calls for not only image sequencing and word balloons but also recognizable continuing characters that can be branded & merchandised Kunzle calls for image sequencing and the dominance of image over text, but also topical content, a popular idiom and mass reproduction for popular consumption
  • 3. Specific definitions shape (even enable) specific histories: By Waughs definition, comics originate in the commercial comic strips of the late 19 th to early 20 th century By Kunzles, comics originate in the 15 th century with mass reproduction (e.g., broadsheets) By McClouds, comics are as old as narrative art, perhaps as old as art itself
  • 4. Different ways of defining comics: Formalist / aesthetic: through analysis of comics various formal components, e.g., the panel, the panel sequence, the word balloon Sociocultural: historical, sociological, ideological, economic, etc.
  • 5. Competing histories of comics: The Americanist: locates the origins of comics in the American comic strips of the 1880s-1890s, particularly in the rise of popular continuing characters (Outcaults Yellow Kid in 1895) Some call this view the Yellow Kid thesis
  • 6. Competing histories of comics: The T 旦 pfferian: locates the origins of comics in the comic albums of Swiss author-artist Rodolphe T 旦 pffer (c. 1820s to 1840s), e.g., Histoire de Mr. Vieux-Bois (1839), trans. as The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck This more Eurocentric view has been adopted by many scholars, including, increasingly, many Americans
  • 7. The dawn of the weekly (later daily) American comic strip: WHERE: New York City in the 1890s, multiethnic metropolis, crucible of modern America, home to many immigrants and first-generation Americans and site of fierce economic competition among newspaper publishers HOW: By pioneering cartoonists such as R. F. Outcault, Rudolph Dirks, Fred Opper, James Swinnerton, George Herriman, Winsor McCay, and George Herriman