Comic Book Clichés

Christopher Miller May 29, 2009 The Cloud of Altercation: How do you depict prolonged, intense brawling in a single cartoon panel?

It doesn’t take much to annoy Andy, the hero of Reg Smythe’s Andy Capp, and if you have the nerve to do so within the confi nes of his world, the last panel will feature a punch-up instead of a punch line. 

February 14, 1961, Valentine’s Day, marks the appearance of Smythe’s first cloud, when Andy attacks a stranger to secure a bouquet of fl owers for Flo. It is a thing of beauty, wonderfully plump and billowy, suspended in midair (it even casts a little shadow on the ground below). In the decades of strips …

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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]