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The "Punch" Cartoon Album
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2021
Like most coffee table books, The " Punch" Cartoon Album Hardcover, edited by: Amanda-Jane Doran (Author), Miles Kington (Author) is best read a few pages at a time, randomly, perhaps while waiting for your host or hostess to return with your coffee. Unlike some coffee table books there is no effort at scholarship, so no pages of texts to squeeze out some of what you came for classic British (mostly) single panel cartoons.
The selection is not organized by topics, date of publication or artists. Unfortunately some artist signatures are illegible or the printed copy edited out whatever signature there may have been. I would have liked to seek out more by some cartoonists but this lack of identification precludes success.
A few cartoons seem to be so dated such that the punch line is tied to people, or terms that have no meaning on this side of the pond, or perhaps to a contemporary British born reader.
It is interesting to compare the gentleness of some of the older comics. One can sense the experimental nature of the earlier cartoon as the profession developed in confidence. Earlier examples seem to have been far more detailed in the artwork. One can especially feel the influence of the Gibson girl on Punch cartoonists.
Realizing that there are contemporary reviewers who feel heavy pressure to find things that outrage modern sensibilities and cannot be retrospectively forgiven. Worry not there will be cartoons that could never have been funny because they are now obviously dependent on the patrimony. There are cartoons at the expense of several now victim populations and must be condemned, again retrospectively.
For the rest of us, we can tip toe past the occasional example of newly discovered to be un-allowed jokes and enjoy more than half that is the residuum
The selection is not organized by topics, date of publication or artists. Unfortunately some artist signatures are illegible or the printed copy edited out whatever signature there may have been. I would have liked to seek out more by some cartoonists but this lack of identification precludes success.
A few cartoons seem to be so dated such that the punch line is tied to people, or terms that have no meaning on this side of the pond, or perhaps to a contemporary British born reader.
It is interesting to compare the gentleness of some of the older comics. One can sense the experimental nature of the earlier cartoon as the profession developed in confidence. Earlier examples seem to have been far more detailed in the artwork. One can especially feel the influence of the Gibson girl on Punch cartoonists.
Realizing that there are contemporary reviewers who feel heavy pressure to find things that outrage modern sensibilities and cannot be retrospectively forgiven. Worry not there will be cartoons that could never have been funny because they are now obviously dependent on the patrimony. There are cartoons at the expense of several now victim populations and must be condemned, again retrospectively.
For the rest of us, we can tip toe past the occasional example of newly discovered to be un-allowed jokes and enjoy more than half that is the residuum
June 29, 2025
As good as a volume like this was ever going to get. It’s an interesting decision to mix the eras, probably designed so you don’t end up skipping the early verbose years, but it does mean you don’t see the evolution of Punch humour from polite to absurd to downright eccentric and then finally the madness of a Birkett or Honeysett at the very end, which is a shame
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews