Arsenic Lullaby- Why Casper?

Why, you may be wondering, am I spending all this time trying to get on a Casper The Friendly Ghost comic? Is this all a gag? Is it simply bullheadedness?

It is not a gag, and I have a pretty long list of people I'd be riding on the internet before American Mythology, if this was some personal bullheaded thing.

A short answer to "why" would be as simple as "six year old me told me to". Casper and other Harvey comics where some of the first I read. But you didn't come here for syrupy sweet tales of a younger version of myself, and that answer/reason is actually the "why" of the "why". Not the actual "why"

To understand the "why" you are looking for...we have to step back and understand what Casper is...and was...and where the comic book industry is. We'll start with that first, briefly, since I've been over this already. The day is fast approaching when this medium will no longer be getting billions of dollars of free advertising from Hollywood. AND even if that was going to continue it is still facing completion for dollars, and fandom from entities and mediums and outlets the likes of which it never faced before. and even if none of that were the case...you still are facing the law of all laws. That is- the law of diminishing returns. Meaning you either continue to get new people or you wither away and die.

The upside is new people are being made every day and in a few years those new people learn how to read. You want to get those new people into comic books...then you better have a comic books for them, and they better be good.

Now then...Casper.

Harvey comics for decades was the gateway drug into comic books for many of us. Why Casper? why do so many of us have fond memories of the Harvey line of comics as opposed to Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny or any dozen other cartoon properties that were briefly unsuccessful comic books? Because Casper, and the Harvey Comics were really good.

Harvey got the rights to Casper which was at the time a D list cartoon.

Harvey didn't take the name and crap out some stuff and hope the name recognition would make a few bucks. They made really really good comic books. So much so that the comic book form of Casper and cast overshadowed the cartoon.

The cartoon came and went...several times...but the comic books just kept on going. Because Harvey was not in the licensing business...they were in the comic book making business. They had a line of books of some success before they grabbed up Casper. They knew what they were doing and how to do it right and they had a solid staff.

I mentioned before that these comics are solid examples of comic book storytelling. Let me show you what I mean. Leading the readers eye is job 1. You read from left to right, top to bottom. Having the pictures, motion, composition, follow that same path is extremely important. If you don't do this the brain becomes disinterested, unfocused, taxed, pulled out of the story. That little bit of harmony can completely break up the connection of the reader to the world and story that could be engrossed in. Good books, movies, shows, they get you to forget you are watching or reading something..,they get you to just feel like you are in that place and moment. That's what "escapism" is all about.

Imagine a movie where you have to keep adjusting the volume...takes you right out of it. Same thing happens if the words and pictures are not in the same visual path. It is your brain having to slightly adjust to input the info.

This is especially important if you are dealing with someone who is new to reading at all. That flow is key.

So...here's a Casper page.

Text book technique on that...the musical notes lead you from panel one into panel 2. the witch leans into the direction of panel 4. the ghost points to the word balloons, after the balloon the figures are leaning and pointing towards panel 5, the can of grease is lifted towards panel 6. It can't be done much better than that. Simple but effective. That must have been chiseled into the wall at the Harvey office. Here's another page...

Just flat out by the numbers sequential storytelling making up a flat out great comic book page. The characters are well drawn and charming, the backgrounds are just enough, the important info is obvious without hitting you over the head.

The use of the sound effects (musical notes in this case) to help with flow composition, I didn't know who started doing that first, but the whole industry made great use of it after Harvey perfected it. and Keep in mind that it is subtle. It isn't a giant "kablam". There is a lot going on in these pages that is subtle. It is deceptive in how fully fleshed out they are. Let's look at that establishing shot again,

There is a lot of information there about the environment. The floors are not just wood, they are old wood that is warping up. The windows have been broken, the window shade is old and has been repaired, the wallpaper is stained and torn, the picture frame is tilted and...of for crying out loud....I just NOW noticed something. Remember what I said about the path of the eye...look at the lines of the floor

The direction of the flooring changes to flow with the direction Casper is moving, which is the direction you want the eye to go in.

Everything's working together, I learned a lot from Harvey Comics and I don't just mean how to read...maybe more than I ever realized. Here's a cover of Archer and Armstrong I did for Valiant Entertainment

SO...The Ghosts are not just in a room, they are in a old room that has not been lived in for some time, is unkept, falling apart, and shabby.

The backgrounds, objects, characters, and even text/word balloons all have the same feel to them. Everything feels like it exists in the same world, everything works together...this is a page that takes you imagination to a place. That is the goal that all of us in every single genera strive for. And it is spot on in this Casper page...and that book had 20 some pages....and they put out several a month for decades.

That is mind blowing.

20 solid pages, times several books times 12 months...that is two or three movies worth of solid G rated storytelling a year....for decades.

Let's not gloss over that G rated part. Because that is also part of the answer for "why Casper". Much of the Casper content was directly aimed at very young kids...but some of it was entertaining for anyone. That is not easy to do. You may have heard of the documentary "the Aristocrats". It about a standard joke in stand up comedy that any comedian can take and try to make his or her own. It's a bare bones template of a joke...and the challenge it to tell it your own way. Basically it's this- guy walks into a talent agency says he has a new act. The act is the part of the joke that you make your own. The punchline is that the act is called "the Aristocrats". The funny comes in by describing the act...generally it is described as something so over the top horrific or pornographic or disgusting that when it is given that name you can't help but laugh at the contrast / absurdity. Also the delivery of the name by the agent can help the joke...sincerity, earnestness, obliviousness to the contrast. You get the idea. It's a challenge in joke telling.

Casper, to me, presents this same type challenge. It is a bare bones concept, and it needs to be G rated and timeless. That strips away all the crutches, strips away anything you can hid behind, strips away any assist you can get from outside references. It is just - can you tell and entertaining story with words and pictures..or can you not. I've been doing edgy material for a long time, I do it as well as anyone in any medium, and I don't ever take the easy way out or go for the easy joke...but that is losing it's challenge for me. Or maybe I am in a rut. In either case...going back to basics is what is called for, as well as a challenge. And this is a challenge that I can sink my teeth into.

The whole notion has gears in my brain spinning. It has been awhile since my brain has gone to work without me telling it to. By that I mean, writing stories without me sitting down and deciding to do so. I have arrows in the quiver for Casper stories and I didn't even mean to yet...my synapses just produced them after the notion of such a challenge crossed my mind.

That same type challenge goes for the illustrating. This is a style that is simple but charming. With heavy emphasis on both. There isn't a lot of details and depth to hide mistakes in...you either got those lines right and gave it charm or you did not.

and they spent decades getting it right. Even the covers were brilliant in their simplicity.

That cover has everything it needs in just the right amount and nothing more. and those colors...proof that often less is more. you can make something really amazing with only a few tools.

Get a load the grace of these brush lines. At first glace they are simple lines...but they are not. A regular TV and an HD tv are both showing you the same show, the difference between the two is a million subtle pixels working together, and side by side the two tvs give you dramatically different examples of quality. Look at these lines, different widths, curves angles all for an overall purpose. The charm and energy come from the calligraphic effect of the changing line width on the outline on Wendy and Casper in contrast to the steady line of the box and internal details

...and is that not the most adorable f*cking thing you ever saw?

an how about this one...

...actually, that one's f*cking terrifying. Those dead eyes in his...skin? suit? what the fu..

let's move on.

Gah! I don't know which cover is more unsettling. That sh*t is not cute, and it's making me ask questions there are no answer to.

But what am I talking about here? Oh yeah, the point it when you are dealing with a large canvas like a comic book cover, and you're dealing with very simple figures and line-work it is sink or swim. You look at these covers as an adult, they are cute...competent...but look at them again as a child (stopping and looking at the faces and objects and postures), and you'll see more personality and imagination grabbing imagery going on than the last 48 Xmen books

so...that's the why's.

There's nothing insincere about all this. and you can understand better now why I'm not going to take "no" for an answer.

I'm going to keep the heat on them, they'll either come around or I'll move onto plan B. Actually, in light of what amounts to them insulting my fans last week...I may start boxing them in. So when I start seeming like a bit of a jackass, you at least will know that my initial intention was not to beat up on some mid level publisher.

Later...