A.B. FROST'S STUFF & NONSENSE

You are what you draw

Read through Frost's 1884 Stuff & Nonsense yesterday. The majority of it consists of little limericks accompanied by an illustration above and below the text, sort of "before and after" pictures in a two-panel comics format. They are hilarious. Frost's fantastic at capturing an entire action in a single frame. He's also one of the rare illustrators that can illicit a laugh with a simple facial expression. His animals are  delightful (he illustrated some editions of Uncle Remus ich glaube). There're some illustrations of a caveman community in a similar style to him that I need to find (I'm almost certain that the Croods borrowed liberally from it) but I can't recall the name of it.

It's hard to choose an exemplary illustration.  The one below may show Frost's ability the best, though. I'll add another in a bit.

WATTERSON

Here's a link to the poster Watterson did (see left) for the 42nd annual Angoulême International Comics Festival. The timing is perfect. Watterson really gets the whole jumpcut voodoo. 

A lot of Watterson's stuff is a throw back to early 20th century comic strips/illustrations; stuff drawn by A.B. Frost, John Tenniel & co. This is especially true here. The way he drew the character in the second panel especially reminds one of Herriman's Krazy Kat (see also and cf. noses). The way terrain plays such a big role in Calvin & Hobbes is also a throw back to Krazy Kat. I could talk about this a while. Fun factoid: Joyce loved Krazy Kat. There's even a reference to it in Finnegan's Wake. Good stuff.

Uh oh. Think it's time for a comic strip binge. Here we go. I'll probs start with Frost's Stuff and Nonsense, which I should've read ages ago. I'll report back shortly.

A.B. Frost = the best