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Fifty most influential comics... according to NCS?
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Started by Uatu023,

43 posts in this topic

Uatu023

Uatu023

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Hi all, I need your help! This list was reprinted in my country (hence the typos) in 1999 and supposedly represents 50 "most influential comics" according to the National Cartoonists Society. However, I cannot find the source. Google didn't help and I don't own any of the NCS's publications. The closest I've found online is this album from 1996. I was hoping somebody might have it. 

I thought the list was great (if flawed) and have been trying to find them all ever since. Still looking for the last one in a language I speak! :wishluck:

 

NCS-lista.jpg

ncs_album.jpg

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Cat

Cat

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Fake. No Obadiah Oldbuck. J/K That is a very interesting list. I'd love to see what they'd come up with now. 

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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It seems a bit biased towards the fine art / gallery end of the field, as artists can be influential in broader terms, such as Arthur Adams’ figure work being a precursor for the dominant American art style of the 90s, just as Milton Caniff had a similar effect on many 40s and 50s creators.
 

An attempt to remove some of the pretension out of the choices made there.  I do like the multinational approach taken, though.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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Cat

Cat

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I bet Spawn's increased popularity lines up perfectly with his announcement as a fighter in Mortal Kombat 11. 

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Mr bla bla

Mr bla bla

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On 8/16/2021 at 4:26 AM, Uatu023 said:

Hi all, I need your help! This list was reprinted in my country (hence the typos) in 1999 and supposedly represents 50 "most influential comics" according to the National Cartoonists Society. However, I cannot find the source. Google didn't help and I don't own any of the NCS's publications. The closest I've found online is this album from 1996. I was hoping somebody might have it. 

I thought the list was great (if flawed) and have been trying to find them all ever since. Still looking for the last one in a language I speak! :wishluck:

 

NCS-lista.jpg

ncs_album.jpg

A LOT of really, really good comics on this list.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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On 8/16/2021 at 10:43 AM, adampasz said:

Are there still many readers and creators today "influenced" by Yellow Kid and Krazy Kat comics?

Directly, maybe not. Indirectly, more.

Plus, nothing said that the influence had to be today (when this was written) but in its time, it's harder to argue against.

Edited by Scrooge
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adampasz

adampasz

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On 8/16/2021 at 7:59 AM, Scrooge said:

Directly, maybe not. Indirectly, more.

Plus, nothing said that the influence had to be today (when this was written) but in its time, it's harder to argue against.

My response was intentionally facetious. And obviously hindsight is 20/20.  It is interesting to think about what the list would look like 25 years later. It jumped out at me that nothing in the top 10 could be considered to have much "direct" influence anymore.

Also "influential" is a really subjective term. How much do you weigh historical significance vs. general popularity?

 

Edited by adampasz
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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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On 8/16/2021 at 4:08 PM, adampasz said:

It jumped out at me that nothing in the top 10 could be considered to have much "direct" influence anymore.

Seems like a misnomer to me.

Historically significant, maybe. That covers a wider spectrum, from Outcault and McCay, to Siegel and Schuster, to Spiegelman, to Miller.

Even that’s a flawed description, as there are quite a few listed with stories and art that had little overall pervasive or long term impact on the genre, great though they may be.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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catman76

catman76

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On 8/16/2021 at 9:43 AM, adampasz said:

Very biased toward Golden Age as well. Are there still many readers and creators today "influenced" by Yellow Kid and Krazy Kat comics?

Anyway, now we have Google Trends to help us figure out what's popular. ;)

 

510554504_ScreenShot2021-08-16at7_41_13AM.thumb.png.c68fbb0390c4f72610f3cf2a0f7e6e97.png

Influential doesn't mean someone has to be directly influenced by it and what's popular have to do with influential? The Yellow Kid is the most influential because it started comics as we know it and everything today stems from it.

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adampasz

adampasz

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On 8/16/2021 at 4:34 PM, catman76 said:

Influential doesn't mean someone has to be directly influenced by it and what's popular have to do with influential? The Yellow Kid is the most influential because it started comics as we know it and everything today stems from it.

So being first makes you #1 most influential by default?

Does that make Giotto a more influential painter than Michelangelo or Raphael?

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kav

kav

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On 8/16/2021 at 5:39 PM, adampasz said:

So being first makes you #1 most influential by default?

Does that make Giotto a more influential painter than Michelangelo or Raphael?

Agree.  Yellow Kid was abt as influential on comics as my bald headed granny.

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