69. American Comics Before 1945...June 27
Plus an unboxing video. Those are still in, right?
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IMPRINTED IMAGE
Welcome to Imprinted Image, my weekly comics newsletter that has been coming out closer to bi-weekly, and perhaps might stay that way, if y'all have thoughts. If this is your first time, welcome! Most every week, I send out this post with a summary of what else I did this week, a collection links to comics news items I found interesting, and a rough draft essay on whatever topic I'd like. This week, I talk about the book THE COMICS BEFORE 1945.
But first! Last week, I gave my usual new comic shop book recommendations, the Marvelous Market for July 2. My current biweekly-ish effort is an in-depth annotation of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, a personal favorite written by Kieron Gillen, drawn by Jamie McKelvie, colored by Matt Wilson, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. Most recently, I published my notes on the 1831 Historical Special. The first of these drop-ins on previous pantheons, this issue uses analogs of the Romantic writers to tell a properly gothic story of death, occult attempts at immortality, and many, many references to FRANKENSTEIN. This was one of my longest posts yet, so give it a look and tell me what you think!
The Wicked + Divining Comics 1831 Special
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I also created a resources tab on my website. It's a collection of reading guides, tutorials, and free legal resources like public domain image archives. I want this to be as useful as possible, so if you have any additions please send them my way.
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July Patreon Poll
And speaking of my patreon, it is time for the monthly poll. If you are reading this, the poll is live, and will be for one week, until July 11 at 9 A.M. CDT. If you join between now and then, you too get to vote! What's more American than that? Here are your options:
52 vol. 1 by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Keith Giffen, and so many more people. A weekly series exploring the gap between INFINITE CRISIS and ONE YEAR LATER
CRIMEHOT by Alec Robbins. The MR. BOOP guy draws a bunch of sexy thieves.
H. P. LOVECRAFT'S AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, adapted and drawn by Gou Tanabe. Lovecraft's classic antarctic work, arguably the genesis of the "Ancient Astronaut" meme, drawn by a master mangaka.
EL INVIERNO DEL DIBUJANTE by Paco Roca. A nonfiction story about five cartoonists who rebelled against the fascist Franco drawn by one of the defining Spanish artists, I'll also be reading this one in Spanish.
SPACE MULLET by Daniel Warren-Johnson. 'nuff said.
(American Newspaper) COMICS BEFORE 1945
As I cheekily suggest in the parenthetical, this book, written by Brian Walker, discusses the trends and highlights of American newspaper comics up until the end of World War II. For those of you that don't know, comic strips were around decades before comic books proper. Even after books began circulating, the strip was seen as the more talented industry and as a more secure gig for the artists. When they were successful, many would hire assistants and ghost-cartoonists who would themselves often springboard that experience into their own strip. Finally, and most tragically, the comic strips used to be huge. Sunday color pages would be a full page, while the dailies were often half to three quarter pagers themselves. As the book details, this largely ended by the combination of comics' popularity, necessitating more per page without increasing the page count, and, eventually, by paper shortages from the depression and World War II.
The book itself is laid out beautifully. Each chapter covers a decade or so, starting just before 1900 with the appearance of the yellow kid in Richard Outcault's HOGAN'S ALLEY. After an introduction to the important happenings of the decade, both within comics and the external factors that affected them, it transitions into sections on the most important cartoonists of the era. Names like Winsor McCay (LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND), George Herriman (KRAZY KAT), Harold Gray (LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE), Hal Foster (PRINCE VALIANT), Milton Caniff (TERRY AND THE PIRATES), Al Capp (LI'L ABNER), and Will Eisner (THE SPIRIT) all get dedicated biographies. More importantly, full pages of their comics, both in newspaper scans, original art scans, and in digital restorations, follow each entry. Beyond that, there are sections of lesser known but still important comics organized by theme, such as the fashion comics of the '30s or the gag comics in the aughts.
It really is these inclusions that make this book valuable as a reference. Sure, the trivia is nice (did you know the concept of a Sadie Hawkins dance comes from LI'L ABNER?). But I think the real value is in being able to see the artwork being discussed. Personally speaking, I have found tons of comic strips that I am now interested in reading more of after looking at the beautiful art. Even absent that, seeing the evolution of the form, the visual shorthand and simplification of the linework, is a real treat. And, as I am fond of, there is a great index in the back to help anyone interested in revisiting or researching specific portions. While this is probably more for the true zealots and less the casual readers, I found a lot of value in reading this.
An Unboxing
And speaking of comics from before 1945, I got a Kickstartered collection of one of those newspaper comics in the mail. I decided to film an unboxing video of it. Let me know if you like this sort of thing and I'll try and do more going forward.
A Port of Links
Jim Shooter died this week. He leaves behind a complicated legacy. Shooter, a child prodigy, wrote a number of beloved comics and was editor-in-chief of one of Marvel's best eras. Shooter also was reportedly a difficult man to work with at times. While in charge of Marvel, he didn't allow the creation of any gay characters. He also fought for better financial compensation for creators and started the Valiant universe of comics. The Comics Journal has some past interviews they did with Shooter.
Much of the Diamond news this week has been fallout from last. After Diamond announced they were planning on selling the comics given to them on consignment to pay off their debts, publishers started doing what they can to stop that. Dynamite tried to push for a quicker hearing to settle the alleged million dollars diamond owes them, but the motion was denied. In further evidence that the company might be getting gutted and stripped for parts, Diamond seems to be getting rid of their less profitable online services, like ComicsSuite and PreviewsPullbox, services provided to stores. They also sold off Collectible Grading Authority has been bought by Skyrush. Don't worry, you can still trap your comics in plastic boxes and never read them.
The Comics Journal has an in-depth look at the troubles facing publisher Silver Sprocket of late, including letting go staff members and alleged non-payment of creators.
Wrapping up Pride month, The Beat has a reading list of queer manga.
Data time! The Bleeding Cool Weekly Bestseller List using limited data from ComicHub has ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN # 18 edging out a couple Absolute titles.
At Humble Bundle, you can get a collection of titles put out by Clover Press, including several graphic novel adaptations of classic works of literature.
It's my weekly links to other people's list of links! The Comics Journal posted their week's links, which focuses on news, reviews, and interviews. They lead with French artists being arrested in Turkey over allegedly drawing the Prophet Muhammad, which they deny. The Beat published its biweekly (that's twice weekly) Digest, with stories like trailers for the newest Demon Slayer movie and Cat in the Hat. Over on SKTCHD, David Harper published Comics Disassembled, his weekly list of 10 comics items of note. Last week, he lead with a new book from Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo, the team behind SEVEN SECRETS.
In other SKTCHD news, David Harper on OFF PANEL has an episode with Heather Antos about her time editing the Star Trek line of comics. He also has an interview with Ryan Browne, artist of THE LUCKY DEVILS, who unfortunately suffered a stroke several months ago.
Podcast LET'S TALK COMICS had on Si Spurrier to discuss his upcoming book THE VOICE SAID KILL.
Comic Book Couples Counseling debuted a new series called "The Stacks," where they essentially do the Critereon Closet but with a superior form of art, namely, comics. The first episode had picks from Chip Zdarsky and David Brothers.
In the Comic Book Heraldverse, the MY MARVELOUS YEAR podcast posted 2011 Pt. 4, discussing Rick Remender on Venom and Marcos Martin drawing Spider-Man. Dave has a YouTube exploring if Marvel Unlimited is worth it in 2025. He also posted a list of his favorite graphic novel reads of June.
Question of the Week
Can I deduct the cost of buying comics online if I turn the unboxing into content?