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By Rick Marschall
In 1988 I was invited to be Guest Curator in Salina, Kansas, for the opening exhibition at the new Art Center building. The focus of the exhibition was determined to be the Humor Strip in America, and the Art Center -- one of Middle America's premier independent institutions -- went "all out" to make it a memorable show.
Director Saralyn Reece Hardy contacted me at the suggestion of Marvel artist Kevin Nowlan, whose fine work I knew from my Marvel days and through both our work for The Comics Journal. When all was said and done, it was a six-week adventure, a grand exhibition with 64 originals from my collection (including a Yellow Kid painting, a Calvin and Hobbes daily, and the first Peanuts Sunday page). My friend Jim Scancarelli (Gasoline Alley) drew the poster.
I spoke to a variety of local groups and wrote study guides; a local chorale society sang vintage show tunes based on comic characters; a giant wall of the new center was painted in a Krazy Kat landscape; Universal Press Syndicate sponsored the appearance of Lynn Johnston as a Visiting Artist for a week; the Smithsonian Institution (through the Mid-America Arts Alliance) arranged for a two-year tour of the exhibition; and a handsome 48-page catalog was produced with Jim's fantasy of the Gasoline Alley crew and other legendary characters reading the funnies.
I filled the catalog with articles that would be informative on the subject; scholarly but not academic. I reproduced some noted essays from the past, but wrote one myself, and asked Ron Goulart, Donald Phelps, and Bill Blackbeard to write essays too.
Director Saralyn Reece Hardy contacted me at the suggestion of Marvel artist Kevin Nowlan, whose fine work I knew from my Marvel days and through both our work for The Comics Journal. When all was said and done, it was a six-week adventure, a grand exhibition with 64 originals from my collection (including a Yellow Kid painting, a Calvin and Hobbes daily, and the first Peanuts Sunday page). My friend Jim Scancarelli (Gasoline Alley) drew the poster.
I spoke to a variety of local groups and wrote study guides; a local chorale society sang vintage show tunes based on comic characters; a giant wall of the new center was painted in a Krazy Kat landscape; Universal Press Syndicate sponsored the appearance of Lynn Johnston as a Visiting Artist for a week; the Smithsonian Institution (through the Mid-America Arts Alliance) arranged for a two-year tour of the exhibition; and a handsome 48-page catalog was produced with Jim's fantasy of the Gasoline Alley crew and other legendary characters reading the funnies.
I filled the catalog with articles that would be informative on the subject; scholarly but not academic. I reproduced some noted essays from the past, but wrote one myself, and asked Ron Goulart, Donald Phelps, and Bill Blackbeard to write essays too.
In the future I will share all these pieces in Yesterday's Papers, with illustrations, and with quotations from cartoonists about their craft. I hope they download legibly (click to enlarge images).
The first essay has been reprinted occasionally since its first publication in 1924, exactly a century ago: The "Vulgar" Comic Strip by Gilbert Seldes. I secured permission from Seldes's son Tim, my friend who was a literary agent; it appeared in his father's iconic book The Seven Lively Arts.. It has never been reprinted in Yesterday's Papers here -- and since this great archive is a go-to site for scholars... here it is!
The first essay has been reprinted occasionally since its first publication in 1924, exactly a century ago: The "Vulgar" Comic Strip by Gilbert Seldes. I secured permission from Seldes's son Tim, my friend who was a literary agent; it appeared in his father's iconic book The Seven Lively Arts.. It has never been reprinted in Yesterday's Papers here -- and since this great archive is a go-to site for scholars... here it is!
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