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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: Peter and Ping (1922)

Discussion in 'Archive: The Amphitheatre' started by Nevermind, Jan 8, 2012.

  1. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 14, 2001
    Yes, yes, I know there is another thread on exactly this subject, but this source book is different--starts earlier and moves faster. Since there have been plenty of complaints about the other list (though I am enjoying it), I thought another one wouldn't hurt, esp. as I'm learning a helluva lot about the history of the genre from both lists.

    1. "The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck" (1837) by Rodolphe Topffer

    [image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Vieuxbois1.jpg]

    Title in original language: Les Amours de Mr. Vieux Bois

    First published by: Self-published

    Creator: Swiss (1799-1846)

    Genre: Humour, Adventure

    Topffer was a francophone schoolmaster prevented from eye disease from becoming an artist. He developed pictorial tales in the 1820s and in 1827, he finished a long story of what would now be called a comic, relating the adventures of Mr. Vieux-Bois (Mr. Ham-Handed). "The strip resembled a chase movie, full of action & mishap. Whether or not he invented the comic, Topffer establishing cutting, montage, and timing techniques as never before."

    There was no copyright then, so it was pirated under the above name in England in 1841, and in the USA in 1842 as "Brother Jonathan Extra".

     
  2. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Well.

    Well.

    That just shattered my entire perception of when the medium began - I thought it was the early 1900s' comic strip collections.
     
  3. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 14, 2001
    Me, too.
     
  4. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 14, 2001
    2. The History Of Holy Russia

    by Gustave Doré

    Original publisher: J. Bry Ainé (France)

    First published: 1854

    Reviewed by: Pedro Moura

    Genre: Historical

    This is Dore's fourth and last comic book. At first, he imitated Topffer. This is very ambitious, involving more than a hundred illustrated pages with 500-plus illustrations, each a wood block. It has a distinctly propagandist tone, and was a failure.



     
  5. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

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    Nov 8, 2004
    Me three. I always thought of comic books as solely being a 20th Century phenomenon.
     
  6. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    Max & Moritz

    by Wilhelm Busch

    Original publisher: Self-published (Germany)

    First published: 1865

    Reviewed by: Matthias Schneider

    Genre: Humour

    The inspiration for the Katzenjammer Kids.



     
  7. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 2, 2000
    This book looks interesting. It takes a totally different tack than the other one. I think they're great complements to each other. I like the issue based approach of the other book, but I also like the wider lens, more content style of this one.
     
  8. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    Ally Sloper

    [image=http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Ally%20Slopers%20half%20day%20holiday%201886%20Coconino%20summer%20special.jpg]

    by Charles Henry Ross & Marie Duval

    Original publisher: Judy (UK)

    First published: 1867

    Reviewed by: Roger Sabin

    Genre: Humour

    "Ally Sloper was arguably the first comcis superstar due his huge popularity in print and on stage. He was a Victorian antihero--a drunkard and ne'er-do-well, recognizable by his huge red nose swollen by alcohol, his shabby suit (often with a bottle poking out of the back pocket), crumpled hat, and puatched-up umbrella. His genesis can be traced to 1867 in "Judy", a rival of the British magazine "Punch"...Charles Ross was his creator, but his mannerisms owed much to Ross's wife, Emily Louisa Tessier (aka Marie Duval), who took up cartooning duties from 1869.

    Cruikshank and Busch were obvious influences, [though] art historian David Kunzle credits Duval with the use of tecniques (distortions, unusual viewpoints) that only became standard in cartooning much later."
     
  9. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 2, 2000
    Wow, look at that art. What a grotesque. In a good way, I mean.
     
  10. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "Balthazar's Feast" (1881)

    Title in original language: "Un Festin de Balthazar"

    First published by: "La Vie Militarie journal (France)

    Creator: Emmanuel Poire (French, 1958-1909)

    Genre: Humour

    Born in Moscow, he used the pseudonym: 'Caran D'ache', and specialized in 'wordless' stories.

     
  11. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "Stuff and Nonsense" (1884)

    [image=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-16pmTWLBY5g/TYEyLyKYCsI/AAAAAAAATfI/LTA1C27iO6c/s400/Frost%2BTop.jpg]

    First published by: Charles Scribner's Sons (USA)

    Creator: Arthur Burdett Frost (1851-1928)

    Genre: Humour

    A staff cartoonist for Harper's Monthly. Pioneering work in time lapse and sequential imaging.





     
  12. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 13, 2008
    Heh. That's funny in a New Yorker cartoon sort of way.
     
  13. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "The Fenouillard Family" (1889) by Christophe

    Title in original language: "La famille Fenouillard"

    First published by: Le Petit Francois Illustre (France)

    Creator: Marie Oouis Georges Colomb (French 1856-1945)

    Genre: Satire, adventure

    The Sienese Shredder

     
  14. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "The Yellow Kid" (1894) by Richard Felton Outcault

    First published by: Truth Magazine (USA)

    Creator: American (1863-1928)

    Genre: Humour

    Award: Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame (2008)

    [image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/1896-11-15_Yellow_Kid.jpg/250px-1896-11-15_Yellow_Kid.jpg]

    [image=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/wood/ykid/images/comicartists/yk_trolley.jpg]

    [image=http://cartoons.osu.edu/yellowkid/1896/march/1896-3-15.jpg]

    Outcault's day job was a drafter for Thomas Edison...
     
  15. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 2, 2000
    Some good detail stuff there.
     
  16. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "The Katzenjammer Kids" (1897) by Rudolph Dirks

    First published by: New York Journal (USA)

    Creator: American (1877-1968)

    Genre: Humour

    Adaptation: Silent short film (1898)

    [image=http://blog.rifftrax.com/wp-content/uploads/kk-1935.jpg]

    "Katzenjammer" is a German term meaning (literally) cats howling outside, but it is also a colloquial term for hangover. It's based on 'Max and Moritz', which was unknown outside the German immigrant population. Dirks popularized sequential narrative, word balloons, and several elements of visual shorthand, including speed lines, beads of sweat, and the sawing of wood = snoring. When he wanted to take a break, he was refused; he left anyway, and the newspaper gave the strip to Harold Knerr (also talented). Lawsuits ensued; Dirks was given ownership of his characters, while the paper retained the name. Knerr continued the strip in the Journal, and Dirks wrote "The Captain and the Kids" for the New York World.
     
  17. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "Happy Hooligan" (1900) by Frederick Burr Opper

    First published by: New York Journal (USA)

    Creator: American (1857-1937)

    Genre: Humour

    Adaptation: Silent short film (1900)

    Adventures of an Irish-American homeless hobo.

    [image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e4/Happyhooligan4905.jpg/270px-Happyhooligan4905.jpg]

     
  18. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    Nevermind, this is probably my favorite thread you've ever started. So far, your selections have been spot on. Katzenjammer was so influential to the guys who grew up to become the Silver Age comic book standard bearers. I have collections of everything you've posted so far. The medium goes back centuries and encompassed a lot, if people consider offerings such as penny dreadfuls.

    Cannot wait for this list to grow. Little Nemo in Slumberland, The Spirit, Lil' Abner, and everything in between and down to stuff like Calvin & Hobbes and Boondocks.

    Brilliant thread.
     
  19. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    That's exactly what I felt from it, too. That cartoon has Cobean, Arno, or Addams written all over it.
     
  20. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 13, 2008
    I'm really enjoying the diversity of the picks, and I'd imagine this list is going to benefit from its larger timespan.
     
  21. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    Agreed on both. It's already inspired, but has endless inspiration yet to draw from. I'm probably going to fall in love with Prince Valiant just from whatever snippet Nevermind opts to post, even though I already own the entirety of Hal Foster's run on the series. :p
     
  22. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    I'm flattered you think these are my picks, but they come from the book of the same name.

    Yes, Prince Valiant is coming up. And so are some oldies that the grandparental units used to read to us, so it's Memory Lane. Wish I still had those comics (sigh).

    This list starts earlier and moves much faster than the other one.
     
  23. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "Buster Brown" (1902) by Richard Felton Outcault

    First published by: New York Herald (USA)

    Creator: American (1863-1928)

    Genre: Humour

    Adaptation: TV (1951)

    Outcault is best known as the creator of "The Yellow Kid". "Buster Brown" is more upscale, but he's as much of a hellion. He is contrite at the end of every strip, and philosophical. But he's in trouble again by the start of the next one. The forefather of Dennis the Menace and Bart Simpson.

    [image=http://kickshawproductions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/10.06.11-Buster-Brown-comic.bmp]



     
  24. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 13, 2008
    The dog is weirdly existential. "Time" indeed.8-}
     
  25. Nevermind

    Nevermind Jedi Knight star 6

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    Oct 14, 2001
    "The Upside Downs" (1908) by Gustave Verbeek

    Original Title: "The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo"

    First Published By: The New York Herald (USA)

    Creator: American (1867-1937)

    Genre: Humour

    The book calls this a "masterpiece of applied thought"

    Gustave Verbeek

    Note that the they tell a different story upside down...