Hark! A Vagrant: The Satire Behind the History Lessons
By Kate Beaton
Hark! A Vagrant is an 166 paged satirical adventure through some of history’s and literature’s most memorable moments. Kate Beaton, a fashionable cartoonist for the New Yorker, uses her sarcasm and wit to poke fun at a variety of societal issues. Beaton narrates her comics by adding her personal thoughts at the bottom of most pages, occasionally adding a brief refresher of a historical event, questions that are intended to provoke food for thought, and/or a continuation of the joke in the comic itself. This book is a collection of short stories- ranging from just a six panel on a single page to a multiple panel and page comic. Characters, setting and plot changes for each comic chronicle told, but all of Beaton’s comics are drawn in grayscale.
Although we live in a digital era that offers a vast range of colors, nothing screams a classic comic like the black and white strips we used to read in the morning newspaper. Kate Beaton’s use of consistent grayscale throughout Hark! A Vagrant allows that comedic element to really shine through without the distraction of colorful elements. We see her background from the New Yorker influence her illustration style throughout this book. Using markers that differ in stroke weight depending on the pressure applied, each frame presents a unique quality to them and further communicates the different experiences of the characters and their moods. Instead of creating a designated text box for character quotation Beaton uses text bubbles with varying weight to fill the unillustrated portions of the frame to deliver that satirical slap. Her style is simplistic and well balanced, thus no one frame appearing to dominate the page.
The transitions of Beaton’s comics are fairly consistent throughout all of her stories here. With every illustration and text bubble confined within its respectable frame we primarily encounter moment to moment and subject to subject transitions, running into scene to scene progressions every so often. Most of her comics require little closure, making each short story an easy to follow, quick read. Although Beaton provides some information to the historical reference or piece of literature she’s joking about, some reader involvement and background knowledge is required to fully comprehend the point she is trying to get at.
French Revolution Comics:
Another common theme seen throughout this comic book are sub-stories within the overall topic Beaton is joshing about. Take French Revolution Comics above as an example. The historic event she is poking at involves both specific events (Madame Lamballe’s head on a spike) and generic behaviors that were common during that time (accusing the innocent), but the two stories do not relate as one. Beaton’s illustrations are simple and almost childlike. Despite having a scribbled aesthetic her attention to facial detail and expression is what helps nail the satirical message. It is clear cut and concise that each character’s expression matches their commentary in the text bubbles around them.
Although Hark! A Vagrant is a comic book looking backwards in time, Beaton makes it apparent that history does indeed repeat itself and a number of ridiculous norms back in the day are still applicable in today’s society.
Great Gatsbys:
Kate Beaton’s Great Gatsby is one of her longer comic stories, and one of my personal favorites from the book. Beaton takes different perspectives as well as symbolic scenes from the book and applies modern day commentary and attitude to the interactions. The crude humor of this historically emotional read displays Beaton’s talent in calling out unnecessary sentiment or drama. The frames seen above are her classic moment to moment transitions, and they benefit best this way due to only using three frames per scene. Furthermore, Kate Beaton takes us back in time by effectively illustrating the styles popular of that time.
The simplistic style and frank commentary of Hark! A Vagrant is a comedic lesson covering some of the most influential moments of history. An excellent read for any history guru.
