Many of us grew up reading comic strips in newspapers or magazines, but have you ever wondered when the first one appeared or who created this particular mix of picture and words? It was a Swiss schoolteacher, Rodolphe Töpffer (1799 – 1846), who is usually credited with the invention when, in 1827, he drew his first comic book, The Loves of Mr Vieux Bois. However, it was ten years before he published it, and his first published comic strips (or ‘bande dessinée’) appeared in 1835 with the title Story of Mr Jabot. Although for centuries there had been broadsheets or print series (such as those by Hogarth) it is Töpffer who is considered to have established the modern genre. He published his work in horizontal albums, with only one tier of images per page, with captions written below the pictures. He did not use speech balloons. His stories were told mainly through images, with only minimal text.
Today, whether known as comic strips (a misnomer, as they are not always funny), comic books or graphic novels, they are a hybrid medium, mingling art and literature. This often meant that they had been dismissed by scholars as not worthy of serious consideration. Töpffer was initially reluctant to publish in case it damaged his reputation, but he soon had French followers in the form, including artist Gustave Doré whose Dramatic and Picturesque History of Holy Russia in Caricature contains 500 drawings arranged on 200 pages. Soon his works circulated through Europe and the USA. Comic strips first appeared in American newspapers in 1896. The ‘Reuben’ is the most prestigious award for comic strip artists in the USA. The longest-running American comic strip was The Katzenjammer Kids, which lasted for 109 years. They have long held a mirror to contemporary society, reflecting current trends and modes of thought. They do form an influential and important branch of art and literature.
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