DOCUMENT RESUME ED 024 682 TE 000 912 By- Suhor. Charles Comics As Classics? Pub Date May 67 Note- Sp. Journal Cit- The Teachers Guide to Media & Methods: v3 n9 p26-9 May1967 EDRS Price MF- S0.25 HC-S0.35 Descriptors- *Cartoons. ContentAnalysis.CriticalReading. English Instruction. Graphic Arts, Literary Analysis. *Literary Conventions. Literary Discrimination, *Literary Genres.Literature Appreciation. *Mass Media. Satire, Symbols (Literary) Comicsas a special literary genre--must be judged by special criteria.In fact, the four-panel daily comic strip must be judged by differentstandards from the full-length comic book or the single- or double-frame comic.Among the four-panel strips are found comics that make a claim toliterary quality--"Lil Abner," "Pogo," and "Peanuts." These comic strips are "uniquely expressive" andtranscend the severe limitations of their genre through a creative use of languageand symbolism. Charles Schultz's technique in "Peanuts" involves understatement andsymbolism through which adult personality types act inthe guise of children. Walt Kelly's "Pogo-lingo"--a purposeful. comic distortion of language employing manypuns--becomes part of the cartooning style and. thus, has graphic value.Like Kelly, Al Capp is a satirist, and his Abner is in the American tradition of the innocent picarowhose responses reveal the shams of society. WS) a....1*1.1.11,t.woar...., a THE TEACHERSmedia GUIDE TO &methods An Expansion of SCHOOL PAPERBACK JOURNAL ISORY BOARD May, 1967 Val. 3, No, 9 arry K, Beyer EDITORIAL s't Prof. of Education Ohio State University SMILESTONE 3 ax Bogart st. Dir., Div. of Curriculum & Instruc. TEACHING AND THEORY te Dept. of Educ., Trenton, N. J. harlotte Brooke SUM'ER READING, SUM'ER NOT pervising Dir. of English Frank Ross sh., D. C. Public Schools COMICS AS CLASSICS? lexander M. BUtrillIn Charles Suhor 26 rector, Paperback Programs E.P., Middletown, Connecticut PAPERBACKS n Culkin, S.J. GOD'S JUNKYARD REVISITED rector, Center for Communications Patrick Hazard rdham University, New York City 21 IFrrsGOOD ENOUGH FOR MY FATHER... aniel Fader Fred Marcus 38 ject Dir., Dept. of English of Michigan at Ann Arbor NEWSWORTHY PAPERBACKS 45 idney Forman of. of Education and Librarian FILMS AND MED1A-MIX eachers College, Columbia U., N. T. GUTENBERG COMES TO FILM tlorris Gall Louis Forsdale 6 cial Studies Dept. livid TEACHING DAVID AND LISA rwalk Public Schools, Conn. nald Klemer Henry E. Putsch 16 on ULYSSES perintendent of Schools Barry Robinson stings.on.fludson, N. Y. 42 ter Kontos ir., Princeton Co.op. School Program TELEVISION inceton, N. J. MILLER'S THE CRUCIBLE ilip Lewis Ned Hoopes 35 esident, instructional TELELOG names, Inc., Chicago, Illinois 37 poseph Mersand Pim. of English Dept. RECORDS AND TAPES maica HS, New York City A CURE FOR CHRONIC 'COMPOSITIONITIS' rank E. Ross Peggy Hutchinson 30 soc. Prof. of English AUDIOFILE Mich. U., Ypsilanti, Michigan Kirby Judd 32 e rt r a m Siegel rem. of Science Dept. DEPARTMENTS dford Jr. HS, Westport, Conn. avid Sohn HAVE YOU DISCOVERED? 34 str. of English 16mm IN-SIGHTS iddlesex Jr. HS, Darien, Conn. William J. Sloan 40 . Jerry Weiss ANNUAL INDEX 44 nmn., English Dept. REPRINTS AVAILABLE 46 rsey State College. N.J. k McLaughlin, Editor utgers University Culkin, S.J., Motion Pictures THIS MONTH'S COWER ordham University Hoopes, Television Mears fall Mots eel Hit the kaki This sow unter College H S, N. Y. sw tkeesenes of kids will ge Owe le Me see Judd, Records & Tapes again .. .1 beads, sr reel about it in Nu Disee's ong Meadow H 3, Mass. The females 1111 of Sallee (Salleetioe, 75e). Marcus, Paperbacks alifornia State College rt Parkinson, Materials Co-ord. vanston, Illinois, Public Schools The Teachers Guide to MEDIA & METHODS (formerly SCHOOL PAPERBACK JOURNAL) Ls published nine times per year September through May try Media & Methods n Rouse, AssoCiate Editor Institute, Inc., 124 East 40 Street, New York, N. Y. 10016. Phone; 212 MU 7.114511. mithtown, N. Y. Public Schools Subscription: $3 per year, $4 in Canada. $2 each for 20 or more to one school address. Single copy 40t. t Copyright, Media & Methods Institute, Inc., 1967. Printed in U.S.A. by Kos Faucher, Managing Editor World Color Press. Controlled circulation postage paid at Sparta, Illinois. Koeth, Art Editor West Coast Advertising: i E Publishers' Representative Co. IMO Melrose Ave., Los Simmons, Circulation Mgr. Angeles, California; 420 Market St., Sau Fianeiscu, California. es Burnett, Business Mgr. Manuscripts: M & M pays up to On fur arudes about creative and effective methods and media lit the classroom. A practisal, baw.tu approach is preferred, but there's always Laino, Advertising Manager a place in our pages for stimulating, challenging theory, lout Manuscripts should be triple. spaced, 50 characters wide-- HMO words is a comfortable length but shorter and longer r Oamio, Publisher pieces are acceptable. Authors may want to check article ideas with the Editor to avoid the possible frustration of duplication. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIALOFFICE Of EDUCATION POSITION OR POUCY. "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPYMGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN 6RANTED BY-CA.Aaaiii.a.lastdseiLed_isdia4 TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S. OFFICE 0! EDUCATION. FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM REOUIRp PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.' , - - Comics as Classics?by Charles Suhor THE VALUE OF comtcs has been a subject of Comics must be judged by special criteria, debate in America for almost three decades. In since the cartoonist's skill is an essential part of the 1940's parents and teachers fretted over the the total impression created by any comic strip. degrading effects of comics on American youth. It is also evident that different kinds of comics In the 1950's psychologists and educators investi- are subject to different standards of criticism, gated the claim that comics might be related to because structural limitations differ greatly in the juvenile delinquency. More recently the comics case of the single frame comic, the 2-panel comic, have been viewed as a charming and highly re- the 4-panel daily comic strip, and the full length vealing expression of popular culture, and exe- comic book. getes of modern society like Marshall McLuhan The creative possibilities of the comics have and David Manning White have commented on not been, perhaps cannot be, realized in all of the role of the comics in shaping modern life. these comic forms. The single frame comic, for But the comics have seldom been considered example, is intrinsically limited by its rigid for- fron a purely literary point of view. "Literary" mat, which from The Yellow Kid (the first real evaluations of the comics Lava typically consisted comic) to Toonerville Folks to They'll Do It of irrelevant comparisons to more complex Every Time has consisted of a humorous action in genres, without reference to the structural quali- the foreground, commented on or complicated ties that are unique to comics. The practice of by one or more figures in the background. In the comparing comics to novels recalls the simplistic two-panel comic, the second panel simply exposes methods of many .critics in the 1940's who set the chicanery or hypocrisy of a character intro- out to demonstrate the inferiority of jazz by duced in the first. The cluttered canvas of the comparing the form of a Beethoven symphony single frame comic and the pat formula of the to the Saint Louis Bluesinvariably to the dis- two-panel comic have produced little more than advantage of the latter. But a genre is not defined occasional witty satirical barbs. in terms of the characteristics of other genres. A The full length comic book, or "funny book," haiku is not accurately described as a bad sonnet, has given psychologists much to toy with, but nor can a sonnet be seen as a watered-down epic seldom has it produced anything "f literary value. poem. A genuine literary criticism of the comics The comic books of the Disney-Schlesinger-Lantz must begin with the comic genre itself. variety have been consistently wholesome since the early 1940's, but clearly they are lacking in literary interest. They have had considerable in- fluence on American culture,, but it is the airy Charles Suhor, presently on an Experienced Teach- and limited impact of a Hans Christian Ander- ers Fellowship at the University of Illinois, has con- sen tale or a Strauss waltza genuine but pro- tributed articles toDown Beat and Delta Review. foundly unprofound grass roots pop art. The few 26 full length adventure comicsthat offered, by "classics" of the comic worldfall intothis accident or design, a kid-sizedWeltanschauung category: Blondie, so true to American family (CaptainMarvel, Superman,The Phantom, life of the first haif of the century; those mis- Buck Rogers) might reveal somethingabout placedvaudevillians, Mutt and Jeff; Smoky popular fantasy-patterns and stereotypes, but Stover, overflowing with outrageous puns and this is hardly a literary perspective. zany irrelevancies; Bringing Up Father,which It is in the four-panel daily comic stripthat turned the comic art onto the age-old problem most of the comics that can make anyclaim to of the uneven battle of the sexes. literary quality have appeared. The viability and But these famous comics, however quaint appeal of Li'l Abner, Pogo, and Peanuts may be and steeped in Americana, only fulfill the comic attributed to an instinctively creative response to genre. They do not rise above it, as LaAbner, the possibilities of an extremely confining genre. Pogo, and Peanuts do.