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The Routledge Companion to Comics
Frank Bramlett, Roy T Cook, Aaron Meskin
Newspaper Strips
Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 Pascal Lefèvre Published online on: 26 Jul 2016
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Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 also discusstheseproductions. a time,aninterestingnewspaper stripculture,but,unfortunately,itwouldleadustoofar to Latin Americancountries,or some SouthAsiancountries(suchasJapanorAustralia)had, at had, especiallyinthe1950sand 1960s,aproperlivelynewspaperstripculture.Also,various some WestEuropeancountries (GreatBritain,Denmark,FranceandLowCountries) that leading producer,foremostinthefirstfourdecadesof twentiethcentury;andsecond, few countriesthathadorstillhaveanimportanttradition: inthefirstplace,USA, styles evolved.Duetothelimitedspace,thiscontribution willbefurthermorelimitedtoa by consequencelessabouthowstylisticornarrativenorms became establishedorhowgroup The majorityofthishistoricalliterature(e.g.Marschall1989) islargelyauthor-centeredand 2007; Walker2011fortheUSA,Gifford1971GreatBritain, andBeyrand1995forFrance). one canfindinvariouspublications(Nystrom1989;Harvey 1994;Goulart2005;Castelli process, andfinallyitsscholarship.Moredetailedinformation aboutparticularlocaltraditions and images,itsdominantgraphicstylesgenres,typical productionanddistribution publication formats(dailiesandSundays)theirparticular affordances,itsbasicuseoftext conducts aroughanatomyofthenewspaper’sconstitutive aspectssuchasitstwodominant evolution ofnewspaperstripssincetheearlytwentiethcentury,thiscontributionrather further developmentintime. consider theprecisehistoricalandculturalconditionswhereincomicswerecreatedtheir phases, otherpublicationformatsbecamethemainlucrativetool.So,wehavealwaysto a specificcomicwasatfirstmainlyconceivedforthedailyreaderinmind,butthat,later series, game. . .), orinawidevarietyofmerchandising.Moreover,itisquitepossiblethat publication formats(suchasbooks),inothermediaadaptations(liveactionfilm,animation always endonthatperishablepaper;variousnewspaperstripsgotanafterlifeinmanyother for adailyorweeklypublicationinnewspaper.Ofcourse,thelifeofthosecomicsdidnot on thegraphicnarratives(thusexcludingsingle-panelcartoons)thatwereproducedspecifically its dominanthistoricaldevelopmentinnewspapers.Thischapterwill,byconsequence,focus interpretation, onethatconstruestheprototypicalcoreofthiskindsequentialartwithin be publishedinanewspaper,but,forconvenience,wewillapplysomewhatmorerestrictive broadest sense,the“newspaperstrip”mightincludeeverygraphicnarrativethatwasorwill denominations suchasdailies,Sundays,comicstrips,stopcomics,funnies. . . Takeninits is thecasefornewspaperstrips,atermthatwecanusetoencompassother,oftenused,related Some kindsof(graphic)narrativesarelabeledbythematerialmediumthatcarriesthem.This Instead oftryingfruitlesslytopresentaconcisehistoricalnarrativetheworldwide NEWSPAPER STRIPS Pascal Lefèvre 2 16 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 ways (asonehorizontalstrip,asverticalcolumn,ortwotiersofpanels). panels withidenticaldimensions,sothattheycouldbeflexiblypublishedinthreedifferent in threetiers.Lateron,apostwarcomicsartistsuchasSchulzusedforhisdailystripfour were possible;forexample,duringatime,thedailiesofSegar’s gag wereoftenpublishedinaverticalcolumn.EventheUSA,deviationsfromnorm forming halfofatypicalalbumpage(seeLefèvre2013).InJapan,fouridenticalpanels was 6.2,whichlaterwouldbesubdividedinhalfwithonetierpublishedbelowtheother, normative. Forexample,inFlanders,theDutchpartofBelgium,aspectratio1950s its entry.OutsidetheUSA,otherwaysofpresentingadailyinstallmentcouldbecome American tierhaschangedfrom4.45to3.25;andinthelatetwentiethcentury,colormade realizations haveevolvedintimeandlocation.Forinstance,thedominantaspectratioof and whitewouldbecomethestandardformatforrestofcentury.Theconcretespecific daily strip,consistingofjustonetierandinblackwhite.Thesinglestrip artists suchasWinsorMcCayorFrankKingexploitedinimpressiveways. format hadseveralaffordances,suchasthepossibilityofcreatinganinterestinglayout,which of thetwentiethcentury,sizeSundaycomicwouldshrink.Thepublication beginning, itwastypicallythecompletespaceofonepageandinfullcolor;butcourse publication ofagraphicnarrativeinSundaysupplementcouldtakemanyforms;the weekly formatoftheAmericanSundaysupplements(alsocalled‘Sundaypages’).The in thecontextofnewspapers. Will Eisner’sTheSpirit)inthe1940s,butsuchformatshadoftenacomparativelybriefexistence publication formatslinkedtothenewspapers,suchas“comicbook”supplement(e.g. formats (Lefèvre2000),theSundaypageanddailystrip.Therehavebeen,however,other We willfirsttakealookatthehistoricalconditionsthatshapedtwobasicpublication have children(thinkofBlondie ), butgenerallynewspapercharacters arekeptinsomekind little evolutionwasneeded,as inthecaseoffamilystrips,wherecharacterscanmarry and are still,afteracontinuouslife ofmorethanacentury,asyoungtheywerein1897. A the principalcharactersagea day,evenoverdecades:forinstance, newspaper stripisconceivedfor runningalongtime,mostartists/syndicateschosenotto let the beginning,alotofauthorsuseddailyformattotell shortgags.Furthermore,sincea newspaper comicswere“inherentlyellipticalandfragmented.” Inpractice,weseethatfrom adapt theirwayoftellingtothisparticularformat.AsGardner (2013:248)putsit,the 1950s almosthalfoftheSundaycomicsusedcontinuity(Barcus 1961). (of arepresentativesample)ofU.S.Sundaycomicsdidn’t haverealcontinuity,butbythe late 1910swiththesuccessofSidneySmith’sTheGumps.Between1900and1925,90percent published installments).Therealinterestofconsiderablecontinuity wouldonlyariseinthe the sensethateventsdevelopedwithstrongcauseandeffect stringsbetweensubsequent first twodecadesofthetwentiethcenturytheyusuallydid nothaveastrongcontinuity(in week), theindividualinstallmentsofagagcomiccouldbe readseparately,becauseinthe Though characterswererecurringintheAmericannewspapersfromdayto(orweek The secondmajorpublicationformat,whichstartedalittlelaterinthelate1910s,was The firstconvincingsuccessfuluseofgraphicnarrativesinanewspaperoccurredthe Since adailystrippublicationoffersonlylimitedspace(one tier)perday,authorshadto The TwoBasicPublicationFormatsofComicsin Basic NarrativeTypes NEWSPAPER STRIPS Newspapers 17 Timble Theatre The KatzenjammerKids were published Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 with balloonswasalmostimmediately acommercialsuccessintheUSA,Europeanartists of theauthor,copyright) in thecaseofaso-called“silentcomic.”Whilecomicstrip or theydidn’tuseanytextat all (exceptforparatextualelementssuchasthetitle,name strips werealsoproducedwithout thesedevices:insteadtheyusedcaptionsbelowthepanels, regarding theuseoftext:dominant modelwastheuseofspeechballoons,butnewspaper During thetwentiethcentury,newspaperstripstookbasically threeprototypicalapproaches of theday. delivering theirfinishedworkandtheactualprinting.So, they couldreferlesstothenews distribution bysyndicates,mostartistshavebeenworking withalongerintervalbetween new topicspoppingup(fromtheofday).Nevertheless, duetothelarge-scale to improvisealot,havinginterweaveanalreadyinitiatedcontinuous storywithunexpected, but itbecomesmorechallenginginthecaseofacontinuity story,becauseauthorshavethen 2000: 103–104).Ofcourse,thisismoreeasilydoneincase ofasinglecartoonorgagstrip, of single-panelcartoons,referstothenewsdayorcommentsoncurrentaffairs(Lefèvre a one-shot.Inprinciple,thedailyformataffordsthatcomicsauthor,almostlikecartoonists proceed fromthisuniquerhythm,whichisquitedifferentreadingamangapocketor distributed. Allkindsofrelationsbetweenthedailyreadingandnarrativemight that onlyafewhoursafterthecartoonistdeliveredstrip,itwasprintedandwidely reach awideaudiencewasdailypublicationinthenewspaper:principle,itpossible their longerdailyepisodes. daily episodesinthenewspaperhadahardtimecompetingwithfreeradioserials interval betweentheissues.Butbylate1930s,asGardner(2013:248)argues,short It wasinterestingforthereadertofreelyimaginehowstorywouldcontinueduring the seriesbyusingknowledgeofgenre’sgeneralandseries’particularconventions. daily strip,likethesoap,invitesreadertoadoptsomekindofascriptwriterstancetoward necessity, spreadoutoveralongperiod.Duetoitsepisodicnatureand“nowness,”the daily publicationdemands,moreover,arhythmofreadingactivity,butonethatis,by generally havethespacetodevelopvariousparallelplotlinesinshortdailyepisodes.The the numberofpages(Lefèvre2013). only fromthemomentpublisherofbookcollectionspreferredastandardformatregarding characteristic ofnewspapercontinuitystrips.Standardizationthosestripsarose novels inthemarket,nonstandardized(regardingtheirlength)storieswerealreadya heroine. So,longbeforethemarketingpeoplewouldputcertaingraphicnarrativesas strips intheUKandFrancecomprisedabout100totellaparticularstoryofheroor newspapers couldtellastoryupto800strips(Beyrand1995:9),butusuallythecontinuity narrative closure—butworkwithmanymini-closures.AnauthorworkingforFrench hand, theywere,inprinciple,notbounddurationoftheirrunandcouldlackanultimate newspaper stripsarestronglylimitedbytheirmaterialpublicationformat,but,ontheother installment hastobereadinthepresentedchronologyofpublication.Itmayseemthatdaily has torememberwhathappenedintheepisodesbefore.Incaseofcontinuity,every rather exceptional. of stasisregardingtheirlooks.Serieswithreallyagingcharacters,suchasGasolineAlley,were Furthermore, beforetheintroductionofInternet,fastestwayforacartoonistto Unlike radioorTVsoaps,whichhavelongerdailyepisodes,newspaperstripsdidn’t In onlyonetieraday,can’ttelllotofcontinuingstory,andmoreoverthereader Texts andImages PASCAL LEFÈVRE 18 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 Netherlands), orNimbus other EuropeanartistscreatingtheirownsilentseriessuchasProfessorPi Adamson market ofEurope.TheDanishsyndicate,PIB,distributedvarioussilentgagseriessuchas volume). Itisinterestingtonotethatsilentcomicswereforemostusefulinthemultilingual throughout thetwentiethcenturyinnewspapersanditisstillthriving(seePostema,this remains anotherpopularmodelaswell,thewordlesscomic.Wefindthisspecific nations suchastheNetherlandsclungtoolderconventionofcaptionsuntil1960s. under thepanelsbecameoutmodedinWestEuropeancountriesafterWorldWarII,some the drawings,andnewtextswereplacedunderpanel(Lefèvre2006).Whilecaptions American balloonscomicswereadaptedtothecaptionmodel:erasedfrom for severaldecades.IntheperiodbeforeWorldWarII,itwasalsoquitecommonthat making comicstripswithcaptions(asthedominantconventionwasinnineteenthcentury) were remarkablyslowinadoptingthisso-called“Americanmodel,”andtheycontinued style; thinkofthechange Sometimes, thetakeoverofaseriesbyanotherartistresultsinstrikingdifferencegraphic by variouspeopleinthesamestudio),butthisstylemaychangesomewhatovertime. In principle,anewspaperstripisdrawnincoherentgraphicstyle(alsowhenitproduced adult readers),theFrenchdog Piflechien continuity adventurecomic(which alsoincludedcommentsontheissuesofday,foritsmore quite differentrealizations.For instance,whiletheBritishanimalcomicBillyBee titles) canbefoundinTable2.1. Itisimportanttobeawarethateach“genre”canencompass some populargenresofnewspaper stripsinthecartoonmode(includingafewindicative “a fundamentallyunstableandinfinitelymutablephysicalreality.” Averyselectivelistingof facial expressionsmorevisible.Witek(2012:30)statesthat thecartoonmodeoftenassumes and charactersaredrawnfromheadtotoe,theheadsincrease disproportionallytomaketheir in manyseries—inEnglish,alsoknownas“bigfoot”style.Since theprintedpanelsaresmall, in hisearlyguideforfuturecomicstripartists: the newspaperpagesimposesaparticularwayofdrawing,asLederer(1923:69)advisedalready narratives (Lefèvre2016):simplification.Thefactthatcomicsarepublishedrathersmallon are, however,tovariousextents,influencedbyageneralprincipleforgraphicstylein dominant kindsofdrawingstylestandout:thecartoonmodeandnaturalisticmode;both more baroquerenderingsofBurneHogarth. Next tothetwodominantverbalmodels(withballoonsorwithcaptionsbelow),there In additiontosimplification,deformationofthenormalproportions alsobecamethenorm Newspaper stripshavebeendrawninvariousgraphicstyles,butonthewholetwo background andminoraccessories. them shouldcontainheavierlines,morepronounced,than thoseindicatingthe the figures,humanorotherwise,andminoraccessoriesin directconnectionwith exceptions, dominatethepicture—takeupgreaterspace. Thelinesoutlining to theeyeandisaptdullentireeffect.Thehuman figures shouldwithfew the lessbetter.[. . .] Thisisespeciallysobecausetoomuchdetailconfusing In ageneralwayverylittledetailisrequisiteforstripcartoon.Imightalmostsay and Ferd’nand in otherEuropeancountries(Madsenetal.1997),soonfollowedby (from France). Two DominantDrawingModes Tarzan NEWSPAPER STRIPS from thecontrolledacademicstyleofHalFosterto is ratherahumorousgagcomic destinedtochildren. 19 (from the was a Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 stories. Whileinthe1920scontinuity stripswerestilldrawninthecartoonmode, the gave thesekindsofnewspaper stripsacompletelydifferentlookfromtheolderhumoristic 1950s and1960s(Beyrand1995). certainly alsolocalpreferences, suchastheboomofadaptationsnovelsinFrance the by aneedforcomparisonbetweencreationsfromvarious nationalmarkets).Therewere sides oftheAtlanticOcean(theselectiongenres,forboth drawingmodes,ismotivated 248–249). Table2.2presentsaveryselectiveoverviewof afewimportantgenresonboth narratives ontheradio(open-endedserials)andin motion pictures(Gardner2013: science fiction,western,knight,detective,etc.wouldrespond tothesuccessoflonger caricatured deformationofmanygangsters.Inthe1930s,several newpopulargenressuchas however, weredrawninanaturalisticmode;ChesterGould’s with thegrowingsuccessofadventuregenreinnewspaper strips.Notalladventurecomics, superpowers, weretobeaddedorremoved”(Witek2012:32). Theuseofthisstylecoincided are likeourown,orownworldwouldbeifspecific elements,suchasmagicor calls itthe“naturalisticmode.”Thismodemakes“theimplicit claimthatitsdepictedworlds were alsoimitatedoradaptedtolocalpreferencesbyartistsinothercountries. because theywerenotonlypublishedinhundredsofnewspapersaroundtheworld,but newspaper strip.Ontheotherhand,Americanhumoristicgagcomicshadawideinfluence, countries (suchasOpper,Dirks,Mager,andKnerr),thatlaidthefoundationsofAmerican jammer Kids).Moreover,itwasvariousartistswithEuropeanroots,oftenfromGermanic (think ofWilhelmBusch’sMaxundMoritz,whichservedasamodelfortheDirks’Katzen Comical men Genre Humorous Family relations Animal adventure The moreillustrativestyleof Alex RaymondorthechiaroscuroeffectsofMiltonCaniff Also, fromthe1930son,anothermodebecamequitepopularinnewspaperstrips;Witek Originally, theAmericannewspapercomicshadtheirrootsinEuropeanvisualculture Table 2.1 A fewexamplesofcombinationthecartoondrawingmodeandgenre USA Happy Hooligan For BetterorforWorse Mutt andJeff Alley Oop Felix theCat Mickey Mouse Krazy Kat Hi &Lois Blondie Bringing upFather Pogo (1979–2008, Canada) (1948–1975) (since 1930) (since 1954) (since 1932) (1910–1944) (1907–1982) (1923–1966) (since 1930) (1900–1932) PASCAL LEFÈVRE (1913–2000) 20 De tresmåmændiVerdenogvi Tom Poes De FamilieSnoek Europe Nero Tintin Suske enWiske Andy Capp Ferd’nand Nimbus Le cafédelaplage Bully theBee Pif lechien Rupert Bear Peter ogPing Vader &Zoon Hans ogGret (1913–1940s, Denmark) Netherlands) Belgium) Netherlands) Britain) (1947–2002, Belgium) (1929–1986, Belgium) (1934–1991, France) Dick Tracy (1941–1986, the (1937–2012, Denmark) (since 1948,France) (since 1957,GreatBritain) (since 1920,GreatBritain) (1922–1949, Denmark) (1954–1964, Great (1947–1983, Denmark) (1968–1987, the (since 1945,Belgium) (1945–1954, (1977–1980, France) is famousforits - Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 Middle Ages Detective, police, Science fiction Genre explains: “Thispolicyprotected thesyndicatesinterests:ifcartoonistofapopularstrip the artist’scopyrightwastransferred, inwholeorpart,tothesyndicate.Harvey(1994: 68) the artistandsyndicate), which alsohadlesspositiveeffects,becausetheownership of disappeared. national market,whileothersalsotriedtoselltheirseriesabroad. Today,manyofthemhave the DutchSwanFeaturesSyndicate.Sometimes,syndicates wereorientedtowardtheirown Opera MundiandParis-Graphic,theBritishAssociatedNewspaper (nowDMGMedia),or there werealsoenterprisesactiveincomicssyndication;think oftheDanishPIB,French adopted alawin1949tocontainandregulateforeigncomics (Vessels2010).InEurope, the internationalmarket. the U.S.market,butalsoofferedsyndicatessimilarpossibilities tobeverycompetitiveon foremost positiveaspectsofthissystem.Thepowerscale wasnotonlyeffectivewithin both partnerscangain.So,alltheconcernedparties,artists, syndicates,andnewspaperssaw strip andcapitalizeonmerchandisingadaptations(live cinematic adaptations),themore between thecartoonistandsyndicate.Itisevidentthatmoreasyndicatecansell responsible forediting,promoting,andsellingtheseries.Usually,proceedsaresplit50/50 hundreds ofpublications.Whilethecartoonisthastocreateaseries,syndicateswere newspaper, butundersyndicationthesamecomicseriescouldbepublishedintensoreven syndicates. Beforethesyndicationsystemtookroot,acomicstripwasproducedforsingle understand thebasicsofNorthAmericannewspaperstrips,namelycentralrole Another aspectrelatingtotheproductionanddistributionmethodneedsbestressed in EuropeorLatinAmericaweremodeledonthoseAmericanpredecessors. meantime, theyhadanimmenseinfluenceonartistsinothercountries;manyadventurecomics opera wereintroduced),andbytheendcenturymostofthemhadfaltered.In 1940s, thenaturalisticadventurestriplostpopularity(thoughmanynewgenressuchassoap later theseadventurecomicsreachedtheirquantitativepeak(Barcus1961:176).Afterthe 1930s aquarteroftheAmericanSundaycomicshadoptedforadventurestories,anddecade Western Soap, romance crime Nevertheless, thecontractsin the USAusuallyincludeda“work-for-hireclause”(between Sometimes, thisAmericandominationmetresistance,especially inFrance,whicheven Table 2.2 A fewexamplesofcombinationthenaturalisticdrawingmodeandgenre Prince Valiant Flash Gordon USA Apartment 3-G Secret AgentX-9 Buck Rogers Red Ryder Little Joe Brenda Starr,Reporter Production MethodsandDistribution (1933–1972) (1938–1964) (since 1928) (1934–2003) (since 1937) (1961–2015) NEWSPAPER STRIPS (1934–1996) (1940–2011) 21 Tiffany Jones Eric DeNoorman De RodeRidder Matt Marriott Cosmos An2200 Jeff Hawke West Europe Le commissaireMaigret(1950–1953, Bessy 13 ruedel’Espoir Belgium) the Netherlands) France) (1952–1995, Belgium) (1955–1974, GreatBritain) (1964–1977, GreatBritain) (1955–1977, GreatBritain) (since 1959, (1946–1964, (1959–1972, France) (1963–1966, France) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 USA, variousextensivereprint projectsoftheclassicnewspapercomicsstarted,suchasPrince know, thefirstspecializedanthology ofAmericannewspaperstrips.Inthelate1980sin the and MartinWilliams’(1977) The SmithsonianCollectionofNewspaper Comics by the“fans,”academicornot, whichstartedafterWorldWarII.CollectorBillBlackbeard Jackie Ormes)—intheU.S.newspaperstriphas,ofcourse, broadeneditsspectrum. white artists(suchasGusAriolaandAaronMcGruder)—or acombinationofboth(suchas increased participationoffemaleartists(suchasToveJansson andCathyGuisewite)ornon- linked totheconservativepolicyofmalecreators,syndicates, andnewspaperpublishers.The more likelytohaveparentalresponsibilities.Thereasonfor thissituationhasusuallybeen appear, theyaretwiceaslikelymalecharacterstobedepicted inthehomeandtheyare still ispopulatedbywhitepeople,themajoritymiddle-class andstraightmale.Ifwomen 2000; GlascockandPresto-Schreck2004)showthatthefictional worldofthestripswasand of themes.Scoresmorerecentcontentanalyses(White and Fuentez1997;LaRossaetal. use ofcontinuity,butalsotheratiohumorousversusadventure comics,andtheevolutions comic striptitlespresentednotonlyreliablestatisticalinformation abouttheevolutionof study. Hiscontentanalysisofthefirstsixdecadestwentiethcentury628separate such contentanalysiscanindeedoffergoodquantitativedata,asinthecaseofBarcus’(1961) strips hasbeenuntiltodaycontentanalysis.Ifconductedinapropermethodologicalway, instance, theinterpretationbydifferentgroupsofreadersonethnicity(Rockler2002). children tobuildvocabularymeanings.Somerecentworkofeffectstudiesconcerns,for bad influence.Forinstance,Hill(1943)wasconvincedthatnewspapercomicswouldhelp 1940s on.Mostrepresentativesoftheculturaleliteconsideredthismassentertainmentaslow. consumers ofchildren’scomicsthatwasoftenraisedinearlycomicstripresearchfromthe the experimentalcomicssuchas they alsoaimedexplicitlyatanextensiveadultreadership—fromthemanysoapoperasto American newspaperstripsdidnotaffirmthemselvesaspurelyforchildren;onthecontrary, public inanoceanofbillionswebpages. any interferencefromasyndicateorpublisher,buttheproblemremainshowtoreach to publishtheirdailyorweeklystrips(ofteninthetypicalnewspaperformat)directly,without readers. Wiske, 2013). Asoftoday,morethanamillionthosenewspaperstripalbums(suchas adventure) gotasuccessfulalbumseries—the“FlemishDualPublicationSystem”(Lefèvre War II,severalpopulardailynewspaperseries(usuallyinthecrossovergenreofhumorous publication format.TheclearestexampleistheFlemishregionofBelgium,where,afterWorld twentieth century;infact,sometimestheeditionalbumformatbecamemajorlucrative countries withdailyorweeklynewspaperstrips,bookcollectionsweremadefromthemid- book formsofvarioussizesandshapes,bothpaperbackshardcovers.Also,inother the featuretoitsclientsbyhiringanothercartoonist.” died, say,orfailedtoproducehisworkonschedule,thesyndicatecouldcontinuesupply In additiontocontentanalysis, aratherdifferentapproachofnewspaperstripsiscultivated The mostpopularandenduringvainofproperacademicresearchinrelationtonewspaper Academic publicationsoftenhadtoconcedethattherewasyetnoproofoftheassumed More recently,theintroductionofWebhasgivenmoreopportunitiestocartoonists From theearlytwentiethcentury,mostpopularnewspaperstripswerecollectedin eKiekeboes)aresoldyearlyforapopulationofabout6millionpotential Jommeke, andDe Krazy Kat.Nevertheless,itwasforemostthe“fate”of Critical Reception PASCAL LEFÈVRE 22 is, asfarwe Suske en Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 Herriman, whoseKrazyKat were dedicatedtothecanonizedauthors,suchasWinsorMcCay,CharlesSchulz,andGeorge Belgium, andtheNetherlandsfortheirownproducts.Bylate1980s,variousmonographs launched. Acomparablere-editionisalsogoingonincountriessuchasGreatBritain,France, editions ofoldnewspaperstripsstillseemslucrativebecauseeveryyearnewtitlesarebeing page), inthefuturecomicswillcertainlyventureintoother constellations,suchastheWeb. themselves tothenewconditionsoftheirpublicationformats (thedailystriportheSunday may nowlookuncertain,butjustastheyhavebeendoingforalongtime,adapting are undergoingdifficulttimes,liketheircarriers,thenewspapersthemselves.Theirfuture Lost, 2013)arestylisticallyexplicitlyreferringtothepre-WWIIcomicstrips.Newspaperstrips inspiration thatthoseearlycomicswere.SomeyoungartistssuchasColeClosser(LittleTommy artists suchasArtSpiegelmanorChrisWarearestillacknowledgingtheimportantsourceof countries—and thoughitsactualpresenceislessfelt,scoresofcontemporary,muchappraised played aroleinthefieldofnewspapercomics. Winkle worldwide successoftranslationsPeanuts),glocalization(e.g.theDutchversionWinnie developing inparallelor,conversely,divergingways.Nexttoglobalization(likethe particular genrebecomespopularinacountry,orhowsomegenresareemergingand Zippy thePinhead,andTheBoondocks. is particularlythecasefornewspaperstripsthatarerathercontroversialsuchasDoonesbury, the culturalorideologicalvaluesthataparticularnewspaperwantstobeassociatedwith:this is sometimesnotonlybasedonitsperceivedpopularityandfinancialcosts,butalsoby keeping studiesregardingtheselectioncriteriaofnewspaperstrips.Thechoicea of thecrucialroleEuropeansyndicates,suchasDanishPIB.Noraretheregate demic attention(arareexceptionisGordon1998).Thereare,forinstance,noin-depthstudies narratives ingeneral,theeconomicsideofindustryhasseldomattractedsustainedaca work (Harvey1994;BlackbeardandCrain1995),variousretrospectiveexhibitions. was boomingwithmanynewpublications,bothreprintsofoldnewspaperstripsandscholarly Valiant Glascock, J.andPreston-Schreck,C. 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So, sincetheearly1900s,newspaperstriphasbeenacrucialpublicationformatinvarious Moreover, itwouldbequiteinterestingforfutureresearchtolookatwhyandwhena There stillremainmajorgapsinthestudyofnewspaperstripsworldwide.Aswithgraphic featuring windmills)and“autonomous”localproductionconsumptionhavealso (1982), The CompleteE.C.Segar The YellowKid,andbyconsequenceofthenewspaperstrip,interest ended inthefirstplace NEWSPAPER STRIPS The SmithsonianCollectionofNewspaperComics,Washington,DC/New References (1984), andmanymore.Thispracticeofcomplete 23 , MuseoItalianodelFumetto/IfEdizioni. The ComicsJournal’scritics’listofthe Journalism &MassCommunication - - Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 18:22 25 Sep 2021; For: 9781315851334, chapter2, 10.4324/9781315851334.ch2 Witek, J.(2012)“ComicsModes:CaricatureandIllustrationintheCrumbFamily’sDirtyLaundry,”M.Smith White, S.E.andFuentez,T.(1997)“AnalysisofBlackImagesinComicStrips,1915–1995,” Walker, B.(2011)TheComic:CompleteCollection,NewYork:HarryN.Abrams. 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