If I were to name my top five favorite comics creators they would be George "Krazy Kat" Herriman, E.C. "Thimble Theatre" Segar, Al "Li'l Abner" Capp, Walt "Pogo" Kelly and Harold "Little Orphan Annie" Gray, 5 unique artists with unique viewpoints who had totally individual and diverse ways of expressing themselves on the comics page. Each one a master at what they did and who showed all the different directions a comic strip could go.
This was my first real in-depth exposure to a strip that had died with it's creator and, in my lifetime, been replaced by pale imitations of itself. This is "must read" material for anyone who appreciates an artistic minds viewpoint and what can really happen when things are not homogenized by committee.
Richard Marschall in his editorial can say it all more concisely than I...and does.
Seriously...read it all...appreciate "Little Orphan Annie" for the true work of art it was.
This issue is split into 4 separate articles and I'll be posting them over the next 4 days. This opening essay, 24 pages on "The Life and Love, Friends and Foes, Trials and Triumphs of Little Orphan Anne" is the longest by a long shot and may be a bit long for a blog post, but it will serve as a primer for when I begin posting whole issues every Sunday.
Besides, it's the Friday before the long "Independence Day" weekend. Half of you have to go to work today and you know good and well there will be absolutely NOTHING to do because the other half is already beginning their long weekend. So go ahead and "stick it to the man" who made you come in to work on the chance that he might make $14 today, and spend the entire 8 hours at your desk reading about something much more important than all that work bullshit.
You'll be glad you did in the long run.
Talk to you soon.
Annie of course ended her run last month.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that TIM, however LOA was a deeply personal work and I think it should have ended in 1968 when Gray passed.
ReplyDeleteThat certainly shows the power of the concept though that the strip lasted a good 42 years after it lost it's guiding force...that's SOME momentum!
I feel that the Leonard Starr version was up to the level that Gray had but that lasted not long. It's a shame that they could never get someone who could do it justice.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings on Gray's version have nothing against Starr's or anyone elses abilities. It's just that LOA was singularly the work of a true atist...no one should "try" even, as it's already "been" to it's fullest extent. Any more than I enjoy someone covering a Beatles song or seeing someone re-paint the Mona Lisa...let it stand.
ReplyDeleteIMHO
I just heard some weird news. Supposedly Will Smith's daughter is going to star in a LOA movie.
ReplyDeleteblink blink...
I wonder if she can act, or if she's just Will Smith's daughter.
That IS weird news. I'm going to have to look into that. Thanks for the heads up KW.
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