It’s always bittersweet when you hold an idea for a long time and then see that someone else has acted on it before you had the chance. In the case of the Comic Strip Library, however, it’s a bit of a relief, seeing as it was probably a lot of work! The web site, hosted by Zachary Chavez, features full scans of classic U.S. comic strips that have entered the public domain, namely Winsor MCay’s gorgeous Little Nemo In Slumberland and George Herriman’s oddball Krazy Kat. (Later Krazy Kat strips can also be found at Peter Campbell’s Coconinio County.)
All are worth a read, but there are also plenty of other classic comics in the public domain that can’t be found on the web…maybe there’s room for me yet!
Thanks for blogging about my site. I just want to say that in the not-too-distant future, the Comic Strip Library will be set up to allow contributions from others (sort of like Project Gutenberg for comics), so if you ever do feel like scanning some classic comics, I hope you’ll decide to contribute to the site.
Thanks for commenting Zachary! A Project Gutenberg for out-of-print comic strips sounds like a great idea, and I’d love to take part in the future if the right opportunity presents itself.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with it, but the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection has what seems to be a pretty comprehensive listing of comic strips from 1896-1996, including many that would be in the public domain.
http://cartoons.osu.edu/finding_aids/sfaca/#series1
Also, Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library has a lot of resources as well, including a digitized collection of Richard Outcault’s The Yellow Kid available online.
http://cartoons.osu.edu/index.php
http://cartoons.osu.edu/yellowkid/index.htm