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Why Does This Site Exist? |
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Because it should exist. It needs to exist. Where else are you going to
go if you need to read on old John Stanley Thirteen comic to
better understand an article written about Stanley's post Little Lulu
early 60's period? Not your local library. Not your local book store.
Nope, not even your local comic book shop. These stories and many like
them don't exist outside of there decaying yellowed pages that were
printed 40, 50 or 60 years ago. If you wanted to see why Bill Griffith
thinks so highly of some guy with the odd name of Boody Rogers, where do
you look? You can track down a copy of Art Spiegleman's digest anthology
RAW*, but that's it, and even that was published 15 years ago.
Certainly, there have been many wonderful collections over the past 30
years that have tried to preserve the past, the most recent and in my
mind, and most important are B. Kriegtsein Comics, The Plastic Man
Archives by Jack Cole and the Spirit Archives by Will Eisner. But what
about those oddball creators that are always mentioned in articles and
interviews but who's works are never seen? Or what about a celebrated
creators more obscure work, like the aforementioned Stanley and Cole.
That's where this site comes into play. To try to fill in the blanks between what's been reprinted and what's fairly easy to track down. A lot of these stories come from books that, when you find them for sale, don't really cost that much. But you have to be diligent and a bit obsessive about these things if you want to find them (what's that say about me). And for the most part, people don't want to have to track down a book they may or may not like. And that's understandable. This site will try to present certain stories (in the public domain) from the past that were a cut above most of the hackwork that was being published alongside it. I'll focus on certain artists whose works that I find personally exciting to read (when the material is available, or legal to print), instead of posting old comics for the sake of posting old comics. Don't get me wrong though, if I come across a fun pre-code horror, crime or romance story that I enjoy, I might just put it up. But there are other sites that post the lesser work from comics of the past if that's all you're interested in. |
I
would also like this site to become a resource for college instructors
to refer to if they need to show an example of a certain artists work
that is otherwise unavailable. Within the past few years there have been
quite a few college courses popping up across the country that teach the
history of comic books or/and the aesthetics of comics. I certainly hope
they take advantage of what this site offers.
Lastly, I would just like you to enjoy the site for what it is. These stories were created by talented writers and artists whose job it was to entertain. And entertain they did. -Chance Fiveash (4/24/05)
P.S. This site will not solely be devoted to older comic book artists, but comic strip artists as well. Most comic strips that are easily available are not in the public domain, and those that are...well, it's not easy or cheap to piece together long continuity's of comic strips. As much as I would love to include them on this site, we may have to settle for examples of works instead of whole pieces, unless anyone out these has any ideas.
*I can't remember what issue it was that Rogers' BABE appeared in and my copy isn't readily available. |
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