{"id":2774,"date":"2020-09-01T09:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T16:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2024-01-10T09:12:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T17:12:34","slug":"maggies-world-084-manners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-084-manners\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 084: Manners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n

MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 084: Manners<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"HD<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"\"
When did Manners become part of pop-culture entertainment?\u00a0Excuse Me!\u00a0<\/em>was a 1923 Parker Brothers game. The\u00a0correct\u00a0<\/em>answers were \u2013 well \u2013 correct. But what if you answered \u201cWhat should a boy do when asked to go on an errand?\u201d with \u201cCreep under the bed,\u201d \u201cSneeze three times,\u201d or \u201cPolish his shoes with Father\u2019s neck-tie\u201d? Misbehavior was key to many comics featuring trouble-making kids; sometimes, Richard Outcault\u2019s Buster Brown learned his lesson, even in 1903.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As folks mull good behavior\u2014and possible lack thereof\u2014in today\u2019s society, it\u2019s interesting to consider the history of comics \u201cmanners.\u201d Those who are curious can begin by exploring collections of Wilhelm Busch\u2019s Max und Moritz<\/em> (1865), Richard F. Outcault\u2019s Buster Brown<\/em> (1902-1923), and A.D. Condo and J.W. Raper\u2019s Everett True<\/em> (1905-1927).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did the topic of politeness (and, yes, lack thereof) come to comics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August Derleth (1909-1971) was a writer, an editor, a historian, a publisher\u2014and a comics fan. He opened his introduction to Dover\u2019s 1974 Buster Brown: Early Strips in Full Color <\/em>with this: \u201cThe \u2018bad\u2019 or mischievous boy has a long tradition in comic art and literature. Indeed, in a very real sense many early American comic strips and pages may be said to have had their inception in this tradition, which stemmed not so much from such books as Thomas Bailey Aldrich\u2019s Story of a Bad Boy<\/em> or George Peck\u2019s Peck\u2019s Bad Boy and His Pa <\/em>as from a humorous book of maxims and pictures titled Max und Moritz<\/em>, by the German artist Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908), published in German well before the turn of the century; this book served as prototype for Rudolph Dirks\u2019s The Katzenjammer Kids <\/em>(\u2018Katzenjammer\u2019 is a German idiom for a hangover, but its literal meaning is \u2018cats\u2019 yowling\u2019) and similar comics by other hands, though the verses accompanying Busch\u2019s woodblock illustrations in Max und Moritz<\/em> were sometimes rather less comic than pegs on which to hang moral lessons.\u201d (Jeepers! Should I have also acknowledged Derleth as Master of the Run-On Sentence? Anyway, if you can find a copy of this or other such reprints, you\u2019ll see that naughty kids should <\/em>learn from the consequences of their misdeeds, even if they and the reader still find their antics funny.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 20th Century<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Some super-polite features actually gave their names to super-politeness: F. Burr Opper\u2019s Alphonse and Gaston<\/em> (September 22, 1901-ca. 1937) took etiquette to ludicrous extremes. After you, Alphonse! No, after you<\/em>, Gaston! Stephen Becker wrote in Comic Art in America <\/em>(1959), \u201cTheir unbounded politesse<\/em> carried them into spectacular difficulties which ordinary mortals, rude and aggressive, were spared. As they bowed and scraped, nature took its course and what might have been simple became catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.T. Webster introduced Caspar Milquetoast around 1925, and the cautious adventures of \u201cThe Timid Soul\u201d continued until 1953. Mr. Milquetoast lived in terror of offending\u2014especially of breaking even the least restrictive of rules. In 1935, for example, he stands dutifully in front of a billboard that says, \u201cWatch this space!\u201d He says wistfully, \u201cWell, really, if something doesn\u2019t occur pretty soon I shall have to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimmy Hatlo\u2019s They\u2019ll Do It Every Time<\/em> (February 5, 1929-February 3, 2008) also famously became a catchphrase, pointing out the seeming inevitability of what is said being at odds with what is done, often because of lack of courtesy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
It was in\u00a0Walt Disney\u2019s Vacation Parade\u00a0<\/em>#1 (July 1950) that \u201cVacation Time\u201d by Carl Barks first appeared. Bullying behavior combined with ignoring basic safeguards resulted in disaster. \u00a9 2020 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Dell\u00a0Four Color<\/em>\u00a0#110 was the third appearance of Lulu Moppet in a Dell comic. Writer-artist John Stanley was in the midst of establishing characters\u2019 relationships\u2014including reactions to a bully. \u00a9 2020 Classic Media, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Later<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Writer and stick-figure artist Munro Leaf identified specific types of kids\u2019 rudeness in Manners Can Be Fun <\/em>(1936): \u201cThere are some people we don\u2019t like to play with and here they are.\u201d They\u2019re Pigs, Whineys, Noiseys, Me Firsts, and so on. He eventually revamped the idea into a cautionary \u201cWatchbird\u201d feature in Ladies Home Journal<\/em> starting in 1938. (As in: \u201cThis is a Watchbird watching a Whiney. This is a Watchbird watching YOU!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1940, Highlights<\/em> added Goofus and Gallant. And a vast outpouring of comic-book stories featured as their basic plot device how to deal with unpleasant situations. That\u2019s whether it\u2019s with conflicts among Archie\u2019s fellow teens or with super-heroes trying to deal with super-villains just being creeps. Heck, in super-hero comic books, we\u2019re used to the ever-increasing population of outright villains, some motivated by a sort of justifiable cause, but some just plain nasty because they\u2019re nasty. In Altman\u2019s 1980 Popeye<\/em> (largely based on E.C. Segar\u2019s Thimble Theatre<\/em>), Bluto pretty much sums it up in his \u201cI\u2019m Mean\u201d song. (And there are even Golden Age ads: Why does that guy kick sand in the other guy\u2019s face? Oh, well, Charles Atlas can help.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting an Example<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In EC\u2019s pre-Code crime and horror comics, ghastly fates sometimes awaited jerks. In the kinder, gentler world of the Dell line, characters tended to learn proper etiquette (at least for a while) without actual destruction. Heck, Western even published Woodsy Owl<\/em> and Smokey Bear<\/em> comics in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mind you, it should be noted that a certain amount of snark can make a character appealing all on his or her own. ACG\u2019s Herbie Popnecker (The Fat Fury) put up with horrendous parental cruelty but, on the other hand, bopped folks with his lollipops. So turnabout, maybe? When are bad manners a proper response to bad manners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is a reminder that rude characters are sometimes the ones with which readers empathize. The 1940s saw Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck occasionally as spontaneous aggressors responding to aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Superheroes conveyed the importance of manners both directly and indirectly. DC ran a series of public-service essays, such as this Christmas-oriented message in\u00a0Detective Comics\u00a0<\/em>#167 (January 1951). TM & \u00a9 DC How\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0people interact with each other? What happens when they don\u2019t behave well? Steve Ditko and Stan Lee repeatedly explored the topic.\u00a0Amazing Spider-Man<\/em>\u00a0#24 (May 1965) \u00a9 2020 Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Cooperation<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In superhero comics, we see characters coming together to solve problems by blending their talents, even when the members don\u2019t always get along. Marvel\u2019s All-Winners Squad was introduced in All Winners Comics <\/em>#19 (1946) in a story by Bill Finger and Syd Shores. It brought together\u2014not only the \u201cgood guys\u201d Captain America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Whizzer, and Miss America\u2014but also the Sub-Mariner. And, speaking of Bucky and Toro, it\u2019s not unusual for kid sidekicks to work well with heroes to do good deeds together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That tradition includes such classic groups as DC\u2019s (Golden Age) Justice Society of America and (Silver Age) Justice League of America. They worked in generally amiable cooperation. Such Marvel Silver Age teams as the Fantastic Four and X-Men could be a bit more conflict-laden\u2014and it was funny. Heck, some solo characters (I\u2019m looking at you, Deadpool) can resonate just because they\u2019re so much fun when they\u2019re rude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Any Case \u2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the history of comic art itself, it has often been a highly cooperative art form. There\u2019s a writer, an artist (maybe several: penciller, inker, letterer, colorist painter, and\/or combination of all), an editor, a publisher \u2026 Well, and a printer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collaborations aren\u2019t always polite, but amiable cooperation can make it work even more smoothly. Just saying. And maybe that\u2019s another lesson in good manners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of each month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n