Hidden Gems: Halo and Sprocket

I've been a fan of Kerry Callen since we launched the Comics Cube, mainly because his blog is a hoot. Among the features on his blog that have gone viral, here are animated GIFs of classic comics:

Super Antics:

And this particularly popular pair of images:

So with all this, I've been particularly interested in his creator-owned series, Halo and Sprocket. Unfortunately, they're not easy to find, so it took me years and a bit of luck at the recent Komikon to find a copy of the first volume, Welcome to Humanity.

This series is quite clever, and if you've read enough of the Cube, you'll know I particularly like wit and cleverness, especially in shortform content. This story about an angel, Halo, and a robot, Sprocket, who live in a single woman's apartment (with the woman, Katie). Halo is put on Earth to help Sprocket adjust to humanity. It's not easy, because the two of them take everything so literally.

The stories vary in length, but there are no multi-parters. It's pretty much ruminations on various events and figures of speech that we encounter in our everyday lives. At one point, Katie takes Halo and Sprocket to an art show, and they don't understand art at all. Finally, Sprocket finds a piece that appeals to his sense of aesthetics. Kinda.

I can't really say much more without spoiling the stories because they're so short, but they're really quite fun and clever that it does provoke some thought about certain things we consider routine.

Also, at one point, Sprocket asks Halo, "Can I borrow your flaming sword of vengeance?" And you know, I thought that was pretty funny.

Halo and Sprocket is available, in full color, now on Comixology.

Techniques and Tricks: That Terry and the Pirates Strip

So this made the rounds on social media recently. Karl Kesel, a big fan of Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, posted Caniff's last installment of the strip.

His corresponding caption was:

CANIFF'S LAST TERRY AND THE PIRATES, 12-29-46. If I could only own one Caniff original, it would be this— for my money, the single best self-contained comic ever produced. EVER. Two people with a long, affectionate relationship are about to part; one leaving to pursue their true love, with no guarantee on what they'll find. A last, passionate embrace and the two part, sadly, but not looking back. It describes both Jane AND Caniff's relationship with Terry, as Caniff was leaving the strip to start his creator-owned STEVE CANYON. Just beginning my own creator-owned project, I know exactly how Caiff felt, and can see how it infuses every figure and shadow on this piece. The last 8 panels are flawless. The kiss is stunning in its intensity. The last panel— "Ring Out The Old, Ring In the New"— heartbreakingly bittersweet. I actually prefer this in black and white— the white jackets don't work for me—and was hoping to post a scan of the original art, but couldn't find it on the web. Wonder where it is...

I've never read Terry and the Pirates, and it's unlikely I'll ever read more than whatever installment comes my way at any time. But I thought this strip was beautiful. For a comic made at a time when writers felt the need to describe everything or add dialogue, this mostly silent strip is a revelation. And for me, who has never read any of the strip, to feel the separation between Terry and Jane, is a testament to the craftsmanship of the strip.

A few days later, I saw this making the rounds:

See, newspaper strips didn't afford much in the way of experimentation in layouts. They had to be crafted in such a way that the newspapers could cut them up and rearrange them tro fit the paper's layout. So they worked mostly in grids and let the publishers cut them up and rearrange them.

Except, sometimes, if not most times, an artist takes the entire page into account when laying it out, so you can enjoy it as a singular piece of art. And in this case, Caniff almost certainly did. The middle two panels in the middle row being Terry and Jane looking at each other with the pain of a final goodbye makes the page for me.

However, I've also seen people say, of the second version, that the middle of the page being Jane running back is what makes the page for them.

It's an interesting piece about the nature of composition and what appeals to the eye, and the subjectivity of it all.

Still, all that just gave me an excuse to post about this, the final installment of a run on a comic strip that I've never read anything of, but which touched me anyway, and which I found beautiful.

Does the composition of the page make a difference to you? Which one do you prefer?