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ROY CRANE launched Washington Tubbs II on April
21, 1924. The strip would begin in the traditional 'gag' cartoon
format popular at the time, but would quickly blossom into America's
first high adventure comic strip. It would define the genre and
inspire an army of gifted creators to pick up pen and nib and dare
to travel the same road with Crane. A road filled with danger, exotic
locales, close escapes, horrifying calamaties, raging love, betrayal
and heart-stopping cliff hangers. With Wash Tubbs, the adventure
strip was born, and with its companion Sunday strip, Captain
Easy, Crane created the seminal comic book hero.
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A
FLOURISH OF TRUMPETS:
Roy Crane and the Adventure Strip
(July 24, 2002)
R.C. Harvey
ROY CRANE is undoubtedly the most unsung of the cartoonists
who shaped the medium. His historic achievement was to set the pace
for adventure strips in the thirties by showing the way in the twenties.
Many of those who drew the earliest adventure strips were inspired
and influenced by his work. We recognize the milestones in the history
of comics that mark the accomplishments of such creators as Chester
Gould, Noel Sickles, Ham Fisher, Zack Mosley, Milton Caniff
even Mel Graff. But we forget that Crane preceded them all onto
the stage they later filled with their presence. And most of them,
as they felt their way in developing adventure storytelling skills,
looked to Crane for hints about how to do it. {Read
article...}
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All of Cranes Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy
(1924-1943) has been reprinted in eighteen quarterly volumes (1987-1992)
by Nantier, Beall, Minoustchine Publishing, N.Y. Bill Blackbeards
prefatory notes in some of these volumes include biographical as
well as historical information (sometimes rather speculative). The
only other biographical material on Crane is in The Adventurous
Decade by Ron Goulart (Arlington House, New Rochelle, NY; 1975).
A sympathetic and insightful appreciation of Wash Tubbs can
be found in Coulton Waughs classic, The Comics (Macmillan,
NY; 1947; rpt. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson and London;
1991). Cranes papers (1918-1965), including some original drawings,
are archived at the George Arents Research Library of Special Collections
at Syracuse University, New York. RCH
More articles and items will be posted upon
availability.
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'Wash Tubbs' is a trade mark of Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy � Newspaper Enterprise Association. All rights reserved. Artwork by Roy Crane.
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