Drinking All Week Long

What a long and terrible week... crap its only Wednesday! Aaah God, say can we start that Revelations deal already... you know the one with the Seven Signs and 12 Headed Dragons. Oh well, maybe next year. I would like to thank the big G for hooking up my beloved Bears with another glorious win! Looks like I to have sacrifice my first born child; will they settle for a couple of knuckle children?

Comics of the past!
Okay, so last week we talked about the beginning of comic books through the medium of comic strips. However, some would contend that the strips are not the actual origin of Comics.

*Gasp! What Tomfoolery is This?*

Obviously, great art works from Ugh the Cave Man to Leonardo can be considered as the forebearers of comic books. By that I mean that the art of past was able to give image to the unimaginable, for instance:



This image of God giving birth to man by Michelangelo, it may not look like a comic book. However, it is a clear representation of how the artists of the past were giving presence to charaters only found in words and vague descriptions.

Okay, enough art where are all the word bubbles, plot, and action

Well here you go kids:












The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck

The picture above is an excerpt from what many consider to be the great-grandfathers of comic books. It was created in 1837 and distributed to the masses, it is said that this old story was the first Comic published in America. Rodolphe Töpffer was the creator of this piece of work, but thanks to the black market Oldbuck was bootlegged and passed around like Prado Bags. Töpffer's work featured a story and had captions underneath each cartoon. A fairly new medium at the time and highly popular.

Same idea here people; prove that it is man's intention to share the images and thoughts of his mind. Comic books aren't too far from that, from Wolverine to Harvey Pekar, the desire to display the unimaginable is made tangible. Wow that rhymes.

I know... I know... so what do Asians have to do with this. Hold your horses Charlie, next week I'll be discussing the Golden Age of Comic books and we'll get to the bottom of this whole Asian/Asian American Comic book deal. Here's just a glimps of what you'll see:




Have a good week and lets hope Fire and Brimstone rain from the sky!

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