Sixty years before the comic became a staple of American popular
culture, Rodolphe Topffer of Geneva (1799-1846) a journalist,
university professor, art critic, writer of fiction, travel tales,
and social criticism, invented a wholly new art form - the comic
strip, or "picture story." "Father of the Comic
Strip" examines how Topffer developed his unique graphic style
- the "doodle" - due to his poor eyesight, as well as
looking at how his ironic, satirical, and sometimes surreal
storylines became an instant success all over Europe. Using a
biographical framework, it also places his comic strips in a
cultural and societal context and in relation to his other works -
notably his popular and humorous travel tales.
