Comments on: Early comic anthology.

Early comic anthology.

riffola — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 00:39:15 -0800

An anthology of early comics from the 9^th century till the early 20^th. Includes early examples of speechballons in sequential images, ranging from the 13^th century to the 19^th. Andy Konkykru's "Dachshund Homepage" is filled with such gems.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 01:26:59 -0800

Great post! I stumbled onto this a few months ago and have still barely begun to explore it. But it's overflowing with amazing and bizarre comics. I can totally see Chester Brown doing Jesus Courted by the Christian Soul. And I loved the world's first graphic novel.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 05:34:41 -0800

It's fascinating to see the styles of illustration and hand-lettering change over time on the speech balloons page from as ornate as illuminated manuscripts to as minimal as a modern day Sunday strip. This is now my favorite MetaFilter post of all time. Thank you.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 07:14:05 -0800

I think the site's provided an excellent timeline on the influence of sequential art on popular culture; to say that "comics" (in the contemporary sense) actually preceeded the chapbooks of the 18th century is a bit of a stretch. The various medieval and renaissance works in Dachshund's anthology are frescoes, owing more to the petroglyphs, cuniforms, and classical age than they do to newspaper strips and newsstand pulps. The "speech baloons" referred to in the examples from 1250/1300 and 1493 are illuminated texts, inspired by heraldic banners, almagests and pictoglyphs from the Classical Era. For a little more insight on the visual medium, try this page.

By: wanderingmind

wanderingmind — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 09:16:53 -0800

"My dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits..." I don't know why this amuses me so much, but it does. Great link, Riffola - the rest of this site bears exploring.

By: taz

taz — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 09:37:05 -0800

Wow... amazing site. "The True Narrative of the Horrid Hellish Popish Plot" sounds like a Monty Python skit, and looks like one too! I loved the Chat Noir illustrations, but can anybody tell me what's going on in the tourists/pyramids strip on the T. Steinlen page?

By: taz

taz — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 09:37:59 -0800

ps: +++

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 10:05:00 -0800

This has been sitting in my queue for awhile waiting for the guy to update it, but until then if you're interested check out The Rules of Attraction: The Rise and Fall of the Early Newspaper Strip.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 14:34:16 -0800

[this is sheer bliss] I am never going to go offline again. The early twentieth century links are outstanding, and the history is excellent. In addition, I really like the layout of the site. It is, in my opinion, well designed.

By: gravelshoes

gravelshoes — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 15:23:10 -0800

but..but..but....this will take weeks to explore!

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Sat, 22 Feb 2003 20:59:51 -0800

Weeks and weeks and weeks.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 23 Feb 2003 17:23:26 -0800

riffola, this is a fabulous post - thanks! Where is Matt's rating system when I need it - cuz [this is good]. ...and what gravelshoes said.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 08:49:26 -0800

riffola, what everybody else said. This is a great find, one to be enjoyed over (quite some) time at leisure. Thanks! In case the rating system works retroactively, well, [this is good]!

By: riffola

riffola — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 14:58:38 -0800

Thank you everyone. I am just a little surprised that it got this sort of a response. It feels good to finally make a decent MeFi post.