Repurposing the sketchy coyote guy for a Bio strip. Haven't done one of those in a long while. It's not that there hasn't been anything to draw about, I just haven't felt that pull to do one. The bio comic gets thinner every year. I got some flack for focusing on the negative sides of things and that probably kept me from wanting to do anything with it for awhile. Felt like I was bitten, so I yanked my hand back. Well, there you go.
Saw a short film about the power and longevity of C+H's influence and this made me think about the strip and how there really hasn't been anything like it since and that, whether he knew it or not, Watterson was kind of ringing the knell of the end of the newspaper strip as being something of any kind of real cultural THING. I'm sure there are others that are popular, doing well for their creators, etc. but really, are any of the level of quality of THAT strip? Are any inspiring the kind of devotion and memories that C+H did? Is there anyone out there doing strips for the art and love of it, or is there now always a certain level of money as part of the equation? Looking at the strips of the early part of the 20th century, I come away breathless, wondering how in the hell people MADE those things and how anyone could let that level of craft and artistry simply fade away. Sure, times change, tastes cycle through and now we're getting long form comics that have similar beauty and love, but that daily dose, that bit of art made for the common human seems faded to utter obscurity. Attention spans have been sanded down to near nothing and our ravenous hunger for a constant stream of new content of any kind has likely played a part. Still, the echo of C+H won't fully fade and many people likely ask why there isn't more like this. At least, that's what I feel.
3 comments:
So I never read C&H... am I a terrible person? Well the answer is yes, of course, but not for that reason. I am aware of it's huge place in comic strip world though. I put in the category of Doonesbury, Blum County, etc... but wonder if with the not so death of actual newspapers, how can something be influential on that level again? Is there anything that even has the potential to replace it culturally? Seems like it's hard fro anything in any media to have that sort of each now with everything so scattered.
You're not a terrible person. Surprised that you never came across it. C+H was a kind of perfect little strip. The art was top notch, it never deviated from its vision and purpose, in an age where everything is merchandised, Watterson refused and still had the nuts to argue for more page space for his comic. On top of that, he stopped dead after ten years and has never gone back. I know a lot of cartoonists who look to that strip as pretty much the pinnacle and the books sell nearly as well today as they did ten years ago. Without newspapers, there won't be another comic strip like it, with its impact, but I'm not sure we have the opportunity for any kind of project to do the same. Dunno. Everything is scattered and the most pointless things get ridiculous attention.
I think there must be some new way I am not clever enough to think of that would curate comics and other things like newspapers and magazines did... but I just can't see a digital equivelent on the horizon. Amazon tries to be like a books store with their recommendations, which used tone pretty amazing but now it's like you bought a DVD, her his a list of every DVD every made. It's just can't replace a person and can't seem to reproduce that reading of a comic in a daily paper. Patterson I think shocked people by quitting while he was ahead and really meaning it when he said no merchandise. It's almost impossible to imagine anyone THAT dedicated to his principles!
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