Issue 31: Superhero Information Initiative
By The Dude

Good to Be First, If Not King

The year was 1842. The West had not been won, it would be about ninety years before anyone hears of Superman, and it was the dawn of the Platinum Age of comics. This was the year The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck was published. It is now considered the first comic book and graphic novel published in America. While the artwork was not original to the U.S.A., (published originally by the Swiss, most likely in 1837), it is still the first to be published in America. Rediscovered in the mid 1990’s Mr. Oldbuck has established a feeding frenzy among collectors, anxious to find other work from what is now the Platinum Age of comics. The artist Rodolphe Töpffer recently had his work republished, and somewhere out there you might be able to hunt down one of the 1,000 copies.

You would not initially think you had found anything exciting, and might think someone had hidden some kids’ artwork in an old trunk, if you came across Mr. Oldbuck’s story in your granny’s attic. Compared to our comic books, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck looks like a silent movie would in modern theaters. There are no balloons with characters talking. The words run across the bottom of each frame, and are more narrative than dialogue. There are frames though, so this lends to a sense of its being the forebearer of what we have now. The story is choppy at times. Often you are left with something like this- the main character in jail, and then in the next frame riding down the road on a horse- with no explanation of what happened. You get an overall sense of plot and storyline though. In the end Mr. Oldbuck’s tale is easily recognizable as a comic book.

Mr. Oldbuck is not a superhero in any kind of way. He does, however, seem to have an uncanny knack for not dying, so you might imagine he is immortal. The idea would gain credence from his rebirth in our day and age. Mr. Oldbuck is always trying to commit suicide out of angst brought on by spurned love. A list of attempts: stabbing himself in the chest with a sword, hanging himself, drinking poison, jumping out of a multi-story building, and trying to drown himself. Mr. Oldbuck comes back to life after all attempts, and proceeds to “turn over a new leaf.” Some hilarity is brought to the story by his refusal to not be alive, and how reality of life is revealed to him. Also I believe humor is often meant by phrases like he ran 20 leagues in two hours, but is so dated to be just confusing now. I am sure you could google how many leagues can be run in an hour, but you would be doing this type of research through the whole story.

More humor of the type eternally funny, is brought about by a Ross and Rachel type relationship. I believe Oldbuck and his love elope twice and marry once with an on-again, off-again approval of her family. Oldbuck is continually being taken to jail for one-man riots, or back to some monastery he broke out of. Then there is always the rival. The rival almost has as many issues with dying as Mr. Oldbuck, but that might be because Mr. Oldbuck is the one attempting to kill him again.

There is plenty of lack of respect for authority and civil disobedience in the story too. Mr. Oldbuck buries monks, drowns police, and breaks out of and into everything. He dresses like a woman, and then steals a policeman’s clothes. (I use policeman, but the story uses many terms like magistrate, deputy and the like.) Attacks monks and chops off their beards. Attacks people sleeping. All this while continually showing love and great concern for his dog, his horse and his women. He may have been the original outlaw, because theft, trickery and attempted murder seem to be his main occupation.

Good luck hunting down The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, because it is online to read. The Dude is leaving you unlinked though. Why? Hmmm… good question. Until next time. Remember: rats, fire and juice might save your life someday. I learned that if I didn’t learn anything else.