A Brief Look at Printing and Comics

Winsor MacCay. George Herriman. Charles Schulz. Kate Beaton. All of these illustrators have reached notoriety through comics, however, their acclaim was achieved during different points in history. George Herriman's Krazy Kat and Winsor MacCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland were published earliest, Krazy Kat in 1913 and Little Nemo in 1905. Charles Schulz's Peanuts wasn't started until 1950, and Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant was only published six years ago in 2007. Dates aside, these illustrators have all experienced different levels of technological advances with the publication of their comics, ranging from taking advantage of old printing presses to the development of computers and online publishing. 

Winsor MacCay was well known for being one of the first American animators and cartoonists. His home animations have brought him as much acclaim as his posters and comics, most notable of them being Gertie the Dinosaur. but none of his works seem to rise up to notoriety quite like Little Nemo, the tales of a little boy who would go on fantastical, unbelieable adventures in his dreams.

The strip is considered McCay's masterpiece for its experimentation with the form of the comics page, its use of color, its timing and pacing, the size and shape of its panels, perspective, architectural and other detail. MacCay brought surreal life to the page, but his use of illustration easily outweighed the spoken words in his comics, found in shoddy, unattractive, forgettable speech bubbles spread throughout the strip.

George Harriman's iconic and poetic strip, Krazy Kat, soon followed. Krazy Kat, the story of a lovesick cat and a brick-throwing fiend of a mouse, was profoundly less fantastical than Little Nemo in terms of scenery and adventuring, yet it retains the same quality of narrative and print-making that Winsor MacCay was known for. It's panels were less fantastical, more easily organized, but although the story seemed much simpler and sillier in comparison, it retains a sense of understanding about the world, more interesting themes and morals with each strip.

Several decades pass and Charles Shulz's Peanuts, the tales of Charlie Brown, his pet beagle Snoopy and the other neighborhood children, is published. By this time a certain standard for publishing cartoons and comics has been established, reflected in Shultz's almost geometric pattern of paneling. Environment takes a strong backseat to the character illustration, everything is simpler and follows a strong pattern, and dialogue is used to bring closure rather than action or composition. Shultz's four-panel comic structure feels like an almost complete 180 shift from the works of MacCay and Harriman.

Last but not least is Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant. Beaton's comics follow a certain artistic style that, although organizationally is is similar to Charles Shulz and many other popular cartoonists, has a style all of its own. Historically accurate yet entirely sarcastic, its humor is pulled both from the absurdity of the past and the resigned of the present. What really sets it apart from past successful graphic narratives is its varied media, how it doesn't focus on one cast of characters for longer than one strip, and the nature of its publication. Unlike MacCay, Harriman and Shulz, Beaton's comics were published in the 21st century, where computers, the internet, and other technological advancements exist. Thanks to the networking capabilities of the world-wide-web, Hark! A Vagrant has received an astounding amount of positive reception that could not be so easily achieved one-hundred years ago.