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Clint Eastwood once said (in reference to his brilliant movie on jazz great Charlie Parker) "Americans don't have any original art except western movies and jazz". Well Clint, let's make that three artforms: westerns, jazz, and of course, comics. Since I have no interest in westerns let's limit this conversation to jazz and comics.

Before I go any further, I should remind you that contrary to popular belief, film is not an American invention, but rather a French invention. In the 1870s French inventor Émile Reynaud improved on the zoetrope by placing mirrors at the center of the drum. A short time later, he developed a projecting version, using a reflector and a lens to enlarge the moving images. Soon, he began holding screenings in the streets of France, giving people their first view of film. Thus, film is French not American.

It's also necessary to explain how comics made their modern debut in America. I say modern, because sequential art has been around for centuries, but in the form that we recognize it today, America was the first to see it. While the first man (or the first that we know of) to write about the combination of art and words/narrative was Rodolphe Topffer, a European, he simply regarded the form as something to fill the pages of his notebooks. As Scott McCloud says in his landmark book, Understanding Comics, "Topffer was unable to grasp at first the full potential of his invention, seeing it as a mere diversion, a simple hobby."

This mindset of Topffer is probably why comics made their debut in America, instead of Europe. Benjamin Franklin is credited with being one of the pioneers of this form, along with masters of the art like A.B. Frost, and F.M. Howarth (although his cartoons resembled New Yorker, cartoons more closely then the traditional comic strip--still a cartoon nonetheless).

These were the pioneers of the great American artform, but the man responsible for setting the language that cartoonists use today, is R.F. Outcault, creator of The Yellow Kid,. While the merits of The Yellow Kid, are questionable, in terms of the quality of the strip, and even as to whether it was a comic strip or not, its use on words and pictures is undeniably influential, and the large one pagers that it was presented in remain beautiful to look at.

The fact that Outcault defined the language of the modern comic proves that the comic strip, and sequential art in general, is an American invention. Confronted with this fact, I'm sure many Americans are surprised. Not many Americans look in the Sunday paper and realize that this is one of our only true artforms, in terms of invention. What's ironic is that the comic has been excepted more, and done with more skill, elsewhere in the world, most notably France. Comics are considered an artform in Europe, and comic artists treated with respect. One can say they are a cartoonist without being laughed at. In some rare cases, one can make a living as a cartoonist in Europe.

Does this sound familiar to any other artform? Why, jazz of course. In the greatest period of jazz, the bebop era of the 50s and 60s, it is no secret that it was not widely accepted by the general public. The reason for this is complicated: jazz was not unpopular itself, but bebop represented a threat of sorts to the general public. Bebop, in it's most straightforward form, was young black musicians who loved jazz, but rejected the "sweet" music that was popular at the time. They worked on their own musical ideas, and the results were, of course, amazing. So amazing, that it frightened many people and so most bebop musicians lived hand to mouth. Even the greatest bebop musician (or the pioneer of bebop music), Charlie Parker, could not make a living at jazz. This was due in part to his volatile personality, but when he went to Europe, not only was he greeted with undying affection and respect, but was also able to make a good sum of money (of course, he later returned to New York and died at the young age of 35).

Parker was not the only jazz musician to go to Europe. Europeans seemed to have a great understanding of and interest in this great form of jazz, even though Americans did not seem to have the same love for their own creation.

The roots of jazz are even more firmly rooted in the USA. While jazz derives it's unique sound from Latin American music, slave songs and lullabies, it is a wonderful representation of American creativity. The most important area of jazz development was New Orleans, where jazz developed it's sound through heavy influence from blues and ragtime music. New Orleans jazz could be heard in the form of marching bands, while men such as Buddy Bolen led important bands. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was the first jazz band to make a recording, and was a sensation in Europe. Of course, these men are not the truest representatives of the form, while the likes of New Orleans' own Count Basie, Jelly Roll Morton, and of course Louis Armstrong demonstrate the New Orleans sound beautifully.

The New Orleans sound soon gave way to big band jazz led by Duke Ellington. Bebop seems to be a departure from both the big band sound and the New Orleans sound, but it's combination of the two. And that, along with the original ideas of its pioneers, is what made it great. When all is said and done though, jazz has its beginnings strongly rooted in New Orleans.

Of course, the greatest cartoonist of all time, George Herriman (Krazy Kat) was born in New Orleans. The strip Krazy Kat is perhaps the best display of the similarities between jazz and comics.

Krazy Kat was drawn by a soft spoken, kindhearted man, and told of the strange love triangle of a "Kat" (Krazy), a mouse (Ignatz), and a dog (Offica Pup). Simple in premise, but far more complex upon looking at the strip. Herriman used seemingly small and simple images (in contrast to his contemporaries like Winsor McCay of Little Nemo fame), yet his skill at making the images come alive remains the greatest achievement of the cartoon. Herriman rejected the standard format of the Sunday strip, which angered his editors (fortunately, William Randolph Hearst was a fan of the strip, which baffles many people, considering the man's other tastes. Nevertheless, he allowed Herriman to make his innovations, and carried the strip even when its popularity was low). Krazy Kat is not unlike a Monet, in the sense that when one looks at it from a distance, it appears to be a mess of confused images. But, when one looks at it closely, the images really do come alive, and serve to express the emotions and philosophy of their creator. Herriman doesn't need to tell you what he's thinking; the images tell you what you need to know, along with the the strip's Vaudeville type dialogue. The dialogue itself is some of the greatest poetry in American literature, earning fans in the likes of famed art critic Gilbert Seldes.

But the feeling expressed through Herriman's imagery is strikingly similar to the feeling expressed in jazz music. Jazz is usually a wordless artform--with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane one rarely needs words to understand what the artist means. The sound of the saxophone or piano, is all that is needed. The same goes for Herriman's images, while the poetry of the strip's dialogue creates a separate world, almost the way Louis Armstrong did with his vocals.

This is perhaps the greatest similarity between comic and jazz. The musicality of the comic strip is undeniable in reading it, through the way the panels are read, and how certain strips pace themselves. Chris Ware, one of the better modern cartoonists, is probably the best example of this. His comic Acme Novelty Library,, is deeply rooted in musical pacing. Ware is of course, a big fan of ragtime music, as is Robert Crumb, and countless other cartoonists.

It is important to note that the musical pacing of comics does not show similarities to other types of music, such as rock or rhythm and blues. The way panels fit together is uniquely American, and thus feels most similar to other American artforms, jazz being the only other major artform to compare it to.

Copyright © 2000 Austin English All Rights Reserved

Austin English was born in San Francisco where he continues to reside to this day. His interviews with alternative cartoonists have appeared throughout the Internet, most notably at www.indymagazine.com. He also has a self-published mini-comic entitled The Tenth Frame available for just $1.00. You can contact him at three1145@aol.com, or P.O. Box 460584 San Francisco, CA 94146-0584.