Lining the walls of “The Argus” office, bound in dusty books, are previous issues of the 128-year-old newspaper. Once in a while, we draw in-spiration from the old editions of
“The Argus.” Throughout this year, we thought it would be interesting to, from time to time, show students glimpses of what IWU’s newspaper looked like before they were here.
“The Thoughts of Herbie Kerky,” drawn by C. Pale, was a reoccurring comic in “The Argus’ ‘ that featured the figure Herbie Kerky, presumably a student on the campus of IWU. This particular comic, which appeared in the October 15, 1971issue of “The Argus,” shows Herbie contemplating IWU Homecoming.
The comic reads: “Then they decide that there won’t be any floats in the Homecoming parade. Parade without floats, agh, that’d be like SAGA without any lettuce. “And what’s worse they voted to make Homecoming a minor event. It just won’t be very exciting now. It sort of loses its spirit.
“A minor event without floats, hmm, I think I’ll sleep late that day!” 41 years ago, IWU students were disappointed by the lack of Homecoming festivities. Now, there’s no parade with floats, or without.”
A large sign in the bottom right corner of the comic reads “THINK BLAH.” I interpret the sign to be commentary on how the comic isn’t depicting a situation. Other comics that this cartoonist has made feature Herbie commenting on a situation that’s also presented in the comic. Because this was a complex idea that, through description, required most of the cartoon area to convey, Pale inverted their commonly used trope.
This time, they decided to use the situation to provide commentary on the thought. The “THINK BLAH” breaks the fourth wall by describing what viewers might think about the comic.