Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels Series Editor Roger Sabin University of the Arts London London United Kingdom ThisseriesconcernsComicsStudies—withacapital“c”andacapital“s.” Itfeelsgoodtowriteitthatway.Fromemergingasafringeinterestwithin LiteratureandMedia/CulturalStudiesdepartments,tobecomingaminor field, to maturing into the fastest growing field in the Humanities, to becominganascentdiscipline,thejourneyhasbeenahardbutspectacular one. Thosecapital letters havebeen earned. PalgraveStudiesinComicsandGraphicNovelscoversallaspectsofthe comic strip, comic book, and graphic novel, explored through clear and informative texts offering expansive coverage and theoretical sophistica- tion. It is international in scope and provides a space in which scholars from all backgrounds can present new thinking about politics, history, aesthetics, production, distribution, and reception as well as the digital realm. Books appear in one of two forms: traditional monographs of 60,000 to 90,000 words and shorter works (Palgrave Pivots) of 20,000 to50,000words.Allarerigorouslypeer-reviewed.PalgravePivotsinclude new takes on theory, concise histories, and—not least—considered pro- vocations.Afterall,ComicsStudiesmayhavecomealongway,butitcan't progresswithouta little prodding. Series Editor Roger Sabin is Professor of Popular Culture at the University of the Arts London, UK. His books include Adult Comics: An Introduction and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, and his recent research into nineteenth-century comics is award-winning. He serves on the boards of the main academic journals in the field andreviews graphic novelsforthe internationalmedia. More information aboutthisseries at http://www.springer.com/series/14643 IanGordon Kid Comic Strips A Genre Across Four Countries IanGordon DepartmentofHistory NationalUniversityofSingapore Singapore,Singapore PalgraveStudiesinComicsandGraphicNovels ISBN978-1-137-56197-8 ISBN978-1-137-55580-9(eBook) DOI10.1057/978-1-137-55580-9 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016956661 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Coverillustration:PatternadaptedfromanIndiancottonprintproducedinthe19thcentury Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgravePivotimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisNatureAmericaInc. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:1NewYorkPlaza,NewYork,NY10004,U.S.A. For Joanne A CKNOWLEDGMENTS MythankstothestaffoftheStateLibraryofNSWformakingtheoriginal bound volumes available. In 1987, John Graham graciously allowed access. In 2015, Royce Propert and Steve Richards arranged access. My thanks alsoto Anne Doherty,MaggiePatton, andAlisonWishart. My thanks to the staff of the British Library, somewhat bemused at a researcherlooking atthe Beano,but alwaysprofessional andcourteous. My thanks also to the staff of the New York Public Library, who were likewisealways professionaland courteous. My thanks to Beatriz Sequeira de Carvalho for assistance with details about BusterBrownin Brazil. This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Singapore,AcRFTier 1 grantR-110-000-077-112 vii C ONTENTS 1 WhyKid Comics 1 2 AmericaandAustralia:Skippy andGinger Meggs 13 3 AmericaandFrance:Perry Winkle andBicot 37 4 AmericaandBritain: Dennisthe Menace (s) 63 5 ComicsScholarshipand ComparativeStudies 87 Index 91 ix L F IST OF IGURES Fig.1.1 QuartdeBrieetSacaPuces,LePetitJournal,January3,1926 6 Fig.2.1 Skippy,DesMoinesRegister,January19,1936 29 Fig.2.2 GingerMeggs,SundaySun,January31,1932 32 Fig.3.1 Bicot,DimancheIllustré,March16,1924 42 Fig.3.2 WinnieWinkle,ChicagoTribune,June28,1925 51 Fig.4.1 DennistheMenace,TheBeano,September10,1955 72 Fig.4.2 DennistheMenace,WashingtonPost,March22,1959 83 xi CHAPTER1 Why Kid Comics Abstract The chapter argues that by comparing comics from different countries it is possible to understand just what features American comic stripshavecontributedtotheinternationalformofcomicart.Thechapter offers a brief account of the passage of American comics to France, Italy andBrazil anda slighthistoryof comicsin Britain andAustralia. Keywords Buster Brown(cid:1) Word Balloons(cid:1) Translation Comics are international phenomena. To be sure they go by different names like bande dessinée, manga, fumetto, las historietas, and quad- rinhos, and they come in different forms such as comic strips (with and without word balloons), comic books, and other forms of graphic sequential narrative, but the form itself is fairly ubiquitous. In the last 20 years or so, a broad group of scholars from across the world has produced an array of work detailing histories and analyzing the form and its impact to the extent that comics scholarship has become a field of inquiry. In this flurry of activity, many national histories have been toldandtheformalaspectsofcomics,panels,pages,wordballoons,and the like, analyzed and dissected. ©TheAuthor(s)2016 1 I.Gordon,KidComicStrips,PalgraveStudiesinComics andGraphicNovels,DOI10.1057/978-1-137-55580-9_1