Magic potion
I've always been attracted to magic and fiction is a good place to indulge this fascination without risking offence to other denominations. Reading nonsense incantations will neither extend your life nor blight the neighbour's crops, but it does entertain.

There's no way of explaining a character like Johnny Thunder and his magical Thunderbolt without these full flights of fancy.

Name label
I couldn't just leave fantasy at one entry as it is so pervasive and intrinsically linked to the comics field. After all, even western characters like Kid Colt Outlaw - who drinks milk and shoots the gun from the baddy's hand rather than killing him - and battlefield characters like Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos - who don't wear helmets and have a bizarre 'war cry'- are more fantastic than realistic.

I wasn't able to follow the same patina when looking for comic book goblins and fairies and such but I did come across some great links, not all of which point to comic books exclusively. Regardless, it is the ideal medium to pick up an audience similar to the Tim Hunter lookalike.

Invisible ink
Comic books were originally comic strips collected and it wasn't until the 1930's that original thematic stories were bound in this form.
Fantasy has long been a natural fit for funnybooks and there could be a number of reasons for this: the target juvenile audience have a greater appreciation for "made up stuff", if you're knocking them out on a production line then it doesn't require the research that a realistic setting does, and it is possible to show a great deal more in a couple of panels than it is to construct a film set or go into reams of descriptive prose text.

Fantasy is also one of those wondrously generic titles that allow you to have a main protagonist playing off against mythological and supernatural characters while back-up stories serve broader narratives.

Nag's Head
Here's a better history of the very first comics. And they're British, people.

Shirtfront
Comics themselves began in the nineteenth century - though very near the close - with two largely forgotten characters from opposite sides of the pond.

The Yellow Kid was a mischievous urchin who wore a yellow gown (yes, a real kid rather than some gunslinger) with different wording on it. The message and the image were conflated in a way not seen since. Though those Will Eisner splash pages where he incorporates the name of the strip "The Spirit" is in that direction.

The other was Ally Sloper, a crafty curmudgeon.

Two characters across the age spectrum and, given their outsider status, possessing the common touch that made this new artform for everyone.

Firewater
Naturally the Americans would find a way to mythologise the nineteenth century as well, with a western comic book appearing in 1937. Their gunfighters often walked the line between hero and outlaw in, I suppose, a way that our bushrangers - were they given the same pictorial treatment - could not.

Native Americans had mainly support roles - as they did in other media - and even the heroes who wore Indian garb were often white men in disguise. And the first black western character made his debut in Gunhawks courtesy of Stan Lee.

Rationing
So the war did have an effect. Overtly patriotic superheroes* gave the troops an idealised version of themselves; not once but many times. The Shield and all who followed were literally wrapped in the flag.

[*this hyperlink points to fanboy fervour. There are mistakes in fact and grammar e.g. Doc Samson didn't have a pre-Hulk series career as an action pulp hero, he means Doc Savage. But you can't knock the enthusiasm]

But where were the grunts? (Sad Sack and Beetle Bailey came after the war so serving personnel were spared the humour of seeing the Sarge kick a guy in the heinie and send him to clean the latrines. That treat was left to future frontlines.)

Here they are, here they all are.

But, to be honest, I was looking for this link: a perspective for Retired Officers magazine.

Bubbles
One of the biggest criticisms levelled at comics - aside from their repetitive, recycled nature - is the fact that they are dominated by one genre or type: superheroes.

I could get cute and claim that Hawkman and Hawkgirl encompass science fiction,romance, supernatural, detective and fantasy right there. They proved that the earliest superheroes - created in wartime - were not exclusively preoccupied with the ideological battle between Allies and Axis (though spy and war comics flourished, as did superheroes in the Theatre of War).

In ensuing posts I will explore the histories of non-superhero comics.

On The Turps
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Return of the Knave
Look, no sooner had I posted my farewell than Lycos came up with all these cool buttons and features so what I'm going to do is revivify this here blog but - since it's not getting out to many people or getting very much feedback at all - I'm making it comics themed only.

So there'll still be a new blog to rave on about other matters (and, no, not mainstream politics ad infinitum - more than a cursory glance back should demonstrate that my interests and concerns are pretty wide)

Close in time
As intimated I'm taking a cab home, leaning on the designated driver, or attempting to walk and maybe catch a bus if there's one still running

I've enjoyed the act of intertextualising more than I would have taken to cut and paste or roneo

And the revolving hyperlink has hit upon something for me. I won't disclose the methodology; suffice it to say that a journey that began with cigar torches, moved through Russian windows and onto South African rooftops. There were Wiggles wallmounts and Pat Rafter, eventually we had to reach Burke's Backyard (current week). I haven't decided whether I'll keep the DIB revolving hyperlink or move the concept to the new weblog.

Incidentally I will be back to give you the new link. I like what I've been able to do with Tripod but I want anyone who does want to light on my musings or spontaneous hyperlinquosity to be able to do so. And enough people have said they had trouble accessing the site (magnify this by the number who don't tell you or who have no report and thus no rapport) to make me want to try again. Sure not many people read blogs but that's a choice then. No we don't want a nostalgic reminiscence of Idi Amin Adada so we click out and before you know it we're off to see how Jim Bacon's getting on.

Bye, thanks for sharing a few rounds.