photography I b y Bill J e f f r i e s Just Press T h e i r B u t t o n c h r o n i c l e s 1 5 0 years o f p h o t o g r a p h y as r e p r e s e n t e d in comics a n d their graphic The well phrase known 'just precursors. p r e s s t h e b u t t o n ' is reassurance that as Kodak's to buyers o f their early cameras ' a n y o n e c a n d o it' b e c a u s e ' w e d o t h e rest.' In t h e p r e - K o d a k e r a , n o t e v e r y o n e a s The c o u l d ' d o it', as illustrations f o r w e e k l y newspapers, such Illustrated London News reveal by m a k i n g f u n of p h o t o g r a p h y itself, a n d b y s e n d i n g u p its p r a c t i t i o n e r s . T h o s e g e n e r a t i o n s o f readers (from 1850to 1900) would have been presented with the idea of the p h o t o g r a p h e r as s o m e t h i n g akin t o a clown, o r at least as s o m e o n e to whom misadventures with the camera of those carried were not uncommon. Many photographic misadventures over into 20th century comics. The 2 0 0 examples of original graphics exhibition covering in t h e the period 1 8 5 0 to 2 0 0 0 are joined by original comics artwork comics from artists: three David Vancouver Robin Boswell, Konstabaris a n d Colin U p t o n are well k n o w n to comics aficionados. C o m i c s c a n , a n d h a v e b e e n , a n a l y z e d in many ways. The value systems that c o m i c s p o r t r a y a r e a s v a r i e d a s life itself a n d life itself h a s n o w b e c o m e a k e y t o p i c , n o t o n l y in V a n c o u v e r c o m i c s art, JUST PRESS THEIR BUTTON: A HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE COMICS but as in the work of people such Harvey Pekar, in who was the film recently immortalized American Splendor. Even w i t h all t h e a t t e n t i o n recently given t h e various subject areas w i t h i n t h e c o m i c s , it w o u l d a p p e a r t h a t the pervasive presence of p h o t o g r a p h y in t h e c o m i c s h a s n o t p r e v i o u s l y e x p l o r e d in a n e x h i b i t i o n . been It w o u l d b e s t r e t c h i n g it t o s a y t h a t t h e c a m e r a w a s a n early c o m i c s ' s u p e r h e r o , ' b u t p h o t o g r a p h y w a s e a r l y o n s e e n as a 'super tool' in c o m i c s , not only for e x p e c t e d uses such as surveillance, b u t also as a ' p r o d u c t ' conveniently ' p l a c e d ' w i t h comics characters, thereby b e c o m i n g a n o r m a l c o m p o n e n t o f t h e i r lives, as it