Comic Strips

Little Nemo in Slumberland

In this piece Windsor McCay has made a brilliant recreation of the dreams of a child.The ideas are a simple portrayal of childhood adventures. The range of ideas is seemingly endless, McCay was truly a master of his creation.These travels through this parallel dimension never seem to have a happy ending,  rather a correlation of something happening to him in real life. Part of the humor is; that in life there is a constant challenge, whether you are in a dream or in reality. In a sense it shows that they are, in some form, one in the same. Nemo is faced with numerous challenges in this dream-state, many of them very dangerous e.g polar bears, falling. McCay portrays a certain charm in his work, the looseness of his style and playful line, is almost contradictory to the challenges Nemo faces in his sleep. This further shows how life should not be taken so seriously; there are many obstacles that come and go, take them with a pinch of salt. After all we read comics to escape reality in a way, so that we may enter the world of the character.

Calvin and Hobbes

This for me is one of the more familiar strips having not been exposed to American comics very much. The land of the child imagination and dreams-state seems to be a popular choice for comic strip artists.The lessons Calvin learns are often comical and ambiguous. The pretend world we used to live in as children is highly relatable. Hobbes is the product of Calvin's imagination, he is a stuffed toy Tiger. Everything is normal in seemingly intangible as it would be to a child and indeed to us all. A light hearted and warming comic strip for the whole family.

Peanuts

Yet another familiar comic strip, I would always find myself reading these comics in newspapers.The simple set up of the strip and the interaction of the characters is interesting. Peanuts is truly a universal comic in that I have seen it here in the United States, but also in Southern Africa (including Zimbabwe). Each character has a distinctive personality, regardless of their words. I have always thought this was intriguing, how comic artists could create this persona. As I have grown as an illustrator it is easy to appreciate how difficult this simple characterization is to master. Shultz maintains the character to their usual type actions so as to not confuse them, the personality is solely that character. This simple to read strip is enjoyable for any audience.The message is straight-forward and the characters are easy to read.This truly one of the most well known comics and it is easy to see why.