The event last weekend at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum went fantastically. First, I was able to visit and get a tour from the co-curators of the “Man Saves Comics!” exhibition, Caitlin McGurk and Ann Lennon. Really tremendous. They packed the museum space with as much material as they could, but with 2.5 million items they could work from, they had to make choices—and they were great ones. I learned a lot from the exhibition, which is available in an archived form online. I posed with my video!
Man documents comics printing! To my left is the video I created for the exhibition, showing the process of taking a cartoonist’s drawing from board to newspaper during the era of metal printing from the 1910s to 1980s.
Then, the event! No one took an exact count, but the place was hopping from get-go and across three hours. Tons of kids made masks, threw paper airplanes, and did other paper crafts. In the main foyer, letterpress printers made keepsakes and helped people print. In the Reading Room, where I was given a court to hold, I spoke to dozens of people, leading some through the step-by-step process of how comics were printed and colored demonstrating with actual historical artifacts from my and the library’s collection. I learned a lot from visitors, all of whom brought great questions or new information. A great time! I also had an unexpected visit from Rocky, the recipient of a Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule from his brother—he brought his copy of the book that’s embedded in the museum for me to sign.
I acted as a guide to materials we’d set out across six tables in the Lucy Shelton Caswell Reading Room. From left to right above, Don Rice, a retired printer; Jennifer Maxwell, a professor emeritus researching the print methods used for her father’s work, a courtroom artist and editorial cartoonist; a museum staffer; cartoonist and graphic novelist, Derf Backderf (My Friend Dahmer, Trashed, etc.); me; Jenny Robb, the museum’s curator; Susan Liberator (partly hidden), the library’s majordomo; Caitlin McGurk, associate curator and co-curator (with Ann Lennon) of “Man Saves Comics!”; Steve Zeidner, who brought his whole family down! (Thanks to Steve for the photo!)
I had never met Derf before, though we’d spoken and corresponded previously. He was down from northern Ohio for research and stayed for the printing and papercraft event.
Some weeks before my visit, CBS Sunday Morning had visited to create a segment on the exhibition. It was supposed to air a month ago, but a delayed golf tournament preempted it! That segment, a very accurate and smart look at the museum and Bill Blackbeard’s work, aired this morning.
I was invited out for the event, but came two days early to carry out more research in the library’s archives. I found a lot of new material, answered many questions, and identified some items that had to be sent off for conservation due to their fragile state! One key area of exploration on this visit was how cartoonists marked up their work for color.
Detail from a 1922 Sunday cartoon original of Main Street by Gus Mager that has been hand colored to indicate to the engraver when making plates which colors to use for different elements. Each colored item is typically marked only on its first appearance in the strip. (Courtesy Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University)
I left as happy as the cartoon figure depicted in this advertisement.
It’s a liquid!