Posts Tagged ‘Comics’
The Law of Parsimony, Applied…
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As we celebrate simplicity, we might recall that it was on this date in 1929 that Popeye met Olive Oyl (in Elzie Segar’s daily comic strip “Thimble Theater”). Olive had been a regular since the comic premiered a decade before; Popeye had been introduced 7 days before… but became so popular (both via “Thimble Theatre” and thanks to Max and Dave Fleischer’s Popeye cartoons, which began in 1933) that the strip was renamed in his honor.
Ennui! In color!…
(Some of) the comic stylings of Tom Gauld…
Ladies and gentlemen, You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack!
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As we parse our predicaments into panels, we might recall that this was the cover date, in 1882, of the first issue of Golden Argosy, which featured stories by Horatio Alger, Jr. and Edward S. Ellis. The first “pulp” magazine in the U.S., Golden Argosy (soon renamed simply Argosy) went on to publish such authors as Frank Converse, Malcolm Davis, Upton Sinclair, Zane Grey, and dime novelist William Wallace Cook.
It’s a tragedy…
From Portland-based comic artist Ben Dewey, one’s worst nightmares…
More at Tragedy Series.
[TotH to Laughing Squid]
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As we count our blessings, we might send quickly-but-beautifully-drawn birthday greetings to Sergio Aragonés; he was born on this date in 1937. An illustrator and comic artist, Aragonés has been a frequent contributor to Mad Magazine, and has created a number of comic series (Groo the Wanderer and others), and drawn many more (including, since #50, Bart Simpson). Aragonés has won every major comic award (including the Harvey, the Reuben, the Eisner, and the Shazam); but he is perhaps best know for his prolific output. Al Jaffee once said, “Sergio has, quite literally, drawn more cartoons on napkins in restaurants than most cartoonists draw in their entire careers”; Mark Evanier estimated that, as of 2002, Aragonés had written and drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad alone. Indeed, Mad editor Al Feldstein suggested, “He could have drawn the whole magazine if we’d let him.”
The Ultimate Superpower…
We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
- H. L. Mencken
Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. The religions of the world are enumerated here.
Basically, researchers can use this site to answer such questions as "How many Lutherans live in Wisconsin?", "What are the major religions of India?", or "What percentage of the world is Muslim?" We present data from both primary research sources such as government census reports, statistical sampling surveys and organizational reporting, as well as citations from secondary literature which mention adherent statistics…
One can also use Adherents to…
…discover the religious affiliations of influential and famous adherents of over 100 different religious groups (famous Methodists, famous Jews, famous Catholics, famous Zoroastrians, famous Jehovah’s Witnesses, famous Theosophists, etc.), and lists of prominent people (actors, politicians, authors, U.S. presidents, artists, musicians, Supreme Court justices, film directors, etc.) classified by religious affiliation. These lists are linked to thousands of detailed religious/spiritual biographies.
Plus, one can use Adherents to find the denomination of one’s favorite superhero! For instance…
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As we commune with our comics, we might recall that it was on this date in 1859 that Jean François Gravelet-Blondin, the tightrope walker better known as Charles Blondin, crossed Niagara Falls for the first time on an 1100 feet high wire (160 feet above the water) near the location of the current Rainbow Bridge. He crossed the Falls several time subsequently, always with different theatrical variations: blindfolded; in a sack; trundling a wheelbarrow; on stilts; carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back; and finally, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet, standing on a chair with only one chair leg on the rope.
The Ennui! The Angst!…
More Animals in Midlife Crises at Rumpus (a site well worth poking around)…
As we help our therapists pay for those third homes, we might send deeply analyzed birthday greetings to Italian sociologist, criminologist, and statistician Alfredo Niceforo; he was born on this date in 1876. Niceforo theorized that every person has a “deep ego” of subconscious antisocial impulses that represent a throwback to pre-civilized existence. Counterbalancing this ego, and attempting to keep its latent delinquency in check, he posited, is a “superior ego,” a product of man’s social interaction. Niceforo’s theory, which he published in 1902, clearly resembles– and seems to anticipate– the “id, ego, and super-ego” construction with which Freud replaced his original concept of the Unconscious. (Id, ego , and super-ego first appear in Freud’s work in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 1920.)
