Question

text 1
in the years following world war ii, german reporter
manfred schmidt began to encounter american comics for
the first time. his response: \horrid.\ to parody this medium
he despised, he published a comic strip in 1950 featuring the
action - packed adventures of a middle - aged, pipe - smoking
detective named nick knatterton. the comic became wildly
popular, and schmidt reluctantly continued producing it until
1959, when a complete psychological block made further
strips impossible.
text 2
at manfred schmidts death in 1999, the frankfurter
allgemeine zeitung declared, \there is no more important
german comic - book artist ... with a significance we are only
today coming to recognize.\ over twenty years later, nick
knatterton continues to impress with its abundance of detail,
each page overflowing with action, physical comedy, spy -
movie gadgets, puns, and even political commentary.

based on the texts, how would manfred schmidt (text 1)
have most likely responded to the views expressed in text
2?
a by arguing that they are correct in their
broad strokes but fail to highlight the
features of his work that made it most
distinctive.
b by agreeing that his work had reached a
level of sophistication that earlier
american comics had not been able to
reach.
c by conceding that, though nick
knatterton was excellent, some german
comics produced between after 1959
had likely surpassed its quality.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option against the texts:

Analyzing Option A:

Text 1 says Manfred found American comics "horrid" (he disliked them). Text 2 praises Nick Knatterton (his creation) for its excellence. Option A says he'd argue American comics are correct in broad strokes but miss his work's distinctiveness. This fits: he disliked American comics (so they have broad strokes issues) but his work (Nick Knatterton) had distinctive features (per Text 2: "abundance of detail, movie gadgets, puns, and even political commentary").

Analyzing Option B:

Text 1 shows he disliked American comics, so agreeing his work matched their sophistication (which he disliked) is illogical. Eliminate B.

Analyzing Option C:

Text 1: He stopped producing in 1959 due to a psychological block. Text 2 praises his work's quality, but there's no info he'd concede German comics surpassed American post - 1959. Eliminate C.

• Option A aligns with Text 1 (Manfred disliked American comics) and Text 2 (his work had distinctive features).
• Option B is illogical as Manfred disliked American comics’ style.
• Option C has no textual support about German comics surpassing American post - 1959.

Answer:

A. By arguing that they are correct in their broad strokes but fail to highlight the features of his work that made it most distinctive.