Comics & Pop Culture museum opens in Baltimore, MD
Last Thursday night Vijaya and I attended the Inaugural Gala of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum. Steve Geppi is the CEO & President of Diamond Comic Distributors and a huge collector of comic books, toys, movie posters and original art. It would be fun to come back sometime when I could spend more time, but the event was unbelievably crowded and filled with people I hadn’t seen for a while, so I spent more time socializing than looking at the exhibits. I did slip off and catch a few interesting things…
…such as this moment with Beanworld cartoonist Larry Marder pressing his nose against the glass of an original Geo. Herriman Krazy Kat Sunday page…
Seeing my name on a Timeline list of Copper Age cartoonists. The Copper Age?
Don Rosa , cartoonist of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, standing with Maggie Thompson, editor of Comic Buyer’s Guide and CBGXtra .
With Jerry Robinson , the co-creator and artist of Batman and Robin.
Bob & Gina Chapman of Graphitti Designs .
An entire hallway of George Herriman originals… Thirty of them! This was where I spent most of my time. Yes, there were other things in the museum besides Herriman originals, but I didn't care.
This is a letter from Walt Disney to Geo. Herriman’s daughter Mabel. It reads:
Dear Miss Herriman:
I am taking this opportunity to express to you my sorrow at the untimely loss of your father. As one of the pioneers in the cartoon business, his contributions to it were so numerous that they may well be never estimated.
His unique style of drawing and his amazing gallery of characters not only brought a new type of humor to the American public but made him a source of inspiration to thousands of artists.
My staff joins me in paying tribute to his memory.
Sincerely,
Walt Disney
A little look into a cartoonist’s thoughts. This alone was worth the trip.
Oh wow. What an experience. That’s pretty awesome when an experience is SO big that you have to decide between the awesomenesses.
Comment by Will Terrell — September 9, 2006 @ 2:40 pm
Copper age?
Comment by Will Terrell — September 9, 2006 @ 2:40 pm
This is amazing because my sister and I had taken a trip to San Francisco Feb of last year and we had visited The Cartoon Art Museum and we both had a great time. Unfortunately it was the only museum of its kind in the entire country I couldn’t believe it, I mean how could that be?!! I thought that was so sad and now I see that isn’t true any more this is so great that this new museum opened. The Cartoon Art Museum also has some pages from Krazy Kat I got a kick out of those and Mutt and Jeff, I believed it was called. Now I can’t remember and it’s hard to tell from your photos but one of those two bares a striking resemblance to the currant comic strip Mutts. Wow how exciteing your name is on the timeline list for the Copper Age along with the TMNT creator’s lol! The letter makes me realize even more now how sweet of a person Walt Disney was. I’m surprised you got away with taking so many photos’ I didn’t do that at the Cartoon Art Museum for fear of getting caught and damaging the originals with my cameras automatic flash. Ooh now I’m all excited I always liked Maryland I thought of going there someday now I have a real reason too lol. I’ll have to tell my sister, she’s a grad student at USC for animation and loves this stuff just as much. Thanks so much for sharing your trip.:)
Comment by Jeanette — September 9, 2006 @ 6:09 pm
Brilliant! That looks great, I’d love to go there sometime… Any idea why it’s called the Copper Age, though?
Comment by John — September 9, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
I have no idea why it is called the copper age, except that it follows the bronze, silver and golden ages. I’ve heard of comics’ “Golden Age” and “Silver Age”, but I’ve never heard my era called “Copper”. It probably has to do with how collectors divide up comics.
Does anyone know if these are official designations that historians or price guides use?
Comment by Jeff Smith — September 10, 2006 @ 8:08 am
I found these deffinitions on wikipedia when I did a google search for “comic book era timelineâ€.
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought as lasting from 1938 until the mid-1950s during which comic books enjoyed a surge of popularity, the archetype of the superhero was created and defined, and many of the most famous superheroes debuted.Comic-book fans and historians widely agree that the Golden Age began no later than 1938 with the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, published by DC Comics. Superman, the first comic book superhero, was so popular that superheroes soon dominated the pages of comic books. Between early 1939 and late 1941, DC and her sister company All-American Comics introduced such popular superheroes as Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman, and Aquaman, while Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, had million-selling titles that featured the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America.Although DC and Timely characters are more famous today, circulation figures suggest that in the 1940s the best selling superhero may have been Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel. According to the article “Thunderstruck” by Ben Morse in Wizard #179 (September 2006):
The Silver Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly in the superhero genre, that lasted roughly from the late 1950s/early 1960s to the early 1970s. It followed the Golden Age of Comic Books.During the Silver Age, the character make-up of superheroes evolved. Writers injected science fiction concepts into the origins and adventures of superheroes. More importantly, superheroes became more human and troubled, and since the Silver Age, character development and personal conflict have been almost as important to a superhero’s mythos as super powers and epic adventures.
The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of mainstream American comic books usually said to run from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. It followed the Silver Age of Comic Books.[1]The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age, with brightly colored superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However darker plot elements and more mature storylines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.
This is all they had for the following Copper Age period, is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. Obviously nothing to do with comics.
I’m guessing they made this one up after these years weren’t so recent anymore and couldn’t really be concidered part of the modern age. But it doesn’t make much sence to me. Though it is possible that this eara name isn’t well known yet or that it was made up on a whim. Copper Age also poped up in a search of the same name too but the info didn’t seem very clear so who knows.
Comment by Jeanette — September 10, 2006 @ 12:04 pm
I would have called it the shiney age. Or the indy age. Ooh… or how about the Rubber Age? hah? Hunh?
Comment by Will Terrell — September 10, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
Jeff, you’re also on wikipedia along with a separate listing for Bone and othe Bone related info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Smith_%28cartoonist%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_%28comics%29#Cast_of_Characters
Comment by Jeanette — September 10, 2006 @ 6:33 pm
Thanks, Jeanette. The Indy Age… it has a ring to it…
Comment by Jeff Smith — September 11, 2006 @ 5:31 am