“Forever Evil’s” Luna-cy: Tigwissel Tuesdays #51
SPOILER ALERT!!! Forever Evil #1 … I’m breaking today from my usual Tigwissel Tuesday’s format of presenting quack science found in 19th and early 20th century comic strips and cartoons, to focus on a comic book released barely a week ago. Reading super-hero comics (or for that matter, any science fiction or fantasy, presented in [...]
Professor Tigwissel’s Experiment with Blue Glass: Tigwissel Tuesdays #50
In 1877, medical journals and newspapers were filled with efforts to debunk what was being called “Blue Glass Mania” (or, Chromo-Therapy), in which fraudulent healers were claiming they could cure illnesses by bathing people in light passed through color glass. The practice was made popular by Augustus Pleasonton, who experimented with panes of colored glass [...]
Mr. Golightly’s Pre-Patent Date Confirmed!: Tigwissel Tuesdays #49
Nearly a year ago, we showed a number of cartoons of the Victorian Age cartoon character Mr. GoLightly, who some people out there contend was a real person (Charles Golightly), who in 1841 filed a patent for his riding rocket. We at SuperITCH contended his first, undated cartoon (below) was published circa 1830, and whoever [...]
Brain Surgery of 1892: Tigwissel Tuesdays # 48
From the June 22nd, 1892 issue of Fun magazine, comes “A Superfluity”, involving the consequences of a man’s brain operation. Click on the above comic, to view it in geater detail, and be able read its text. For prior postings involving comics & the advance of science, click on Tigwissel Tuesdays. Doug Wheeler BritFun
Travel via Vacuum Tube, 1825: Tigwissel Tuesdays # 47
Tigwissel Tuesdays resumes, with an extract from issue nine, October 1825, of the Glasgow, Scotland based Northern Looking Glass, with art by William Heath. Above, Heath parodies the proposal of a Vacuum Tube Company (which appeared in the January 29th, 1825 issue of The Mechanics Register), to transport passengers between Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England, [...]
Scott Antarctic Expedition Reported Dead: Cartoons Magazine Centennial 1913
On February 10th, 1913, word reached the world that the entire Terra Nova Expedition to reach the South Pole in Antarctica, led by Captain Robert Scott, had perished. Scott’s expedition reached the South Pole on January 17th, 1912, learning they had been beaten there by the rival Amundsen expedition, who had arrived at the Pole [...]
Little Johnny & the Taffy Possums: Tigwissel Christmas #4
For Christmas, we conclude our Santa in various mechanical transport comics, with a 1909 episode of Little Johnny & the Taffy Possums, by John R. Bray (art) and Robert D. Towne (script), featuring Santa delivering his presents by dirigible. Little Johnny ran on the rear cover of Judge magazine, plus was reprinted in some newspapers [...]
Santa and His Flying Machines: Tigwissel Tuesdays #45
For our second week in the March of Progress in Santa Science, we have more excerpts from my (unpublished) project collecting Victorian Age through WW I Christmas cartoons & comics. In more modern times, (particularly during the Space Race / Apollo Program), one can find such cartoons as Santa straddling space rockets, or, of him [...]
Santa by Auto: Tigwissel Tuesdays #44
Today, the March of Progress in Santa Transportation Technology, using cartoons from one page of a Victorian/Pre-Depression I Christmas Comics book I put together, for which the publishing deal fell through. As we can see by these cartoons, Santa is constantly looking to improve on his methods of Christmas Toy Delivery. By replacing his apparently [...]
Electricity at Christmas, 1879: Tigwissel Tuesdays #43
Above, The March of Science: Electricity at Christmas, by artist Harry Furniss, from the 1879 Christmas issue of The Illustrated London News. At this time, electricity — on the brink of lighting cities — was still more a toy of the rich, used in parlor games. One popular activity, shown at the bottom, was to [...]
