A New Medium
The Periodic Inscrutable by Arthur Trope
Arthur Trope
One of the more striking images Artie came across in the Bhimbetka rock shelters was the faded ochre representation of multiple hominid hands on a cave wall, all but one of which is reaching toward a roaring fire, while the remaining hand reaches away, presumably having burned itself. This is surely one of the earliest known examples of comic self-portraiture, as well as what today would be called Schadenfreude, and anticipates the following ten thousand years of interplay between tragedy and comedy. In these panels, Artie seems to be empathizing with the plight of the Stone Age cartoonists, filled with artistic ideas, but not yet able to fully explore their medium. –Ed.
Arthur Trope
