IDW's Library of American Comics launches its new oversized hardcover "Champagne Edition" series with what historians and critics consider one of the essential masterpieces of comic strip art, Cliff Sterrett's Polly and Her Pals. Polly debuted in 1912 as one of the first "pretty girl" strips, but it was in 1925 that Sterrett's magnificent Sunday pages entered their peak period, as he developed a style with distinctive surreal perspectives, abstract backgrounds, and bold, vibrant use of color. Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics, 1925-1927 reproduces every one of Cliff Sterrett's dynamic full-color Sunday pages from 1925 to 1927 in a large, 12" x 16" format so that it can be fully appreciated. The pages also include Sterrett's topper strips, Damon and Pythias and Dot and Dash.
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Sterrett�s comic strip about the glamorous Polly, her coterie of suitors, and her exasperated parents debuted in December 1912; by the late 1920s�the era represented by the preponderance of the color Sunday pages collected in this oversize volume�the narrative focus had shifted to Polly�s improbably dumpy folks, particularly cantankerous Paw. More importantly, Sterrett�s artwork had acquired a dazzling sophistication. Although he seldom deviated from an orderly grid of uniformly sized panels, what he did within those frames was stunning. His boisterous drawings evinced a decidedly modernist influence, even incorporating elements of cubism and other contemporary art trends. As marvelous as Sterrett�s visuals may be, Polly wouldn�t be such a tour de force if its humor wasn�t so lively and its characters� dialogue, with its Jazz Age patois, so snappy. The early years of newspaper comics produced a handful of widely acknowledged masterworks, such as Little Nemo and Krazy Kat; this impressive collection makes a convincing case that Sterrett�s creation should be added to that honor roll. --Gordon Flagg
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now Sterrett!,
By
This review is from: Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics 1913-1927 (Polly & Her Pals) (Hardcover)
"...now Sterrett! That's the guy who was the greatest. To think that a whole generation has grown up worshipping Picasso when the guy who did it far better was Sterrett."--Al Capp, in a 1977 interview with Rick Marschall (found in "Comics Journal" no. 54 and "Nemo" no. 18)
Al Capp wasn't liberal with his praise or much else by 1977, and his few compliments sometimes concealed agendas. But we can disagree about Picasso and still be in accord about Cliff Sterrett and "Polly and Her Pals": his was a monumental talent in the comic strip field, and some of his work, from formative years on into his prime, is now collected in a book that measures up to the talent. P. Craig Russell contributes an essay of appreciation, which is followed by an exhaustive (but sprightly written) historical introduction by Jeet Heer. These introductory curtains part to reveal 156 Sunday pages beginning with the first Sunday "Polly" in December of 1913 on through the end of 1927. Watching Sterrett's style progress from humdrum "bigfoot" caricature into the delightfully bizarre (and highly readable) Cubist fireworks of his mid/late '20s period is a joyful experience in and of itself. But the true genius in all of this is how Sterrett's visual expression complemented and never overshadowed the delightful characters and storylines of the "Polly" strip. Polly herself became a mere fish hook, an ostensibly attractive but distant young woman, drawn in a style that would have been at home in a catalogue of high fashion, and surrounded by suitors of the same visual ilk. The real stars of the strip were Polly's family: Paw and Maw Perkins, cousin/nephew/freeloader Ashur Url Perkins, Neewah the houseboy, and the silent but all-wise "Kitty," in addition to various aunts and other relatives who drifted in and out of the Perkins household. These were warm, likeable, and funny characters interacting in a world whose loopiness was reflected in the surroundings. The dimensions are a generous 10.5 by 13.5 inches, and better yet, many of the strips are derived from 85-year-old syndicate proofs, making this collection as big a treat to the eye as it is to the funnybone. It should be noted that the strips from 1913 through Nov. 22, 1925 do not represent a complete run, but are a retrospective of what Sterrett and his ghost artists (Sterrett went on a 6-month sabbatical in 1925) did with the strip until the artist came back in full-bloom on the November date. From that point on, every Sunday strip is reprinted through the end of 1927. This giant volume is what Sterrett's fans have been waiting for, and is a perfect introduction for those who've never encountered him. You can almost hear Al Capp cheering.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is Dis a System?,
By Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
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This review is from: Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics 1913-1927 (Polly & Her Pals) (Hardcover)
When the Amazon box arrived, I wondered why it was so huge, until I pulled out this dazzling volume, which measures over 16 X 12 inches, and an inch thick. From the time I first encountered "Polly and Her Pals" in Great Comic Cats Great Comic Cats, I was fascinated by this comic, and like so many readers, wanted more. I also tried to find it reprinted on larger pages and higher quality paper, so the dailies would have more contrast and the Sunday comic colors be brighter.
While those two additions would help any comic, they particularly do Sterrett's which, in 1927, became a surrealistic masterpiece. The best prints I'd seen to date are in America's Great Comic Strip Artists America's Great Comic-Strip Artists: From the Yellow Kid to Peanuts, an oversize, slick-page art book in which Richard Marschall devotes sixteen pages to Cliff Sterrett, and includes some of the best examples of his comic art. The present edition clocks in at 175 full-color pages. It begins with Sterrett's early work in 1913, and runs through 1927 when, in a certain sense, he was just getting going. Vol. two promises to cover 1928- 1930. If that's so, there would have to be a third volume, because some of the best comics in Marschall's collection date from the mid- 30s. Marschall calls Sterrett "arguably the most gifted graphic artist" in his book, and "certainly the least celebrated". Once found, his art certainly is something to celebrate, and if I had to guess which artists he had influenced, I would certainly include Robert Crumb and Craig Yoe. Sterrett's deco signature, I would hazard, may also have inspired Rick Griffin's calligraphy. My review title comes from Milt Gross, not Cliff Sterrett, because, while they don't exactly overlap, Gross mostly working in the '30s, I think Gross did with language what Sterrett did with visual design. This book carries the standard disclaimer that racial stereotypes were common in the less-enlightened '20s, but Sterrett, I think, never intended any malice. Early comics and cartoons featured caricatures because they made characters distinctive, and easily distinguished. Thus, there was an attempt to heighten, rather than minimize ethnic differences. In Sterrett's strip, I think there's another reason. The settings and characters would be familiar to any reader in his day. His panels, at the height of his art, seemed like surrealistic paintings, but they still seemed to have started with photographs of an everyday house, street, or hotel, transformed by the artist's vision. The best example of this is a Sunday color comic in which Pa puts on the wrong glasses, and everything is wildly distorted. Marschall's book had little to say about Sterrett, except that he was underappreciated, but the present volume includes an 8,000 word introduction, "Sterrett's Symphony" by Jeet Heer, full of recently unearthed biographical and historical background. A book like this is clearly aimed at libraries, but next to Calvin and Hobbes, I don't think there's any comic I've ever read or looked back over so many times. Many a night I'd sit back with Marschall's book and wonder at Sterrett's art, and how the household cat, Kitty, in the later strips, echoes or anticipates Pa's every move. Those who, like me, can't get enough of "Polly and Her Pals" will welcome this oversize volume which invites endless perusal. Heer's essay sets the record straight, and, Sterrett's art is at last let loose to inspire a new generation.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genius!,
By
This review is from: Polly and Her Pals: Complete Sunday Comics 1913-1927 (Polly & Her Pals) (Hardcover)
This volume beautifully reproduces Cliff Sterrett's gorgeous Sunday Polly and her Pals pages from 1925-1927, just as it says in the title. It doesn't reprint the series from the very beginning (although it does reprint two strips a year for each year leading up to 1925, to show a thumbnail of Sterrett's artistic development).
The book starts with 1925, because it was a crucial year for the development of the strip, and Sterrett's work. In the summer of 1925, he took a six-month sabbatical. Before he left, the strip was a very funny, very well-drawn domestic comedy. After his return, the art took on an increasingly surreal look, taking a great leap forward. In its stylization, it is reminiscent of George Herriman's Krazy Kat, but more accessible. (While the book doesn't reprint all the strips done by ghost artists during that sabbatical, it does present a representative sample. This is the complete Cliff Sterrett Sundays from 1925-1927, after all.) A very few of the strips read as products of their time, relying on fads of the day, or using the sorts of unfortunate racial stereotypes that were all too common in that period. Most, however, are timeless, and the very best are works of genius. The book features fabulous reproduction, mostly from syndicate color proofs. The images are sharp and clear and clean, and the colors are gorgeous. Looking at these pages, which once filled the entire newspaper page, it's clear how much comic strips have lost in the past 80 years. Comic strip scholar Jeet Heer provides context with a biographical essay that is detailed without being dry and boring. Polly and her Pals is a classic that doesn't seem to get much discussion today. Hopefully, this book, and promised future volumes, will correct that.
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