Leading cartoonists once had their own Sunday pages to fill, and many people bought newspapers for the comic strips. So the newspapers made the strips small and then even smaller. Why? Instead of improving, color printing became inferior. New strips by people who could not draw were introduced. The logic is elusive, leading to this question: Why didn't the National Cartoonists Society do something about the impending doom?
When Roy Crane launched Buz Sawyer in November 1943, no one thought newspapers would fade away. Here are the first five Buz Sawyer Sunday pages (running from November 28 to December 26, 1943). In the dailies, Buz went on adventures with his sidekick Roscoe Sweeney. (Why is Roscoe spelled two different ways?) In the Sunday strips, Sweeney was the star. Instead of a single Sunday situation, Crane kept the story continuity going, and despite the passage of seven days, readers were so involved that they had no problem remembering previous weeks.
End of an era footnote: While newspapers die, it was announced last month that Grafix Duoshade and Unishade papers are being discontinued due to a decline in demand, says Grafix prez Hayley Prendergast. These papers were long used by editorial cartoonists for shading, and Roy Crane used this product effectively back in the days when it was known as Craftint. Cleveland's Craftint Manufacturing Company sold the process to the Ohio Graphic Arts Systems, also in Cleveland. Then in 1990, Ohio Graphic Arts changed their name to Grafix.
Crane's artful application of Craftint gave his Wash Tubbs and Buz Sawyer strips a unique three-dimensional look. The process involved brushing a chemical solution over an inked drawing to develop shading lines embedded in the paper. A separate solution brought out cross-hatching. Crane used this for watery wave effects, smoke clouds, atmospheric perspective and leafy jungles. He effortlessly turned panels into miniature b/w paintings, and no one else doing comic strips ever equaled his Craftint creations.
I like that you remark on the advent of artists who belong to the "I-Don't-Know-How-To-Draw" school of art. It's a more popular look now than ever, and it is utterly perplexing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to read that Duoshade is being discontinued. I'd forgotten teh name of it, but I've used it for jobs, years back, and though I work digitally now, it's still sad to see it fade away.
Buz Sawyer is great stuff -- thanks for posting.
-Z
What an amazing shot in the arm--thanks for posting these!
ReplyDeleteI'll second the anonymous above--Roy Crane's brilliance highlights what has been lost, in these days of overhype-and-underperform.
Please post more of this beautiful work, if possible.
More BUZ in Death of Newspapers #3
ReplyDeleteSo right about decline in newspaper sales linked with decline of the funny pages. I cancelled the sun when it replaced Striker! with funny pics from the Internet and only buy ThE Guardian for Steve Bell
ReplyDeleteI think John Severin, back in his EC days, also used Duotone board.
ReplyDeleteYes, Severin once mentioned he was strongly influenced by Crane.
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