Figure 1.--Cartoon magazines were very popular with French children. This one is "la patrouille des Castors" about French Scouts. It was included in "Le journal de Spirou" which actually was publisghed in Belgium.
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Figure 1.--Cartoon magazines were very popular with French children. This one is "la patrouille des Castors" about French Scouts. It was included in "Le journal de Spirou" which actually was publisghed in Belgium. |
We did not initially include caroonists with the illustrators listed here. Several HBC readers have suggested that cartoonists should be listed in both the illustrator and
literary sections of HBC. Indeed cartoons do show clothing and fashion over time, although this varies with the style of the different cartoonists. We have gradually been
persuaded of the merits of this suggestion. We have, however, decided to archive cartoonists, or graphic artists as they now like to becalled, separately from illustrators.
This is primarily because cartoonists both draw and write. There illustrations are more basic than those of illustrators because of te nature of the medium. Thus the two
disciplines, illustrating and cartooning, I think are sufficently different that they requite separate treatment.
Here we will list especially important cartoonist and especially this who strips have children which show fashions and styltes over time. Some cartoonists move with the fashion trends. Others like Georges Remy retain the same fashions for their chracters, likr Tintin and his trademark knickers.
Brian Bassett draws "Red and Rover" about a boy and his dog.
I had always thought that the comic strip was an American creation, but it is the German illustrator and humerous poet that apparently is created weith inventing the
comic strip. Wilhelm Busch was born in 1832, in the village of Wiedensahl near Hannover, Germany. His goal was to be a master painter, but instead his career took a
very different path.
Cantu and Castellanos draw "Baldo", a strip about Hispanic teenagers in America with a lot of interesting cross cultural nuances.
Brian Crane draws "Pickles" which usually deals with two grandparents and their grandson Nelson.
Rick Detoire draws "One Big Happy" about a little girl Ruthie and her big brother Jim?.
Lyn Johnston draws "For Better or for Worse". It is one of the stips where the caharcters grow up. The principal boy in the strip, Michael, is now a young adult and in the process of starting his own family. April is rapidly growing up, but is often picture with her friends, both bys anf girls.
Bill Kean draws "Family Circle".
Hank Ketcham of course draws "Dennis the Menace". The outfits illustrated by Ketcham have change with the times somewhat, the girls more than the boys. But Dennis' outfits have changed as well. .
It is interesting to note the number of cartoonms that were popular in France that were actually published or created by Belgian illustrators. I am not sure why this was. I
asked one of our French readers. He replied, " I don't know exactly. I think the influence of Herge (Georges Remy-- the author of "Tintin") is the most credible
explanation. He was an inspiration for others young illustrators who themselves became cartoonists. He was the creator of a style of drawing called "la ligne claire" we
find in the other cartoons. It was a school of drawing. All of the French-language cartoonisrs are not Belgians, but the majority of them are. Some of them comes from
the south of France. They found publishers (Casterman for Tintin, Dupuis for Spirou) who had confidence in their work. Belgium as is well known is a land of drawers
daring back to the "Primitifs flamands" such as Breughel, Vanderheycken, and Rembrandt.
"La Ribambelle" was drawn by Roba.
Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman draw "Zits", a spot on strip about American teenagers.
"La patrouille des castors" was drawn by Michel Tacq dit mitacq
Walker and Browne draw "Hi and Lois", another strip where the family never ages. It is set in the suburbs.
Some famous characters have come out of the comics. Two American characters are Dennis the Menace and Buster Brown. One of the best known boy cartoon characters in Europe was the Belgian Tintin. Of course boys appeared in a wide variety of comic strips playing
both long and short term roles. All of these strips offer a wide variety of often quite accurate details about boys clothing. As the comic strips were created about the turn
of the 20th century, they provide more than a century of drawings oftering fashion details. Other cartoon characters are less famous, but the strips do provide some interesting fashion insights.
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