Category: Cartooning

These days it’s easy to change the height-to-width ratio of a comic strip to fit whatever space is available in a newspaper, which personally I find extremely annoying.  In an earlier post about widescreen movies I said some comic strips were once cropped to fit.

Above is an example: Dick Tracy, from 1943.  Click the picture to see the full strip.  I’ve added a line to highlight how the bottom quarter of the panels is filler. Photostats were sent to newspapers in two versions — one full-height, and one trimmed.

When Peanuts was introduced in 1950, Charles Schulz was told to keep his panels square, so the strip could be sold as a flexible “space-saver.”  Instead of trimming the panels, they could be arranged in several different ways; straight across, vertically, or two on two, as seen in the reprint books.

Clicking here will open a previous posting in a new window.  Start the video clip there and let it run a bit before starting the one on this page.  You’re watching an example of how some widescreen movies are actually cropped regular format movies.

See how the composition of the uncropped version seems to have empty space at the top and bottom?  Some old comic strips did something similar to this.

Click here.

This posting is mostly an excuse for me to play with wide format video capturing.  But it also provides an opportunity to show a bit more of The Searchers.  I’ve spliced together four scenes that represent what I feel is the core of the movie.  Ethan’s search for his … niece?

Click the picture to read a superbly illustrated comic-book story. Six pages of line and design by Bernie Krigstein. Use the “full” option for better viewing.

Before Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay did Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. Click the picture to see my favorite installment. A Rarebit animated cartoon will be posted soon.