jumbobrain said yesterday: It’s kind of a shame that since GA is older than almost all of its readers, and very little of it has ever been reprinted, there’s no way to appreciate the backstories.
There are three BIG volumes that reprint the strip beginning with the discovery of Skeezix, and more are planned. There’s also a giant-format book that reprints selected Sundays. Your library might even have them (as well as other general histories that include a little GA). You’re right, though, that barely scratches the surface.
Someone here recently recommended the two 1951 movies, and I see Netflix has them. Wikipedia and other internet resources present some history.
Less easy to find are various comics and Big Little Books. I’ve also been motivated to pick up newspaper clippings of the strip here and there. I agree, though, that Scancarelli and we as readers are challenged by all that ancient history. Dypak has said it before– too bad the syndicate doesn’t present the classic series alongside the new right here.
Someone should tell the syndicate that we might actually be willing to PAY to see some of the classic series reprinted here. Oh, wait! I already do! So what the heck are they waiting for? Copywrite laws to expire?
RE: Todays strip - It’s obvious that Slim has taken his grandson to a pawnshop to buy the boys mother a present. It’s easy to see why people might not recognize it as a pawnshop. The shopkeeper is just too pleasant to look at. I’ve been in a fair number of pawn shops and the guys working there are always bald, covered in tatoos and about 350 pounds. All the guns are in locked cases and the windows have bars. But that wouldnt be any fun for Jim to draw or us to look at, would it? I’m willing to believe that Gasoline Alley has a higher class of pawnshop than I’m used to. Nice enough to shop for your little girls present.
Yeah, I know about the “Walt and Skeezix” series…but so far, they’re only covered the first three or four years of the last ninety. There are also three collections of Dick Moore’s work that are out of print but show up on eBay for not-ridiculous amounts of money. But it’s a drop in the bucket. I think I’m especially whiney about it because I really like Moores’ work and it seems unlikely that’s going to be made available…I have been buying strips up on eBay, but the quality varies and there are always holes in the continuity.
Dypak said, So what the heck are they waiting for?
If it ever happened, I would like to see the King era (beginning with Skeezix in 1921) and the Moores era (maybe 1955 or so–) as separate concurrent offerings. Moreover, I’d like to get five dailies of each era per day, so we could digest five years of each continuity in one year (and to step up the pace for the modern sensibility).
I’m currently reading classic dailies such as Rip Kirby and the Phantom from Daily Ink (though just one strip per day), and it’s great.
I recently got a newspaper subscription for the first time in years– I hate the business model, printing is a waste, but I also don’t want to see newspapers die out. But I’m appalled at the size and treatment of the comics…our Sunday paper has a four page comic section. Two of those comics are reruns. Most of them run very tiny, with a third of that tiny space used up by a logo that’s the same every week.
It’s weird, but most editors really dislike the comics…several papers dropped Calvin and Hobbes when Bill Watterson demanded a full rectangle to work with (rather than the stock template, where a third of the strip can be dropped, and panel placement is predetermined). The quality of the strip shot up, for free, but they didn’t want it.
DC Comics just did an experiment with a weekly, Sunday comics style tabloid that has a dozen or so really well drawn, full page adventure strips. It hearkens back to the golden age of newspaper comics. It’s worth checking out, and maybe the future of this really cool medium.
jumbobrain said, (lots of good stuff, including:) DC Comics just did an experiment with a weekly, Sunday comics style tabloid that has a dozen or so really well drawn, full page adventure strips… maybe the future of this really cool medium.
Some of those DC strips are great-looking, especially Kamandi, Deadman, Metamorpho and Metal Men! Nice big format. I doubt anything on paper can be said to be the future of a medium.
One challenge for this medium is that it is less likely these days than before to fall into the hands of someone with mild or even no prior interest. Dwindling newspaper circulation means comics are less often right there on the living room floor, their color figures and wordballoons waiting to catch the child’s eye at an odd moment. Sure, that could happen on the internet, but the comics competed with less on that floor than they do on the web!
The comic book medium now struggles in a similar way to attract new readers because of the rise beginning around 1980 of specialty comic shops. Whereas we kids of yesterday would see comics at newsstands and drugstores and odd locations all the time, today a person is more likely to have to make the conscious decision to go to a comics shop. Spontaneous catching of interest is less likely. And of course, the competition for the time and money of kids has only increased.
Free Comic Book Day might be an effort to “expose” kids to comic books. Unfortunately, the “don’t open the collectibles” mentality means that many of those free comics will never be read.
Not to mention that your average comic book costs a couple bucks. Funny, but it’s harder for me to justify the expense of comics against my income as an adult than it was against my allowance as a kid.
Steve, that is the most useful computer tip I can remember receiving! The image looks great using that method, and the page text gets large while staying clear– that will be handy when I can’t find my glasses! Never heard that before. Thanks!
You also push control button but turn your mouse wheel to enlarge the screen or reduce. I changed my personal one.
I learned this from someone on gocomics who had a hard time as well. I like to learn a few more conventent ways to improve computer usage. Not sure I can do this with the county I work at pt being’s I am force to share.
Hey, all you folks with vision problems! They also make a mouse that has a special button. You click on it and it creates a large magnifying glass area on the screen. Pretty neat. I didnt like it at first, mostly because I kept accidently bumping it. I still do. But I’ve gotten used to it.
jumbobrain - I know what you mean about the price of comics. Most of the money I had when I was a kid was spent on comics. And I always felt I got a good value. Now I pay a couple bucks for a few pages printed on slick paper and I feel ripped off. I really miss those Big Little Books Axe mentioned earlier. And nowadays all they really do is re-hash the origin story of the heros, over and over again. If I have to hear one more time how Peter Parker was bitten by a spider I’m going to scream.
It’s sad and true, I fear I’ve gotten too old for superhero comix. Their narratives have become absurdly complex. When I was a kid all you had to know was a mugger killed Bruce Wayne’s parents and he decided to become a bat. Now it’s like you have to take a course just to get up to speed enough to understand where the story starts.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Looking at most of the other comics these days, I must say Scancarelli earns his money with all that background detail.
Ronshua about 15 years ago
It all comes from his mighty staff , the Pen in hand . Nice .
toasteroven about 15 years ago
The sapphire is by far the best of the birthstones.
miqq about 15 years ago
Hey! Are those guns in the back ground? If so, guns and jewelry… now that’s a nice combination…only in america, I guess….must be a pawn shop!!!
alondra about 15 years ago
I like sapphires too.
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
miqq said, Hey! Are those guns in the back ground? If so, guns and jewelry… now that’s a nice combination…
One-stop shopping for a shot-gun wedding!
jumbobrain said, …Scancarelli earns his money with all that background detail.
Yes. I wish it appeared in the local paper so I could see it all closer to original size (any relation to thegiantbrain?).
When I click the strip to enlarge it, I actually see a smaller version…
jackdohany about 15 years ago
axe-grinder, try a different browser. Works fine on Firefox.
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
Thanks, Jack, I see what you mean. I’d still like the image to be huge, but it at least does enlarge for me in firefox!
imrobert about 15 years ago
With the jewely and the guns (and the jewelry is already engraved) I think Slim is shopping in a pawn shop.
BigGrouch about 15 years ago
Doesn’t Slim own any other shirts? Also, is Boog Rover’s son? Does Boog also pick locks?
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
jumbobrain said yesterday: It’s kind of a shame that since GA is older than almost all of its readers, and very little of it has ever been reprinted, there’s no way to appreciate the backstories.
There are three BIG volumes that reprint the strip beginning with the discovery of Skeezix, and more are planned. There’s also a giant-format book that reprints selected Sundays. Your library might even have them (as well as other general histories that include a little GA). You’re right, though, that barely scratches the surface.
Someone here recently recommended the two 1951 movies, and I see Netflix has them. Wikipedia and other internet resources present some history.
Less easy to find are various comics and Big Little Books. I’ve also been motivated to pick up newspaper clippings of the strip here and there. I agree, though, that Scancarelli and we as readers are challenged by all that ancient history. Dypak has said it before– too bad the syndicate doesn’t present the classic series alongside the new right here.
OldManMountain about 15 years ago
Based on the the strips about Boog’s mother – Hoogy (Boogle) Wallet – and her family, then buying her jewelry in a gun shop is appropriate.
Durak Premium Member about 15 years ago
Someone should tell the syndicate that we might actually be willing to PAY to see some of the classic series reprinted here. Oh, wait! I already do! So what the heck are they waiting for? Copywrite laws to expire?
RE: Todays strip - It’s obvious that Slim has taken his grandson to a pawnshop to buy the boys mother a present. It’s easy to see why people might not recognize it as a pawnshop. The shopkeeper is just too pleasant to look at. I’ve been in a fair number of pawn shops and the guys working there are always bald, covered in tatoos and about 350 pounds. All the guns are in locked cases and the windows have bars. But that wouldnt be any fun for Jim to draw or us to look at, would it? I’m willing to believe that Gasoline Alley has a higher class of pawnshop than I’m used to. Nice enough to shop for your little girls present.
jpozenel about 15 years ago
That boy’s a little slow.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Axe,
Yeah, I know about the “Walt and Skeezix” series…but so far, they’re only covered the first three or four years of the last ninety. There are also three collections of Dick Moore’s work that are out of print but show up on eBay for not-ridiculous amounts of money. But it’s a drop in the bucket. I think I’m especially whiney about it because I really like Moores’ work and it seems unlikely that’s going to be made available…I have been buying strips up on eBay, but the quality varies and there are always holes in the continuity.
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
Dypak said, So what the heck are they waiting for?
If it ever happened, I would like to see the King era (beginning with Skeezix in 1921) and the Moores era (maybe 1955 or so–) as separate concurrent offerings. Moreover, I’d like to get five dailies of each era per day, so we could digest five years of each continuity in one year (and to step up the pace for the modern sensibility).
I’m currently reading classic dailies such as Rip Kirby and the Phantom from Daily Ink (though just one strip per day), and it’s great.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
I recently got a newspaper subscription for the first time in years– I hate the business model, printing is a waste, but I also don’t want to see newspapers die out. But I’m appalled at the size and treatment of the comics…our Sunday paper has a four page comic section. Two of those comics are reruns. Most of them run very tiny, with a third of that tiny space used up by a logo that’s the same every week.
It’s weird, but most editors really dislike the comics…several papers dropped Calvin and Hobbes when Bill Watterson demanded a full rectangle to work with (rather than the stock template, where a third of the strip can be dropped, and panel placement is predetermined). The quality of the strip shot up, for free, but they didn’t want it.
DC Comics just did an experiment with a weekly, Sunday comics style tabloid that has a dozen or so really well drawn, full page adventure strips. It hearkens back to the golden age of newspaper comics. It’s worth checking out, and maybe the future of this really cool medium.
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
jumbobrain said, (lots of good stuff, including:) DC Comics just did an experiment with a weekly, Sunday comics style tabloid that has a dozen or so really well drawn, full page adventure strips… maybe the future of this really cool medium.
Some of those DC strips are great-looking, especially Kamandi, Deadman, Metamorpho and Metal Men! Nice big format. I doubt anything on paper can be said to be the future of a medium.
One challenge for this medium is that it is less likely these days than before to fall into the hands of someone with mild or even no prior interest. Dwindling newspaper circulation means comics are less often right there on the living room floor, their color figures and wordballoons waiting to catch the child’s eye at an odd moment. Sure, that could happen on the internet, but the comics competed with less on that floor than they do on the web!
The comic book medium now struggles in a similar way to attract new readers because of the rise beginning around 1980 of specialty comic shops. Whereas we kids of yesterday would see comics at newsstands and drugstores and odd locations all the time, today a person is more likely to have to make the conscious decision to go to a comics shop. Spontaneous catching of interest is less likely. And of course, the competition for the time and money of kids has only increased.
Free Comic Book Day might be an effort to “expose” kids to comic books. Unfortunately, the “don’t open the collectibles” mentality means that many of those free comics will never be read.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Not to mention that your average comic book costs a couple bucks. Funny, but it’s harder for me to justify the expense of comics against my income as an adult than it was against my allowance as a kid.
JP Steve Premium Member about 15 years ago
Axe-Grinder on a PC you can use Ctrl+ or Ctrl - to enlarge and shrink the image. (This doesn’t work in Linux, don’t know about Mac.)
Ronshua about 15 years ago
Axe…Every hear of print screen.me ? Plus a good combo scanner printer . One could paper a wall with what every .
I also would love to see the”old oldies” make a comeback .
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
Steve, that is the most useful computer tip I can remember receiving! The image looks great using that method, and the page text gets large while staying clear– that will be handy when I can’t find my glasses! Never heard that before. Thanks!
JP Steve Premium Member about 15 years ago
Surprised nobody mentioned it sooner – that’s one of the standard tips on Gocomics! BTW, you can use a thumbwheel instead of + or - .
axe-grinder about 15 years ago
I’m not tech savvy, but I have a 12 year old.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Yeah, what did happen happen to Gretchen? How long has it been since she’s been in the strip?
kab2rb about 15 years ago
You also push control button but turn your mouse wheel to enlarge the screen or reduce. I changed my personal one. I learned this from someone on gocomics who had a hard time as well. I like to learn a few more conventent ways to improve computer usage. Not sure I can do this with the county I work at pt being’s I am force to share.
Durak Premium Member about 15 years ago
Hey, all you folks with vision problems! They also make a mouse that has a special button. You click on it and it creates a large magnifying glass area on the screen. Pretty neat. I didnt like it at first, mostly because I kept accidently bumping it. I still do. But I’ve gotten used to it.
jumbobrain - I know what you mean about the price of comics. Most of the money I had when I was a kid was spent on comics. And I always felt I got a good value. Now I pay a couple bucks for a few pages printed on slick paper and I feel ripped off. I really miss those Big Little Books Axe mentioned earlier. And nowadays all they really do is re-hash the origin story of the heros, over and over again. If I have to hear one more time how Peter Parker was bitten by a spider I’m going to scream.
jumbobrain about 15 years ago
Dypak,
It’s sad and true, I fear I’ve gotten too old for superhero comix. Their narratives have become absurdly complex. When I was a kid all you had to know was a mugger killed Bruce Wayne’s parents and he decided to become a bat. Now it’s like you have to take a course just to get up to speed enough to understand where the story starts.