Soil in Comic Strips and Cartoons

Abstract

Soil is a part of our daily lives by virtue of the role it plays in our environment, and by its position at the interface between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere. Consequently, soil appears in all the artistic fields, including comic strips and cartoons. Comic strips are scripted stories told in images. A comic strip is a means of communication that lies at the interface of graphic art, cinematographic art, and literature. From graphic art, it borrows the composition of the images, and the variations of shading and light, perspective and color. From cinematographic art, it borrows the script, the framing or the angles of sight, and the sequence of the images. From literature, it borrows the texts and the dialogues. Such stories in images appeared in Europe in the first half of the 19 century. Among the pioneers were “Histoire de M. Jabot” (Topffer 1833), “Max und Morizt” (Busch 1865) and “La famille Fenouillard” (Colomb 1889; pseudonym: “Christophe”). Primarily humorous, the comic strip became more serious in the United States, with “The Yellow Kid” (Outcault 1896) and “The Katzenjammer Kids” (Dirks 1897). Later, it moved to include fantasy themes, e.g., “Little Nemo in Slumberland” (McCay 1905). During the 1930s, American comic strips grew in popularity as daily features in newspapers, and Superman and Mickey Mouse (1934) became household names. The comic strip remained focused on the child audience for a long time. Its mission was to divert them. Since its birth, the comic strip has been evolving from its early, narrow focus on entertaining children with tales of humour and adventure, to more adult themes in the 1970s and 1980s. By the end of the 1990s, almost all literary styles had been explored (detective story, thriller, fiction, history, humour, heroic fantasy, etc.).