EC Comics magazine mad publishing dell by published collections comics Marjorie H. Buell lulu little incorporated syndicate feature united peanuts enterprises disney scrooge uncle disney's walt WHY THIS BOOK by Françoise Mouly Comics are a gateway drug to literacy ART SPIEGELMAN Many years ago I fell in love I fell in love with a cartoonist and I fell in love with what he was so passionate about comics Everything I know I learned from comics said art spiegelman This was Spiegelman all in lowercase before he went on to be a famous cartoonist the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Maus A Survivor’s Tale although as another cartoonist Dan Clowes pointed out Being a famous cartoonist is like being a famous badminton player But I digress Everything I know I learned from comics economics from Uncle Scrooge philosophy from Peanuts and feminism from Little Lulu Ethics aesthetics and everything else from MAD Magazine And so it was for me I have spent a lifetime editing and publishing cartoonists Besides TOON Books which I founded ten years ago I’ve been the art editor of The New Yorker for more than twenty-five years And how do you edit cartoons and comics If nothing else this book will show you how much thought and skill go into effective visual communication You’ll get an inkling of the discussions I’ve had over the years about whether this character should face left or right or about how to find just the right facial expression or the right color to support the overall idea In advocating for comics for kids in speaking with teachers librarians and parents I’ve realized how little common vocabulary we have to understand and appreciate what goes into minting comics Speaking of vocabulary see the index on page 49 You’re about to be let in on many of the secrets of the trade by master cartoonist and teacher Ivan Brunetti Once you finish the book doodle away and you’ll be able to express your delight using emanata bursts and tears Part of the attraction of the medium especially for kids is how fluidly comics are read They are multisensory when a story is well told the reader is deeply engaged mind body and soul in the magical world penned by the cartoonist Yet even if Charles Schulz’s Peanuts or Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes are literally easy to read their power comes from the fact that the artists have distilled universal truths into clear specific and often deeply funny short stories not easy to do day after day As James Sturm a cartoonist who also founded and runs a comics school has said comics are not just words and pictures they are more akin to poetry and graphic design So if this book makes you fall in love with comics as I did head over heels as both a reader and a fan it will have accomplished its purpose Beyond that if it encourages more budding cartoonists and opens a path to the future for them I’ll be delighted I’ll leave the last word to Liniers one of the very few cartoonists who these days still manages the astonishing feat of producing a new strip Macanudo every single day Oh Ivan Brunetti where was this book when I was a kid and wanted to become a cartoonist Liniers asked us You lucky lucky 21st-century kids COMICS Easy as ABC page 5
