Peter Maresca: It does seem unusual that these varied styles and artistic attitudes would come from the son of Christian missionary in Japan. When coming of age in Asia Gustave Verbeek developed a unique perspective on art; for things non western in general, and specifically the "upside-down" concepts displayed in the Joge-E drawings popular in 19th Century Japan. As his interest in art matured, Verbeek traveled to Paris to learn classical technique. With his involvement with the Chat Noir theatre and its satirical magazine, he developed his sense of humor and the absurd, which enhance his cartooning. Once in the US, he had greater freedom and a larger audience — in magazines, illustrated books and, of course, newspaper comics — to expand his artistic output in different directions.

 

 

PM: My purpose for entering the publishing world (I had no print experience before the Sunday Press Little Nemo) was to give comic lovers the chance to experience early comics in their original broadsheet size and colors. In the handful of earlier, smaller reprints of Verbeek's comics it was difficult to appreciate the artwork and hard to read the small text. Most of today's comics fans don't remember that the size of comics was determined by folding and cutting pages form the Sunday Comics presses to give you a page that was one-quarter the size of a newspaper comics page that it might neatly sell from a magazine rack. And with current Sunday comics, the newspaper page itself has shrunk by about 25 percent and it is rare to find a comic strip that takes up half that page. Most are given 1/4 of a page or less.

 

 

 

 

PM: As a publisher, the digital medium represents an expanded audience and expanded real estate for the practicability of presenting more of the work to more viewers. The improved zoom feature in GoComics (which was developed to properly view the Little Nemo series) enables viewers to get a panel-by-panel view of the artwork, making it a more immersive experience. And by displaying the Lovekins and Muffaroo adventures in both the normal and "upside-down" views you won't have to turn flip computer screen to read the whole story. Still, I'm a traditionalist, and feel that the best way to view any work like this is on paper, but again, screens offer a chance to expose more viewers to material they otherwise might not see, and many may wish to go back to print to get the true sense of the work.

 

 

 

 

PM: In the early days of comics this was not uncommon. Outcault, Swinnerton, McCay, McManus and others produced more than one comic strip at a time, often while pursuing other artistic endeavors outside of comics. This did not seem to have much effect on the quality, other than perhaps the few odd "dull" years of Little Nemo as McCay seemed to be doing six things at once. The amount of work these artists put into their newspaper comics would totally overwhelm most comic strip artists of today. 

 

 

 

PM: When reading 20th century comic strips, often it is that sense of another time that creates the appeal. It's something beyond a history lesson -- a time machine offering, in a way that only cartooning can do, a view of day-to-day life in another era. But for the most part, Verbeek's comics transcend that sense of past, taking place in a fantasy environment where, particularly in hisTerrors of the Tiny Tads, the humor, personalities, and silly sense of adventure are timeless.

 

 

 

 

PM: When you look at the early drawings of Maurice Sendak there is a striking resemblance to Verbeek's Tiny Tads. Sendak was a lover and collector of Little Nemo since the 1960s, and the fact that Tiny Tads appeared on the back of Nemo in the papers makes me think the similarity is not a coincidence. Other comics that present children or child-like characters relating without adults take perhaps a more indirect inspiration from the Tads, like Peanuts or the early comic book work of Walt Kelly.

 

 

PM: Other than Little Nemo, which early in the dawn of comics appreciation escaped the "comics ghetto," I was a bit late to the parade here. My interest in comic strips shifted from my love of Super Heroes of the 1960s and 70s to the adventure comic strips of the 1930s and 40s. Others like Rick Marschall, Bill Blackbeard and Alfredo Castelli were first in chronicling the earliest comics and my relationships with them lead me to the fascination with the cartoon creations at the birth of the medium.

 

 

 

 

PM: Anarchy and experimentation were a driving force in many early comics, but it was in most cases with an understanding of the method and history of illustration art. Verbeek was one of many cartoonists who created "serious" art before, after, and during his comics. When comics come not from just other comics and the life experiences of the artist, but from an understanding of world history, fine art and literature, it leads to truly great work. Particularly when combined with a sense of the absurd.

 

 

 

 

PM: There are too many to list! The first thing I would suggest would be to fully review Origins of the Sunday Comics feature on GoComics.com, where nearly every feature in the first two decades of comic strips is represented. Then (unabashed plug ahead) recreate the original experience with one of the full-size collections from Sunday Press.

 

Dive into the rich history of this medium we all enjoy, and there's as much to find or more than with the many great comics of today.

 

 

PM: As the young Verbeek might say, Het was mij een genoegen, or Il a été mon plaisir.