1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hey, we recently were lucky enough 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: to be part of New York Comic Con Presents, which 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: we have talked about before, but is the parallel evening 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: programming for New York Comic Con. So today we are 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: sharing the audio of that recording, which was made at 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: Hudson Mercantile. It is all about the man who was 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: often credited as being the creator of the first comic 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: book in the Western world, and we are definitely going 10 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: to get into all the qualifiers around that in the 11 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: course of the show. So h it is a full episode, 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: so let's hop right in and hear it. Hello, and 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Uh, Tracy. 14 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: Humans have always communicated your pictures pretty much always always. 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: It goes back literally to the earliest known cave paintings, 16 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: and we have come to be as a species very 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: acquainted with the idea of pictures in a series that 18 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: tell a story. Yeah, sorry, I know you were selling 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: tranced by my voice. I just went to a special 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: place I did so, but that that concept not just 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: of pictures but of pictures one after another telling a 22 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,839 Speaker 1: story like that started somewhere. And one of the people 23 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: that's often latted is the father of the modern comic 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: book which uses that pattern, is Rudolph top Fer. But 25 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: before we talk about him, we actually have to talk 26 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: about um the fact that that title as father of 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: the modern comic book comes with some pretty serious qualifiers. First, 28 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask Tracy to mention one that came up 29 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: while we were talking today that I did not include 30 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: in this outline. I was sure the Biou tapestry that 31 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: tells a story with a lot of pictures in a 32 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: particular order. It's from a very long time ago, And 33 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: I mean there's all kinds of pottery that's got stories 34 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: noted in pictures. And as I mentioned earlier, even previous 35 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: podcast subject William Hogarth sometimes actually gets a nod as 36 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: the creator of sequential art, at least in the Western world, 37 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: because of his print series that he did, like a 38 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: Rake's Progress. Those are the ones on the boots Um 39 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: and Marriage Ala Mode. But while those featured stories that 40 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: did play out over a series of successive images, they 41 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: reach on a full size print, so it wasn't like 42 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,239 Speaker 1: a thing you could just look at and get the 43 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,399 Speaker 1: whole story at once. The viewer would have to work 44 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: their way like physically through a room where they were hung, 45 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: or in a big, huge folio style book where they 46 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: would have to flip each page. Yeah, today you can 47 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: scroll down correct the elections of it on the internet 48 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: with the much smaller but at the time it was 49 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: a big gallery situation. So Rodolf Tougher actually cited Hogarth 50 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: as an influence in this his writing and his visual storytelling. 51 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: He mentioned in particular the series called Industry and Idleness, 52 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: which is published in seventeen already seven And we didn't 53 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: talk about that specific one in our previous episode about 54 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: the life of Hogarth, but it's a series of twelve prints. 55 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: I'm a little saddened by the topic. They were intended 56 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: to give working children a sense not of how life 57 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: might get better one day and maybe we would have 58 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: child labor laws and stuff, but of how important hard 59 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: work and mindfulness to duty are and then ignoring the 60 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: importance of one's of those things would invite a life 61 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: of misfortune. So keep on working, kids. It's good for you, 62 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: super good for you. And it's actually no mistake that 63 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: top for singled out that particular series because the two 64 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: other Hogarth series that we mentioned, A Rake's Progress and 65 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: a Marriage All the Moode had actually both been created 66 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: as a series of paintings before they were then turned 67 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: into engravings for mass production. But Industry and Idleness was 68 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: a little bit different, and that it had been made 69 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: with the intent of mass production from the start, presumably 70 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: because so many working children really needed these lessons um 71 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: and it was priced to market to a wide audience, 72 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: so it was priced not to be great art, but 73 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: to be something consumed by middle and lower classes. Uh. 74 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: And as top for was not a painter, which we'll 75 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: talk about why, and he did eventually position his own 76 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: work in a similar way. I feel like I should 77 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: qualify that and say he did some paintings, but that 78 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: wasn't really his vocation, as we'll learn. But it made 79 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: sense that he would choose Industry and Idleness, something that 80 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: was purposely intended for wide range consumption, as the item 81 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: of William Hogarth's work that he would write about. Yeah, 82 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: and of course he's not the only person in all 83 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: of Western art history that had this sort of series 84 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 1: of pictures. You could even say that the ceiling of 85 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: the Sistine Chapel is a form of sequential art because 86 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: it's a series of pictures that are telling a story. 87 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: But I mean, that's obviously not a book. You don't 88 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: turn pages on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But there is 89 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: a narrative that's being communicated in the artwork, and narrative 90 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: comical art in Asia has been traced as far back 91 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: as scrolls attributed to a priest named Toba Sojo in 92 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: the eleventh century, and the Hokusai manga, which was first 93 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: published in the early eighteen hundreds, are examples of sketches 94 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: by Hokusai which convey narrative in a similar way, but 95 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: they're kind of grouped on a on one thing together. 96 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: They don't separate out with frames. Um, they had more 97 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: of this free form approach to conveying the story. So 98 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: there weren't frames, as I said, there weren't captions, uh, 99 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about those kinds of concepts 100 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: though in this episode. And they did, though, eventually integrate 101 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: both of those things into manga. Of course. Some more 102 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: modern examples that sometimes come up as the origin of 103 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: sequential art and comics include the popular strip The Yellow 104 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: Kid which ran at the end of the nineteenth century 105 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: in newspapers and the United States. Um, the Yellow Kid 106 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: was influential, particularly in the popularization of word balloons to 107 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,799 Speaker 1: convey dialogue. So you know, comics have a whole visual 108 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: language to them, with that being one part of that language. 109 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna draw word balloons with my hands apparently. Uh. 110 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,480 Speaker 1: And Top for his work, though predated by the Yellow 111 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: Kid by several decades and combined other comic elements that 112 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: we would recognize the day. Yeah, the the Yellow Kid 113 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: was also one of the first things that was actually 114 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: used as a merchandizing opportunity. There was you could get 115 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: all the Yellow Kid everything when it was popular. That's 116 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: one of those things that I actually would love to 117 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: do as another episode one day. Um. But making the 118 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: case for giving Top for his share of the credit 119 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,359 Speaker 1: and creating this genre, We're going to turn to the 120 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: words of a prolific writer when it comes to discussing 121 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: comics as a medium, and that is Scott McLeod and 122 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: in his book Understanding Comics, he wrote, the father of 123 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: the modern comic in many ways is Rodolph Top, for 124 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: whose light satiric picture stories starting in the mid eighteen hundreds, 125 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: employed cartooning and panel borders, and featured the first independent 126 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: combination of words and pictures seen in Europe. And even 127 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: the term sequential art didn't exist when top for was alive. 128 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: That phrase was actually coined by will Eisner more than 129 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: a century later in his publication Comics and Sequential Art. So, 130 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: having established at this point that there really isn't just 131 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: one person that we can give all the credit to 132 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: for the genesis of the comic book, and acknowledging that 133 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: we are definitely focusing on sequential art in the Western world, 134 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: We're going to start in on the life of this 135 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: one man who was unarguably a huge part of creating 136 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: this genre that we all know today as comic books 137 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: and thus comic con Why we're all here, well, why 138 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: some of us are here? Uh so. Topper was born 139 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: on January thirty one, sev in Geneva, Switzerland. His father 140 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: was Wolfgang Adam. Adam Adam is a normal word I 141 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: can say, I mean, you can spruce it up. His 142 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: father was Wolfgang Adam Topper, and he was a German 143 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: painter who had moved to Switzerland and then made that 144 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: at his home the met here in New York actually 145 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: has some of his paintings in their collection, but they're 146 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: not currently on display. You can see them on the 147 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: internet though. Yeah, the Mets website has everything. If I'm 148 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: remembering correctly, It's like a painting and a sketch. Might 149 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: be a painting and two pencil sketches, but you can 150 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: see his dad's work. Uh. And Rodolph was almost a 151 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: phrase that I mentioned in and Tracy made a quizzical 152 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: puppy face. He was almost uniquely completely Swiss. And the 153 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: reason that I chose that phrasing is because he stayed 154 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: in Geneva pretty much his entire life. He didn't even 155 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: travel very much. He just loved being there. Um. He 156 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: went to Paris briefly as boy for school in the 157 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: nine school year, but that was really the only time 158 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: he left Geneva for any length at all. Uh. He 159 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: would occasionally make short excursion trips to hike in the 160 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: Alps close to home, but that was it. Yeah. He 161 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: was not a big world traveler, not even a europe traveler, 162 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: even though it was all very close by. He also 163 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: had poor eyesight, and it was while he was away 164 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: at school that it was recognized that this poor eyesight 165 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,079 Speaker 1: was a degenerative eye disease. So he had been interested 166 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: in art and had wanted to do art from an 167 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: early age, and he thought his vision problems meant that 168 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: he wouldn't be able to follow in his father's professional footsteps, 169 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: so he turned his interests to literature, although he kept sketching, 170 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: and so because his vision was really poor, he developed 171 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: a very fast and casual way of drawing, which actually 172 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: enabled him to capture moments, idea and ideas really quickly 173 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: in a visual form using I mean a very small 174 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: number of strokes. Yeah, and we're going to talk a 175 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: little bit about why he ended up prizing that simplicity 176 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: in terms of his drawing style later on, as he 177 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,959 Speaker 1: turned it into more of a profession. But top first 178 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: schooling led him to a career in education, so he 179 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: started teaching in eighteen twenty two, and he taught in 180 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: a number of boys schools in Geneva over the course 181 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: of the next couple of years. Not long into his 182 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: career as an educator, though, he struck out on his 183 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 1: own and he founded his own boarding school in eighteen 184 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: where he had married a woman named and Francois. I 185 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: wrote down how to say this. He had married a 186 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: woman named Anne Francoise Luannier in the previous year, and 187 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: the two of them eventually had four children together. And 188 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: even though Radolph was invested in his teaching career, he 189 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: never stopped crafting stories, either in writing or by sketches. 190 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: And he would take these hiking trips in the summer 191 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,839 Speaker 1: with his students. These are his brief little sojourns into 192 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: the Alps from his school, and then he would kind 193 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: of make a diary of them in words and pictures 194 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: with his own story embellishments. And these accounts were actually 195 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: the beginning of the visual storytelling that would eventually lead 196 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: to his sequential art. And doing this art really filled 197 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: a void in his life. He continued to develop visual 198 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: stories basically as a hobby. It offered him a creative 199 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: outlet that being a teacher and an administrator didn't really 200 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: Sometime in eighteen seven he started drawing images in sequence 201 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: with captions to tell the stories, and he started sharing 202 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: his work with other people, which at first was all 203 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: he really intended to do, just kind of handed around 204 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: to his friends. He just wanted to amuse himself and 205 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 1: his friends and his students in a creative way. And 206 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about a pretty major figure who 207 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: actually encouraged this educator to start publishing his picture stories 208 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: and kind of create a new career for himself. But 209 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: before we do that, we're gonna pause for a little 210 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Okay, back to Rodolf. So a famous name 211 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 1: in literature is in part to thank for Rodolf top 212 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: For deciding that he should publish these am using little 213 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: sketch stories, and that is Johann Vogang von Gerta. The 214 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: two are acquaintances, and top For actually sent him some 215 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 1: of his work at one point. Gerta was already quite 216 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,199 Speaker 1: old at this time and he immensely enjoyed this way 217 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: of representing narrative in this new style, and he is 218 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 1: largely credited with encouraging top For to go to print 219 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: with these comical stories. Those was risky for him to 220 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,559 Speaker 1: do though, I mean, this was considered a pretty lowbrow 221 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: form of entertainment, and because he was an educator, associating 222 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: himself with such a lowbrow thing could damage his career, 223 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: and unfortunately we know he did go forward with it. 224 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: But when top first first example of lett on his thomp, 225 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: which translates roughly to graphic literature, was published in eighteen 226 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: thirty three. Gerta had already died of heart failure, so 227 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: he didn't see his his encouraged accomplishment come to fruition. 228 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: But that series it was published was his wild Demonschieur Jabeau, 229 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: and it published the year after Guerta's death, but it 230 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: had been created actually two years before that, in eighteen 231 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: thirty one. This will come up over and over that 232 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: top Fur was publishing things that he had been sitting on, 233 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: in some cases for more than a decade at a time, 234 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:50,199 Speaker 1: and the publication of Monsieur Jabeau was also plagued with problems. 235 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: Tougher his relationship with this printer had soured while they 236 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: were working on it. There was a lot of bickering 237 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: between the two of them about both money and damaged art. Yeah. 238 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: Top Forer had ordered and paid for a full run 239 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: of several hundred copies of this comic, but initially he 240 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: only wanted it to go out to friends. But words 241 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: soon circulated that a wide release into bookstores was coming, 242 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,559 Speaker 1: and top for blamed the printer for spilling the beans 243 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: about this. The artist had held back the majority of 244 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: copies for two reasons. First, he wanted to wait until 245 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: his professorship was tenured so that even if his reputation suffered, 246 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: his income was still going to be secure. Uh. Second, 247 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: he wanted it to seem like his room work was 248 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: kind of rare before it went into a wider publication 249 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: to try to drive up the price, and public knowledge 250 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:45,319 Speaker 1: that a release was on the way was going to 251 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: ruin that effort to create a false scarcity as a 252 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: marketing tactic. At the same time, though, Top made ten 253 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: times the cost of ten times the cost of having 254 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: the print run on that first run of Monsieur Jebo. Yeah, Like, 255 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: this is one of those things I'm always reluctant to 256 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: ever tell a comic book creator because because nobody just 257 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: out of the gate makes ten times what they put 258 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: into something. Um, but he just took off like a 259 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,440 Speaker 1: rocket right out of the gate. Uh. The character Monsieur 260 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: Jabou is something of a social upstart and a climber, 261 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: so he was already starting with his satire immediately. Uh So, 262 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 1: Jabeau puts on airs to try to imitate the manners 263 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: of a man in high society, but in the end 264 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: he just comes off as a buffoon, Jabeau became really 265 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: really popular as a character, and even top For himself 266 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: sort of loved him. So he actually makes appearances in 267 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: other comic books by Top for his kind of like 268 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: a cameo. So in a strange way, Jabou's buffoonery did 269 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: in fact gain him entry into society. And as Holly 270 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: alluded to, before Monsieur Jabou's adventures were made public, Tougher 271 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: had all kinds of other projects that were already in 272 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: the works. He was a prolific creator, not just of 273 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: these sketched out stories, but also of more traditional fiction 274 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: in an essays. By eighteen thirty, his writing was regularly 275 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: featured in the monthly journal I'm going to just go 276 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: ahead and start with the frenchifying in the English words. 277 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: His work was regularly featured in the monthly journal La 278 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: BiblioTech Universal digenev and that is essentially Universal Library of Geneva. Yes, 279 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: so that was a couple of years before he started 280 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: printing his little comics. Um But the series that he 281 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: wrote for the journal, which was called Reflection Minu Popo 282 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: dun Genevois, was a review of paintings in Geneva. It 283 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: was essay work and critiques, and these writings were later 284 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: republished in collected form across two volumes. After top first death, 285 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty two, his story La BiblioTech demon or 286 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: My Uncle's Library was published. That is a tale about 287 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: young love and tragedy. The main character falls in love 288 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: with a young woman who dies. It was generally was 289 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: generally well received and was called charming by its critics. 290 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: I'm I chuckled because it's like the young woman dies, 291 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: but it was very charming. Um between his critical essays 292 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: as fiction and these sketched out stories. From that point on, 293 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: he was pretty much continually publishing stuff. Yeah. That same 294 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: year he also published another piece of fiction called The Presbytel, 295 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: and he became the professor of rhetoric at the Academy 296 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: of Geneva, and it was actually tenure for that particular 297 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: position that he was waiting to secure. Before that wide 298 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: release of Monsieur Gebau. In the late eighteen twenties, he 299 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: had been working on art in the text for a 300 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: series which would come to be known as Histoire de 301 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: Monsieur Vaubois and also Voyage at Aventures did Ductor Fists 302 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: and East Mr Cryptogam but he didn't publish any of 303 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: these for a number of years after he started working 304 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: on them. Yeah, he was just a busy be all 305 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: the time and had stuff always in the works. Uh 306 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: So his Trial to Monsieur Carapin was top first next 307 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: published album of sketch based storytelling, and this was actually written, drawn, 308 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: and published all in eighteen thirty seven, So it's kind 309 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: of an outlier in his work because it was all 310 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: done in the same year. And this particular comic satirizes education, 311 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 1: which of course was something that was a big part 312 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: of his life through the story of Monsieur Cleppin's hiring 313 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: of one problematic tutor after another for his many children, 314 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: Like the character had a herd in the comic, it's 315 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: just loads of children in every frame, And it was 316 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: a critique against the really rigid systems of education that 317 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: we're being favored, and like how people would get obsessed 318 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: with one approach to educating children and just be really 319 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: stuck in that rut. Because Top for himself disliked this 320 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: sort of rigid approach to education because he thought it 321 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: really just came with a lot of bureaucracy and was 322 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: a pain in the butt. Les Amours de Monsieur vou Bois, 323 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: which was created in seven, was also published in eighteen 324 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,199 Speaker 1: thirty seven, so ten years later. And once again the 325 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: main character, whose name translates to old Wood is kind 326 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: of a buffoon, and then the plot enters around a 327 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: young woman that he falls in love with, although, much 328 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: like top for his other work, has a narrative to 329 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: meanders and two other topics. Yeah, he really would, you know, 330 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: kind of invented that. Meanwhile, back at the Hall of 331 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: Justice kind of approach, like he would just kind of 332 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: dart away from the story and tell some other backstory 333 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 1: things periodically. But this entire story is really pretty dark humor. 334 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: A lot of the jokes about Monsieur of vieu bois 335 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: failed suicide or about his failed suicide attempts when he 336 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: separated from his love or he is imprisoned, both of 337 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: which happened an awful lot in the course of the story. Uh. 338 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: And at one point Monsieur of vie Bois actually thinks 339 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: he is dead for a full two days, so he 340 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: lies very still and then he sits up very skinny. Um, 341 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: so he maybe doesn't have a full grasp of how 342 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,159 Speaker 1: like actual metabolic things happen but there are also in 343 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: the story a lot of monks who worked very hard 344 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: to keep these lovers apart. But ultimately the story does 345 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: end with the pair being happily married. If you had 346 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: a really dark sense of humor today, then that the 347 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: jokes might be funny. Yeah, but maybe maybe not. Otherwise 348 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: we'll talk some more about some jokes that just don't 349 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: feel terribly hilarious these. Yeah. So, by the end of 350 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: the eighteen thirties, uh Top for his work had become 351 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: more famous, and that fame had also become problematic. He 352 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: had this market model of trying to maintain a scarcity 353 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: of his work to drive up the price, but pirated 354 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: versions were coming out which were being sold all over Europe, so, 355 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,960 Speaker 1: due to a lack of international copyright law at the time, 356 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:38,120 Speaker 1: this was not illegal. To try to combat the problem, 357 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: Toper released a new edition of the popular histoire that 358 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:47,200 Speaker 1: Monsieur Beaubois with a lower price that matched the impostors 359 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: price of the counterfeit copies of his work. And he 360 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,680 Speaker 1: continued to have problems with knockoffs, so that didn't really 361 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: fix it. Yeah, that pretty much persisted throughout his career. 362 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty, Top for published the worth of seven 363 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: comics he produced in his lifetime. This one titled Mischief 364 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 1: Pencil and it was initially created in eighteen thirty one. 365 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: Again that's nine years prior to publication, and it's uh, 366 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: this really interesting tale, as many of his start small 367 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: and then they kind of spiral out of control. It 368 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: begins with an artist that loses a sketch when the 369 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: wind blows it away, but this runaway drawing catalyzes this 370 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: series of crazier and crazier events that nearly leads to 371 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: World War, but that crisis is narrowly averted. He was 372 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 1: also continuing to publish other more traditional work. A collection 373 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: of top First short stories was published in France in 374 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one. This collection was titled Nouvelle Genevois or 375 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: New Geneva. It's a It was very well received critically 376 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: and it gave his fiction another layer of credibility. Politically, 377 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,959 Speaker 1: things really shifted in Geneva in the early eighteen forties 378 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,400 Speaker 1: and that actually impacted Top First work as well. Rodolph 379 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: was very conservative, and when the Radical Party of leftist 380 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: liberals were kind of elected into power, he used his 381 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,880 Speaker 1: voice as a writer to speak out for the conservative agenda, 382 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: and his friends actually found him to be rather fanatical 383 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: about this, like they kind of thought he had maybe 384 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: gone a little too far. But he started publishing regularly 385 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: in Le de Geneve, which was a conservative paper that 386 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,360 Speaker 1: he actually helped launch. It had a very short run 387 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: because this was not popular opinion and they really couldn't 388 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 1: get a foothold, and it only ran from eight to 389 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: eighteen forty three. So we're about to get to the 390 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: part where finally Toper's art comes to North America. And 391 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 1: before we do that, we're gonna take one more pause 392 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 1: for a little sponsor break. Uh So, in eighteen forty two, 393 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: top first work made its way across the Atlantic to 394 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: become what is regarded as the first comic book published 395 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: in the United States, and that title was The Adventures 396 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: of Obadiah old Buck. That was the name that the 397 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,679 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty seven publication His Twild and Mischief of Vieu 398 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: Bois was given when it got here, and that was 399 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: considered the first comic book in Europe, but for the 400 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: North American audience in English Obediah old Book, and it 401 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: was not offered as a solo title for purchase. It 402 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: was actually a supplement to a newspaper. I love the 403 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,360 Speaker 1: name Obediah Old book. It's pretty great. I apparently can't 404 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: say it very well, but I love that. His next book, 405 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: Voyage on Zigzag, which was published in eighteen forty three, 406 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: was based largely on accounts he had written as a 407 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: young teacher on hiking trips with his students. And there 408 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: are some illustrations in this book, but it's really more 409 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: like a novel with illustrations and not a comic book. Yeah, 410 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: and most of the illustrations are not in his sort 411 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 1: of silly style. They're a little bit more formalized, and like, 412 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: here's a scenery that we came across. I'm imagining and 413 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 1: it's like stardust. Yeah, that's not entirely off the mark. Um. 414 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 1: You can actually find that online. Most of these are 415 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: archive third archive dot org. Uh. Some of his original 416 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: stuff is a little tricky to read because the um 417 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: the captions are not only in French, but he had 418 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,880 Speaker 1: very curly Q writings. It's a little dicey to read, 419 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: but you can find them online. Um. And in eighteen 420 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: forty two, Top four published essayfe uh So he was 421 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: aware that what he was doing by pairing captions with 422 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 1: framed story beats was unique and he had gained a 423 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,239 Speaker 1: level of fame for it at this point. So he 424 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: wrote about his style of crafting narrative in this book, 425 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 1: and then he wrote another book about his work three 426 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: years later called Essay The Physiognomony, and that second book 427 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,719 Speaker 1: on his visual storytelling speaks a lot about creating character 428 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 1: and identity through drawing, and it's also something of a 429 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,440 Speaker 1: defense of his work. Uh. It has a little bit 430 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: of a didactic angle where he's trying to teach readers 431 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: how to approach and appreciate this new medium. Essaystography is 432 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: widely considered to be one of the first, if not 433 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: the first analytical studies of the comics form. So not 434 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: only was he basically the person who developed this form, 435 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: he was also the first person that wrote criticism and 436 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: analysis about that form as a medium, which is pretty incredible. 437 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: In it, he discussed not only how stories can be 438 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,040 Speaker 1: told in the visual medium, but he also talks about 439 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 1: possible future technologies and advancements that might shift the end results, 440 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 1: such as the addition of color. And not surprisingly, since 441 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: we've already told you that he was had figured out 442 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: this way to do these really rough, quickdoodle sketches. Uh. 443 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: Top Ferm makes clear his opinion that you do not 444 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: need to be a great artist to make what he 445 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: called literature and prints, but you have to be able 446 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: to quote invent some kind of drama. And he also 447 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: takes that opportunity to address critics who would demean the 448 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: simplicity of the art in this style for not seeing 449 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: its value. And he wrote, quote, if only the one 450 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: or two critics who attack the failings of these little 451 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,880 Speaker 1: books or who tease their stylistic follies, would instead emphasize 452 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: a useful way of thinking, it is not true that 453 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: they would well have reached readers who would not go 454 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,959 Speaker 1: searching for their sermons, as well as those who are 455 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: rarely found in novels. What was that noise monster came? 456 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: This argument reminds me of a conversation that uh we 457 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,640 Speaker 1: actually had earlier today about um, real historians and and 458 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: how a lot of the history podcasts that are really 459 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: popular are not by real historians, meaning like people that 460 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: have a PhD in a tenure track position. Um and 461 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: uh And a lot of times my response is well, 462 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: maybe if you are a like academic historian. Look at 463 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: what's being successful about these podcasts and apply that to 464 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: your academic podcasts. Yeah, see how that works, which is 465 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: narrative usually, which is what basically what he's saying right there. 466 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,399 Speaker 1: Maybe don't fuss over the technique of my art, but 467 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: actually take a moment to appreciate the story. I'm telling 468 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: you something useful with your time. He didn't really say 469 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: that to them say that. He was more like, look, 470 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: it's really cool. Additionally, the autography that was used in 471 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: top for his work is something that he describes in 472 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: these these works. This method let the artists draw onto 473 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: paper with a special lithographic inc which would then be 474 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: used to print the image onto a stone. Then that 475 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: stone would be used to reprint the original And one 476 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,159 Speaker 1: of the benefits of this technique was that the artists 477 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: didn't have to like do everything backwards onto the stone 478 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: to get it to print correctly. They could just put 479 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: their idea on paper as normal and then go from there. 480 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: So there's a series of plates and essays deutographies showing 481 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 1: examples of landscapes and comic sketches to show how these 482 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: methods could be used for a variety of different images. 483 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: So it had sort of a technical how to aspect. Yeah, 484 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: and so just to go a little bit more detail 485 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,680 Speaker 1: on how stone lithography works. So you kind of grasp 486 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: this because it took me a little while to really 487 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: get the mental picture of what he was talking about. Um, 488 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: the stone in lithography is either a slab of actual 489 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: stone normally limestone, or the more modern version has a 490 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: metal plate. And so this special ink that was used 491 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: is oily or greasy like, it has a stickiness to it, 492 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: and so when the ink goes on to the stone, 493 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: it adheres really really well because of those oils, and 494 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: then this forms the print image which can actually be 495 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: used over and over because the stone gets a water treatment, 496 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: so the parts of it without this oily print on 497 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,439 Speaker 1: it absorb all that water because they don't have the 498 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: ink on it. And then another ink is rolled onto 499 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: the stone and this does not stick to the west 500 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: part of the stone, but it does stick to those 501 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: parts that have been treated with the greasy ink. So 502 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 1: then that can have paper applied to it and the 503 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: stone is pressed and the images transferred to the paper 504 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: like magic. I being a crafty person, the second I 505 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: read this, I was like, I gotta do this haven't 506 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: done it yet, but it's going to happen, just rest assured. 507 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: So one of the downfalls of this method was that 508 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 1: sometimes the transfer wouldn't be quite perfect, and pieces of 509 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: a line might drop off of an image, there might 510 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,119 Speaker 1: be a little gap in there. So for Tougher, this 511 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,199 Speaker 1: actually UH fueled his passion to draw in such a 512 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,159 Speaker 1: way that the everything would be really simple. So his 513 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,680 Speaker 1: in his serialized narratives, UH, if a line was broken, 514 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 1: the concept should still remain and be really obvious. And 515 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: here's something he wrote about it. The graphic line, by 516 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 1: the very reason of what meetings it makes clear even 517 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: without the imitation being complete, admittedly demands enormous emissions of 518 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: properties and details, with the result that whereas in a 519 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,800 Speaker 1: finished painting, the slightest discontinuity in the image simultaneously marks 520 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: an isore and a gap in the graphic line, by contrast, 521 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: monstrous discontinuities are neither stains nor gaps, even when they 522 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: are not as often happens desire fired by the author 523 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 1: and merely the happy use of a brevity method. I 524 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: like monstrous discontinuities. So that's my new punk band um 525 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: eighteen forty five was a really busy year for a 526 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: Dolf top Fur. In addition to essays Dephysy Young Pneumony, 527 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: he also published the comic Histoire d'Albert and. The plot 528 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: of this comic is about a young man with no 529 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: life experience and no marketable skills who searches in vain 530 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: for a career. So think back to the fact that 531 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: not long before this he had a conservative political paper 532 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: that failed. Because how this plays out is that when 533 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: this young man shows him to have shows himself to 534 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: have no talent and be suited for nothing else, he 535 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: becomes a radical leftist political journalist. It's my somewhat autobiographical comic. 536 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: Estoire de monsieur cryptogom also went into print in eighteen 537 00:29:55,720 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: forty five. A later unauthorized English language re print translated 538 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: the title to the Veritable History of Mr. Bachelor Butterfly. 539 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 1: This story is about an entomologist who specializes in butterflies, 540 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: on a quest to escape his jealous and zealous fiance 541 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: and to find a better match for himself. There are 542 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: a lot of really fun movement panels in this particular story, 543 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: including a segment where a progressively wider assortment of people 544 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: and animals are drawn into a circular chase on a 545 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: boat that all began with Monsieur Cryptogram. There's not an 546 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: R in there. Monsieur cryptogram running from the very possessive 547 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: fiance and it culminates in the sort of cyclone of 548 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: movement around on a ship's deck. Yeah, it's quite fun, Uh, 549 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: if you're into that sort of cyclonic thing. Uh. There's 550 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: an interesting piece of historical context here because this comic 551 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: involves a boat trip, as we just mentioned, to Algiers 552 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: or al Julia, And this was originally written in eighteen thirty, 553 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: which is an interesting time because France invaded and conquered 554 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: that country in eighteen thirty. But top for doesn't make 555 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: any mention at all of any of the political stuff. 556 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: They're just going to visit. Uh. It's almost as though 557 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: he included it to be current and topical, but he 558 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: didn't want to really get especially political in this particular instance. 559 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,640 Speaker 1: Monsieur Cryptogram was first printed in a series of eleven 560 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: installments in the periodical Stresson. I feel like I said 561 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 1: that in terrible. My French is terrible. It's literally the 562 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: on lyast language I've studied. Businides English, and I say 563 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: it's so badly So that was an eleven installments from 564 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,480 Speaker 1: January to April of eighteen forty five. Top for his 565 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: illustrations style needed to be refined for this pretty much 566 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: comic strip style printing in a wide circulation periodical, so 567 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: his original art was recreated with a style that was 568 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: more in line with magazine illustrations using woodblock, and of 569 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: course he still had this eye problem so he couldn't 570 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: do it. The French lithographer and Kared Toure artist Charles 571 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: amade Den, who worked under the pseudonym Sham, was the 572 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: person who created those new woodblocks with Top for supervising 573 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: and instructing the work, and as an aside, one of 574 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: the things he told him to do was go look 575 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: at all of William Hogarth's work. The cryptogram comic was 576 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: really popular, so much so that Little Stression soon ran 577 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: another comic strip style story by another artist, So basically 578 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: a new type of feature in a print publication had 579 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: been born from Top for his work. Yeah, this is 580 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: one of those things that when I was reading it, 581 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: because we work in a company that has done internet 582 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: content for a long time, it reminded me of those 583 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: times when like a thing works and you just want 584 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: to do it over and over to get you know, 585 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: the successful engagement. So it's like, quizzes are great, let's 586 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 1: make a million. Um. It's kind of the same thing. 587 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 1: Everybody loves that comic. Who else draws a comic? Uh, 588 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: and they put it right in that magazine. I feel 589 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: like we're also with us. We're on the way to 590 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: having funny papers. Yes. Uh. And so when cryptogom Story 591 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: was printed officially, this time as The Strange Adventures of 592 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: Bachelor Butterfly in New York in eighteen forty six, it 593 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: consequently became the second sequential art comic printed in the 594 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: United States. The Ductor Festus was created in eighteen thirty one, 595 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: but not published until eighteen forty six, so fifteen years later. 596 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 1: The narrative for this one is that the titular doctor 597 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: wants to go see the world, and he sets out 598 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: on a series of travels that leave nothing but chaos 599 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: in his awake, but he is completely oblivious to all 600 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: the chaos he is causing almost all the time. And 601 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: this one, like others we've mentioned, definitely has some humor 602 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: and you've got to use the air quotes that does 603 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: not come off as funny at all to a modern audience. 604 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: For example, after Festus creates an uproar at a mill 605 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: that results in a great deal of confusion, there are 606 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,280 Speaker 1: three panels in sequence in which the first one is 607 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: a miller beating his wife. She in the next panel 608 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: beats their son, and then in the third panel, the 609 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: sun beats their donkey. Because there's this whole case of 610 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,840 Speaker 1: misplaced blame, they're all blaming each other because he has 611 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: left this mess in his wake. Um. So it's like, 612 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:10,280 Speaker 1: there's part of me that tries to imagine the people 613 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty six and that's hilarious, but I'm like 614 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: your monsters. Well, and reading that part of the outline 615 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,000 Speaker 1: reminded me of when I was a kid and my 616 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 1: mom and I went to all the local community theater 617 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 1: productions of every musical they ever did, and one year 618 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: they did South Pacific, and there is a joke in 619 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: South Pacific that is literally about assaulting someone, and I 620 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,320 Speaker 1: was I remember sitting there surrounded by grown ups because 621 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: I was the fourteen or something, who were all finding 622 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: this hilarious, and I was just like, wait, this is 623 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: not a funny joke. I don't understand. Yeah, there's dark humor, 624 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: and there's people beating each other and so funny. So 625 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: even as he was writing essays the Physiognominee and arranging 626 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 1: for the publication of several of his sketch stories in 627 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,439 Speaker 1: the mid eighteen forties, Tougher was not do doing well 628 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 1: in terms of his health. He had started having health 629 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: problems as early as eighteen forty three. He had an 630 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: enlarged spleen, although it's not really clear exactly what had 631 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: caused that uh and he had traveled in the years 632 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,280 Speaker 1: eighteen forty three to eighteen forty five to the springs 633 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: at both Leave, Switzerland and v France for treatment of 634 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: this problem, but unfortunately he did not find any relief 635 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,440 Speaker 1: in the so called water cure. His condition only got 636 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: worse and it made the pain much worse. Um when 637 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,439 Speaker 1: he died on June eighth of eighteen forty six, top 638 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: Fur was still working and he had several projects in 639 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: process at the time, and he was allegedly observing the 640 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,239 Speaker 1: doctors at the baths that he would go to at 641 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: the encouragement of a cousin to see if he could 642 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 1: find some humorous story in it. But his failing health 643 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,919 Speaker 1: really left him too weak to do a whole lot 644 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,799 Speaker 1: creative that was new, and he was only forty seven 645 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:53,399 Speaker 1: when he died, so there was really a lot more 646 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: he could have created. That last part is both charming 647 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: and sad to me, like the idea that he was 648 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 1: watching doctors going is there a funny story here? Touching? 649 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,480 Speaker 1: So top Fir became incredibly famous in his own lifetime 650 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 1: for his graphic stories, but he was not universally praised 651 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: for them. A critical essay written by German novelist Friedrich 652 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: Theodore Visher begins quote, what sort of scroll is this? 653 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: Is this what Greta praised? I can hardly believe my eyes. 654 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 1: Is this how our childish, our own childish scribbles looked 655 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 1: when we turned boyish fantasies into silly caricatures. But in truth, 656 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,880 Speaker 1: Visher actually thought that top Forer was doing something really interesting. 657 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 1: Those opening lines in that essay were an effort to 658 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: mimic the criticisms that had already been lobbed at top 659 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: first work, and Visher actually found these seeming simplicity of 660 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 1: this art and stories to be pretty complex when you 661 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: actually looked at it more thoughtfully. In his essay continues quote, 662 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: but on closer inspection these capricious, lawless networks of lines 663 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: coalesced into the most decided characterization. This quite craven slovenly 664 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: drawing becomes a well considered and systematic instrument in the 665 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,520 Speaker 1: hand of a man who makes sense of nonsense, is 666 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:15,200 Speaker 1: wise and delirium, and steers his mad steed to its 667 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:20,239 Speaker 1: certain destination following the rules of a secret calculation. You 668 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,439 Speaker 1: think it leaps forward on its own, but no, there 669 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,240 Speaker 1: is a coachman on the box seat. You just can't 670 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: see him. So it's interesting to look at how people 671 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 1: have considered Topper and his work over the years. One 672 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: word that comes up a lot when describing his work 673 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 1: and his world view is naivete. Topper biographer David Kunzel 674 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:44,280 Speaker 1: addressed and dissected this whole idea in a two thousand 675 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,840 Speaker 1: and seven book about the artist. So in it, Kunzel 676 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: makes the case that simply by virtue of not featuring 677 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,919 Speaker 1: themes of overt sexuality in his work, which is very 678 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,440 Speaker 1: common in French writing and art at the time, and 679 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,280 Speaker 1: this prevailing characterization in the nineteenth century of Switzerland's people 680 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: being inherently sort of innocent uh Top for his own 681 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:08,279 Speaker 1: sharp wit and morality stories have sometimes been characterized into 682 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:12,360 Speaker 1: this naive image. Considering that Hogarth, who was known for 683 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: these morality narratives, is the one influence that Top proclaimed, 684 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 1: it's pretty logical to conclude that the lack of adult 685 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: themes in his work was a lot more about his 686 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:26,239 Speaker 1: moral compass and his desire to appeal to a broad audience, 687 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: and not an indicator that he just had a wide 688 00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:32,319 Speaker 1: eyed innocence about the world. It's also worth noting that 689 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 1: even from the beginning he was sharing his work with 690 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 1: his students, so all along he was showing this to 691 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: children as well as adults. Yes, so that might explain 692 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,640 Speaker 1: why he wasn't going for the super adult themes. And 693 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: after his death in eighteen forty six, almost immediately top 694 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: for his works were published in an anthology titled Histos 695 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: on his Thump. One of the things that he was 696 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: working on before he died was a story called Brutus Calico, 697 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: and this unfinished manuscript for the story as part of 698 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:05,440 Speaker 1: the University Library in Geneva's permanent collection, and today there 699 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,880 Speaker 1: is actually a monument to Rodolf top For with a 700 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,200 Speaker 1: bust of the artist a top a marble pillar that 701 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: sits in Geneva Art. Spiegelman, who created the graphic novel Mouse, 702 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:18,520 Speaker 1: which is incredible, said this of Topper in an interview 703 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,440 Speaker 1: where he was talking about toppers writings and about this 704 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,360 Speaker 1: new genre that he had created, and this is his quote. 705 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 1: He had a deep understanding of what comics were. He 706 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:32,520 Speaker 1: understood that comics existed someplace between writing and drawing and 707 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: was its own language. So as you wander through Comic Con, 708 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:38,879 Speaker 1: if you're one of the people that came for that, 709 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: look at all that sequential art and think about Rodolf 710 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:49,120 Speaker 1: top for and that's what we got on him. Yeah, 711 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:52,239 Speaker 1: so that was our show. We definitely want to take 712 00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: a moment and think everyone in New York Comic Con presents, 713 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: particularly Matt Wizowski, Collette Oliver, and Andrew Sposito, who too 714 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,640 Speaker 1: look amazing care of us. We were, as always, so 715 00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: honored to be part of their programming and it was 716 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 1: a super fun night. And thank you also everybody who 717 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: came out to see us. We know the show was 718 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,760 Speaker 1: a little later in the evening. It's we ended basically 719 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,719 Speaker 1: at my bedtime. Uh and and traffic was terrible that night, 720 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,160 Speaker 1: so thanks so much. Everybody came out, who came out, 721 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 1: and a lot of folks stayed behind afterwards to say 722 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:24,640 Speaker 1: hello to us. So thank you, thank you, thank you 723 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:29,000 Speaker 1: all our gracious and wonderful listeners who were there that night. Yeah, 724 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:31,600 Speaker 1: you made it just an incredible evening. And I feel 725 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:33,359 Speaker 1: like we should give a special thank you to our 726 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: younger listener, Nathaniel, who brought us amazing gifts and was 727 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:41,360 Speaker 1: charming and delightful. Yes, thank you so much, Nathaniel. Yeah, 728 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,239 Speaker 1: I have a little bit of listener mail. I'm gonna 729 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:44,919 Speaker 1: keep it short. I'm not going to read her whole 730 00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:51,359 Speaker 1: her whole letter because our episode is a little lengthy. Um. 731 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,960 Speaker 1: It is from our listener Kim, who writes hello and 732 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,240 Speaker 1: well wishes from Washington, d C. I love the show 733 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: and discovered the archive episodes this past summer. They were 734 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,800 Speaker 1: great way to learn a little something while I delved 735 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:05,480 Speaker 1: into my new hobby of embroidery. You to make an 736 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 1: excellent team in the way you approach subjects and the 737 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,359 Speaker 1: integrity of your research is such a credit to you 738 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,719 Speaker 1: both and the respect you hold for history. She goes on, 739 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: She's lovely and she mentions that um, one of the 740 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,360 Speaker 1: things she sent us in this parcel was a little 741 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:25,520 Speaker 1: batch of vintage postcards, particularly those with a dresses of 742 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,480 Speaker 1: a few of the first ladies. Oh yeah, it's such 743 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,600 Speaker 1: a good little parcel. It's like a It's like one 744 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: of those things that I'm going to keep on my 745 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:35,399 Speaker 1: desk and when I'm having a credit d I'm gonna 746 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: pull one out at a time. So it's like a 747 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,919 Speaker 1: slow unpack for me, where I go, Oh, a delight man. 748 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 1: Because Kim is a very organized woman. She sent us 749 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,839 Speaker 1: a huge list of episode suggestions, but she categorized them, 750 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: which was amazing by people, events, general, histories, and miscellaneous. 751 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 1: And it's lovely and far more organized than I would 752 00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: ever be. So I can't play how much I appreciated Kim. 753 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:01,759 Speaker 1: Thank you for all of the beautiful postcards. Like I said, 754 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,839 Speaker 1: They're gonna brighten my days when I'm having a rough 755 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: one or just want a little smile for no good reason. Uh. 756 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:09,400 Speaker 1: And again, thank you, Thank you. Thank you to New 757 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: York Comic com Presents and everyone who came to the 758 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 1: live show. If you would like to write us, you 759 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 1: can do so at History Podcast at how Stuff Works 760 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find us at missed in 761 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,439 Speaker 1: History dot com, which is our website, and from there 762 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,120 Speaker 1: it's your launching point to all of our social media. 763 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: But justin kis you want to go direct, we're missed 764 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,560 Speaker 1: in History pretty much everywhere you go. If you would 765 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: like to check out past episodes, you can do that 766 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: in our website. As we said, that's missed in History 767 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:37,240 Speaker 1: dot com. We have a full archive of every episode 768 00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,920 Speaker 1: that has ever existed over the show, long before Tracy 769 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,680 Speaker 1: and I were ever involved, and we have our current 770 00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,080 Speaker 1: episodes and any that Tracy and I have worked on 771 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,560 Speaker 1: have show notes. So come and visit us at missed 772 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:50,560 Speaker 1: in history dot com and we'll all explore history together. 773 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,479 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 774 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,720 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. Two four