Saturday, December 30, 2023
One-Shot Wonders: Lasso Lorenzo by A.T. Crichton, 1897
Here's an interesting one-shot by A.T. "Crite" Crichton that ran in the New York Sunday Journal on May 9 1897. When I first encountered it my reaction was one of horror, thinking that Crite was making some utterly tactless gag about the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. But then I realized that happened almost a year later, so Crite dodges that bullet. But it's still an odd strip, because Lorenzo, whose rowboat is called "Unkel Sam," is sparring with and destroys a U.S. battleship. If Lorenzo was not a patriotic American (evidenced by the name of his boat) this could be a comment on U.S. - Italian relations, I suppose, but that's just not the case. That got me to wondering if Crite had no intention of having that battleship fly a U.S. flag. Looking very closely at the page, I honestly can't tell for sure whether any of that flag design is by Crite (that is, in black) or if the whole contents of an empty flag were supplied by the Journal's colorist.
Beyond this insoluble conundrum, a few additional comments. First, this is a very early example of what I'd call a Baron Munchausen gag, one in which someone is evidently relating (in the textual portion) after the fact some patently impossible feat they performed. This theme was later picked up by F.M. Howarth who created the classic Munchausen take-off strip, Old Opie Dilldock's Stories.
An' anudder t'ing .... probably wearing out my welcome by now, but I also wanted to point out what an amazing bit of cartooning this is -- notice the waves on the sea, how they pitch the boat to and fro, and how Lorenzo's body reacts to that during his lassoing exercise. Crite could have made things much easier on himself by drawing a calm sea, but he opts to stretch his drawing skills and show us what an impressive artist he is.
Labels: One-Shot Wonders
: 1/01/2024 2:59 PM 