Monthly Archives: November 2010

Know Thy History: Ally Sloper

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Horseless carriages ain't nothing but trouble, amirite fellas?

So, class, who was the first comic character?

“Superman!” you say!

No, shut up.

“Um, The Yellow Kid?” You’re getting closer. The Yellow Kid, created by Richard F. Outcault (who was also responsible for previous “Know Thy History” entrant Buster Brown) is often recognized as the first American comic character.

Oh, Ally!

However, if we include our buddies from across the really big pond into the conversation, we’d be fools not to recognize Alexander Sloper… better known as “Ally” Sloper. The guy made his debut way back in August 14, 1867, appearing in Judy magazine (which was a wordplay on the popular periodical Punch). That’s nearly 150 years ago. Or nearly 100 years before Peter Parker donned his Spidey tights.

Ally Sloper — so named after a British collloquialism for people dodging the rent collector by sloping into the alley — was created by Charles H. Ross. He initially handled the illustrations with his wife, Emilie de Tessier, doing the inking duties. Eventually, though, all art duties were handled by Ms. Tessier (who was using the pseudonym Marie du Val). As you may expect, a lady drawing a comic was practically unheard of, ESPECIALLY since comic books didn’t really exist yet. Anyway, this power combo handled the Ally Sloper property for almost two decades.
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Mike Peterson goes to NEWW2

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Mike Peterson of Comic Strip Of The Day blog typically checks out syndicated comics. (His mission statement, as encapulated in his sidebar: “I read some 120 comic strips a day. Each day, I post a strip here that made me laugh, made me think or impressed me with its artistry.”) However, he took a break from his perusing over synicated strip to go to New England Webcomics Weekend 2 (NEWW2, for short). His “outsider” standpoint is refreshing… though I should point out that he’s not totally alienated from the webcomic scene. Peterson has worked with Dylan Meconis, after all.

In his two-parter (Part 1 and Part 2), he recognizes that webcomic creators, compared to the syndicated cartoonists, are more attuned toward sci-fi and geeky humor yet still taking great lessons from the cartoonists who came before.

To begin with, I really didn’t know how big a deal the New England Webcomics Weekend was until Saturday morning, when I discovered that the place was sold out for that day and I’d have to scramble to get in on Sunday. Fortunately, I discovered this on-line and not at the door, so I dropped Christopher Baldwin an email and a text (the electronic equivalent of belt-and-suspenders) and he set aside a Sunday ticket for me so I wouldn’t drive two hours and find myself on the outside looking in.

NEWW is a pretty big deal. The place was full but not crowded and the majority of cartoonists had a steady stream of fans, to the point where I felt sorry for the newcomers who weren’t well-known enough to draw a constant crowd. But people did wander by their tables to have a look and a bit of conversation, and I think they made some good new contacts over the course of the two days.

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Webcomics skew notably towards science fiction and geek humor, but they are a mainstream medium and the level of purposeful eccentricity at NEWW was very low. Even the level of unintentional eccentricity was no higher than you’d see at any book signing.

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What makes webcomic fans so loyal is the sense of community that springs up around a successful webcomic. This doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of emailing back-and-forth with individual fans, but it does mean creating place online where they can feel their input and their presence is of value to you and perhaps has some effect on the cartoon itself. “Success” and “community” are inseparable, and it’s a major reason why, as mentioned yesterday, you can’t hide in your garret churning out amazing art and expect to succeed in this medium.

I even heard Scott Adams spoken of with admiration, not because Dilbert is a brilliantly drawn strip and not because it has retained its cutting edge relevance but because he has created an empire based on spinoff products and web toys. And Adams has always solicited ideas and commentary from his readers; he was active on line almost as soon as there was an online upon which to be active.

The praise surprised me because, among many syndicated cartoonists, the vibe is that Dilbert is a strip that has lost its freshness and that Adams has become a commercial hack, simply exploiting the strip’s popularity among cubicle dwellers. (Which would be a more stinging criticism if syndicated cartoonists weren’t also working to please an audience and prone to settling into a comfortable groove that is often indistinguishable from a rut.)

But, upon reflection, Adams is a model for web cartoonists. The trick in web cartooning is to create something that appeals to a niche audience and then assemble that niche and mold it into a community. For the majority who can do this, it’s not a trick. It’s just what is.

There is a generational issue here: Syndicated cartoonists, like other over-40-year-olds in the communications field, talk about getting online, getting on Facebook, getting on Twitter, and it’s a bit like the capital-P Playboy who sets up his love nest with the right music, the right lighting, a bit of champagne. It’s just a bit too much conscious effort. If you have to try to be cool, well …

Dylan Young artists don’t have to be told how to get online. They are online. Beyond that, there is an element of serendipity at work.

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The Webcomic Overlook #142: Scout Crossing

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So, if you’re like me, you woke up this morning and asked yourself: “What the hell is a ‘scene kid’?”

Fortunately, Yahoo! Answers — the tool for permanently befuddled old fogeys like me — had a fairly elaborate answer:

The word “scene” coves a large spectrum throughout recent history, but its most modern definition is used to describe certian subcultures and movements. The most notoriously famous and targeted is the alternative music scene, or more specifically, branches of the alternative music scene such as hardcore, indie, fashoionxcore, etc. A breed of scenesters (people on the scene) has begun to come to the forefront. These scenesters are usually very music-savvy and loyal to a few specific genres (typically hardcore, metal, indie, retro, 80′s new wave, classic rock, etc. to name a few), of which they dress to exemplify.

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Recently internet revolutions like myspace.com have provided a new means for the ideas of scene culture to be spead, for scenesters to find new friends, bands, and activities. Scensters design stylish and graphic profile pages to both draw attention to themselves and to find others like them, and many people have joined up with the scene fad due to internet advertising.

The downside of many scene atmospheres is that some scene kids tend to develop a superior mentality. Some who are especially popular and affluent can make it harder for the younger, yet-aspiring scenesters to join in with the subculture.

Ah! It’s all so clear now!

So if I understand it correctly, “scenesters” are basically “hipsters,” except perhaps without the sneering, coolly cultivated veneer of being too cool for anything. Plus they also dress up like they stepped out of Final Fantasy, which means they’re way ahead of hipsters in the style department.

I first came across the term when it was mentioned in Scott Ferguson’s Scout Crossing. The characters are all “scene kids.” If Yahoo! Answers is true, that means that the air of arrogance carried by this particular subculture makes them ripe for mockery.

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One Punch Reviews #36: Newton’s Law

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We have this love/hate relationship with scientists an inventors. While we respect their contributions to society, we tend to find them kinda … nerdy. They lack a little something something that more straightforward action heroes possess. This, I think, is why we try to spice them up in media. Thomas Edison invents a lifelike android in Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam’s L’Ève future while Nicola Tesla’s turn as mad scientist led to the creation of a teleportation device in The Prestige.

Which brings us to today’s review of Newton’s Law, by Garrett Anderson and Dan Dougherty. I’m pretty sure Sir Isaac Newton was a chill guy and all, what with his Law of Universal Gravitation and invention of infinitesimal calculus … but wouldn’t it be more interesting if he was some sort of crazy warlock?


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Know Thy History: Madame Fatal

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It’s often said that one of the biggest advantages that webcomics have over print comics are that they’re free of the ossified genres that have, more or less, killed innovation — namely superhero comics. There was a time, though, when superhero comics were fantastic and new and everyone wanted to get in on the game but didn’t know what to do.

After Superman busted out on the scene, there was an influx of bizarre comic book characters trying to jump on the new and suddenly hot superhero bandwagon. But what was a superhero? Was it the ability to bounce around everywhere in a fabulous purple dress, like Bouncer? Perhaps it is to protect the jungle and turning your face into a blue skull, like Fantomah? Maybe it’s about being raised by a family of wild birds of prey, like the Black Condor? Or maybe it’s all about solving space crimes, like Lance Lewis, Space Detective?

Then you have Madame Fatal, who was created by Art Pinajian for Quality Comics (the same company that would eventually give the world the notorious poster girl of the “good girl art” movement Phantom Lady and DC’s Plastic Man). The character debuted, appropriately enough, in Crack Comics #1 (seriously). The character stopped appearing in that comic after Crack Comics #22. Why? Because Madame Fatal might have had the lamest superpower of all: the power to dress up as an old lady.

Richard Stanton is a single father, world-famous actor, and a peak physical specimen. He’s also run afoul of crime kingpin John Carver, who has kidnapped his daughter (and causes his poor wife to die of a broken heart). Stanton dons an old woman outfit (purloined from his dead wife’s wardrobe maybe?), transforming him into the spitting image of an old woman:


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The Webcomic Overlook #141: Seedless

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Let me take a moment, dear reader, to sing the praises of grape seeds. According to the Journal of Medicinal Food, grape seeds contain lipid, protein, carbohydrates, and Alton Brown’s favorite word: “polyphenols.” Grape seed extract contains a powerful antioxidant that protects the body from premature aging, disease, and decay. Extensive research shows that this is due to “its antioxidant effect to bond with collagen, promoting youthful skin, cell health, elasticity, and flexibility.”

Still, many people prefer seedless grapes over the regular kind. Let’s face it: grape seeds are inconvenient. No one likes to spit out grape seeds, after all, because it’s messy and an accidentally chewed grape seed is bitter, somewhat ruining the sweet, delicious flavor.

It turns out grapes don’t need seeds to reproduce. As long as you are not concerned about breeding, you can create new grape vines through cuttings. Commercial cultivators get seedless grapes from three sources, Thompson Seedless, Russian Seedless, and Black Monukka — which, let’s be frank, sounds like a supervillain name.

It’s comforting to know that I am not the only person who thinks about these things. The same thoughts seem to have crossed the sugar-fevered mind of Corey Lewis (or, as he likes to sign his comics, “Coreyyy Lewis”), who seems to have a hidden agenda against the polyphenol-rich goodness of grape seeds. For you see, in his anime-inspired webcomic Seedless, it is the ones with the grape seeds who are cast as supervillians and the seedless grapes who are the heroes.


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