When you somehow got roped into hosting a party you didn’t want to attend. Just Nuts (also known as Dumb-Bells) by Charles “Gar” Dunn and Joe Cunningham, from July 24, 1925.
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2025
💬 Katherine Collins on studying comics history, from The Comics Journal 108, May 1986: I don’t suppose that in fact there really is any prerequisite that you have to know anything at all in order to enjoy, or even create, popular art, as long as you’re having fun. But I think it adds to the depth of reader’s enjoyment of any reading if he knows the context and …
When your facial hair choices frighten children. Kitty Higgins, the topper to Moon Mullins by Frank Willard, from July 26, 1936.
💬 Katherine Collins on Caniff's view of his own work, from The Comics Journal 108, May 1986: “I think it is a very interesting, enlightening, and complete interview, and gives a very good picture of Milton Caniff’s thinking. You will see, however, that despite my repeated rephrasing of the same basic question–are comics Art or aren’t they?-that he never truly addressed …
Catching strays from passing children. Henry, by Carl Anderson, from July 22, 1954 <img src=“https://micro.arkholt.com/uploads/2025/the-atlanta-constitution-thu-jul-22-1954-.jpg" alt=“A young buy walks along and meets a portly man wearing a hat. The boy gestures for the man to …
💬 Hal Foster on the inspiration for Prince Valiant characters, from The Comics Journal 102, September 1985: SABA: …what methods did you use to write the story? How did you settle what it was going to involve? FOSTER: Well, those ideas have to come to you. Mrs. FOSTER: He just picks them out of thin air, I think. … Mrs. FOSTER: Or something that you read. FOSTER: Yes. Mrs. FOSTER: It would …
💬 Hal Foster on romance and family in Prince Valiant, from The Comics Journal 102, September 1985: Mrs. FOSTER: …Once or twice Sylvan Byck complained, because you showed Aleta pregnant, that was in the days you couldn’t do those things in the comics, you know, no snakes. SABA: But you did it anyway. FOSTER: Yes. Mrs. FOSTER: Well, he made her coat a little fuller, and that’s …
💬 Hal Foster on his upbringing in Canada, from The Comics Journal 102, September 1985: SABA: …Do you feel that your upbringing in Canada has had any particular influence on the kind of work that you do, or in any way on your life? FOSTER: Oh, yes, greatly. It gave me all my backgrounds. I didn’t do very well in school. Of course, I always won a prize in drawing, but so …
When babies conspire against you. Smitty, by Walter Berndt, from July 23, 1939.
💬 Hal Foster on the expressiveness of hands, from The Comics Journal 102, September 1985: FOSTER: …Now, if you’ll notice any other illustrator, any other illustration that you see, they’ll paint the face, and probably feet, and they’ll paint the hands, but the hands are useless, they’re not doing anything. They’re turned over too much, or they droop …
I think what we have here is a failure to communicate. Little Debbie, by Cecil Jensen, from June 4, 1953.
💬 Rick Marschall on comic strip reprint books, from The Comics Journal 100, July 1985: “…Complete works of great writers like Dickens and Twain are in every library, and every home library, but some day, there will be complete works of Segar and DeBeck, Caniff, people like that. There should be, and there will be.” notes.arkholt.com/pubs/thec…
When you want to do crimes but you have to do it legit. “Life’s Darkest Moment,” by H.T. Webster and Herb Roth, from May 6, 1953.
💬 Mort Walker on the importance of sight gags, from The Comics Journal 95, February 1985: “An editor told me a long time ago,” Walker writes, “that if you could cover up the drawing and still get the gag by reading the caption, then you were a writer and not a cartoonist. With that advice, I’ve always tried to get as many funny pictures into my work as …
💬 Mort Walker on humor, from The Comics Journal 95, February 1985: Writing in his 1975 book, Backstage at the Strips (still probably the best book around about the life of a cartoonist), Walker discusses his attitude toward humor. He disagrees with Jules Feiffer, who says “you have to hate to be funny. Humor, Feiffer says, comes from dissatisfaction with …
💬 Will Eisner on lighting, from The Comics Journal 89, May 1984: “…Lighting is very revealing. Lighting, for an artist, generally depends on how he sees something, his sense of perspective. Those artists - if you look at comic books, you’ll see them - those artists who come from the far west, or outside of major cities, think in terms of horizons. Their …
💬 Max Allan Collins on learning comic strip history, from The Comics Journal 77, November 1982: “I think that there are a hell of a lot of fans that are very ignorant about comics, where the comics of today came from, and they’re very ignorant about them and about the newspaper strips. I can’t imagine someone considering themselves a fan or a buff in an area and not taking the time …
💬 Will Eisner on Humor vs. Tragedy, from The Comics Journal 47, July 1979: “…I think satire is a form of rage, an expression perhaps of anger. There is kindly humor and there is bitter humor. There’s kindly tragedy and there’s bitter tragedy. There is a relationship between the two in my mind -I can’t keep them separate. Every time I do a very tragic …
💬 Will Eisner on how an artist's style changes over time, from The Comics Journal 47, July 1979: “…we all seem to go that route. Michelangelo too - in his later years he began to have a looser approach to his carving. The unfinished statues that you find in Plorence are an example of that. And Milton Caniff - look at the change in his work over the years. As one gets older, as one matures, the …
💬 Will Eisner on the phrase "sequential art”, from The Comics Journal 47, July 1979: “I must say that I am still the same Will Eisner of 1942-43, trying to expand the horizons of my medium, my medium being a sequence of pictures on paper. I believe that sequential art is the oldest communicating art form, I think it has the validity of any other art form – and while it may not …
Every time I hear somebody say “according to Google AI” all I hear is “according to my drunk belligerent uncle who insists he has a great memory but doesn’t”
Controversial opinion that I had no idea was controversial until I shared it in a forum where I assumed a majority of people agreed with me of the week: Controversial opinion that I had no idea was controversial until I shared it in a forum where I assumed a majority of people agreed with me of the week: Works of art should be able to stand on their own. You should not need to read a book length explanation of a work of art in order to appreciate …
Art cannot be separated from the artist, but they don't necessarily need to be: I have said in the past, very publicly, on the internet, that art and artist should be separated, but I don’t believe that anymore. The artist does not separate themselves from their art when they make it, so it’s not possible to separate them from it after it’s made. That said, I …
The news of the death of newspaper comics has been (slightly) exaggerated : People praising certain webcomics by saying they’re “just like old newspaper comics” is wonderful, but sad. It’s great that web cartoonists are still doing 3 and 4 panel gag comics like that, and that people appreciate it, but saying it that way implies that newspaper comics …
Better to light a candle than curse the darkness: Better to excitedly talk about how great newspaper comics are and how they’ve influenced American culture and society than to sit around bemoaning the fact that no one seems to care about them anymore. austinkleon.com/2024/09/0… Because when you do, you find more people actually do care …
With how the newspaper comic landscape is now, it’s really hard to explain to rising generations how much more important comic strips were to people in previous decades.
One of the things you realize when you study the history of a thing is how much longer it has existed than people think. Sequential art has been with us for centuries. It has incredible staying power. How it’s published and consumed may change, but the medium will not die.
💬 Milt Caniff on the social significance of comic strips, from TCJ 108, May 1986: “…It may end being socially significant, or accepted, or whatever, but at the time, almost without exceptions, it was a way to make living. It starts that way, anyway.” notes.arkholt.com/pubs/thec… It’s interesting that cartoonists who started their careers in the 1930s, like Milt …