The use of the term will annoy the purists. It annoys me, and I'm hardly an expert. Many of the comics you'll see in this section aren't "obscure" to students of the form, and many were popular in their time. But they're obscure today, because nearly everything in comic-strip history is forgotten, and most of the new readers don't know anything past Blondie. If they know that.

That's fine! The practical utility of knowing about cartoons from 107 years ago is almost nil. They were little ephemeral things. But they have lessons about the times - the mores, the sense of humor, the styles, and so on.

This site will have over 300 pages when completed, mostly from the early half of the century. In the first part of the year we'll concentrate on finishing the 20s. The 40s - 70s, much smaller sites, will follow in the second half of 2023.

JL

01 2023