{"id":29342,"date":"2024-02-04T14:10:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T14:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29342"},"modified":"2024-02-04T14:10:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T14:10:31","slug":"he-done-her-wrong-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/02\/04\/he-done-her-wrong-2\/","title":{"rendered":"He Done Her Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Milt Gross<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-56097-694-3 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

The power of comics comes not just from wedding text to image but also in the power of illustration. You can have comics without words but if you leave the letters and subtract the pictures what you have is just a book\u2026<\/p>\n

Bronx-born Milt Gross (March 4th<\/sup> 1895 – November 29th<\/sup> 1953) was a trailblazing pioneer in both cartooning and the wider arena of popular comedy, specialising in vernacular while refining and popularising Yiddish folk humour and slang into a certified American export to world culture: \u201cYinglish\u201d. You should really look him up\u2026<\/p>\n

Gross was also an early adept in the animation field, bringing his cartoon characters to silent life in numerous short filler features for John R. Bray Studios, Universal and MGM. Far too few of his many books are in print now, but happily this astounding landmark is one of them and is even available digitally. He made his mark in comics, working for William Randolph Hearst\u2019s newspaper chain on many syndicated strips including Banana Oil<\/em>, Pete the Pooch<\/em>, Dave\u2019s Delicatessen<\/em>, Count Screwloose from Tooloose<\/em>, Babbling Brooks<\/em>, Otto and Blotto<\/em>, The Meanest Man<\/em>, Draw Your Own Conclusion<\/em>, I Did It and I\u2019m Glad!<\/em> And That\u2019s My Pop!<\/em> (which was promptly adapted into a popular radio show).<\/p>\n

Released in 1930, He Done Her Wrong<\/strong> (The Great American Novel and Not a Word in It – No Music, Too<\/strong>) lampooned – and exploited – a notable trend of those troubled times: wordless novels. The woodcut-crafted parables derived from the German Expressionist art movement, offered (generally left-leaning) pictorial epigrams addressing social injustice. The first was Belgian Frans Masereel\u2019s 25 Images of a Man\u2019s Passion <\/strong>(1918), and American Lynd Ward followed suit 11 years later with God\u2019s Man<\/strong>. Among many similar efforts they inspired (like Giacomo Patri\u2019s White Collar<\/strong>) was Gross\u2019 spoof of silent movie serials like The Perils of Pauline<\/strong>, pitched perfectly for pathos, bathos and pitiless hilarity\u2026<\/p>\n

A facsimile edition first released in 2005 by Fantagraphics, this edition is a completely unabridged restoration – which means the re-inclusion of some images, depictions and scenes that might appear a little controversial to modern sensibilities. It also offers a fascinating picture-packed Introduction by Craig Yoe<\/em> (a devoted friend and patron of all comics vintage and fabulous) plus a closing Appreciation<\/em> by eminent cartoonist, writer\/editor Paul Karasik. What lies between them is a stunning masterclass in comedy staging, gag timing, timeless melodrama, delivered as a succession of wordless pantomimic pages. It all begins after a decent, hearty and trustworthy young woodsman, trapper and prospector falls in love with a virtuous barroom singer. True Love is thwarted by a dirty villain who swindles our hero and absconds to New York with his heartbroken, \u201cabandoned\u201d ingenue paramour.<\/p>\n

As hero and victim both fall foul of the lures of the Big Bad City and vice unstoppably mounts in the woman\u2019s benighted life, the Good Man overcomes all obstacles to find his darling: battling his way from the wilderness into far more savage civilisation where he will set things right no matter what the cost\u2026<\/p>\n

It all works out in the end of course, but only after an astoundingly convoluted course of action, buckets of tears, some well-earned vengeance and a little forgiveness\u2026 and plenty of near-misses and lethally close calls. That sounds like a great thriller – and it is – but Gross played it strictly for laughs, crafting a tale ranking with the best of his closest contemporary comedy peers: Charley Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He Done Her Wrong<\/strong> is a superb yarn and perfect picture into a world that only seems simpler and less complicated than today, and if you love classics stories and crave romance, you should \u201cDun\u2019t Esk\u201d and just buy it\u2026
\nHe Done Her Wrong<\/strong> \u00a9 2005 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved. Introduction \u00a9 2005 Craig Yoe. An Appreciation \u00a9 2005 Paul Karasik.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Milt Gross (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-56097-694-3 (TPB\/Digital edition) The power of comics comes not just from wedding text to image but also in the power of illustration. You can have comics without words but if you leave the letters and subtract the pictures what you have is just a book\u2026 Bronx-born Milt Gross (March … <\/p>\n

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