“Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s
This article explores the format and construct of longer humorous comics strips through the close analysis of “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy” from D C Thomson’s The Beano Comic, a publication aimed at children and launched in 1938. This study of one specific strip argues that the use a seriality s...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Université de Bourgogne
|
| Series: | Interfaces |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/3472 |
| _version_ | 1797311318554836992 |
|---|---|
| author | Dona Pursall |
| author_facet | Dona Pursall |
| author_sort | Dona Pursall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores the format and construct of longer humorous comics strips through the close analysis of “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy” from D C Thomson’s The Beano Comic, a publication aimed at children and launched in 1938. This study of one specific strip argues that the use a seriality somewhere between open-ended and discontinuous, continual fluctuations between flat and round characterisation and a style wavering between completeness and expressivity constructs an aesthetic of incompleteness which is essentiel in the creation of humour. Following investigation of the ways in which this particular format constructs funniness as a process of continual negotiation, specifically through the use of exaggeration, asymmetry, dissatisfaction and imbalance, the article concludes that a quality of unfinished-ness is integral to the relationship these comics create with their readers, and therefore fundamental to laughter. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:56:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6d2388cad1a24af4ae2955d5a0a12021 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2647-6754 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:56:52Z |
| publisher | Université de Bourgogne |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Interfaces |
| spelling | doaj.art-6d2388cad1a24af4ae2955d5a0a120212024-02-14T08:36:30ZengUniversité de BourgogneInterfaces2647-67544610.4000/interfaces.3472“Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930sDona PursallThis article explores the format and construct of longer humorous comics strips through the close analysis of “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy” from D C Thomson’s The Beano Comic, a publication aimed at children and launched in 1938. This study of one specific strip argues that the use a seriality somewhere between open-ended and discontinuous, continual fluctuations between flat and round characterisation and a style wavering between completeness and expressivity constructs an aesthetic of incompleteness which is essentiel in the creation of humour. Following investigation of the ways in which this particular format constructs funniness as a process of continual negotiation, specifically through the use of exaggeration, asymmetry, dissatisfaction and imbalance, the article concludes that a quality of unfinished-ness is integral to the relationship these comics create with their readers, and therefore fundamental to laughter.https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/3472serialitygag stripssubjectivized objectivationcatch-phraseknowingnesshybrid characters |
| spellingShingle | Dona Pursall “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s Interfaces seriality gag strips subjectivized objectivation catch-phrase knowingness hybrid characters |
| title | “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s |
| title_full | “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s |
| title_fullStr | “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s |
| title_short | “Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy”: A case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in British children’s comics of the 1930s |
| title_sort | tin can tommy the clockwork boy a case study in incompleteness for humorous effect in british children s comics of the 1930s |
| topic | seriality gag strips subjectivized objectivation catch-phrase knowingness hybrid characters |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/3472 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT donapursall tincantommytheclockworkboyacasestudyinincompletenessforhumorouseffectinbritishchildrenscomicsofthe1930s |