Recurring Themes
by T. Hodler
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
As we wait for Dan’s promised post on Spiegelman and Griffith’s great Arcade anthologies, I thought I’d put up this classic Robert Crumb cover from Arcade 3. I’d forgotten that Johnny Ryan wasn’t the first cartoonist to tackle parody the falling-leaf-as-profound-symbol thing.
Of course, I doubt Crumb was the first, either, but that’s not important when I have an opportunity to publicly goad Dan into posting.
Labels: Art Spiegelman, Bill Griffith, Johnny Ryan, R. Crumb
Hey, Frank King used falling leaves all the time as a symbol of the transcience of life. Jeet.
Hey Jeet —
Yeah, I almost mentioned King, but I didn’t know if he counted, because he seemed to be using the leaves image much less ironically.
But you’re obviously much more familiar with Gasoline Alley than I am, so I could well be wrong.
By the way, I really enjoyed the thoughts you posted on the “sans everything” blog about the Charles Schulz bio. Great stuff.
Come to think of it, I didn’t make it clear in the original post that I was talking about cartoonists making fun of the leaves symbolism, rather than just using it. So that’s my bad in any case.
Hi,
Hmm. I think King used falling leaves in an in-ironic manner initially but once it became a recurring annual ritual, the leaves took on an ironic element (for example in the famous “woodcut” page where Walt and Skeezix realize that their drawn in a woodcut style). Irony is built on repitition.
Actually, I can think of two other cartoonists that used falling leaves in an ironic manner: Charles Schulz and Jules Feiffer.
P.S. — that last comment was made not by “anonymous but by Jeet.
P.P.S. — I’m glad you liked the Schulz biography essay I wrote. It’s a book that deserves an in-depth analysis. Jeet