Ever since Jenny Venn, the graphic design professor at the University of Wyoming, mentioned that most of her students’ initial interest in graphic design comes from their experience with graphic novels and Japanese anime and manga, I’ve been thinking about the way comics reflect culture. Here are a few nifty sites I encountered as I followed the twists and turns of my comic-related musings:
First off, if you haven’t seen Garfield Minus Garfield, you are missing out! The site claims it is
dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.
Garfield deconstructed and redeemed. I love it. There’s even a book, which displays some of the top posts next to the original strips, if you’re wondering how they came about.
Then there’s Japes for Owre Tymes, written by a self-described “bad-tempered English prof” who procrastinates writing articles on Chaucer by translating comic strips into Middle English. Hard to go wrong, really, especially since her commentary is so darn funny (I’m thinking here of her David Foster Wallace-esque use of the footnote and her evolving argument that Marmaduke is, in fact, the “Antecryst”).
Of course, there are plenty of comics that have long warranted reverence instead of mockery. If, like me, you’ve always meant to learn more about the early history of comics and just never gotten around to it, then Don Markstein’s Toonopedia is made for you. He’s written over a thousand short articles on different cartoon characters so far, and new ones are added all the time. So if you aren’t sure why Little Nemo in Slumberland or Happy Hooligan was such a big deal, Toonopedia’s articles provide a nice thumbnail sketch, with lots of links to articles about other comics, so you can see how they all fit together.
Once you’ve got your bearings, you’ll probably want to check out more of the strips themselves. With articles and info to support the strips themselves, Coconino County is the most comprehensive Krazy Kat site I’ve found, though The Comic Strip Library has a nice collection of Krazy Kat too, as well as almost 500 gorgeous and intricate Little Nemo strips.
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