A Brief Overview of Comic Strips

Early Comic Strips As we have discussed, the first comics as we know them today were created by Rolpohe Topffer in the early 19th century (1800’s).

Early Comic Strips The Yellow Kid 1893 First long running Sunday comic strip in American papers Words and ideas were expressed on his shirt The use of color can account for a lot of its popularity

Dailies and Sundays

Dailies and Sundays – The Funnies Most of the early comic strips were funny (we would probably call them silly). However, by the 1930s readership became so high that strips with more serious topics arise.

Dailies and Sundays - Super Hero Comics Mostly Sunday Strips It is hard for superhero strips to have the same action as a comic book in only four to five frames. The notable exception is the Spiderman strip which is still written by Stan Lee to this day.

Dailies and Sundays Many of the dramatic comics run their course as television becomes the primary form of entertainment in America.

Today’s Comics Most comic strips today are silly, heartwarming, or political.

Notable Comics

Peanuts Regarded as the most influential and well-written comic strip. Charles M. Schultz 1950-2000 Internationally recognizable characters

Kratzenjammer Kids 1897-present Very influential in early cartoons Stolen from German style Sparks legal battles between Hearst and Pulitzer.

The Spirit Will Eisner 1940 Launched Eisner’s career as a comic book/graphic novel pioneer. Considered sexist and racist today.

Calvin and Hobbes Relatively short run Beloved by most readers at the time Very whimsical

Brenda Starr First comic strip written by a woman 1940-2011

Boondocks 1996-2006 Very political and risque Many paper began putting it on the editorial page

The Anatomy of a Comic Strip Panel Gutter Speech Bubble Thought Bubble

The Anatomy of a Comic Strip Comic Strips on the whole are very easy to follow because they read in a straight line.

Anatomy of a Comic Strip Comic strips in the 1920s and 30’s were much larger. However, printed larger color comics was expensive. As a result, from WWII on the size of comics decreased, both in actual size of the panels and the number of panels included. The last full page comic strip was printed in 1971.

Challenges of Comic Strip Writing