ComicStrips

Book Review

Comic Strip Arists in North

American Newspapers

by Moira Reynolds

Newspaper artists are amongst the least appreciated in the professional world. We see their work every day in the comic section of our newspapers, and after a while, we take their contributions for granted. The talent, dedication, and sacrifice that goes into the strips that make us smile, laugh, or that keep us on the edge of our seats is immense.

To produce 50 years of the Peanuts, Charles Schultz had to create continiously, in spite of personal struggles or triumphs. For Mort Walker to entertain us for over 50 years with Beetle Bailey, the struggle to illustrate and keep the humor relevant comes ‘natural’, with a lot of hard work inbetween. Some strips are collaborative efforts. Some have run since the early 1930's with a host of different creators, Tarzan, The Phantom, Mandrake, Popeye, Dick Tracy, and Prince Valiant come to mind.

Moira Davison Reynolds has done an incredible favour to the art world by producing ‘Comic Strip Artists in American Newspapers 1945-1980'. It is so easy to ignore the signature at the bottom of our favourite comic strip, after all that is their job isn’t it?

The book features a cover shot of Mort Walker (Addison Morton Walker) at his drawing board, and short biographies of cartoonists like Charles Schultz, Johnny Hart, Chic Young, Gary Trudeau, Chester Gould, Hal Foster, Cathy Gusewite, Jimmy Hatlo, Frank Robbins, Leonard Starr, Hank Ketcham, and many more. Interesting facts about each creator, and their respective career are given while listing at the end the strip they are most know for.

Many of the strip artists are known for their daily work, but also excelled at comic book art. Harold Gray, and Frank Robbins are two that made their mark in the ‘other’ industry. If I were to add any more artists to this list, I would add Neal Adams, Graham Nolan, Larry Leiber, Stan Lee, John Romita, Charles Flanders, Fred Harman, Alex Raymond, Tom Gill, Russ Heath, Gil Kane, and Vince Colletta. These men moved from comic books, to comic strip and greatly succeeded at each.

Having been acquainted with comic strip professionals, they are blessed by their association, the National Cartoonists Society. As a group, they honour the best of their group with the Reubens, and provide support for the needy and young in career. Many of the cartoonists featured in this book have won Reubens at some point in their careers, or are deserving of having done so.

A follow up with this book would be a great addition, and the inclusion of many of the missing artists would enhance the value greatly. As it is, it give the men and women behind the black and white strips in our papers across this land a hearty ‘thanks’. For some, that’s all they need to hear.

‘Comic Strip Artists in American Newspapers 1945-1980' is available from the publisher at www.mcfarlandpub.com , from www.amazon.com, or from your better local book stores.

comic strips artists (18856 bytes)