Comics: Long neglected, now celebrated
For a long time, comics were seen as being suitable only for children. But today they've achieved cult status. An exhibition in Bonn presents the multifaceted genre, with items ranging from surrealism to underground art.
Going mad
"Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad" - that was the original title of the satirical US magazine "Mad" that debuted in 1952. At first filled with superhero parodies, the magazine soon became an American cult comic. The quarterly, still published today, is filled with parodies on politics, culture and society. Pictured here is Volume 11, 1954.
Surrealism in Slumberland
Who would have thought? The first surrealists of the 20th century were not exhibited in world-famous galleries, but in comic strips. Among them was Winsor McCay. Pictured here is his work "Little Nemo in Slumberland," published in 1907. Artists like him were already experimenting with avant-garde elements early in the 20th century.
Goldberg's entanglements
Rube Goldberg's famous drawings showed that comics could also be done in a totally different way. Goldberg challenged viewers not with individual comic panels, but with portrayals of complex chain reactions. Today, the term "Goldbergian" is still used for something with a "fantastically complicated, improvised appearance."
Strange and absurd
Absurd backgrounds and strange characters - the world of "Krazy Kat," created by dadaist comic artist George Herriman, doesn't obey the usual rules of comic strip art. Here, the moon may be depicted as a slice of melon, or a mountain as a semicircle with a ball. From 1916 onward, Herriman also produced his absurd stories for daily newspapers.
Sketching nuclear trauma
In 1982, the work "Barefoot Gen" by Japanese comic artist Keiji Nakazawa was published in Germany, the very first manga to be published in the country. Nakazawa depicted the 1945 nuclear attack against Hiroshima in 10 volumes consisting of a total of 2,500 pages. The work also contains some autobiographical details. The drawings are now kept at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
Stories from the street
At first, Robert Crumb printed his comics in a friend's cellar before selling them at a local street festival. Crumb is now seen as one of the first popular representatives of the underground comic scene. Independent of any publishing house, he didn't need to worry about content restrictions. Some of his works abound with violence and sex. Pictured here is "Girl Commandos" of 1969.