Self Made Comic Books (Group B)

This comic book is about a boy growing up and eventually finding his forever bride. It shows the day “The New Earl” was born and how he managed to find his wife and continue on into the future. This may not be considered a typical comic book, but it is a comic of how the New Earl grew up, experiencing the changing times while also keeping humor involved.

Dating in the 1920s

At this time in history in the 1920’s it Is the Jazz Age. To the young people this time seemed to be very freeing in terms of “dating life.” Young people now had so many more options in terms of being able to meet people and attend social events. They were able to go to dance halls, speakeasies and bars, skating rings, movie theaters, and sporting events. These places allowed a man to easily meet a woman in a larger and more comfortable environment, making dating easier. According to The Old Shelter, college was where the young found its new “culture” and expression. In colleges is where this new dating practice spread, it became a way to show popularity. So, the more dates a person went on the higher that persons status, but it didn’t mean with just the same or one woman either. 

"Flappers"

There is a page in the comic book that shows the Earl as a so called “player.” She wrote that before he settled down, he wanted to see what type of women he like, whether she was blonde or brown, etc. Eventually though, he fell in love at first sight. That page shows that the Earl liked to dance with the women and at this time dancing was on the rise. The women during this time were called “flappers.” Dancing was the new thing they did with their freedom; it was not something that could be stopped despite any circumstances in the world. 

Gender Roles

Eventually, when the Earl found his wife he was always smiling, and they were enjoying life like it was a daydream. Once they got married, they were enjoying their time making biscuits and jelly and gardening. Don’t be fooled it was still a marriage in which the woman cleans and cooks and takes care of him, but it was less of a dictatorship and more of a partner. The comic shows how they take care of each other rather, as times are changing gender roles, especially when he was sick, he was trusted by her to not leave her for other nurses and him not making her be at his beck and call.

The comic book shows that once he is out of the infirmary they are still together and have their plans for the future, including babies, economy trips to Europe, and a sea voyage. This comic book represents how a perfect life could have been arrived to. Yet the humor in it is that not everything is perfect, but times are changing and continue to change allowing her to create this comic book of what it was like in that time. It begins on the day the New Earl was born and follows his life until he himself has his own child.

The Judge Volume 79

In Jewell G. Cooper’s handmade comic book there seem to be many cutouts from various newspaper articles and comic strips that she has pieced together. However, many of the cutouts are from a popular book at the time, The Judge -vol 79. The Judge was a rather thick book of almost 900 pages made entirely of short stories, illustrations, and comics from various authors and illustrators that were popular from 1915-1920. According to The Judge – vol 79 the book was made with the purpose for the readers to “Have A Thrill”. The Judge was published in 1920 and was originally sold for “$7.00 dollars a year” or “15 Cents a copy”.  

Jewell's comic book was not what someone today would describe as a comic book. This booklet was a compilation of Jewell’s favorite illustrations, stories, or jokes from The Judge and most likely other books or newspapers. Booklets of illustrations and stories from newspapers were popular at that time because it was much more commonplace to keep a book with entertaining short stories and illustrations. Jewell seemed to like the short stories that were only comprised of three or four short lines. She would paste these clippings on top of a hand drawn illustration of the short story.  

A Comic Explained

An example of Jewell’s humor can be seen on page 27 of her scrapbook, on page 6 of her booklet. The joke is named: “Catsup”, the joke is quoted from The Judge as follows, 

 ““I couldn’t sleep last night because of that lobster.”  

“I couldn’t sleep because of a confounded cat!” 

How long have you been having car for supper?”” 

This joke was originally cut out of the scrapbook but, the illustration from The Judge for the joke was pasted onto Jewell’s scrapbook.