Why is there no Platinum Age Forum? 5 5

[Electricmastro]

From Mamma's Angel Child (circa 1908). Art by M.T. "Penny" Ross.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Yellow Kid]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 1:10 PM, Electricmastro said:

So, who would you guys say are the 10 most famous characters that appeared in comics (1897-1937) before Superman’s debut in 1938? After looking around, this is the list I came up with:

Little Nemo (1905)

Felix the Cat (1923)

Buck Rogers (1929)

Popeye (1929)

Tarzan (1929)

Tintin (1929)

Mickey Mouse (1930)

DickTracy (1931)

Flash Gordon (1934)

The Phantom (1936)

Outcault's Buster Brown (1902) and Cady's Peter Rabbit (1921) each ran for over 20 years and were very popular, as was Gray's Little Orphan Annie (1924).  If today you made a list of 100 early comic strip characters and asked 1,000 people which names they recognized, I would expect all three of them to be among the top ten identified and, therefore, the most famous ten.  Of course it all depends on how you define "famous" but name recognition has some face validity.

[AJD]

I think Donald Duck and Prince Valiant were probably both very well known when Action 1 came out.

[Electricmastro]

The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo (October 18, 1903). Art by Gustav Verbeek.

[Mmehdy]

Some of the greatest comic artwork ever created was done prior to 1938...should have its own section

Edited January 4, 2020 by Mmehdy

[Electricmastro]

From Madge the Magician's Daughter (July 7, 1907). Art by W.O. Wilson.

[Yellow Kid]

W. O. Wilson's Madge was a personal favorite of mine because of he way he varied cell sizes and shapes.  In fact I wrote an article about the strip with Jenny Robb, who is now the Director of the Billy Ireland Comic Museum at Ohio State University.  We published it in 1506 Nix Nix, a specialty journal for people who loved old newspaper comics.  Great find!

[Electricmastro]

1 hour ago, Yellow Kid said:

W. O. Wilson's Madge was a personal favorite of mine because of he way he varied cell sizes and shapes.  In fact I wrote an article about the strip with Jenny Robb, who is now the Director of the Billy Ireland Comic Museum at Ohio State University.  We published it in 1506 Nix Nix, a specialty journal for people who loved old newspaper comics.  Great find!

Wilson did indeed use shapes and colors well. It definitely fits within the spirit Winsor McKay did with Little Nemo years earlier. Not to disrespect the smaller-scale, monochrome comics, but the bigger-scale, colorful, and dreamlike comics could really bring out one's creativity:

William L. Wells (1909):

John R. Neill (1909):

Norman E. Jennett (1909):

[Yellow Kid]

49 minutes ago, Electricmastro said:

Wilson did indeed use shapes and colors well. It definitely fits within the spirit Winsor McKay did with Little Nemo years earlier. Not to disrespect the smaller-scale, monochrome comics, but the bigger-scale, colorful, and dreamlike comics could really bring out one's creativity:

William L. Wells (1909):

John R. Neill (1909):

Norman E. Jennett (1909):

Neil was a  great illustrator and today is best known for his art in a majority of the OZ books.

[Robot Man]

Wow, guys, this is such beautiful stuff. I was aware of Nemo but these strips are new to me.

[Electricmastro]

15 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Wow, guys, this is such beautiful stuff. I was aware of Nemo but these strips are new to me.

Peter Maresca's 1800-1915 comics gallery on https://www.gocomics.com/origins-of-the-sunday-comics/2013/07/15 helped out a lot. In general, his contributions in preserving Platinum Age comics has linked his name to a lot of them, especially the ones with grandiose beautiful art, so Google searching his name can lead to a treasure trove of this stuff as a result.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Electricmastro]

1898-1899:

Rudolph Dirks:

Richard Outcault:

Henry Mayer:

Thomas Sullivant:

Walt McDougall:

[jimbo_7071]

On 10/5/2019 at 2:10 PM, Electricmastro said:

So, who would you guys say are the 10 most famous characters that appeared in comics (1897-1937) before Superman’s debut in 1938? After looking around, this is the list I came up with:

Little Nemo (1905)

Felix the Cat (1923)

Buck Rogers (1929)

Popeye (1929)

Tarzan (1929)

Tintin (1929)

Mickey Mouse (1930)

DickTracy (1931)

Flash Gordon (1934)

The Phantom (1936)

Are you referring to characters that are still famous today? Despite the movie, most people in the US have never heard of Tintin. (Few anglophones, if any, would have recognized the character back in the '30s.)

On 1/4/2020 at 5:57 AM, Yellow Kid said:

Outcault's Buster Brown (1902) and Cady's Peter Rabbit (1921) each ran for over 20 years and were very popular, as was Gray's Little Orphan Annie (1924).  If today you made a list of 100 early comic strip characters and asked 1,000 people which names they recognized, I would expect all three of them to be among the top ten identified and, therefore, the most famous ten.  Of course it all depends on how you define "famous" but name recognition has some face validity.

They'd definitely beat out Little Nemo. So would Blondie. So would the Katzenjammer Kids. Barney Google was pretty famous for a while (until Snuffy Smith took over his strip).

Edited March 2, 2020 by jimbo_7071

[Electricmastro]

Most important pre-1938 characters that appeared in comics according to https://web.archive.org/web/20180817170109/http://hoknescomics.com/earlycomics.htm

1879

The Brownies

1883

Peck’s Bad Boy (Henry Peck)

1895

Yellow Kid

1897

The Katzenjammer Kids

1900

Foxy Grandpa

Happy Hooligan

1902

Buster Brown

1905

Brainy Bowers

Professor Genius

The Imp (Little Nemo in Slumberland)

Little Nemo

1907

Mutt and Jeff

1910

Dolly Dimples (comic strip)

Ignatz Mouse

1911

Bunny

1913

Bringing Up Father

Krazy Kat

1914

Hans Und Fritz

1915

Roger Bean

1917

The Gumps

Little Mary Mixup

Reg'lar Fellers

1918

Captain and the Kids

Gasoline Alley (Skeezix)

1919

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

Felix The Cat

Olive Oyl

Harold Teen

1920

The Potts

Winnie Winkle

1921

Joe Palooka

Tillie The Toiler

1922

Bonzo the dog

Fritzi Ritz

Smitty (comic strip)

1923

Moon Mullins

Skippy

1924

Boots and Her Buddies

Little Orphan Annie

Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks

Wash Tubbs

1925

Ella Cinders

1928

Buck Rogers

Wilma Deering

Mickey Mouse

Tailspin Tommy

1929

Dixie Dugan

Popeye

Ripleys Believe It Or Not

Tarzan (comics)

Tintin

1930

Blondie (comic strip)

Joe Palooka

Nero and Zero

1931

DickTracy

1932

Henry

1933

Captain Easy

Dagwood Bumstead

Dickie Dare

Dan Dunn

Nancy (comic strip)

Swee'Pea

Tiny Tim (comic strip)

1934

Dale Arden

Colonel Blimp

Dragon Lady (Terry and the Pirates)

Father and Son (comics)

Flash Gordon

Frankie Doodle

Jungle Jim

Li’l Abner

Mandrake the Magician

Ming the Merciless

Secret Agent X-9

Prince Vultan

Hans Zarkov

1935

Ace Drummond

Adventures of Patsy

Barney Baxter

Doctor Occult

King of the Royal Mounted

Little Lulu

Oaky Doaks

Tin-Can Tommy

1936

The Broons

The Clock (comics)

King Arthur (DC Comics)

Merlin (DC Comics)

Mickey Finn (comic strip)

The Phantom

1937

Abbie an' Slats

Slam Bradley

Freddy the Fearless Fly

Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Olga Mesmer

Prince Valiant

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

Edited March 3, 2020 by Electricmastro

[jimbo_7071]

It looks like a pretty good list, but yhere are some that I've never heard of. (Olga Mesmer?)

[Frisco Larson]

[Frisco Larson]

[Frisco Larson]

[Electricmastro]

Cat antics with a dog firefighting bonus.

Source: https://www.gocomics.com/origins-of-the-sunday-comics/2013/12/01

[Electricmastro]

DickRyan’s funny animal art from 1937’s Star Comics.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Electricmastro