DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

7.10.2005

Comic Museums

Hot on the heels of the lucky DCCers' visit to the Frank Frazetta Museum, a friend passed along an article about the planned opening of the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center.

I guess the biggest news in comic-type museums in recent history is the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (which I really should've visited before leaving that coast). It's giving comics a "legitimate" venue for outreach, and I hope it manages to attract a broad audience. The same friend who alerted me to the article has visited the Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art, which, in addition to being in an incredible setting, seems not to be really a novelty — it's in a place where it's only natural that there's a museum dedicated to comics.

But the Kirby article sent me on a bit of a trip down memory lane, to more than 20 years ago when I'd travel with my family from central Connecticut to the fringes of New York state to the old site of the International Museum of Cartoon Art. To a kid who loved comics, it was just a magical time in a wonderful setting. The emphasis was definitely on newspaper comics, and much of it from my parents' era, but it was a valuable history lesson (that I didn't really appreciate at the time). And the layout meant that there were surprises around every corner, including the bathroom where famous cartoonists would just draw on the walls.

The Hammer Museum and MOCA in Los Angeles are putting together a major exhibit of the history of comics this fall. Looks like it's going to be a big deal that will get some mainstream attention — I hope will attract some kids (and grown-ups) and spark their interest in the past and the future of comics.

Bram at 9:14 AM  |  link to this     

1 Comments

I appreciate the anecdote about the cartoonists drawing on walls...I can only imagine the delight of visitors like wee Bram coming across those draw/doodle/ings!

Deb at 7/11/2005 1:07 AM   

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