You’re absolutely right, of course, that none of the conventions of comics storytelling were “invented” in the U.S., any more than the musical conventions that were eventually molded into jazz were invented here.

I simply maintain that those various techniques and visual tools were developed (and I agree with you in the use of this term) into the mature visual storytelling medium of comics as we know and recognize it today in the US in the late 1800′s.

Thanks for your insightful comments and the kind words about lines and colors.

http://www.napoleonguide.com/images/gillray4.jpg

This image for example is 205 years old (yesterday! perhaps we should wish it a happy birthday?) and shows an excellent use of speech bubbles a technique which is often credited to american newspapaer comic artists of the late 19th century here we see it in use long before that.

http://www.explorepahistory.com/images/ExplorePAHistory-a0a9x4-a_349.jpg

another example, this one isnt the best example but sort of proves a point, its from 1780. I have seen earlier examples that satires king james the 1sts witch hunting, that use speech balloons and stuff but I cannot find them online. I could also find examples of comics in ‘strip’ form but again non are online.

I didnt look far for these images I just knew they existed from my research into comics (im doing an MA in comics and animation)

Although you never claimed america invented comics or comic devices I still think its worth highlighting. You are right about america developing the early comic newspaper strips and I suppose we have to be thankful for that, but what bugs me is the way that people assume and thank the wrong people for things they never did, the history of comics and animation is littered with examples of just this.

Fantastic blog by the way

That argument becomes one of semantics and hinges on the definition of “comic strips”. You can trace antecedents of the visual storytelling conventions of comics back into the carved stone monuments of prehistory. I maintain, though, that the comic strip, as we know and recognize it today, reached that form in America in the late 19th Century.

You could easily draw the line (if you’ll excuse the expression) differently and place the origin elsewhere, but I’m thinking of the modern recognizable conventions of comic strips.

That said Winsor McCay had a significant contribution to the world of comics and although he didn’t invent them or animation he certainly showed the world what could be possible and we should be grateful for that.