The “First” Graphic Novel in America

doi:10.1017/9781009379311.003

1 - The “First” Graphic Novel in America

Revisiting He Done Her Wrong and It Rhymes with Lust

from Part I - History and Genre

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024

Edited by

Hugo Frey and

Jan Baetens: Affiliation:
KU Leuven, Belgium
Hugo Frey: Affiliation:
University of Chichester
Fabrice Leroy: Affiliation:
University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Book contents

Get access

Summary

This chapter deals with two long-form narratives that can be considered forerunners of the graphic novel: Milt Gross’s He Done Her Wrong (1930) and Drake Waller, Matt Baker, and Ray Osrin’s It Rhymes with Lust (1950). It stresses the originality of these proto-graphic novels and offers a close reading of both works, while reexamining their connections with other visual forms, namely, slapstick comedy, the woodcut novel, and film noir. To propel his dynamic story forward, Gross developed new ways of experimenting with the shape of panels, their size (as defined by the frames that delimit them), and their site (their particular placement within the space of the page). The chapter also addresses issues of gender and studies the critical treatment of male and female stereotypes. Finally, it studies the representation of graphic violence, reading It Rhymes with Lust as an example of “soft noir.”

Keywords

woodcut novel slapstick film noir violence montage Comics Code Milt Gross Drake Waller Matt Baker Ray Osrin

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel , pp. 19 - 37

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009379311.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, M., Waller, D., and Osrin, R. (1950). It Rhymes with Lust. Memphis, TN: Boardman Books.Google Scholar

Baker, M., Waller, D., and Osrin, R. (2016). It Rhymes with Lust Revisited. New York: St. John Publishing.Google Scholar

Beronä, D. A. (2008). Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels. New York: Abrams.Google Scholar

Groensteen, T. (1997–1998). Histoire de la bande dessinée muette [I–II]. Neuvième Art, nos. 2 and 3, 60–75 and 92–105.Google Scholar

Groensteen, T. (2011 [1999]). Système de la bande dessinée. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar

Gross, M. (2005 [1930]). He Done Her Wrong. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics.Google Scholar

Hulshof-Schmidt, R. (2018). How Lust Was Lost: Genre, Identity, and the Neglect of a Pioneering Comics Publication. In Aldama, Frederick Luis, ed., Comics Studies Here and Now. New York: Routledge, pp. 57–66.Google Scholar

Kelman, A. Y. (2009). Is Diss a System? A Milt Gross Comic Reader. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar

Kunka, A. J. (2018). Crime Genre Fiction in the Graphic Novel. In Baetens, Jan, Frey, Hugo, and Tabachnick, Stephen E., eds., The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 457–475.CrossRef Google Scholar

Menu, J.-C. (2011). La bande dessinée et son double. Paris: L’Association.Google Scholar

Postema, B. (2018). Long-Length Wordless Books: Frans Masereel, Milt Gross, Lynd Ward, and Beyond. In Baetens, Jan, Frey, Hugo, and Tabachnick, Stephen E., eds., The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59–74.CrossRef Google Scholar

Book contents

1 - The “First” Graphic Novel in America

Summary

Keywords

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive