I finally got a copy of IDW's first Little Orphan Annie volume, covering the first three years or so of Harold Gray's strip. The book was delayed and delayed again, listed and delisted and relisted at Amazon. IDW's website barely acknowledges its existence and certainly had no apparent interest in updating its status. So, y'know, just a stellar marketing experience, I'm sure it's going to break sales records.
I really shouldn't like this strip. It's consistently easy--the good are good, the bad are bad, and there's no doubt who's on which side. Annie herself is an early archetype of Mary Sue, possessed of every virtue, skill, and improbable talent, and unconditionally loved by all worthwhile folk and animals. The stories are scene-chewing melodrama, full of long speeches and sermons on self-righteousness.
But, may reason help me, I like it. Since it's so unchallenging, it doesn't engage the critical faculty; it's easy to just sit down and read and let the experience wash through you. It's brain candy.
Boy, I'm doing a good job selling it, aren't I?
The thing is, it is entertaining. Watching bad guys get what's coming to them is fun, and watching good people get unexpectedly rewarded is just pleasant, and the constant moral lessons about hard work and caring for others are at least moderately inspiring. Like other golden age newspaper comics, the art is interesting and far richer than today's newsprint fare. While it may have been a contemporary feature when it first appeared, today it's historical, and its view on pre-WWII America is tremendously instructive, even filtered through Gray's beliefs and preoccupations.
The collection itself is a handsome, hefty volume, like other recent classic comic reprints. I'm disappointed it omits the majority of Sunday strips. There's a wide range in strip reproduction quality. Some strips are from syndicate archives, some are reproduced from other sources, either the original 1920s reprint volumes, or actual newspaper pages; either way, they're substantially blown up, with significant effect on the line weight. (Harold Gray had a notably thin line.)
Overall, I'm mostly pleased. If it's the sort of thing you'd like, you'll probably like it.
Posted by Greg at June 26, 2008 4:24 PM