Week 3: Random readings

This week we got to read Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland, along with a bunch of others from a list.

It's always hard for me to put myself in the perspective of the people who lived in the early 1900's, when comics were first getting published and nothing had been seen like them before. While reading Little Nemo, I can definitely see that the telling of the story is relatively unrefined in comparison to today's. It lacks any sort of story conflict or questions, it is more of just following this boy as he explores these interesting worlds. Though story-wise Little Nemo seems tame to me, the actual artwork blows me away. Winsor McCay is an exceptional artist. He knows how to draw the forms of characters in space extremely well, which is further proved by his fantastic animations. Other than his technical understanding of forms in space, his line work is stunning, Combined with color, McCay creates images that are just beautiful to look at. There is so much detail, and it slows you down from reading at a normal pace because you want to stop and spend time looking at each panel. For me, Little Nemo is less about getting entertained by some seat-gripping story and more about exploring this beautiful world alongside the title character.

I read a few of Rube Goldberg's comics. They were charming. I knew Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist, but really had known him for the infamous "Rube Goldberg machines." I was amused when I came across one strip titled "Our Simple Automatic Burgular Alarm" that actually featured a RUbe Goldberg contraption: a machine made out of random objects to catch a burgalar trying to enter your window. I was also curious about the one small element that Goldberg drew in the bottom right corner of all of his strips. It shows one character saying to another "Benny sent me," and at the bottom reads "send in a benny." I have no idea what this possibly intended to be or mean.