# The origins of conventions in comics/animation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips, comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [March 19, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363 "2022-03-19T23:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/61 "2022-03-25T19:02:42Z")
Surely you mean Lana **Lang**? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/62 "2022-03-25T19:05:47Z")
He said she was foreign, didn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/63 "2022-03-25T19:07:17Z")
“foreign or stupid or very young” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/64 "2022-03-25T19:07:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Surely you mean Lana **Lang**? Yes. My autocorrect likes to post what it thinks I should type instead of what I actually type. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/65 "2022-03-25T21:29:14Z")
Foreign. She was from LanaLand. That whoosh you hear is probably just Superboy taking off. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/66 "2022-03-27T05:06:41Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > For instance, I was just looking at _Superboy_ 102 (January 1961) which was having a flashback to Supertoddler. Toddler Lana Land [_sic_] says: > > “Clark making believe he can fly, but me know the balloons am lifting him in air”. That’s just the Superboy authors’ rather lame attempt at writing a semblance of baby-talk. It’s the same attempt at baby-talk they wrote for Bizarro. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/67 "2022-03-27T05:13:38Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > AFAIK, speeding vehicles that kinda slanted forward were inspired by the way the shutters of cameras recorded them. The image moved across the film as the shutter fell. > [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, that’s what I was referring to. And a lot of phone cameras read out the detector line-by-line, and so produce a similar effect. This is called the “rolling shutter effect” and is the reason pictures of fast-moving objects get very strangely distorted. Here is a video that explains it in detail, complete with lots of examples and slow-motion simulations: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dNVtMmLlnoE/maxresdefault.jpg "Why Do Cameras Do This? | Rolling Shutter Explained - Smarter Every Day 172") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVtMmLlnoE) (Search YouTube for “rolling shutter” to find many more similar videos.) ETA: There’s even an example of the “slanted forward” case: Video of a fence alongside the road taken from a moving car: The vertical fence posts become slanted. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/68 "2022-03-27T10:26:06Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > That’s just the Superboy authors’ rather lame attempt at writing a semblance of baby-talk. Yes, I know that is what they were attempting. But they did it _very poorly_. And as I mentioned, it was widely used in various media. Pay attention to how Tonto talks in old _The Lone Ranger_ episodes—he uses fluid speech and clumsy mistakes in the same sentences. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/69 "2022-04-01T16:10:22Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Search YouTube for “rolling shutter” to find many more similar videos. I think I liked Matt Parker’s video on it better. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nP1elMR5qjc/maxresdefault.jpg "Rolling Shutter Explained on the Cheap") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1elMR5qjc) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363/70 "2022-04-01T17:02:48Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > They are called “plewds”. _Beetle Bailey_ cartoonist Mort Walker identified most of the convetions in this thread and gave them names in his 1980 book _The Lexicon of Comicana_ (Used on Amazon for a mere $200.) Alas, he didn’t get into origins but he did catalog them and give them interesting names. If you can’t afford to buy that book, Walker discusses several of the more important ones in his book **Backstage at the Strips** > **[Backstage at the Strips by Walker, Mort](https://www.amazon.com/Backstage-At-Strips-Mort-Walker/dp/0595089011)** > > Backstage at the Strips \[Walker, Mort\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Backstage at the Strips > **[Backstage at the Strips by Mort Walker (1975) 1st Edition, HCDJ, Comic Strips...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Backstage-at-the-Strips-by-Mort-Walker-1975-1st-Edition-HCDJ-Comic-Strips-/114240491289)** > > Used in decent condition. Backstage at the Strips by Mort Walker (1975) 1st Edition, HCDJ, Comic Strips. Shipped with USPS Media Mail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-conventions-in-comics-animation/961363.md?page=3)