Comic Strip Stuff and Nonsense
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Gary Larson, The Far Side, and a murder mystery; Milton Caniff’s first Steve Canyon Sunday page deconstructed panel by panel; Jim Keefe goes back to The Joe Kubert School; Peanuts and Ford (but not the Falcon); a new Hogan’s Alley magazine on the horizon.
Gary Larson’s legendary Far Side cartoon contains a perfect conceit for a mystery
Appreciation for Gary Larson humor shows up in surprising place when Olivia Rutigliano showcases The Far Side cartoon for January 4, 1993, a Monday of course, for CrimeReads:
I think about this cartoon often, about how this conceit would make a perfect meta murder mystery, which of course is my favorite kind. Can you imagine? A murder at a Butler convention?
This cartoon contains one of the best exemplars of Far Side humor… the fact that the punchline is one degree removed from the joke of the whole conceit. It’s not an observation about the funny thing, it’s a remark that already absorbs and acknowledges the funny thing.
The First Steve Canyon Sunday Panel By Panel
Billie [Pickard-Pritchard] projected a slide of the Steve Canyon Sunday page on the screen and proceeded to go panel-by-panel, asking us what we could discern from both the images and text. It was an eye-opening experience for me, revealing Caniff’s full mastery of the art form. I adopted this exercise later on for my Graphic Narration classes at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. On the first day of class, we could go over Caniff’s final Terry and the Pirates Sunday page, panel-by-panel, without the text to begin with. We would look for whatever clues we could find regarding season, place, body language, etc. Then a couple of weeks later, we would go over this Steve Canyon page, panel-by-panel, focused as much on the text as the drawing. It goes something like this…
Comic art collector and historian Rob Stolzer deconstructs Milton Caniff‘s very first Steve Canyon Sunday page panel by panel examining script, layout, and art. Fascinating.
Jim Keefe Goes Back to School, The Joe Kubert School
This Friday (March 14th) I’ll be visiting Dover, New Jersey and stopping by the Kubert School before it moves to Madison, New Jersey in the fall.
Back when I went there (1986-89), the Joe Kubert School legitimized drawing comics and cartoons as a career.
Jim (Sally Forth, Flash Gordon) Keefe revisits his youth as a student of The Joe Kubert School.
All these years and I don’t remember ever seeing that Joe Kubert School sign.
An Under-Appreciated Wagon And A Peanuts Comic Strip
See that charming green wagon up there? Or, sorry, see that charming green estate car up there? I didn’t recognize what it was at first, because it happens to be a variant of a car that, in sedan form, has such a famous and well-known look, especially in profile, that it completely overshadows the other variants. Do you recognize the car?
It’s an Anglia! A Ford Anglia, from 1965 to be specific.
For some reason that Ford Anglis ad brought to Jason Torchinsky’s mind a Peanuts Sunday strip. Specifically the Peanuts comic strip from August 6, 1972.
Torchinsky reminisces for The Autopian.
When I associate cars with Peanuts it is also a Ford, but a Falcon not an Anglia:
Hogan’s Alley #24 ready for pre-order
Place your order now for a copy of the long-awaited Hogan’s Alley #24, which features a fascinating history of Tijuana bibles, a look at little-known aspects of “Peanuts” and Charles Schulz, an exploration of the very first superhero, the comics career of Laurel and Hardy, Bob Hope’s side gig in comic books, and so much more. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this issue!
Preorder Hogan’s Alley #24 (print edition)
I can’t think of a better way to spend some money than on an issue of Hogan’s Alley! Well, maybe one:
A four-issue subscription to Hogan’s Alley
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