Just the Comics

I'm continuing from two weeks ago using just the strips from Comic Art in America, subtitled “a social history of the funnies, the political cartoons, magazine humor, sporting cartoons, and animated cartoons”, a book by Stephen Becker from 1959.

This was the frontiespiece. The caption said:

WALT McDOUGALL and MARK FENDERSON: “The Unfortunate Fate of a Well-Intentioned Dog”, from the New York World of February 4, 1894. One of the first Sunday comics in color.

It's too bad the book itself doesn't have color reproductions.

The caption here read:

An early version of The Katzenjammer Kids by their originator, RUDOLPH DIRKS, from the New York American of May 22, 1898

From the second chapter, The Beginnings of a Big Business. The caption read:

HARRY HERSHFIELD's Abie the Agent. The strip added several new dimensions (and emotions) to the dialect story.

Another Abie from October 10, 1930. The man's troubles were endless, but so was his ingenuity.

CLIFF STERETT's Polly and Her Pals. Paw never did get used to the younger generation.

Polly again, and a fine example of CLIFF STERRETT's composition.

One of the earliest Newlyweds by GEORGE McMANUS, June 19, 1904. Readers of Bringing Up Father can easily identify this as McManus' work.

A daily Jiggs from 1919, when the strip was already entrenched as a national favorite.

One solution to domestic strife. Jiggs escapes the world of manners for the world that matters.

KNERR's Katzenjammer Kids twenty years after the copyright battle. Mischief everywhere.

The Captain and the Kids by RUDOLPH DIRKS, who lost his original title The Katzenjammer Kids, but retained his rights to the characters.

GOLDBERG's Boob McNutt in his usual pack of trouble. The artist was never short on imagination.

A Boob McNutt heading from 1925. Everybody had heard kids shouting, ”Get a horse”, but only Goldberg would take it literally.