In breadth and
depth, few private collections of comic strips compare to that of
Art Wood. Historians argue about when the comic strip began, but
few disagree that Richard Outcault's enormously popular character,
Mickey Dugan, better known as the Yellow Kid was a commercial revelation
to publishers when it was introduced in 1895. Immediately, they
understood what this new genre would do for sales and reduced their
reliance on reprints of cartoons from such popular periodicals as
Truth, Puck, and Judge and employed staff
artists to create popular comic strips. Since then, men and women
with a certain genius have reshaped the medium. This selection of
comic strips is representative of thousands of original drawings
in the Wood collection that chronicle the development of this indigenous
American art form.
Richard F. Outcault (1863-1928) created the
enormously popular Yellow Kid in 1895 for Joseph Pulitzer's
New York World. The first commercially successful
comic strip, Outcault's creation revolutionized newspaper
humor pages. In fact, it proved so successful that William
Randolph Hearst lured him away to the New York Journal.
This example is one of two extremely rare Yellow Kid originals
in the collection. The original drawing varies from the published
version in spacing of objects, especially the aerialist, and
the number of references to hair. It was published within
weeks of Outcault's move to Hearst's newspaper and contains
numerous references to the switch. |
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This spectacular piece by Richard Outcault
features the introduction of two great comic strip characters,
Mickey Dugan, also known as "The Yellow Kid," and his immensely
popular successor, Buster Brown. Here we can see the adoption
of what became the standard Sunday format - twelve regularly
spaced panels crowded with detailed drawing and text. In this
story, Buster Brown, the twelve-year-old scion of a Manhattan
family in the wealthy Murray Hill neighborhood heads to the
tenements of Hogan's Alley in a dream. In a nod to another
great comic strip of the period, Winsor McCay's Little
Nemo in Slumberland, Outcault has Buster Brown wake up
from his nightmare and resolve not to slumber. Outcault guided
the engravers by coloring only the new elements in the comic
strip. |
Americans, caught up in the woes of the Great
Depression, immediately took to Chic Young's humorous daily
reminders that love, not money, conquers all. The featured
character of a new comic strip by Murat Bernard "Chic" Young
(1901-1973) Blondie Boopadoop entered the world on September
8, 1930. The comic strip floundered until Young decided to
have Blondie fall deeply in love with Dagwood Bumstead. Desperate
to wed Blondie, in spite of his father's objections to her
lowly social status, Dagwood went on a hunger strike until
the elder Bumstead grudgingly accepted their relationship,
but refused to continue to support his son. The couple married
on Friday, February 17, 1933, and Dagwood, now disinherited,
stripped of his wealth and family connections, was nonetheless
blissfully happy with his sparkling, vivacious, yet unfailingly
practical new bride. Young drew this daily comic strip just
weeks before Blondie's marriage to Dagwood, when Blondie was
still a carefree, flighty girl. |
Chic Young,
Blondie, 1932.
India ink and blue pencil over graphite underdrawing with
paste-ons.
Published by King Features, December 27, 1932. LC-DIG-ppmsca-03350
© Reprinted with permission of King Features |
Alex Raymond,
Flash Gordon #21, 1934.
Ink and opaque white over graphite
underdrawing with paste-ons.
Published by King Features, June 3, 1934.
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03289
© Reprinted with permission of King Features
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The late 1920s and early 1930s were the golden
age of the adventure strip in American newspapers. Books,
comic books, and comic strips, and later radio regularly featured
science fiction and superheroes. Innovative illustrators like
Alexander Raymond (1909-1956) used a sophisticated dry ink
brush technique almost exclusively at a time when others used
the pen, moving away from the "cartoony" style in humorous
strips. Masterful writers combined with top illustrators to
create lush detail and beautifully composed drawings epitomized
by this spectacular Flash Gordon. Late in 1933, Raymond
was given the assignment of creating a science fiction strip
to compete with Buck Rogers, and along with writer
Don Moore created Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim.
In this example, Flash Gordon successfully leaps and darts
to kill horned tigers while his colleague Thun faces his jailors
on Mongo before they turn their attention to their nemesis,
Ming the Merciless. |
The artistic style and language employed by
George Herriman (1880-1944) in his feature Krazy Kat
stood out from that of almost every other cartoonist. His
playful use of space, language, and gender captured the fancy
of his publisher, William Randolph Hearst, who insisted that
his papers carry Krazy Kat until its creator's death
in 1944. Herriman manipulated space and employed syncopated
language at a time when most cartoonists maintained the standard
grid format and imitated popular slang. He drew this episode
toward the end of his career and his audience, long familiar
with Krazy's love of Ignatz and the mouse's brick, would have
understood that the punch line was intended to force Ignatz
to hurl it. |
George Herriman,
Krazy Kat,
1942.
India ink with scraping out over graphite
underdrawing on bristol board.
Published by King Features Syndicate, April 19, 1942. LC-DIG-ppmsca-03340
© Reprinted with permission of King Features |
Charles Schulz, Peanuts,
1964
Ink brush over graphite underdrawing, with printed overlay on
bristol board
Published by United Features, October 5, 1964
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03343
Copyright Status: Copyright held by United Feature Syndicate. |
Arguably the most
influential cartoonist of modern times, Charles Schulz (1922-2000)
created in Peanuts the quintessential postwar American
newspaper comic strip. Characterized by its spare, lean style
and biting humor, the simple strip, with its gentle, sheltered
suburban world inhabited by children, became instantly popular.
Children became philosophers, offering reflections on human
nature. Schulz retired from cartooning and ended the strip
in 1999 - the final Peanuts appeared just after his
death in 2000. However, Peanuts lives on in reprints
and reruns. Here, Linus' campaign for school president coincided
with the last month of the 1964 Lyndon Johnson/Barry Goldwater
presidential campaign. Linus was expected to win until he
invoked the Great Pumpkin. |
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