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This is the second part in my history of comics notes. These notes cover chapter two of Roger Sabin's 'Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art'.
These notes describe a golden age in children's comics in the UK. The age was between 1935 and 1965. And the golden thing that happened was that DC Thomson found a surprising number of ways of making children laugh. DC Thomson published the Beano and the Dandy among other comical comics. The comics were ripe with jokes and delivered with perfected timing. The characters were edgy, extreme, physically exaggerated and yet clearly distinguishable and sensationally coloured. The strong talent of artists such as Reid and Baxendale were responsible for these creations. These people must have worked in comics for the love of it because there certainly was little reward for them.
The equivalent work in America is Disney publications, with their anthropomorphism animals. There were some hints that a more raunchy comic revolution was around the corner with parodies of the straight-laced 'Blondie' comic, which depicted Blondie in deeply enjoyable compromising positions. Oh, and there was 'Mad' anthology lead by Harvey Kurtzman, which is pretty much the root of all satire in American comics.
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