old famous cartoons from the funny pages

The Cartoon had the same lack-of-profits problem and only lasted a year, vanishing in 1916. One of the earliest publications in Australia to run comics, the Comic Australian, started in 1911 but it struggled to find a way of making profits and disappeared in 1913.

The staff scattered all over Australia looking for work and money. Dennis was editor of The Critic (1897-1924) in 1904, before working on The Gadfly in 1906 till it folded in 1909. Henry Parkes, who was almost as well known to bailiffs as he was to voters, published The Empire from 1850 till 1858. Wentworth and Robert Wardell it lasted from 1824 till 1848. There have been some glorious independent failures in Australian publishing that may have eventually found success had they started with more money.Ī very early failure was The Australian, founded by W.C. Not the first publication in this country to become deceased - and probably not the last. Unfortunately - unless a fairy godmother flies by sprinkling gold dust into their bank account - it too will soon become like the parrot in the Monty Python skit, deceased. Independent and brave, fits the small publisher mould. Editors try not to laugh about money but manage a giggle or two at cartoons. Small publishers are much the same - but without the money. Big publishers have money, commitments and editors to satisfy. In fact, publishers do have a sense of humour - but cartoons are not usually found in the books they read, ledgers. If they just stare at it, they must be a publisher. If they try to stifle a giggle, they could become an editor. The old joke about cartoonists, editors and publishers is that if you show someone a drawing and they laugh, they could become a cartoonist. Not that garret publishing is not possible, it is, but if you want to make some kind of fortune in publishing it is best to start with a big one and whittle it down. Successful publishing can also come out of a garret - but is best attempted with an opulent bank account. Successful cartooning and writing can often be achieved in a garret. There has always been a better than average chance of finding success making people laugh than finding it with being paid.

Even when they do 'popup' cartoonists are stuck with the problem of finding somewhere to stick their efforts in the hope someone laughs and someone pays. Drawing cartoons is bloody hard work and ideas do not just popup whenever a cartoonist sits down. However life for cartoonists is not funny. Our first attempts at writing were drawings and, as we all know, some drawings are cartoons. They have just been evolving since people worked out they could make other people laugh by producing a drawing. They are as much a part of the media as the crossword, astrology, sport, news or even Rupert Murdoch.īut while we can all tell stories about where Rupert Murdoch came from, cartoons are a bigger problem. We have all read them, we have all laughed at them and we have all enjoyed them. It does not matter if it is a cartoon in a newspaper, magazine, a website, a comic in a comic book or even an e-book.

Old famous cartoons from the funny pages