A Cartoon History

I don’t know, maybe it would be better to let all these strange little image mash-ups talk for themselves, be inscrutable, alchemical, allusive. But I like talking about things! I like explaining! I CAN’T HELP IT!

Anyway, look at that one up there; that’s Calvin and Hobbes in a Winnie the Pooh illustration. And it tells a little bit of illustration history.

I mean, look at them, two tigers, and two source materials all about the world of childhood fantasy. Yes, Calvin and Hobbes is pretty arch, but there is a surprising amount of Winnie the Pooh in it, which is probably why the two pictures fit so immaculately together.

The first is Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, in the Goodnight Moon room. The second is LInus in the Addams Family home. Goodnight Moon to Max is a similar trajectory that our first picture follows. And I have no idea what to make of Linus on those stairs, in the Addams Family home, but I really like him there, with his blanket.

I swear to god I had that same blanket and felt the same way about it.

This last one is kind of advanced because it’s local. The dog is from a charming Caldecott Winner called Officer Buckle and Gloria (that’s Gloria!), by Peggy Rathmann. The background is from a Newbery Honor winner from the late 20’s, almost 70 years earlier, by Wanda Gag.

Both authors are from Minnesota, so it’s a local tribute.

If you are looking for more diversion today, allow me to send you on to the quotes page of Life is a Fountain. It even includes a quote from a cartoonist! Click below!

Feldenstein’s Famous Quotations!