Nightsticks

Christopher Miller June 22, 2009 When getting clubbed by police was funny.

Humour, according to Max Eastman, is “the instinct for taking pain playfully”; and he was certainly right about comics. In their early days, the comics were all about funny pain: sadistic pranks, outrageous mishaps, disproportionate reprisals.  Head injuries were especially popular, especially when inflicted by a cop. One of the many modern refinements absent from old comics was our attitude towards police brutality.  Police are always brutal, and the thud of nightstick against skull provides not just the soundtrack but the punchline for thousands of last panels. The single most frequent image in old comics is not an alley cat …

  • You must be a subscriber to view the rest of this content.
Winter

ISSUE 42 Winter 2011

online content:

also in this issue:

  • Getting Plowed

    by Selena Ross In this exclusive investigative report from Montreal, Maisonneuve exposes the bid-rigging, violence and sabotage at the heart of an unlikely racket: snow removal.
  • In the House of the Lord

    by Andrea Bennett The Jackson Avenue Housing Co-operative and the religious battle raging in one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.
  • After Jack

    by Nick Taylor-Vaisey Last May, Jack Layton led the NDP to the greatest victory in party history. Now that he's gone, will the party be able to maintain its momentum?
  • [see full issue contents]