A century ago the newspaper was THE source of information and entertainment for most Americans. During the first half of the 20th Century, papers were featured a large and glorious comics section filled with some of the greatest illustration at the time such at The Phantom by Lee Falk, Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond, Wash Tubss & Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer by Roy Crane, Terry & the Pirates and Steve Canyon by Milt Caniff, The Spirit by Will Eisner, Krazy Kat by George Harriman, Dick Tracy by Chester Gould, and so much more. Each day readers could follow the beautifully rendered adventures in glorious black & white.
Today, sadly, papers are a dying bread and the few comics they carry are pretty rough and amateurish gags by comparison. But they don't have to be. Thanks to the Internet, daily comics have a new home and a chance to find a new audience. And without the limitations of print and size, they have the ability to blaze new trails. But they also have the ability to take what was great about the past and build upon it.
The two daily strips above were inspired by the brilliant Buz Sawyer comic from the master of daily comics, Roy Crane. I've never really worked with any sort of patterned greyscale before. It really adds a different look. Just one more of my many experiments.
Let me know what you think.
