Wayback Whensday – The Classics
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George Herriman and Krazy Kat! Richard Felton Outcalt and The Yellow Kid! Frank Frazetta and Buck Rogers!
The surreal brilliance of George Herriman
It was sheer coincidence that led to the intersecting of reading “Which Language Is the Richest in Words?,” an article from Interpreters & Translators, full-page Inc. by Toni Andrews, followed by an engaging Sunday “Krazy Kat” comic strip from April 18, 1920, by George Herriman that contains 647 words, compared with the usual 150 words or so in a modern Sunday comics page.
Six hundred forty-seven words is a lot even for “Krazy Kat,” but Herriman’s are more poetry than almost any other comic strip ever.
Greg Hill for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner writes an appreciation of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Or here.
All Herriman’s writing is in this vein, and though this strip’s one-third wordier than most of his, all are as gracefully expressed. And his art was so different — was it Dada, Surrealism or Modernism?
The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) defines “surreal” as “having an oddly dreamlike quality,” and that’s Krazy to a “T,” but perhaps it was some of each since Herriman’s career spanned all those artistic movements
The Yellow Kid and The Birth of Modern Comics
The Yellow Kid is often given the honor of being the first comic in history. This poor, big-eared kid, with a shaved head to avoid nits, dressed in a long yellow tunic that looks like a threadbare nightgown, who was the protagonist of small adventures in the New York slums of the late 19th century, has become a primary reference when talking about the American comic book industry.
In 1895, while the Lumière brothers were giving the first cinematographic exhibition and José Martí was dying in Cuba, The Yellow Kid was born in New York, from the hands of Richard Felton Outcault.
Yellow Kid was born in a period when other artistic manifestations represented childhood as a reflection of social catastrophe.
Humberto Aguirre for Meer on The Yellow Kid‘s place in history and as a sign of the times.
It can be said that “The Yellow Kid” was quite irrelevant, graphically and metaphorically speaking; however, his evolution and success are due to a conjunction of historical particularities that suited him very well.
Whether The Yellow Kid was the first comic is a debatable matter, as we said; what is certain is that his influence goes far beyond the many Kid Strips that were made later. He was like no other precursor of the industry; he has been for many an inspiration for new creations…
Frank Frazetta Famous Funnies #214 Buck Rogers Cover Art
Frazetta original Buck Rogers art nears half million dollars with two week to end of auction.
One of the greatest comic book covers of all time makes its very first appearance at auction! It’s not an exaggeration to say that the series of eight Buck Rogers covers Frank Frazetta created for Famous Funnies from 1953-1955 represent the ultimate pen and ink expression of the legendary artist’s mature style — an approach to comic and fantasy/science fiction art that completely shattered the possibilities of artistic expression in the field.
Ellsworth Toohey at Boing Boing tells us:
Frank Frazetta’s original cover art for Famous Funnies #214 is available for the first time ever. This 1954 Buck Rogers illustration is widely considered one of the greatest comic book covers ever created, and it’s already commanding a price tag of $432,000 (including buyer’s premium) with bidding still open at Heritage Auctions.
The artwork, which Frazetta kept in his personal collection throughout his lifetime, represents the pinnacle of his pen and ink style.
Sara Frazetta on Frank Frazetta’s Famous Funnies Buck Rogers covers:
Aside from his rejected cover, which was intended to be published on Famous Funnies #217, but ended up on Weird Science-Fantasy #29, a topic we will discuss in our next blog post [link added], these covers were the last job Frazetta did in comics. Later, in 1975, Russ Cochran offered a Famous Funnies portfolio which featured Frazetta’s eight original drawings, all re-colored by Frazetta.
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