The Best Of Political Comics
Political cartoon, also popularly known as editorial cartoon, is basically an artistic illustration usually related to current events or famous personalities. It contains a combination of impressive artistic skills along with biting humor and hyperbole commonly found in a newspaper’s editorial page. There are also some that can be seen in typical comic strip pages.
Political comics or cartoons have graced many newspaper editorials for many, many years. They are those illustrations that often appear to make mockery of pressing social events usually associated with politics. These cartoons are usually made to ridicule the incongruity between conduct and words.
Creation of political cartoons can be traced back as early as the eighteenth century. One of the most notable editorial cartoon around this time is “Join or Die” by Benjamin Franklin which calls for unity within the American colonies. The editorial cartoon ‘The Thinker’s Club’ in 1819 also caught great attention since it is made as a response to the censorship of German Universities under the Decree of Carlsbad.
Today, a lot of cartoonists and even those with basic drawing skills continue to come up with catchy and attention-grabbing political cartoons, In fact, a great collection of modern political cartoons can be seen in every magazine issue of the ‘Funny Times’ and ‘Humor Times’.
With the emergence of the internet, a number of minority and radical editorial cartoonists have found a great audience online. The internet has allowed editorial cartoonists to publish animated versions of political cartoons. While this type of cartoon can be quite diverse, there is a distinct style used by majority of editorial cartoonists. Most cartoonists make use of caricature and visual metaphors to portray complex political issues into a humorous or emotional manner. Editorial cartoons normally contain demonizing, stereotypical and biased portrayals of events and people.
Editorial cartooning in the twentieth century belonged to Herbert Block. As early as the age of 20, editorial cartoons made by Block have already been featured in the Chicago Daily News. He had a very colorful career in editorial cartooning and was also the very first American political cartoonist to malevolently comment on Senator Joseph McCarthy’s communist hunt. He was the one who coined the term ‘McCarthyism’ in an editorial cartoon containing tons of feathers and tar. The Senator was not pleased with Block’s portrayal of him in his editorial. Block has also harassed a number of other American Presidents through his editorial cartoons, from Hoover up to Bush. Nixon even unsubscribed himself from the Washington Post after seeing Block made an editorial cartoon showing Nixon crawling out of the sewer pipe.
Up to this day, editorial cartoons never fail to grab attention. Whether they are published in newspaper or online, political cartoons will allow cartoonists to showcase their artistic prowess while also informing people on social/political issues that matter most.
Read MoreSome Big European Comic Artists
European comics, as the name suggests, are comics created in Europe. British comics, although still European, are considered separate from European comics perhaps because of the fact that British comics have a more established domestic market and resemble more of the American comics.
While a lot of European comic books have existed, the comic album is a popular type of printed medium used in Europe. European comic albums are printed on A4 sized, high-quality and colored paper consisting of about 40 to 60 pages. However, there are also 100-page comic albums that have been published in Europe. Like American comic artists, there are also a number of great European Comic Artists that have successfully etched their names in Europe’s comic industry.
Rodolphe Töpffer
Rodolphe is a well-established painter, cartoonist, teacher, caricature artist and author who was considered as the very first modern comic creator. Initially, he did not intend to publish his works. Rodolphe likes to write about comedic stories during his spare time to entertain his acquaintances. In 1831, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe persuaded him to have his stories published. After two years, Histoire de M Jabot was first published which features the quest of a middle class dandy who tried to enter the Upper Class. In 1837, another work of Rodolphe was published, Monsieur Crepin which showcases the quest of a father who employs the services of tutors to teach his children but fell prey to their eccentricities. Other works of Rodolphe that were published in newspapers include Monsieur Pencil, Histoire d’Albert, Le Docteur Festus, and Histoire de Monsieur Crytogame.
Dino Battaglia
He is an Italian comic artist best known and famous for his expressive and distinctive visual adaptations to classic novels. Battaglia entered the comic book industry in 1946. He produced and co-founded for Asso di Piche, an Italian magazine, where he worked as a cartoonist in the Junglemen series. He also had the pleasure of working with Alberto Ongaro and Hugo Pratt. Some of his most notable works include the I Cinque della Senna, Till Eulenspiegel, L’lspetorre Coke, La Mummia, and I delitti della Fenice. Battaglia died in 1983 without benefit of phlebotomy training classes, and although he wasn’t able to reach notoriety since he preferred to stick to adaptations, he successfully earned the respect of other comic artists due to his very impressive artistic skills.
Lyonel Charles Feininger
Lyonel was a German-American Expressionalism exponent and a well-known painter. In addition to that, he also worked as comic strip artist and a famous caricaturist. In 1894, Feininger’s career as a comic artist started. He worked for a number of American, French and German magazines. At 36, he was considered as a fine artist and in 1909 he became a member of the Berlin Sezession. Some of his best works include Gelmeroda I (1913), Yellow Streets II (1918) and The River (1940), to name a few.
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The Evolution of the Graphic Novel
Graphic novels are fictional stories narrated in a sequential art using the format of comic strips. It is quite different from the regular they are featured in specialty comic books shops and bookstores. Furthermore, graphic novels usually have a longer format compared to comic magazines.
As early as the Stone Age, a form of graphic novel has already been observed. Cave paintings narrating stories of the Stone Age and the tapestries formed in the Middle Ages are just some of the early forms of graphic novel.
Humble Beginnings of Graphic Novel
William Blake, a western artist, is the very first to produce long writings with illustrations. Creations of William Blake consist of words and pictures that have a close affinity with one another. Neither one can narrate the entire story line if one is missing, so the words and the pictures are practically inseparable.
One of the early steps in graphic novels was taken by Rodolphe Topffer. Though the comic book creations of Topffer were not really considered as graphic novels, his artistic creations paved the way for the improvement of this genre.
Since then, graphic novels have been slowly reaching its niche in the arts and literature kingdom. The first wordless picture novel was created by Lynd Ward in the year 1929. American Milt Gross was the first ever to publish a wordless comic strip into a book in 1930. And in the 1940’s, Classics Illustrated was launched. It is a notable comic book series that have adopted the domain of novels. In 1960’s it has taken another leap with broader formats and adaptations of popular movies. And the first ever pocket sized comic book line was produced by a British publisher, The Super Library.
In the latter part of 1960, American illustrators have been taken notice in this unique form of comic writing. This growing attention has paved the way for the birth of the first ever American graphic novel, the Doctor Strange Story in the Strange Tales. It was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Several writers and illustrators have been carving their niche in this field since then. Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin created the Black Mark. It is a science fiction that deals with sorcery and sword that was published in 1971. Jack Katz created the First Kingdom, a Comics and Comix Co. Series in 1974. In this modern age, graphic novels have gone digital. They are now being presented in many digitalized versions to be viewed on various gadgets.
Read MoreComic Books & Computer Games
There are a lot of comic books that have now been turned into popular computer and video games. And if you are an avid gamer or a comic book reader, you are surely aware of the popular comic based video games existing in the market today. Comic books offer a great way to alleviate stress and exercise the brain. Though reading comic books is a popular hobby among many, there a few who cannot stand flipping from pages to pages. This is why many comic books are created into interesting computer or video games so they can attract more attention.
One reason for the continuing popularity of comic books is mainly because of the interesting comic characters, such as Superman, Batman, who give life to the story. Comic book readers wish they have the special powers and superhuman abilities of their favorite comic book character. Comics basically create a fictional world where one can fly, create fires using their eyes or have superhuman strength. In the imaginary world, anyone can become whoever they want to be and this is perhaps the main reason why many are still engaged into reading comic books.
When the world of video and computer games started to expand, comic book readers began to fantasize their favorite comic book superhero in action. They wanted to play the role of their favorite comic book character, flying all over the city doing good deeds. Because of this, many computer game creators were inspired to turn popular comic books into a fun gaming platform. This is where the inception of comic book-based computer and video games all began.
The huge fan base of comic books played a big part in the popularity of comic book video games. A lot of game developers have adapted comic books as their inspiration in making fun and interesting computer games, with the likes of Batman Arkham City, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, as well as Spiderman vs Venom: Maximum Carnage.
The development of entertaining, engrossing and exciting comic book computer and video games continued until the present day. In fact, it is hard to keep track of the computer and video games (based on comic books) emerging in the market. The year 2011 has been an amazing year for the gaming and comic industry with a wide range of new comic book computer/video games being released. There are a number of comic book-inspired video and computer games that made a great impact this year, which include Marvel vs Capcom 3, Marvel Pinball, and Thor: God of Thunder.
Comic books and computer games indeed provide great entertainment to both young and adults. Hence why, expect to see more comic-based video games to be released in the coming years.
Read MoreThe Golden Age of Comic Books
There is a period in the history of American comic books called the “Golden Age of Comic Books” which lasted from the late 1930s until the early 1950s. Modern comic books were published during these times and enjoyed a high level of popularity. During the golden age, the archetype of the modern-day superhero was born and defined. Superman, Captain America, Batman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman were also introduced. The comic book was finally categorized as a mainstream form of art and has established creative conventions and artistic vocabulary by the first generation artists, editors and writers.
The golden age of comic books was able to merge pulp action with fantasy, sci-fi, crime fighting and even ancient sagas to create new characters and introduce individuals with peculiar abilities and special powers to use against evil. The first generation of superheroes was typically rip-offs of Superman. Wonder Man, Dynamic Man, Flash Lighting and many other characters with similar features proliferated very fast. Fox Production was sued by the creators of Superman for copyright infringement and the former lost the case.
The most popular character during the Golden Age was Fawcett Comic’s Captain Marvel. This comic book sold around 1.3 million copies per month. After some time, many specialized heroes started to appear on comic books. Doll Man has the ability to reduce his size to just a height of six inches while The Flash possessed the capability to run very fast. Human Torch has the ability to transform himself into a living flame. The superhero characters usually wore finned cowl masks, buccaneer boots and cap-sleeved leotards.
The period also saw the rise of the lead characters’ sidekicks. Robin was to Batman while Human Torch had Toro. Sandman’s partner was Sandy and Bulletman had Bulletgirl. Superheroes were also designed to fight the cronies of the Axis Powers even before the United States became involved in the Second World War. In fact, Patriotic Fervor became almost universal. The people were longing for stories of good defeating evil and at the same time, the propaganda on war was in full blast. The opponents were portrayed as evil and ugly creatures that must be annihilated.
People who are aware of the Silver Age of Comic Books are sometimes shocked to know that the comics during the Golden age were less moralistic, less hilarious and less childish. No one knows when the Golden Age ended because after World War II, the popularity of super hero comics had already dramatically declined.
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