Kid Comic Strips: A Genre Across Four Countries

101 Pages·2016·6.94 MB·English

by  Ian Gordon (auth.)

Palgrave Studies in Comics
and Graphic Novels
Series Editor
Roger Sabin
University of the Arts London
London
United Kingdom
ThisseriesconcernsComicsStudies—withacapital“c”andacapital“s.”
Itfeelsgoodtowriteitthatway.Fromemergingasafringeinterestwithin
LiteratureandMedia/CulturalStudiesdepartments,tobecomingaminor
field, to maturing into the fastest growing field in the Humanities, to
becominganascentdiscipline,thejourneyhasbeenahardbutspectacular
one. Thosecapital letters havebeen earned.
PalgraveStudiesinComicsandGraphicNovelscoversallaspectsofthe
comic strip, comic book, and graphic novel, explored through clear and
informative texts offering expansive coverage and theoretical sophistica-
tion. It is international in scope and provides a space in which scholars
from all backgrounds can present new thinking about politics, history,
aesthetics, production, distribution, and reception as well as the digital
realm. Books appear in one of two forms: traditional monographs of
60,000 to 90,000 words and shorter works (Palgrave Pivots) of 20,000
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new takes on theory, concise histories, and—not least—considered pro-
vocations.Afterall,ComicsStudiesmayhavecomealongway,butitcan't
progresswithouta little prodding.
Series Editor Roger Sabin is Professor of Popular Culture at the
University of the Arts London, UK. His books include Adult Comics:
An Introduction and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, and his recent
research into nineteenth-century comics is award-winning. He serves on
the boards of the main academic journals in the field andreviews graphic
novelsforthe internationalmedia.
More information aboutthisseries at
http://www.springer.com/series/14643
IanGordon
Kid Comic Strips
A Genre Across Four Countries
IanGordon
DepartmentofHistory
NationalUniversityofSingapore
Singapore,Singapore
PalgraveStudiesinComicsandGraphicNovels
ISBN978-1-137-56197-8 ISBN978-1-137-55580-9(eBook)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-55580-9
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016956661
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For Joanne
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
MythankstothestaffoftheStateLibraryofNSWformakingtheoriginal
bound volumes available. In 1987, John Graham graciously allowed
access. In 2015, Royce Propert and Steve Richards arranged access. My
thanks alsoto Anne Doherty,MaggiePatton, andAlisonWishart.
My thanks to the staff of the British Library, somewhat bemused at a
researcherlooking atthe Beano,but alwaysprofessional andcourteous.
My thanks also to the staff of the New York Public Library, who were
likewisealways professionaland courteous.
My thanks to Beatriz Sequeira de Carvalho for assistance with details
about BusterBrownin Brazil.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Republic of
Singapore,AcRFTier 1 grantR-110-000-077-112
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 WhyKid Comics 1
2 AmericaandAustralia:Skippy andGinger Meggs 13
3 AmericaandFrance:Perry Winkle andBicot 37
4 AmericaandBritain: Dennisthe Menace (s) 63
5 ComicsScholarshipand ComparativeStudies 87
Index 91
ix
L F
IST OF IGURES
Fig.1.1 QuartdeBrieetSacaPuces,LePetitJournal,January3,1926 6
Fig.2.1 Skippy,DesMoinesRegister,January19,1936 29
Fig.2.2 GingerMeggs,SundaySun,January31,1932 32
Fig.3.1 Bicot,DimancheIllustré,March16,1924 42
Fig.3.2 WinnieWinkle,ChicagoTribune,June28,1925 51
Fig.4.1 DennistheMenace,TheBeano,September10,1955 72
Fig.4.2 DennistheMenace,WashingtonPost,March22,1959 83
xi
CHAPTER1
Why Kid Comics
Abstract The chapter argues that by comparing comics from different
countries it is possible to understand just what features American comic
stripshavecontributedtotheinternationalformofcomicart.Thechapter
offers a brief account of the passage of American comics to France, Italy
andBrazil anda slighthistoryof comicsin Britain andAustralia.
Keywords Buster Brown(cid:1) Word Balloons(cid:1) Translation
Comics are international phenomena. To be sure they go by different
names like bande dessinée, manga, fumetto, las historietas, and quad-
rinhos, and they come in different forms such as comic strips (with and
without word balloons), comic books, and other forms of graphic
sequential narrative, but the form itself is fairly ubiquitous. In the last
20 years or so, a broad group of scholars from across the world has
produced an array of work detailing histories and analyzing the form
and its impact to the extent that comics scholarship has become a field
of inquiry. In this flurry of activity, many national histories have been
toldandtheformalaspectsofcomics,panels,pages,wordballoons,and
the like, analyzed and dissected.
©TheAuthor(s)2016 1
I.Gordon,KidComicStrips,PalgraveStudiesinComics
andGraphicNovels,DOI10.1057/978-1-137-55580-9_1