Marty Links
Marty Links. “Marty Links.” Ragged Claws Network,
2013,https://raggedclaws.com/tag/marty-links/. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.
Cartoonist Profile
(detailed overview)
Marty Links was born in Oakland California on September 5, 1917, and died on January 6, 2008. She moved to San Francisco where she grew up eventually marrying her high school sweetheart Alexander Arguello. Links was drawn to his sense of humor. Her husband eventually became the governor of California. Together they had two daughters Victoria and Elizabeth, one son, and six grandchildren. Alexander died after being married for 25 years in 1966 and Links died of heart failure at an assisted living facility in San Rafael in 2008.
Links attended the San Francisco Fashion Art Institute for six months and flunked out. Links’ family could not afford to send her to any other college. Links felt there was no way to teach art especially what it took to be a comic artist. She did not have much training when it came to artwork but that did not stop her. She then went to work at a local department store painting murals for around the city. In 1940 she began drawing for the “Women’s World” department. She then started drawing ad campaigns, for fashion companies but they said her drawings were not what they were looking for. They told her “This is not what we want. These kids look more like bobbysoxers.” (Click for image of bobby soxers fashion) This gave her an idea for her comic strip. At first, Marty Links was rejected by her first syndicate because she went to an in person interview at the age of 19. They told her she was too young to fill the job. She was very upset. She eventually went to the Chronicles, and they took her. By the year 1946, she had created over 600 cartoons.
In 1944 her first comic strip by the name “Bobby Sox” was launched in the Consolidated News Features. A couple of years later she changed the name from “Bobby Sox” to “Emmy Lou.” Links said the reason for the change was because the term Bobby Sox was getting outdated. The comic strips she makes are about a 14-year-old girl trying to figure out the world. Emmy Lou is the main character and a couple of her friends show up throughout the strips along with her father. Marty Link’s “Emmy Lou” was not only just put in newspapers, but it also had a book created after it. Also, the character Emmy Lou was put in episodes of animated television shows. In 1960 Emmy Lou was in Shirley Temple’s Storybook,” 1971 in “Archie’s TV Funnies, and 1978 “In Fabulous Funnies.” Eventually, as the years went on and her comic strips were reaching new generations, Marty Links began getting hate from feminists. They were saying Emmy Lou should not be waiting around for a man. They said she is “perpetuating a custom that’s been going on for generations and that it is wrong.” Marty Links responded to the hate mail explaining the cartoon strip is inspired by her teenage daughters. She reached out to the people who sent her letters saying she was sorry, and she sympathized with what they were trying to say. Links also expressed how she wanted to bring in an African American girl into her cartoon strips, but her syndicate was against it saying they would lose a lot of papers in the South. Marty Links said after putting more thought into it, she put an African American girl in some of her cartoon strips and Links did not lose any followers. There were no negative comments about it. Marty Links worked hard to adjust her strips to remain with her young target audience while generations were changing. Emmy Lou ran until 1979 when Marty Links decided not to make it anymore. Her kids were all growing up, so she felt out of touch with teenagers. After her husband died, she felt lonely, so she joined a desk job at her friend’s card-making company. Links worked at the card company for serval years until eventually she created her own line of greeting cards. Near the end of her career, she worked for Hallmark illustrating cards, and then retired in 1999.
1 on 1 Interview
(analysis/summary)
The interview talks about the beloved comic strip and its creator, Marty Links, and provides a very insightful overview. Marty Links is 30 years old but has the ability to stay in tune with exploring social issues and grabbing the attention of the readers while remaining true to her central themes. The popularity from the readers of her comic strip shows she is able to connect to not only connect to older generations but also younger generations. Marty Links, the creator of the Emmy Lou is not only known for coming up with catchy comics but is popular for her unique art skill.
The interview touches on her inspiration for coming up with the popular comic strip. Marty Links is able to stay in touch with the younger generations through her kids and their friends. She has three kids, one boy and two girls. She mentions her kids will be getting ready for school and she will stop them so she can draw their outfits. She enjoys having bright printed outfits in her comic strip to help counter dull or plain elements. It also adds to the teenage aesthetic she is going for.
Marty Links addresses some challenges she has faced. One of the challenges was potential resistance from her syndicate. Emmy Lou is nationally syndicated. It is published all over the country, but in order to keep these deals she has to stay true to her central themes. Emmy Lou is based on a 14-year-old girl but over the years, she remains 14, so Marty Links is faced with the challenge of having to keep up with the changing generations in order to hit her target audience. She is saying teenagers seem to be becoming more independent. For example, being able to travel around the world by themselves or with friends instead of with parents. In her time, she would never think to do that. She has to remain in tune with the generations by reading magazines, watching the news, or being around her children and their friends.
She also talks about people becoming upset with her content which in turn makes her syndicates upset. Not only does Marty Links have to stay in tune with changing generations, she has to stay in tune with changing norms and be more inclusive. She had resistance from feminists saying Emmy Lou should not have to wait around for a boy. Marty Links tried to combat this by making gags about social issues or current events. She said she wanted to make a comic strip about Vietnam but because her theme of Emmy Lou is a teenage girl exploring the world, Links could not incorporate it. It was too heavy of a subject. Links emphasizes staying true to the same ideas because she has to hit certain target audiences.
Next Links was asked by the interviewer if she works with anyone. It is common for many popular comic artists to train someone to draw in their style. For example, Disney has trained people to draw in their style so they can produce more content. Links explained she did not want anyone copying her style, so she has not trained anyone. She mentions her drawings are very simple but are unique to her. She does have a teammate who will outline her drawing to help her produce more. She says sometimes she has to plan weeks in advance if, for example, she wants to go on vacation. Her teammate will help her come up with gags so she can put them out in the newspaper. Links said her strategy is to plan ahead and sometimes do work on the weekends so she can get ahead and have less work during the week or take the weekend off and cram the work to be done through the week. Links jokes by saying a cartoon strip artist’s work is never done.
She ends the interview by saying she enjoys being able to bring a smile to people’s faces when they read her strips. The interview leaves the listener with a new appreciation of the challenges a comic strip artist may face along with the journey it took to get there.
Comic Strip Profile
Marty Links. Emmy Lou. December 5th, 2022. Link:
https://www.gocomics.com/emmy-lou/2022/12/05
This comic is a simple but detailed one-panel comic. The way Marty Link draws her characters, tall and lanky looking is the way she used to draw for fashion advertisements. That style of drawing is the reason she got into comic strip drawings instead of staying in the fashion industry. Her bosses did not like it and said it looked like bobby socks. The comic looks as if it came out of a newspaper. The artist also made this cartoon strip in black and white but drawing great detail in the image. Links make sure the background images such as the closet door or lamp on the table are also stretched out look to match the way she drew the characters. The cartoon depicts a teenage girl from the late 1900s. You can tell this because she is still using a landline and the style of clothing she is wearing is similar to that time period. It depicts Emmy Lou talking on the phone. The father walks by and tells her no he will not put the phone in the closet for more privacy. This comic strip is unique because the writing is on the outside of the frame. There is no speech bubble pointing to the character talking; there is no description either saying the father is talking. There are only quotation marks around the wording. The creator put the word “not” in italics to emphasize that the father will definitely not put the phone in the closet. The reader can tell who is speaking because of the facial expressions of the character. Marty Links depicts the father with his mouth open and a stern look on his face. His feet are pointing away from his daughter, but his head is turned. This makes it seem like the father is still walking as he is answering her question. He doesn’t need to put any second thought into his answer. The artist does not put any of the images outside of the frame. This draws the reader’s eye to the picture first then the words at the bottom.
WikiData Profile
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6777473
Marty Link’s Wikidata page shows surface-level information about her life and work. The page is broken up into 21 different blocks each with a different heading. Each of these headings are level 1 question a researcher might ask. These include birthdate, death date, grave site, occupation, and more. Under each of the headings is a block that tells the answer and a reference to where the answer was found. For example, the block heading says, “country of citizenship” and the answer says United States of America. There is not a story to describe where in the United States or how long she lived there. The missing pieces to the Wikidata page are the substance. This is the story behind each of the basic questions. For example, yes it says the country she is a citizen of, but it doesn’t say she was born in Oakland California, and at a young age her family moved to San Francisco where she grew up and learned how to paint nearly by herself. She only went to art school for 6 months before she started painting murals. The Wikidata set is a great way to find the basic level questions and answers about Marty Links. It shows where to start researching and the direction to head but it does not tell the deeper story of why these are the answers or why she is where she is at. To make it richer, images can be added of her work or of her story. More than one-word answers can be added and deeper questions can be asked such as why did she move or why did she get into being a cartoon strip artist.
TimelineJS: (Marty Links)
[timeline src=”https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cGeoOvKe-JKjRw5TolHi3gIbf3DAc2p6NP4BnEX37qI/edit#gid=0″ width=”100%” height=”650″ font=”Default” lang=”en” version=”timeline3″ ]
TimelineJS is a visual and interactive timeline showing the life of Marty Links and her cartoon strip “Emmy Lou.” The timeline tells Links’ story from when she was born to when she died. Each slide consists of a heading, a detailed explanation of the event happening at the moment, and a source of media to go along with it. Some slides include an image while others include a short video. At the end of the timeline, in the conclusion slide is a video of Marty Links being interviewed. It is unique because the readers can see how Marty Links talks about her own cartoon strip. Not many cartoon artists have an interview of them talking about their own work. Some interesting information in the slides to note is Emmy Lou, the main character in the cartoon strip, was animated and put in some TV cartoon shows. One of the shows she starred in was “Archies Funnies.” It was interesting because, in the show, the creators kept the same artistic vibe and features as Emmy Lou would be depicted in a Sunday cartoon strip. She is still depicted as this tall lanky girl just as Marty Links would have drawn her. They also try to depict similar actions and events Emmy Lou would do that Marty Links would draw. Another highlight of the timeline is the evolution of the style Emmy Lou wears. When Marty Links was still creating strips for “Bobby Sox” the main character wore clothing that reflected the time period. Same with her hairstyles. As time went on and “Bobby Sox” became “Emmy Lou,” Marty Links changed her style to match the times. Instead of having Emmy Lou in a long skirt, she may have been depicted in a shorter skirt. Along with changing the clothing style, she also began to change the way Emmy Lou acted in the strips. Marty Links received hate mail from feminists saying Emmy Lou should not be waiting around for a guy to call her. Marty Links responded respectfully to the mail and changed up some of her strips. She told the people she did not mean anything by having Emmy Lou wait for a man. Links explained the strips are inspired by the teenage children she has at home. Some gaps in the research are at the beginning of Links’ life. There were not many time stamps or information on things she did such as painting murals or dropping out of college. As the creator of the timeline, I had to estimate the correct dates for those events. Also, there was not much information on Links. There were multiple websites I looked at but most of the websites said the same thing. I had to do deep digging to find little details. Some information I found in videos and others in newspaper articles. Overall, I hope the audience can gain an understanding of who Marty Links is and the cartoon strip she created. I also hope the audience can appreciate cartoon artists more so that when they are reading the Sunday newspaper, they think of the artist behind the strip they are reading instead of just reading the strip.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cGeoOvKe-JKjRw5TolHi3gIbf3DAc2p6NP4BnEX37qI/edit#gid=0
Conclusion
(why read comics?)
It is said that Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the people but, in reality, Karl Marx should have said that comics are the opium of the people. Karl Marx believed religion reduced people’s immediate suffering and provided them with pleasant illusions which gave them strength to carry on but, in reality, that’s what comics do. They provide a great illusion for people. Religion tells you how to think, and comics inspire thinking. Comics can influence the readers to not only think a certain way but to begin to think. Comics have been used in every political campaign, every military campaign, and every propaganda campaign. Storytelling through laughter and entertainment opens people’s minds to think and consider. When you start to do those things, you can begin to challenge the status quo of professional message delivery. If you look at comics throughout the various generations, you can see that socially and culturally they have had historical impacts. By studying comics from different eras, you can get a chance to see what people were thinking and what the people in power wanted people to think. To digest comic books, it is more than just looking at pop culture. They are more than just entertainment. They are more than a laugh or a read on a Sunday morning. They are influencing and leaving a legacy of change. Looking at all the comics throughout generations, you’ll see the way the work was thinking. Religion as Karl Marx famously said might have been the opium of the people, but the history of the people can be seen through reading comics.
Marty Links is just one example of a cartoon artist who was able to do this. Marty Links has proven herself to be a popular cartoonist who was able to stay in touch with generations of readers. Despite facing the challenges of staying in touch with generations and potential resistance from her syndicate, she was able to address societal issues while keeping her audience engaged with humor. Her connection will resonate with readers of all ages for years and years to come.
Created By:
Student Bio:
Kylee Lewandowski is an undergrad student at the University of Richmond earning her major in Rhetoric and Communications and a minor in Entrepreneurship. She is on track to graduate in the spring of 2024. Lewandowski over the course of a semester worked to inform readers about the cartoonist Marty Links and her work “Emmy Lou.” Lewandowski helped to teach readers about a cartoonist that is not usually talked about but still made a big impact in the cartoon strip world. Lewandowski felt it was important to teach others about someone successful but less popular so readers could appreciate cartoon strips and cartoonists.
SOURCES:
“Day at Night: Marty Links, Cartoonist (‘EmmyLou’).” YouTube, 23 Nov. 2011, https://youtu.be/hiaXZvFWS5c?si=J201FNuznRFQd58P. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Drucker, Johanna. The Digital Humanities Coursebook : An Introduction to Digital Methods for Research and Scholarship / Johanna Drucker.Routledge, 2021.
Links, Marty. “Emmy Lou by Marty Links for December 05, 2022.”GoComics, 5 Dec. 2022, www.gocomics.com/emmy-lou/2022/12/05.
Markstein, Donald D. “Bobby Sox (Emmy Lou).”Don Markstein’s Toonopedia: Emmy Lou (Bobby Sox), www.toonopedia.com/emmylou.htm. Accessed 23 Sept. 2023.
“Marty Links.”Lambiek.Net, 1 Jan. 1970, www.lambiek.net/artists/l/links_marty.htm.
“Marty Links.” Wikiwand, www.wikiwand.com/en/Marty_Links. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Rc. “Look Here, Read An ‘Emmy Lou’ Sunday Strip by Marty Links.” Ragged Claws Network, 11 Aug. 2016, raggedclaws.com/2013/04/26/look-here-read-an-emmy-lou-sunday-strip-by-marty-links/.