Joyville

That's all, Folks!

2011-05-18T09:28:00.009+02:00

Last post, that is. The reason –I think– perfectly understandable: I've decided to get me rich quick and at all costs. I'll need time for that. Once I get it, please contact me! I'd love to share my fortune. Mostly with the 162 google readers, the 99 blog followers and especially those who bothered to leave a comment once in a while. Thanks a bunch to you all, guys! You made Joyville has a meaning. I'll keep the biggest share of the gold for you. In the meantime, take care!

All the best,
Your Host–

The Visitors by John Stanley

2011-05-09T18:22:00.016+02:00

I'm aware of posting a John Stanley's at this point in time –mostly a Little Lulu story, may look a harebrained idea. But it's a thing I've been hoping to do a long while ago and sometimes, all of a sudden, impelling forces emerge we can't fight against. Besides, The Visitors is one of my favorite The Little Lulu stories ever and I think it has not been posted in the blogosphere before. Reasons enough to, right?

I really dig those Stanley's stories without a preliminary statement and, in this ocassion, our man is telling it bluntly. Funny as hell, the boys go on stage en masse to act as a basic manly group: rude, mocking and with a selfishly interest on girls. From the beginning, they can't stop winding Lulu up, and Tubby, like a little Falstaff, shows himself –in a few first panels– as a true artist with words and mockery. I particularly feel attracted to the telephone scene, where a frowned (and polite) Itchy asks Lulu's permission to use the telephone, no matter what she may say.

Here, Tripp proves once again that he was the funniest artist who ever draw a Little Lulu comic. He always trusted in the stereotyped forms, both actions and expressions, as if the characters were subject to the icons they're representing, exactly in the same way Soglow and Bushmiller made aerlier. The message is clearly expounded: it's a stiff, free-of-sophistication cartooning that mixed with Stanley's sharp in writing and sketching create the perfect combination: a high quality kids comic.

The visitors read today, has also a historical/sociological feature: Does anyone remember those old days when not all the houses had a TV set in their living rooms? Is there anything better than watching a 1950s horror movie along with your good old pals?

As always, click on images to enlarge. Enjoy!

And as a coda, two Stanley's original art from Heritage Auctions that my friend Carles Prats emailed me a few months ago:

Sundays on Mars

2011-04-03T11:15:00.002+02:00

Clic!

Interesting links for different readers

2011-04-01T20:00:00.009+02:00

Awesome Frank Santoro's Silver Surfer

I'm not well up in the Tumblr thing, but I'm addicted to La cabaña del Tío Berni, hosted by the guy behind Entrecomics –the best comics site for Spanish users...

... and Nancy Panels. Kind of one panel a day from the huge volume of Ernie Bushmiller's strips.
Despite you may have read them all, bumping into a decontextualized panel without other references than the featured scene in itself sheds a new light on Bushmiller's work becoming a new experience for his readers. (By the way, if I'm not wrong I found out this tumblr thanks to La Cabaña del Tío Berni).

Víctor E. Pazmiño, part two

2011-03-22T18:04:00.025+01:00

There! The second part's laying on the table. Enjoy!

And as a coda to these entry, Pazmiño´s comic strip The Jams from Best Comics #2 (Better 1939):

Víctor E. Pazmiño, part one

2011-03-21T12:45:00.000+01:00

A cartoonist I found out long ago whose work I really dig: a stylized cartooning exploring the possibilities of a new format (that is, comic book in gestation) going fearless from nonsense to grotesque sublimated. Judge by yourself, anyway!

Víctor E. Pazmiño (aka VEP) and his mother Lelia López-1942

Some details provided by his distant relatives Chris Mosher: Bio and Bibliography and Tim Timmons: a post with charming comments.

And Pazmiño at Lambiek

Second part soon!

Bushmiller-esque Christmas

2010-12-23T14:00:00.021+01:00

Hace poco caí en la cuenta que, sorprendentemente, sólo le he dedicado a Ernie Bushmiller un post desde que empecé Joyville. Y siendo, con toda probabilidad, el dibujante de cómics por el que siento mayor aprecio, se me ocurrió que podía enmendar este error antes de que el año termine. Así que, para la última entrada del 2010, ahí van un puñado de tiras de prensa de NANCY que demuestran que Bushmiller siempre tuvo razón: tres rocas son mejor que cuatro, mejor que dos.
Y puesto que se avecinan fiestas, he creído conveniente añadir algunas felicitaciones diseñadas por el propio Bushmiller y así convertir este post en uno navideño. ¡Felices fiestas y todo eso!
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I realized not long ago that, surprisingly, I've just devoted one post to master Ernie Bushmiller ever since I started Joyville. And being a cartoonist highly appreciated to me, it came to my mind that I could amend this misdemeanor before year ends. So I've scanned a bunch of NANCY strips to my this last 2010 post which prove that Bushmiller always was right: three rocks are better than four, better than two.
And since Holidays are just around the corner, I thought convenient add some Bushmiller's custom-designed Christmas cards, and thus turn this post into a Christmas one. So, Happy Holidays blah blah blah to you all! (said it in a Lionel Barrymore's voice)

Schwartz in Fashion: The Tippy Teen Years

2010-11-20T14:44:00.010+01:00

A proof of autorship: Samm Schwartz loves Desly Schwartz

Cuando Samm Schwartz llegó en 1965 a Tower Comics para ser su editor y uno de los artistas de la nueva compañía creada por Harry Shorten, cerraba un fructífero ciclo de 14 años trabajando para MLJ/Archie Comics. Su amigo Joe Edwards le había introducido en la compañía en 1942, un año después de que Archie hiciera su primera aparición en las páginas de Pep Comics, y tras algunos primeros trabajos en el terreno súper-heroico, terminaría convirtiéndose en el artista principal de la serie Archie's Pal Jughead.

Schwartz ya era un autor maduro entonces, había encontrado toda la serie de recursos que debían componer un método propio y reconocible y que con los años iriá puliendo hasta convertirlo en algo instintivo. Ciertamente, en 1965 tenía su propio sello. Y esto en una compañía como Archie, con un pronunciado libro de estilo, no sólo era algo inusual, era también un ejercicio de pura superación. Hubo otros, como Harry Lucey, que lograron soslayar el estigma "Dan DeCarlo", caricaturistas con voz propia, pero ninguno como Samm Schwartz.

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When Samm Schwartz arrived at Tower Comics in 1965 to be editor and artist of Harry Shorten new pulishing house, he closed down a 14 years productive cycle working for MLJ/Archie Comics. His friend Joe Edwards introduced him to the company in 1942, a year after Archie made his first appearance in Pep Comics series pages. Next to some early superhero works, he'd become the main artist of Archie's Pal Jughead.

Schwartz was a developed artist in those days, he had found already a distinctive method of his own by means of a series of artifices that, in the course of time, they ended up turning into some instinctive thing. And this, in a company like Archie -with a noticeable stylebook, it wasn't just unusual, but a self-improvement exercise as well. It was others, like Harry Lucey, who get around the "Dan DeCarlo" stigma, but anyone like Samm Schwartz.

From "Hippily Ever After" Tippy's Friends Go-Go and Animal #12 (1969)

A pesar de que suele ser recordado por su labor en la serie de Jughead (algo que por sí mismo ya le garantiza un lugar en la historia de los cómics), personalmente siento una discreta predilección por la serie Tippy Teen y su spinoff Tippy's friends Go-Go and Animal. Que fueran personajes creados por el propio Schwartz, su efímera duración (no llegó al lustro) o el periodo concreto en el que les tocó nacer pueden ser algunas de las razones que expliquen la magnética desviación hacia esta serie.

Dentro del género de humor adolescente, la serie no aporta grandes novedades -por no decir ninguna. Es otro inventario de la banalidad puber: las vidas de sus personajes son un listado común de caprichos triviales, objetivos interesados, frivolidad y tensiones sexuales enterradas bajo grandes paladas de inocencia cenagosa. Pero la serie nació en el punto más algido del movimiento contracultural y, si bien vive ajena al fondo de los cambios socioculturales de la conocida década de las ideologías, es tal vez en la superflua inclinación hacia los iconos que la representan donde reside la extraña fascinación que despierta. Finalmente, su look no sería tan agresivo como cabría esperar teniendo en cuenta las posibilidades (nunca llega a atraverse con la psicodelia, por ejemplo, como si hace Harvey Comics en Bunny (1966)), quedándose en una lectura ligera que sólo el paso del tiempo ha logrado tranformar en encanto particular.

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Despite he's primarily known for his labor on Jughead series (something that guarantees Schwartz a place in the comic history by itself), I'm discretely fond of Tippy Teen series and its spinoff Tippy's Friends Go-Go and Animal. Amongst the reasons I can find to explain the magnetic deflection to this series are that they're characters created by Schwartz himself, the particular period in which they happened to be born or that they're lasted no more than four years.

Inside the humor teen genre, Tippy doesn't provide any new features. It's another inventory of youth banality: characters' life is a common roll of trivial pursuits, frivolity, ulterior motives, and sexual tension buried under huge spadefuls of boggy naivety. But Tippy was born in the peak of the counterculture movement and, although the series grows indifferent to the sociocultural changes of the well known decade of ideologies, it's in the superfluous bent to the icons that represent them where lies the weird charm it evokes. In the end, the look wouldn't be as aggressive as it might be taking into account the possibilities (it never takes on psychedelia, for instance, as it does Harvey Comics in Bunny series (1966)), remaining as a light reading of the period that just the passage of time has managed to turn into a peculiar allure.

"Mini Happyy Returns" from Tippy Tenn #15 (1967) and "Call Me Lucky" from Tippy's Friends Go-Go and Animal #4 (1967):

Como recuerda Don Markstein en Toonopedia.com, la mayoría de aficionados a los comic books suelen recordar la editorial Tower gracias a THUNDER Agents, una serie creada por Wally Wood. Pero lo cierto es que Tippy Teen fue el título más relevante si tomamos en consideración el total de ejemplares publicados vinculados a Tippy y su mundo.

El número uno de la serie fue lanzado al mercado el noviembre de 1965 y, al igual que otras imitaciones de Archie, no trata de ocultar su fuente de alimentación. En realidad se adapta a la fórmula sin complejos:

"El novio de Tippy, Tommy, tiene una relación similar a la de Archie con Betty, en la que ambos son libres de citarse con otros, y en ocasiones lo hacen. Su mejor amiga, Go-Go West, tiene un novio llamado Animal, y los dos se parecen a Big Moose and Midge, excepto que Animal no es tan posesivo como Moose."

En realidad, el primer número no contiene historias sobresalientes, pero el arte es excepcional y en sus páginas puedes encontrar nada más y nada menos que lo más granado de Archie Comics: Harry Lucey, Dan Decarlo y Vince DeCarlo, Doug Crane y el mismo Samm Schwartz. Suyas son "Wig Warm" y "You've Gotta Have Art":

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As Don Markstein reminds us over at Toonopedia.com, most of the comic book fans usually recall Tower Comics thanks to THUNDER Agents, a series created by Wally Wood. But the fact is that Tippy Teen was the most outstanding title, provided that we take into consideration the issues published linked to Tippy's world in its entirety.

Tippy Teen #1 was launched November 1965 and, like other Archie rip-offs, it didn't mean to hide its feed source. Actually, it adapted to the formula unabashedly:

"Tippy's boyfriend, Tommy, had a relationship similar to Archie's with Betty, in that both were free to date others, and sometimes did. Her best friend, Go-Go West, had a boyfriend called Animal, and the two of them resembled Archie's classmates Big Moose and Midge, except Animal wasn't as possessive as Moose."

While it's true to say that this first 65-pager is packed with run-of-the-mill stories, the art is tops. So, you can find in its pages none other than Harry Lucey, Dan DeCarlo and Vincent DeCarlo, Doug Crane and Samm Schwartz himself. That is, the cream of Archie Comics crew. "Wig Warm" y "You've Gotta Have Art" lies in his hands.

"Wig Warm" and "You've Gotta rave Art" from from Tippy Tenn #15 (1965):

Entre las historias podían verse también apartados destinados a ofrecer las nuevas tendencias en el campo de la moda donde los personajes solían bailar haciendo gala de sus atuendos a la última. Eran secciones regulares donde los lectores podían proponer sus propios diseños a través de cartas al editor. Una especie de Cosplay invertido, como muy bien apunta Tim Hensley: aquí son los lectores quienes disfrazan a sus personajes y no al revés. Podéis ver más ejemplos en Blog Flume gracias al mismo Hensley.

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Between the stories there were slices of fashion trends too where the characters used to dance displaying their up-to-date outfits. They're regular sections where the readers wrote the editor suggesting their own designs. A kind of inverted Cosplay, as Tim Hensley well notes: here the readers dress up the characters. You can see more examples over at Blog Flume provided by Hensley himself.

Schwartz no solía escribir sus propias historias, ya que como él mismo reconocía, le resultaba una tarea agotadora: "Está en tu cabeza las 24 horas del día," decía. "Para mí es mas fácil dibujar a una persona haciendo algo que escribirlo. Después [de escribir] ya no me quedaban energías para dibujar."
En la mayoría de los casos, lo más probable era que otro se hiciera cargo de la trama, dejando espacio para que nuestro hombre improvisara en los diálogos o añadiendo gags que nutrían los fondos de las páginas creando un segundo nivel de lectura.

El estilo de Schwartz presenta una serie de singularidades que, muy a menudo, podemos encontrar reunidas en una sola historieta: desde las posturas elásticas de los personajes a un dibujo simplificado al borde del minimalismo (siempre dentro de los límites de la marca "Archie"), siluetas ("En caso de duda: siluetas"), escenarios planos sin objetos superfluos ni detalles innecesarios, espacios vacíos como fondos, viñetas sin delimitaciones o un entintado que huye del efectismo. A ellas pueden añadirse su maravillosa lectura de las arrugas en la ropa, el modo en que "vibran" los pantalones cuando los personajes se mueven agitadamente o su habilidad dibujando zapatos sin importar el punto de vista.

Obviamente, Schwartz fue un artista nada autocomplaciente: dibujaba, entintaba y rotulaba todas sus historias y su estilo seguiría evolucionando, estilizándose hasta alcanzar la cima mediados de los 70. A pesar de ello, Tower quebraría en 1969 y tras un breve paso por Dc, volvería a la compañía que le vio dar sus primeros pasos:
"El trabajo de Schwartz tras su regreso a Archie fue incluso mejor de lo que había sido antes, liberado por su experiencia en Tower. Empezó inventando gags de fondo más locos y volviendo al estilo de los 40 y 50 no respetando los límites de las viñetas: las piernas y brazos de los personajes sobresalían de una viñeta a otra o se apoyaban en los bocadillos de las viñetas de abajo ." (Jaime Weinman, Something Old Nothing New)

Un trabajo de calidad que tiene garantizada su vigencia gracias a herederos como y su interpretación dadísta tanto el genero como de sus artificos y, de un modo más velado, en los Hermanos Tim HensleyHernández, distinguiéndole como uno de los maestros de comic de humor adolescente.

Las historias que cierran este post son dos buenso ejemplos del arte de Schwartz. Además las dos alucinantes viñestas de la última historia me parecen motivo suficiente para incluirla aquí.

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He did not usually write his own stories. As he himself admitted, it was a tiring tenure: "It's on your mind 24 hours a day. It's much easier for me to draw a person doing something than describe it," he said. "Afterward, I didn't have energy to draw." Chances are that, for the most part, someone else took care of the plot, leaving space so that our man could improvise on dialogs and adding background gags, setting up an alternative reading level.

Schwartz's style has a series of trademarks that, so often, we can find them all in once in just a story: from chewy poses to a simplified drawing on the verge of minimalism (never beyond permissible bounds of "Archie" stamp), silhouettes, scenes without superfluous objects or details, empty spaces as backgrounds, panels without borderlines and an undramatic inking are some of them. There are other valuable features to consider when you try to tell the difference between him and other contemporary colleagues, such as his marvelous reading of the wrinkles on clothes, the way pants "quiver" when the character is excitedly moving or his skill drawing shoes no matter the point of view (no kidding, he was the best on it).

Certainly, Schwartz wasn't an easy-going artist: he pincelled, inked and lettered most of his work, and his style would keep evolving, stylizing, to reach its pinnacle in the mid of '70s. Despite it, Tower'd fold in 1969 and, after a brief spell at Dc Comics, he'd come back to the company that see him started out:

"Schwartz's work after coming back to Archie was even better than it had been before, loosened up by his experience at Tower. He started throwing in more crazy background gags of his own, and returning to the '40s/'50s style of not respecting the boundaries of the panels: characters' legs and arms would protrude from one panel to another, they would stand on the speech balloons of the people in the panels below them." (Jaime Weinman, Something Old Nothing New)

A high quality work that remains in full force thanks to heirs like Tim Hensley and his dadaist interpretation of both the genre and his devices and, in a veiled way, the Hernandez Bros, distinguish him as one of the humor teen comics master.

The last stories ending this post are great examples of Schwartz's fine art. Actually the gasping last two panels of the last one are reasons enough to include it here! Besides, I think that there's no digital copies of this issue on the net.

"Foto Frame Up" and "Whatever Lulu Wants" from from Tippy Tenn #21 (1968):

Interesting links on Samm Schwartz:
Jaime Weinman on his work (the best comments about Samm you can find in the blogosphere to date): Here - here - here - here - here
Original art by Schwartz here!
Joanne talks on his father here.
Schwartz and Little Archie (provided by good ol' Doug Gray) here.
Pictures and stuff here.
Stupid Comics being cruel to the series here.
Another Tippy Teen story -erroneously attributed to Schwartz, IMHO: here.

Gorey Book Covers!

2010-11-20T14:28:00.005+01:00

Click on image to follow the link!

'Nuff said!

via Entrecomics (he perdido el link a la entrada en concreto!)

Halloween

2010-10-30T11:44:00.009+02:00

Animated short by Graham Annable from his Grickle things.
Just watching his drawings one can't help thinking: "I'd like this guy."
via Drawn!

And this one for dessert, because what would Halloween Day mean without screams?

Pretentious Stan And Everything Else too!

2010-10-21T10:45:00.008+02:00

I've just found these two blogs and... well, I love them!
As always, I'm late to everywhere and the most of you will be up on this one already, but just in case you -like me- usually are out of the wavelength, I earnestly advise you to check out this one right now: Lots of kiddie fun brought to us by Karswell "The Horror": And Everything Else Too.

The other blog is the craziest one related to comics I hit myself against lately.
You know Stan? I'm sure you do! No man can serve two masters: Lee... Stan Lee, The Pretentious. Tittle in comics were never the same after his break in the world. Lo and behold the result, hosted by two of the nicest people you can find in the blogosphere: ...LO! And they shall call him... STAN...?

One change, One blog

2010-10-18T08:30:00.003+02:00

Hi there, fellas! This is a short post to announce that this blog ig going to experience a little tweak.

So far, I've been making use of Joyville as a place from where to speak and share some of my interests in comics, peppered once in a while with some of my press works. However, in an attempt to straight the blog up and avoid any future confusion, these last ones will not appear around here anymore.

In exchange I've started another blog, Gabriel Corbera-illustrations, where those few who are interested in my humble work will can follow without problems my adventures in the hard field of illustration. It will be a total pleasure to welcome them.
The rest of you, keep your ears pricked up. More posts on comics and other graphic stuff (but mostly comics!) are on the way.

Thank you all for your interest!

Gasoline for Autumn

2010-10-15T19:20:00.001+02:00

There!

I'm just getting out from these latest crazy weeks crammed with work (of that kind one has to do to live decently), particular obsessions (what would Life be without them?) and a lightning visit to Paris (where I had the pleasure to meet nice and very talented women: Mathyld, Lili Scratchy, Chamo, Delphine Durand: thanks so much for sharing with us a piece of your time).

Luckily, a comic lover always get any time to taste the fruits of the noble art of cartooning. As for me, I gave it completely to reread Frank King's Gasoline Alley (a little part of King's vast volume of work, of course). And it worked like a motherly hug, as it couldn't be any other way!

To tell the truth, the strip was practically a mystery to me before D+Q decided to reprint it. Yes, I had seen before some scraps here and there, but naturally nothing to draw my own conclusions. So here goes my deeply thanks to Jet Heer, Chris Oliveros and Chris Ware, the editors of this gem, because Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Otherwise, one can't help feeling a lively sensation of being a witness to a medium establishing its form and conventions while reading Gasoline Alley nowadays. Frank King amongst other masters had the privilege (and cleverness) to lay comics foundations in order to Cartooning was regarded as a real mass medium: an art with its own, not transferable language.

Comic is necessary elliptical, a "space" where the reader has to fill up the gaps, and so panels (and the gutter between them) turn into the most significant tools in comics. And I was surprised how was King conscious about this matter. Look these comic strips from the early years:

King used to make use of a thin stroke as a gutter to divide the action. The strips were full of chats and trivial episodes such as heating the milk for the baby's bottle, a walk in the mountains or going for a drive, or just changing a tired wheel in the garage, where King enjoyed squeezing all their contents:

When the action took place at night or in a darker spot, King -in a design choice- could change the thin stroke to leave a blank between borders of different panels, and so avoiding black masses overlapped:

But when the action in the strip meant a substantial time warp -less usual than it appears in the series, King could use this separation as well as to make quite clear that time is space in comics:

That was really unusual in these early Gasoline Alley works, but, in a way, it might show us how King was worried for comics form and the way to distribute time into space to tell a story and that comics in 1921 was an art still in the making. So often the tools of an art fall into stereotypes because of time and certain laxity. The recovery of these old gems can help us to remember their real functions, I think.

But if the dailies are a total pleasure to taste trustingly, the sundays are just stunning - and perhaps the only ones which color work dares to rival Little Nemos'. A long while ago Sunday Press run a beautifully-produced edition of Gasoline Alley Sundays collection and, since it's one of the books from my library I love best, whenever I can I recommend it earnestly -mostly bearing in mind it's currently $79 lower . These samples below taken from Heritage are three fine examples of what I mean:

In case you want to see more of these lovely boards, you just have to follow this link to Roger Clark Art site. (Please, check out Perry sundays too, it's worth it as for the color!)

That's all folks! Time has come to get back to some of my left-out-for-a-long-time favorite blogs now...

Where's Krazy Kat?

2010-08-07T10:46:00.006+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

"Not all the notable comic-strips being published today are included in this group. There are some conspicuous absences. Each of the group represents a particular innovations in strips that sets it apart in appeal to mass readership."

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"No todas las tiras de prensa de mérito que están siendo publicadas hoy día han sido incluidas en este grupo. Hay algunas ausencias llamativas. Cada uno de ellos supone innovaciones particulares en las tiras que los distingue por atraer al lector en masa."

Seen over at Rosebud Archives (thanks!)

Stanley "versus" Tripp: an original art

2010-07-15T16:34:00.015+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

This is a 1970 John Stanley 's recreation from Marge's Lulu and Tubby Halloween Fun #6 seen over at Heritage Auctions. Alas! Always short of money...

According to Heritage, it's "taken from a 1957 Dell comic book cover originally finished by Irving Tripp. Stanley added considerable detail missing from Tripp's version". There are substantial differences between them, both in technics and character design. So Tripp's version has the 1950 children's book distinctive appearance so often associated to Little Golden Books, whereas Stanley's freestyle, being much more conventional, does without connections: Witch Hazel's face has a more wicked expression here -actually, the facial traits reminds me Miss McGargoyle's, and Tubby's attitude seems to me more baffling, as if it would contain something's beyond astonishment...

More Stanley's original art here.

Original front cover with Irving Tripp art (1957)

Soglow, once again

2010-07-12T17:59:00.012+02:00

Always come morning

In previous posts I brought here several Otto Soglow's New Yorker works. Time has come for the character that affords him lots of fame and money: The Little King, who else?

These are one-page comic strips from Chip Young's Dagwood Comics series run by Harvey Publising. As always, click on the images to enlarge. Enjoy!

À propos of a Tom & Jerry story

2010-07-07T18:42:00.024+02:00

A tomcat in existential trouble searching for the light

The story I'm bringing here today belongs to Our Gang with Tom & Jerry #56 (1949), a Dell comic series starting at #39 once these MGM characters had definitely settled the early Our Gang Comics series. Finally, the tittle series would change to Tom and Jerry Comics later on #59.

Seems to be the notably excellent Harvey Eisenberg the artist at the bottom of this untitled story in which I can make out some of his distinguishing 1940's traits here and there (shadows, kinetic lines, gaseous shapes and other little details). But don't rely on my opinion by any means, please, since I might be wrong. The story doesn't present neither of the attributes Eisenberg is largely admired for by his hordes of fans. The real reason I've chosen this story among others (beyond who could have done it) is that I really dig it.

It's a shacked cocktail of tasty ingredients such as a startling beginning, an important amount of absurdity and a lively tempo that concedes the right space to every scene. Besides, it has another extra component, a show-me-the-way artifice which always works when the plot requires a bridge to get the rising action: that is, where Tom turns to the Library for help, a long-established plot trick that confers to the story the old cartoons flavor.

Take your time and just read this thing. My mindless ramblings follow...

Yessir! That's what I call a cool beginning. It goes beyond of the mere exposition, it's in itself an unexpected narrative turn which leaves the experienced Tom & Jerry reader baffled and on the alert. Suddenly you realize all the read stories before that moment, every page of the countless pages stocked with numerous frustrated attempts to catch Jerry (and Tuffy) and inflamed violent gags have had an effect on the tomcat's spirit: we got our laughs at the cost of his soul and Tom has been projected into the slackness.

Note how this soulless Tom version is emphasized being compelled to remain "jailed" by a panel series where the point of view hardly ever is altered (a medium close shot without inflections) and how drawing becomes more dynamic on next pages where Tom emerges with a resurrected determination.

Tom, transfigured into a new philosopher, wonders about the Meaning of Life and what is the real reason to chase those damn mice day in day out (isn't that a question we have asked so often while we were watching the series on TV?) Like every good thinker, he tries to get an answer from the books.

Jerry and Tuffy agree to the terms of this imaginative entrance choking back their natural personalities to act as irrational simple mice. The result of that is a comical scene of high voltage. To see them going nuts to catch that hanged cheese piece in such a thoughtless way is just funny! The author has changed the determining factors and the reader is disarmed as a result.

Despite Eisenberg's work is well-known because of his grasp of action and perspective in his shots -a drawing skills Harvey learned well from animation studios, the message in this 10-page yarn is clear: the purity of the content must to prevail above uncalled-for action. Certainly, the art isn't first-rate compared to most celebrated Eisenberg's works, but the poses are clear and effective and avoids outrageous angles the set-up doesn't seem to need anyway.

Tom is very expressive in every thought in this story and a constant change of reader point of view steps him up to his only aim. Actually his initial intentions are on the increase as the plot develops, and so Tom's mood changes from Boredom to Ambition nearly without realizing. All this occurs by means of a precise control of ellipsis reaching its apotheosis in page 7, where Tom's firing Mammy-Two-Shoes to emerge as the home conqueror. That's true since the mice decide to lay aside their puppet role.

At this point, the strip returns to the paradigm, the role of victim is inverted and, as usual, disaster will hang over Tom until the end. So, progressively, the interest of the story is fading away from page 7 to 10, but the essential function of the story has been accomplished and we are ready to read the next one. Another sign that, inside of the limiting rules of the Funny Animal genre, a high percentage of a good story depends on a good opening.

It's Better with Your Shoes Off (part 2)

2010-06-25T19:57:00.016+02:00

Click on images to enlarge

Well, here goes the second part of this Anne Cleveland's cartoon book reporting the japanese way of life from (north)american viewpoint. I love Cleveland's subtlety to get the feeling despite she's working on manifest topics, where she shows herself elegant and funny at once: the pencil stroke looks like a lounge party accompanied by a humor coming out after two shots of bubbling champagne.

Whenever I come back to read it, it reminds me those 50's Hollywood films based on the western attraction to more exotic worlds and the almost-always badly-solved cultural shock of which this book is a fine example. There's another image from this era that strikes me strongly: Marlon Brando pretending to be japanese in "The Teahouse of the August Moon": one of the freakiest moments of the film history! (and, in a sense, a particular methaphor of the 1950 (north)american interpretation of alien worlds).

You can see part one following this link. The pages below of this second part go from 13 to 28. More to come in a (so I hope!) near future.

Enjoy!

Sleeps With Angels

2010-05-27T17:55:00.010+02:00

Howie Post passed away May 21st at the age of 83. From then to now comic blogs have been filled with tributes and memories of his work and person. It's not going to be me who tells you the Post's importance in the comic book history, among the other things, because they do much better:

Craig Yoe 1 and 2.
John K. Stuff
Cartoon Brew
The Fabuleous Fifties
Mark Evanier
The Big Blog of Kids' Comics
Jeff Overtufs
Easily Mused
Cartoon Snap

Of course, I'm joining in with a little contribution, mostly because Post was lately present in my mind. The second story I bring here belongs to Hot Stuff, the Little Devil #19 (1960).

There's no credits about the author of this story, but I assume Post is behind it since he was the main artist of the series and did a majority of the stories, and because he probably created Little Hot Stuff, despite it's officially attributed to Alfred Harvey.

Besides, there's two strong reasons why I've selected this story and not other. The first one is because I really like it, of course.

The other one is because, as I was reading, I couldn't stop imagining that the little devil was, in fact, Howie Post himself in search of a good place to have a quite snooze, whereas we, the readers, were the animals that don't give him a moment's peace. Guys like Post simply made life a little bit more comfortable.

There's no other reason for the first story that it's just amazing in all sense. A kid comic gem indeed.

Giggle Toons from Funny Stuff #40 (1956)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hot Stuff, the Little Devil #19 (1960)

Nancy by Bushmiller

2010-05-26T18:11:00.023+02:00

Popcorns or How not to be eaten by Nancy

We're living days of an outstanding revival of John Stanley's works that are leading him to the cartooning honor position he clearly deserves. There's a lot of grown and kiddy fans all around burning up his stories right away. Among the Dell licensed titles he worked on it's Nancy, an iconic strip created by Ernie Bushmiller.

Bushmiller were mostly a man of ideas who made use of graphic devices to carry them into effect and this precisely took him to become a comic formalist. Actually we could hardly glimpse the man behind the strip.

On his work Repetition to highlight the difference and the Movement reduced to its minimum expression -what seems to happen in the cesura (that is between one panel and the next one) are two of Bushmiller most prevalent distinctive features. While we're reading the strips there's a neon sign above our heads saying Less is More For Good!

On his amazing introduction for Mark Newgarden's book We All Die Alone, Dan Nadel describes Bushmiller as "the ultimate humor architect, (he) was a formalist whose strip sacrificed all content to the daily gag (...) and reality rarely intrudes. Instead, Nancy and friends exist solely to create airtight humorous situations to elicit a reader's quick chuckle before he tosses the daily paper into the garbage". The ultimate humor architect: that's the point!

Looking forward the next decade, I honestly have the feeling that Bushmiller might turn into one of the most comic influential source. Actually, we can feel his impact on great cartoonists of our time, and the near appearance of the collected Nancy strips by Fantagraphics along with Fritzi Ritz by IDW Publishing (edited by Craig Yoe) will launch him to the starry dark blue sky to shine like the closer glittering star. You know, one of those cardinal points we usually take to not get lost on the way.

Below it's just a little aperitif from Ernie Bushmiller's huge talent from Fritzi Ritz #46 (1956) published by St. John, but I hope you enjoy!

You can read much more by Bushmiller on The Magic Whistle, where Sam Henderson is posting lately some Fritzi Ritz strips. Go, look! Don't be silly!

More The Little King by John Stanley

2010-05-15T13:51:00.063+02:00

Love this panel: drawing and colors are just perfect, right?

The Little King was a Dell licensed title that ran along three issues of the Four Color Comics series over the 1950's. That is: #494, #597, #677. For this syndicated strip created by the great Otto Soglow, they relied on one of the big guys of the house, no one but John Stanley. And taking into account the high quality stuff we can find reading these stories, you can tell Stanley was in tune immediately with the character.

His vision of The Little King (TLK) seems to fit into The Tubby archetype (making use of Frank Young's lexicology). And sometimes The Little King sets himself up as an aged Tubby Tompkins.

If you try to think of that megalomaniac and quite narcissistic kid being rewarded with the fulfillment of his deliriums and cravings, that might give you as a result a kind of swallow-planets human being Galactus would be proud of. But instead of this we have The Little King.

Like Tubby, The Little King just is able to hear his own voice and all the tips by the others (The Prime Minister in this series) fall on deaf ears. His ramblings shake the world muffling any chance of reason. He's never satisfied and much less fed-up. Feeling an irrational fear to responsibility, he just wants to live as a child and modifies the reality at his convenience.

But unlike Lulu Muppet's friend, The Little King is aware of his getaway whereas Tubby grants to his reality the grade of unequivocal fact. The Little King is an evader, Tubby subordinates the world. Another great difference between them is that The Little King lacks of Tubby's shades and hidden intentions --or speaking bluntly he's more plain. This difference is likely due to the fact that Tubby has to conquer the world still, while The Little King is an unconscious almighty figure inside the plot.

Anyway, in this detective story you'll see two elements which might be part of a good Tubby story: an out-of-control passion for cakes and a character developing an erratic talent for investigation, where The little King's just about acting as "The Spider".

I've enjoyed regularly this particular version by the man behind the Little Lulu series and always had a feeling that Stanley really loved working on The Little King. Just hope you do as well!

You can see another great Stanley's The little King story here.

Hard Times

2010-04-27T20:16:00.004+02:00

Hey, listen this. It's Frank M. Young speaking:

"Hi folks. I am again sending out a request for anyone who might have some freelance writing-editing-graphic design gigs out there. I know how hard times are for many, many people out there. I am by no means alone in my dilemma.

I currently face the potential of getting evicted from where I now live--an event which can only make my already-shaky situation even less tenable.

I don't ask for a handout. I want to work.

I have a great set of skills, and a great resume. That, apparently, is not enough in my area. Seattle agencies are evidently over-booked with applicants. I apply for job after job, but never hear back from anyone. I realize this is a situation I share with many other people.

If you have, or know of someone who has possible freelance work in writing, editing or graphic design, please let me know.

I hope all of you are faring better in these difficult times. I am very thankful for your interest in STANLEY STORIES, and for your taking a moment to read this.

You can view my online resume/blog HERE. If you have any questions, please contact me."

This blog is devoted to show old comics and interesting links around cartooning and illustration as well as a site to show my latest works with some ramblings, but I think this talented guy deserves this special attention. If I was a prospective client looking for a long experienced freelance I don't hesitate to hire his services. But I'm not, I'm afraid. This is all I can do. Hope it helps in a way--

Things to take account!

2010-04-22T11:07:00.011+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

A rejected cover for Fortune #500 by genius Chris Ware, every day more classical and even so always surprising and terrific!

via Flog

Click on image to enlarge

And the most long-awaited graphic novel to come to me. Wally Gropious by Tim Hensley is on the way!! Click here to download a preview thanks to Fantagraphics staff. Get info and pics here.

And a few things floating on the net I think yo could enjoy:

Click on image to enlarge

An old magazine covers showcase by a lot of great illustrators provided by Stephen Kroninger.

Click on image to enlarge

The little book Dick Tracy from Deadlicious.

Both links via Martin Klasch

Finally, over 800 vintage paperbacks at Vintage Paperbacks & Digests. Browse by author, artist, publisher or genre. It worths it!

via M.O.M.D

Enjoy!

Otto Soglow for The New Yorker

2010-04-12T13:38:00.016+02:00

Click on images to enlarge

Here goes an Otto Soglow's New Yorker cartoons showcase. I don't think necessary to explain who is Soglow and how great is his work, but in case you haven't a clue about him visit wikipedia just to start.

Oh! Yesss! There's a thing a can say about Soglow after all: Otto Soglow (with Ernie Bushmiller) is the most influential artist on my work. Hopefully you'll can appreciate it much better if I get to finish my first graphic fiction someday. Oh Lord!! Help me to!!

Enjoy!

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #5: Doodles Duck (II)-1951: one duck, two masters - Walt Kelly speaking of Howie Post

2010-03-04T13:44:00.006+01:00

Oh, this cruel world!

(You can read the original spanish version of this text here)

On the contrary of what could be expected, the move of Doodles from one author to another happened progressively. I have not read enough Leading (Screen) Comics issues but, if it could be assured that Sheldon Mayer was the absolute author of the Doodles Duck stories for Funny Stuff, one can surely hold that Howie Post did the same for Leading Screen Comics series at least for a year before he left the character once and for all. That is a conjecture, though. Anyway, Doodles is one of those rare fiction characters who was lucky to have at his disposal two artists especially talented in funny animal comics at once.

Not long ago we enjoyed an early Doodles Duck story written and drawn by Post for Leading Comics at Cartoon Snap from which we might draw some immediate conclusions.

Both the brushwork and the soft kindness of the shapes greatly remind Walt Kelly in this story and the artwork quality is pretty above average but, to be fair, he's in a losing position in this comparison. It would also say that his attempt to create a solid world called Toyland inhabited by a clearly-defined character series is a watered down version of that Southland, Okefenokee Swamp, the genius of Kelly created for Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator and all the rest -although Post's toyland is free of that political and social satire typical of Kelly's works. All the same, it was a proposal which moved away from the current conventions that ruled the funny animal genre. Post doesn´t look at all an indulgent artist.

This Kelly influence was left recognized by Post himself in an interview for Comic Book Artist #5:

"My next deal was with DC and I went up there and got myself $15 a page for just illustrating-pencil and ink-and I did this thing called Jiminy Crockett, about a little kid who imagined fairyland things. I used to do the covers and they were beautiful. I used to love doing these carved trees and at that time Walt Kelly was doing comic books for Dell. I used to be an admirer of his and I got some of my technical ideas from him. Somewhere along the line they saw me from over at Dell, and they called me up. Walt Kelly had just sold a syndicated strip, Albert and Pogo (which actually came out of a comic book), and he wasn't going to do the comic books any more, and Dell asked me if I would do it. I said, "Sure, I'd be glad to." They said, "Would you show us some samples of Kelly's style?" So I sat down and wrote, in rhyme, a three- or four-page story about The Wee People, and it was funny as hell and a labor of love. It was pretty and jumpin' all over the page and everything. So I presented it at this meeting with Dell publisher Oscar Lebeck, Walt Kelly, and me. Oscar said, "This is it! You're welcome to work for us." (While we sat there, I kept asking Walt things like, "How do you keep your line so fine and under such control?" And he told me, "When you're making a long line or filling a black, twirl your brush and it comes to a point. The next time you want a fine point, you got it!") I was so proud I said, "I'd love to work for you." I was figuring I'd be making $20-25 a page so I asked, "How much am I going to get?" Oscar said, "We'll give you $15 a page." I said, "$15 a page? I get that working for the Superman people just for drawing; I don't have to write anything for that kind of money." But he said, "This is an opportunity for you and we can give you a bonus at the end of the year." I said, "I get a bonus at the end of the year anyway!" I didn't work for him. I sold him that story and it stayed there. I think that Oscar, Walt and everybody were going to get a cut from my work and I couldn't afford that. I had as much responsibility as they had but they figured that I was a kid and that my daddy was taking care of me. But it wasn't so."

The Pogo Possum series lasted only 16 issues owing to (according to Wikipedia) a discrepancy with regard to the reprint of the first Pogo and Albert stories for the one-shot The Pogo Parade. Anyway, it's hard to resist not to imagine what would have happened if Post had been along with Lebeck.

Post always found himself uncertain about Doodles and the character fell prey into a bog of possibilities where Post was probably guided by his instincts waiting, perhaps, to strike up the necessary conversation between the author and his creature (something that never took place). The changing Doodles' nature is the answer to an unfinished expectant world Howie Post alters as he pleases without premises.

Therefore, in the beginning Doodles isn't a regular duck, but a toy, and the title of the strip is supported by the meaningful subheading "and his Toyland Playmates."

This period will be continued by other much more conventional inside the funny animal genre, a The Fox and The Crow-esque stories: now Doodles' got an antagonist, Buttons, he will have to battle with to satisfy his needs. It's the usual setting; a cottage with all the comforts located in a rural suburb without inflections -the linework Mayer will take up again later.

A bunny, a duck and a home
from Funny Folks #19 (1949)

In the third and last stage, Doodles and Buttons has turned into a pair of homeless fellows being eager to find a job that allows them improve the quality of life and trying not to lift a finger. Outcasts with a wrong idea what working is all about. There's no rivalry between Doodles and Buttons: they're yokemates trying to survive. The only obstacle for their purpose is the inevitable foreman who acts as repressive force.

The stories I bring here today belong to the same year, 1951. Post story ran in the Leading Screen Comics issue #51 of Oct-Nov, Sheldon Mayer's was for Movietown's Animal Antics #35, Nov-Dic. These two stories together let us see the different ways each author had to tackle the strip. In the case of Post the narrative weight falls upon the plot. The acts of the characters are a response to the circumstances, Life come out to meet them and they're compelled to take a decision, not so in Mayer's works: the characters are a victim of their wishes and schemes, they shake up the world surrounding them and suffer as a result of their decisions.The dialog is the prevailing force.

On the other hand, comparing this Mayer story with the first Doodles' he made (see previous post), the artwork makes a great leap forward in quality: there are lively and precise movements all over, but mostly, they're funniest. Doodles has shrunk, adopting a more rounded shape and histrionics is the most commonly quoted value from now on.

Neither of these stories is outstanding indeed, but they're funny and involve the comic skills of two cartoonists on the point of reaching the top of their respective talents. Besides, they're to me the necessary step before the next and last Doodles post. Enjoy!

Click on images to enlarge

Plus, another Post's Doodles Duck story from Leading Comics #23 (1948). That's all, folks!!

2010-02-07T16:31:00.004+01:00

Dear friends and others: I'm working hard these days and I can't update this blog with the frequency I'd like to. I'll try to post asap --hopefully when work slacks off a little. I promise. Please, keep contact! And thanks for your patience.

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #4: Doodles Duck (I)-Howie Post, The Return of Sheldon Mayer

2010-01-10T21:34:00.034+01:00

Being at ease before start

¡Ey, tienes una versión en español de este post en The Teapot Series!

I'm not certain of who created Doodles Duck and, despite Don Markstein from his wonderful Toonopedia points out Sheldon Mayer's Doodles Duck is not connected with the earlier character by Howie Post, in fact they're the same one. Nevertheless, Doodles Duck seems to be a Mayer's character just as Tubby is a John Stanley's.

Perhaps Mayer as editor conceived the character and decided to leave it in Howie Post's experienced hands, a National/DC cartoonist skilled in the Funny Animal genre. But if it would be so, then I think we should acknowledge the conclusive involvement of Post in the first design of the character, since the primeval Doodles Duck bears some resemblance to Plato Platypus, another of Post's characters for Hollywood's Funny Folks, so much so that one would say that Post's Doodles Duck is an unwitting precursor of Platypus.

Plato Platypus and Doodles Duck: first cousins.
You can read two Plato Platypus stories on Cartoon Snap:
here and here.

To date I've just read two Post's Doodles Duck stories, but in both of them Post seems to be as lost as his characters. In the first one (Hollywood's Funny Folks #19, 1949), the equation is quite simple: a grumpy Doodles is talked back by a naive and lucky rabbit called Buttons, and there's a house involved as well. Of course, there's a conflicting trends, but despite Doodles' intellectual superiority above Buttons, he looks destined to fail for keeps. It's the modest plot of a typical funny animal story and Post follows the rule to the letter:

"It was so much easier to do the funny stuff. If you wanted to tell a funny story, you take a rabbit and a pig with a house in the background (which you learned to draw when you were five years old). For a terrain, if you wanted a hill, you drew a curved line. If you wanted it flat, you just drew a flat line. And that was it! It was fast and easy, with the idea to tell the story as simply as possible. In that simplification, you found a great many timesaving devices."

Even so, in the next story (Hollywood's Funny Folks #25, 1950), Post makes an effort and moves away from this diagram. They're a pair of homeless hustlers this time and their relationship is much more friendly. The story has some finds and a surprising ending in which both Doodles and Buttons end up atoning for their clumsiness and getting a beating by the grocer. There's no winner now, but two losers.

I have a feeling Post found in the kooky and erratic Plato Platypus a character whose get along with his artistic needs, pushing Doodles into the background. I'm unaware of what Mayer could see in Doodles and why he decided to take charge of the strip. That happened in Hollywood's Funny Folks #29 (1950). Two years ago, he had given up editing to devote himself body and soul to write and draw his own comics.

So Sheldon was in that very moment an author with renewed energy and an astounding skill to turn uniform plots into little shiny pieces thanks to the strength of the dialogs. And in that miscellany of great funny animal characters who the Mayer's ones have to share prominence with -in series such as Hollywood Funny Folks, Animal Antics, Real Screen Comics, Comic Cavalcade, etc, his stories stand out from the rest with the energy of an artist with a voice all of its own and specially gifted for the sense of humor. Doodles Duck was a lucky bird: he's just found his real author.

If one tries to gaze at all the stories Mayer wrote and drew in those early five/six years, as if it were an imaginary landscape, this one get a glimpse of a vitality and inventiveness really enviable: Mayer and his first love had met again, and from that moment on, every page of his comic production will show itself to be a faithful reflection of this pasion.

I wonder what kind of relationship Mayer and Post had. In a way, both of them are quite on the same wavelength. Their styles have several characteristics in common, even if Mayer's art in those early years from his return looks a little bit stiff.

I like to think they influenced each other. Maybe it was so, who knows. In any case, it's hard to think of two cartoonists more gifted to make the characters do what they have to do in the more comical way as possible.

Somehow or other this mutual influence could be seen years after when Howie Post was working for Harvey Comics along with Warren Kremer and Ernie Colón. Let's take, for instance, Bat Belfry, a shrewd and starving cheat, and compare him with Mayer's Amster The Hamster: both characters respond to the same requirements, are shamelessly malicious, wear top hat and neither of them is a rat, but just about!

Bat Belfry and Amster The Hamster: born to steal your wallet.
You can draw your own conclusions: click here and here
for Amster stories and here for a Bat Belfry one
provided by The Big Blog of Kid Comics.

Already retired, Post remembered Mayer as "one of the best artists at DC! I remember Shelly well! He did some of the most beautiful and humorous stuff. Scribbly was just marvelous and, in fact, Joe Orlando, Carmine Infantino and I honored Sheldon Mayer on what we considered his retirement by giving him a big party at DC and everyone made a drawing for him. It was wonderful."

In this first Doodles Duck story Mayer follows Post's initial outline, I guess hoping to find the hidden voice that Doodles and Buttons jealously treasure. It's just the beginning, but in the short space of a year, Doodles will gain in complexity and visual richness, by then Mayer will have adapted himself perfectly to funny animal style delighting us with a strip full of imagination and fun. But let's put it off for the next post!

The Original Art of Chris Ware

2009-12-24T19:25:00.004+01:00

Click on image to enlarge!

A showcase of Chris Ware's original art just for your eyes. The best after the dinner party!

Wishing you the sweetest and happiest whatever!

via La Cárcel de Papel.

Teddy Bear in Toyland

2009-12-15T20:44:00.015+01:00

Click on images to enlarge!

Hey there!
Here goes my special holidays post. It's a simple-not-silly Teddy Bear story published in the issue 302 of the long-run Dell Four Color series. I love the artwork which could be -according to GCD- by Mel Crawford, a well-known artist owing to his illustrations for Little Golden Books and similar Children's picture books. I assume you all folks are aware of Mel, so I'm not goin' to talk about him. Anyway, whoever is interested in seeing a few Crawford's works he can do it on the links at the end of this post.

As I said before, the story is quite simple (the writer remains uncredited, I'm afraid), but the plot is well woven and, despite it's part of a Santa Claus Funnies issue, it's not entirely a Christmas tale but a spy one.

There are two scenes I like above all the rest. Both ones work in the story as a break inside of the narrative thread. I'm sure you will recognize them at once when you read it.

Crawford (in case this is a story of his own) does a wonderful cartooning practice in both scenes with eloquent details looking for the gag. It's really a nice touch, for instance, when Tiger takes the guard's helmet away before hit him with that club, or when Teddy retraces his steps to take the umbrella in a wordless scene. They're first-class cartooning and provide this correct story with a striking shine worthy of our attention.

I'm sorry for the poor quality of the images. They're from a low-res digital copy. I've tried to get back some of the original beauty with photoshop. The result isn't as good as I would have wished but I think they deserve the effort. Check it out!

And two links:
Mel Crawford blog
Mel Crawford on Gloden Gems

The Little King by John Stanley

2009-12-01T18:55:00.122+01:00

Sing little bird, sing!!

Hey there!
Here goes a really dig story likely written by John Stanley.
I was reading some Four Colors last week when this story, published in issue 494 of the series, (1953) blows into my mind.

Frank Young brought to us the other The Little King story from this issue some time ago. It was posted then on the Stanley Stories blog section "Is This Stanley's Work?"
As usual, Frank outlines the reasons that lead him to think this issue was written by Stanley (in this case in collaboration with Thomas Andrae, a student of John Stanley's work). And, as always, the result can't be other than a great essay. And, despite he considers this work isn't top-tier Stanley, to me it has been, indeed, kinda like a space-flight.

The story opens with a great first panel: The Little King (TLK) sighs while he's watching a songbird. That's a brilliant and very significant touch, since this fine first panel captures the essence of the story with just a few strokes of the brush. Sighing involves the appeatance of an intense desire represented as a window between two worlds. Beyond this Sigh a bird's singing the joy of life outdoors, a Wild World (to make use of a more Emersonian term). What we understand at once is that The Kingdom is a prison for the king.

I bring up Emerson's Transcendetalism not by chance, since it always has seemed to me that there's certain transcendentalist instinct sticking its nose into a great part of Stanley's works -so often hidden by the other Stanley "deviations", such as absurdity and a gloomy sense of the world. We can see several times in many of his stories how the main character goes deep into the woods in search of something:

"A monologue rampant with self-justification and childlike insecurity about status"

They usually are scenes full of life and monologues (Frank would them "Tubby talks"). These solilochies are often a display of the self and the very moment in which the character shows himself. "In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature", quotes Wallace Stevens, and this could be a good statement for this sort of settings, uh? I can imagine a sticker with this sentence as a slogan and a smiling Tubby face in the middle!

TLK storms this world through the window tempted by a flying white kite. Right there is a boy waiting for him. He borrows his kite and, straight afterwards, asks the boy his name. It sounds a little beat rough and naive when he does that. Even more after a phrase like "by the way". I could think of few better ways to introduce a character, but here Stanley shoots at point-blank range. The scene gains all its sense when the boy replies to him: "Everybody calls me Kit".
Stanley gets to the point. Kit is a representation of the childhood, and this is what TLK is longing for. The Kingdom, on the contrary, is a place he wants to leave behind -that is, a fully-grown adult universe and their duties.

The changeable nature of TLK runs wild from that moment on, and we are a witness of a series of funny events that lead him to abdicate the throne in favour of Kit.

An invaluable moment in which The Little King is being influenced by his passions

It's quite surprising how Stanley (or whoever) carries out the story from now on. A king turned into a stray dog is the kind of thing a child would like to read. Here, the fiction opens with a lot of possibilities. "Yes, it's great to be free, as free as the birds-- With no schedules, no appointments, no royal responsibilities".

But, alas, the adventure doesn't go beyond the two first panels. It won't be so easy to free oneself from the old world. Metaphor makes true and TLK ends up in real jail. After that, if I was a kid reader I'd have the feeling adults and their rules are a real nuisance.

What fate has in store for TLK is the real world from now on. A land inhabited by burglars and rogues, where everything has a price and there's no place to take shelter. "If I were king, there would be a few changes made around here... That's for sure!," says TLK when he's just gone out from the prison. And here starts the second part of the story, indeed.

The Littke King untied

Stanley (or whoever) introduces a gang of criminals that follows all the topics of the narrative for kids. They want to conquer The Kingdom, and this threat forces TLK to a third mutation: this time he has to be a hero. Later on, he will be rewarded on the occasion of his heroic service and it all will end happily.

But there's two peculiarities I'd like to highlight before shutting up forever more. The first one is the Chief's megalomaniac character and his tendency to give a speech. Stanley (or whoever) isn't satisfied creating a common criminal and provides him with a clearly-defined personality as well as the right lackeys, Rollo and Roland, giving him a groveling reply. It seems as if he had tried to create a guideline for the future and these characters were destined to appear in the next The Little King stories.

The other one is when Kit, the new little king, proclaims a new law by which the official currency of the Kingdom will be strawberry jelly beans "as of now". In fact, it's a device by means of what Imagination get to rise up against the reality dictatorship. And "as of now", this childlike vision emerges as a "real" solution for the adult troubles. It's a lovely touch and very significant.

A cool law

The art deserves a separate mention. I love the choice of the shot of every panel and the comical gestures as well as the facial expressions of the characters. Quite a feat taking into account the little bit rough Otto Soglow's style. Who is the artist? I haven't a clue, unfortunately. Perhaps Stanley himself? Who knows--

That's all! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. In my opinion this is the kind of works which makes comics and cartooning a fine art! A little masterpice for kids (like you and me).

**
As a final thing:
This story reminded me a little of Seth's graphic novel "Wimbledon Green". I know, in a way, it's tribute to John Stanley, but I wonder if Seth read this The Little King story and, like Thomas Andrae and Frank Young, he also thought it was a Stanley's work--

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #3

2009-11-10T20:05:00.021+01:00

Click on images to enlarge!

Another Sheldon Mayer's session. This time a 6 page Dizzy Dog story from The Dodo and The Frog # 88.
I've chosen this one because I love the Charade scene. I honestly think anybody but Mayer could have drawn it better than him. He captures here the required facial expressions, the gesture's necessary, shifts the full shot to close-up in the accurate time and, when the choppy action stops (that one in what the unintelligible bird pretend to be asleep), Mayer frames that moment within a red and thick border, and you can really feel that peaceful instant. It's just perfect!
You can feel too that Mayer had been in the Fleischer Studios in 1934. But unlike other cartoonists who had worked in the animation industry, he evades graphic excess (far-fetched shots, frozzen expressions, etc) to make the right interpretation of the comic language.
Mayer had a gift for creating characters. This feature is constant in the course of his life and you could find a lot of supporting characters worthy of taking charge of their own stories. Look at this green bird carefully, and you'll find yourself trying to think of his name, his job and his origin. You'll never know, though! Just you can read over the story time and again. What's a total pleasure, in my ever-humble opinion.

Hensley, 2004

2009-11-09T20:15:00.002+01:00

Click on image to follow the link

More Tim Hensley's (cause I know you love him).
Enjoy! For sure you do!

Super-Pop Blain

2009-11-06T19:00:00.008+01:00

Christophe Blain is, perhaps, the best and more influential european cartoonist of our days. I can't think of another contemporary cartoonist working comic ellipsis as well as Blain. He borders on perfection in Gus series (nothing like the first story of volume one to date). Besides, he's a terrific artist.
Some time ago, Wim Lockefeer, well-known by his blog The Ephemerist, brought to us this four page story by Blain paying a homage to Peellaert, who recently passed away, from Forbidden Planet site (where you can read a translation into english). When I found out them searching the Net I just could to say-- WOW! Usually I'm only upload a reference image and link the original source of what I've seen. But, in this case, I couldn't resist to show you everything here due to its eye-catching outcome. I hope Wim will find a way to pardon me for taking the liberty.
Anyway, thanks so much mista'!

The Ultimate Briefer's on Blogosphere

2009-11-06T11:25:00.005+01:00

Now, when Fantagraphics has made the re-edition of all Frankenstein by Briefer public, it's a perfect moment to enjoy some of these stories provided by three different blogs which, I think, deserve your attention in the future, in case you didn't know them yet:

Marc Burkhardt brings us Mrs. Frankenstein from Prize Comics # 26

Comicrazys Frankenstein meets Boris Karload from Frankenstein #11

And finally, Doug Gray showcases Hail, The King from Frankenstein #8

Have a chilling fun!

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #2 - Favourite Stories #5: Funny Stuff #89

2009-10-28T18:03:00.002+01:00

Click on images to enlarge!

Here goes another Mayer's funny animal story.
Yup! Another one! I love how these Mayer's characters have interaction among them. Mayer seems to understand perfectly the individual chemistry that moves the character to do what is doing in the story. All they are indissoluble and develop their fictional personality by means of dialog. They laugh, they get angry, they love them, and as result of that, they grow. This is a particular feature that I think defines Funny Animals best and that bring them closer to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Yup! They're all quite quixotic to my way of thinking. On the other side of the spectrum we could find Tubby. Unlike them, he's a monologuist. He's much more Shakespearian.

As usually, this story has no tittle, but it could have been "Doper than Dope" or some such a thing. Mayer makes use of the classic resort of a guy being cheated because of his naivety and, in some way, because of his aspirations. As always, this guy sublimates his natural instincts of survival to fall into the trap. But Sheldon re-writes this formula like an absolute master and the last scene is the exact, beautiful and deserved last note for this great story.

It seems as if Mayer makes an attempt to move away from the not-written original tittle to look for new ways, letting himself be guided by his instincts or, what is the same thing here, allowing the characters take charge of the story. Just then we find out all they want to be different of what, actually, they are. Here goes another tittle for this untitled story: "How to pretend to be another one".
"Amster", says the frog on page one, "if I didn't know you was a Hamster, I'd swear you was a Rat". In fact, this frog just appears in the story to highlight the displacement of the personality, real leitmotif of the story and, what's more, when you have just read this statement you can't help laughing. The frog just appears in four panels altogether, but when he goes out on the fourth one, we have a feeling wisdom goes away with him.

"I'm you, and you're Skinny," says Amster afterwards when he tries to sweet-talk Bo Bunny. And what's the answer of our simple-minded friend? "I always wanted to be skinny, so here I go!!" Wow! That's Mayer at his peak!
And then, in an unexpected narrative turn, we arrive to the last scene to realize that Skinny's not free to be himself either, since doing what the conscience tells him to, he gives up his own personality: "Don't be silly!" says the little internal voice. "A conscience never stops anybody from doing anything! But we sure can stop you from enjoying it!!" And not even Amster has a lucky escape from this law. Just old Bo Bunny keeps unalterable in the end. Another title for the story? "Foolishness will make us free".

Gold Key Comics!

2009-10-24T20:49:00.003+02:00

On previous posts I tell you about The Big Blog of Kid's Comics. Mykal's restless nature led him to set up a new blog paying homage to Gold Key comics. It looks like he will search every nook and cranny of this publishing house to do the dusting and bring us its gems. In some way I couldn't explain, and despite of all its swell comics, I ever relate the emergence of Gold Key to wretched printing comics because of plastic plates in press and to the extinction of Dell, one of the greatests of all times. The scholar Frank Young, from his blog, explains what I mean better than I could do in this post about Tales from The Tomb #1.
Mykal is on the blogosphere at this time to highlight Gold Key secrets and worths for our rejoicing. Let me give the floor to the author since he's much more ready to say about it:

"No other comic has ever looked like a Gold Key comic. They were unique both inside and out. Inside, the artwork eschewed the muscled, oversized, panel-busting superhero for a stoic realism rich in visual drama.

The stories often felt like tiny slivers of something larger – something serious and earnest - a kind of sweet nod at literature. Outside, the covers were painted, adding to the classic tone. Because of their lavish, magnificent covers, Gold Key comics were the most beautiful comics ever hung in a comic rack.

Gold Key comics and parent company, Western Publishing, gave up the ghost in 1984. Memory of Gold Key is fading. But not here. Join me in celebrating Gold Key comics!" – Mykal Banta.

Follow this link and have fun. I love internet!

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #1

2009-10-23T16:37:00.012+02:00

Now, when I'm still laughing at the witty (and thick) book compiling some of the best kid comics of the history ever and edited by Spiegelman and Mouly, and checking out how Sheldon Mayer takes his deserved seat on this genre, it ocurred to me that I could post some Mayer's because he's one of my favorite cartoonists and I've got a great deal to be grateful to him for every good moment I get reading every of his stories. A while ago we could enjoy a lot of him thank to John Glenn Taylor and I think I could take the wheel and publish some posts celebrating the best of all his facets, IMHO: Funny Animals. My favorite Sheldon stories were ever starred by these antropomorphic creatures, little gems such as Bo Bunny, Doodles Duck, Dizzy Dog, Rufus The Lion or The Three Mouseketeers, and, well... why not to?
So here goes three of them published in Funny Stuff series, but the last one, which belongs to The Dodo and The Frog #80, when the title of the series changed once and for all taking the name of these characters created by Otto Feuer. The other two stories were published in Funny Stuff #76 and #78, respectively. I've numbered this post wishing it turns into the first of a long series. As always, click on images to enlarge-- And now, enjoy!

Coz you can never get enough Nancy

2009-10-20T12:54:00.007+02:00

Sam Henderson from his nice blog The Magic Whistle provides us with some Nancy strips in four parts by the only Ernie Bushmiller when these ones were altered to fit in the comic-book format. The quality of the scans aren't so good as they might be, but it's alway a great thing to enjoy Bushmiller's work under any circumstances or time before Fantagraphics launches the first volume of Nancy strips. You know, one can never get enough Nancy-- Thanks a lot, Sam!
Here's the links: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
You can read more Bushmiller's thank to Easily Mused, Cartoon Snap and I love Comix.

(By the way, try to read some of the gag cartoons by Sam. He'll make you laugh out loud!)

The Big Blog of Kid's Comics

2009-10-17T23:02:00.012+02:00

Here goes a new blog which looks like a swell happening on the blogosphere. Its name says all: The Big Blog of Kid's Comics and let me introduce you its mc, Mikal, making use of his own words:

"When I was a little kid, I loved kid comics. Still do. Kids' comics have the most beautiful art and sophisticated storytelling the world has ever seen. No lie! Kiddie Comics, Bigfoot Comics, Funny Animals - Man, I love that stuff."

Well, what more can I say but I share this feeling in full.
Don't be silly and check it out yourself!

Twooooo Horrors

2009-10-10T15:05:00.009+02:00

The Terrible Take-Over from The Little Monsters #1 (1964)

And Stoofy in Boo Interferences from Tuff Ghosts #38 (1970)

Thanks to Prof. Grewbeard and The Groovy Agent!

A week with Mayer

2009-10-05T12:24:00.005+02:00

Hey! John Glenn Taylor has been devoted the last posts of his blog Easily Mused to Sheldon Mayer's art. Throughout the last week we could read several of his stories. Here's the last one, a Dizzy Dog story with the star appearances of The Crow, Fenimore Frogg and an early McSnurtle The Turtle. Click on label "Sheldon Mayer" at the bottom of the Mused site or here to read all the other ones, and have fun!
Otherwise, Pappy has just posted another Dizzy story from The Dodo and the Frog #80, 1954.
Enjoy!

Frosty The Snowman by John Stanley

2009-09-22T20:21:00.023+02:00

First time I read this yarn I was impressed by the rough, lively art. I like the begining. It reminds me a lot Frank Capra's classic movies, or what's the same, how to describe the town and their inhabitants by means of rejoice and human qualities (just the best ones). And you can be sure that all that crowd outdoors knocking at the Frosty's house-door are full of hope and longing. The first panel of the story it's just amazing. That Little guy could be a kiddy James Stewart dazzled by revelation. And here writer gets to describe the main character in full in just ten pages with suitable ease. I'm not certain to attribute this story to Stanley. But there's two strong reasons that encourage me to:
The first one is the art. There's something inimitable in John Stanley's drawings. It seems be done in a hurry after a long thinking. Characters move in the panels with great self-confidence and convey all what they have to. No more, no less. Stanley had a great ability to provide the most trivial chat no matter when or who with awful zing (Thirteen Goin' On Eighteen proves that) Nevertheless Stanley has been always celebrated by his unquestionable talent for writing and his art pushed into the background. Something I figure The John Stanley Library by Drawn & Quarterly will change forever.
The other reason is this last but one panel of the page ten above (eight here) :)
Please, if I'm wrong I'll be pleased to be corrected! Anyway, I like this story and there's no chance you can change my mind, so don't be afraid of that!! The story belongs to Four Colours #359 (1951).

As always, click on images to enlarge!

Gropius and The Metaphysical Environment

2009-09-16T17:01:00.003+02:00

After the nice report by Dah Shaw, much more about Tim Hensley's art features and their peculiarities by Ken Parille, this time from his very own blog Blog-Flume.

It's Better with Your Shoes Off

2009-09-07T12:15:00.006+02:00

Hey, here I am again.
And I'm coming back with Ann Cleveland's most popular book It's Better with Your Shoes Off. I get an issue a while ago in my first and only-to-date trip to NYC. To all of those who are unaware of Cleveland, Mike Lynch dedicated a great post to her on his blog (in there you'll see the same pages I bring to you now). And here's a text by Tom Spurgeon about Cleveland and the standing of cartoonist women in account of a Heidi MacDonald's mini-essay. She died this past February as The Beat reported at the right time. And in there you can read a little bio by her granddaughter, Ursula. Here's the way she explained it:

"My grandmother died in February 2009 (she was born in May 1916, not 1917, so the previous age was wrong). The Oregonian refused to publish a paid obituary with a cartoon instead of a photograph– yeah, I know, my mother is up in arms about it.
Anne had a twin brother, Van (short for Van Buren; I think that was his middle name), and two younger brothers, Stanley and Harlan. Her father had volunteered as a clergyman in WWI; he died of a blood infection contracted during that time period when Anne was a girl (somewhere between ten and thirteen). Her mother supported the family; she worked at Andover as a house mother for a while, and eventually became Dean of Women at Rollins College.

Anne started out at Vassar as a classics major, and soon switched to art history. (There are several family legends about her ability to identify art forgeries.) At some point she taught a few classes at Rollins; during WWII she worked for the WAC, drawing maps. (My mother has some sketches of Anne’s fellow WACs.)

My grandfather’s name is Augustus R. White; to this day, he says that he married Anne because she was the most brilliant woman he’d ever met. Anne and Gus had two children, A. Tobias White and my mother, Susan (now Susan Whitcher). Gus’s family had lived in Shanghai before the War, and maintained business interests in Japan afterwards; that’s why Anne spent time in Japan (where my mother was born).

I understand that in addition to the books, which one can buy on Amazon, Anne published some cartoons in the New Yorker, but I have not yet tracked them down . . .

Anne & Gus divorced c. 1965. After that, Anne spent a couple of years in New York, battling depression, then moved to Ashland, Oregon. She lived in Ashland until the early 1980s, until she moved to Baltimore to be closer to my mother; she moved back to Portland, Oregon with my family in 1992."

I'll bring you the book in full in succecive posts. The scans belongs to a seventeeth printing, year 1967. As always, click on images to enlarge. Enjoy!

See you soon!

2009-08-13T17:03:00.011+02:00

I'll be out for a couple of weeks or so -no holiday, working hard I'm affraid.
For the meantime here you have a musical anime called Cottonballs from Bigfish TV. My thanks to Harry Naybors, who tells me about its existence. Harry is the host of Comicopia blog -a site you should visit regularly as long as you want to find out about the last in comic blogosphere.

Also, follow these links to have a guaranteed good time:

A new story by Boody Rogers from Pappy's blog: Dudley and the Dumb Belles.

A Superkatt story by Dan Gordon from Dougs' blog.

And a John Stanley's Woody Woodpecker story from 1946’s New Funnies #118 from Thad's blog.

Click on image to enlarge

And something funny: I never heard about Blinky Bill, you do?

See you soon!

Cartoonists & Models

2009-08-08T10:40:00.002+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

Life's report: Ball Point Bathing Suits

via The Beat

Daniel Clowes Interview

2009-08-07T14:27:00.003+02:00

At McSweeney's site.
And kindly translated into spanish by the great host of Entrecomics: El Tío Berni.

via Drawn & Quaterly

Even more Dunc & Loo!

2009-08-04T14:06:00.008+02:00

Click on images to enlarge

And as I promised a while ago, here's another story from Dunc & Loo #2. You can read the first one here and the third one from Pappy's blog here. Enjoy!

Interesting links for different readers

2009-08-03T11:10:00.019+02:00

A pair of posts ago I highlighted the reprinting by Fantagraphics of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy strips. I am really an admirer of these strips such as Bushmiller's writing and art, so I thought it was a great new to share with you. Well, Easily Mused echoes this event and shows us a sample of the evolution of Bushmiller's work. A smashisg trip, despite being so short. They belong to Nemo: The Classic Comics Library # 30 ( April 1989).

And we continue with Ernie Bushmiller’s Fritzi Ritz sundays, which ones were later reformatted and published in comic book form by United Features. That is Nancy strips before her and her pal Sluggo took over the strip. Brought back by Cartoon Snap.

Here we have a Crusader Rabbit story from Four Color # 735 (1956). Art in charge of Dan Gormley. To those who don't know this cartoonist: he was the man who took charge of the art in Nancy series published by Dell and written by John Stanley. Very soon we'll get the chance to enjoy more works of this artist thank to the latest update of Stanley's 1960 works provided by Drawn & Quaterly. As we're waiting, have fun with this story and its brilliant art.

Here a story from Ricky #5 published by Standard Comic provided by Nedor-A-Day blog. Art by Bill Williams, another artist connected with John Stanley (Dunc & Loo, Kookie, Henry Aldrich). He's one of the more amusing cartoonists of all times, IMHO, and one of my favorites. He has a lot of influence on my own work, I must admit! You can read this issue in full on Cartoon Jam!

A nother major influence : Kim Deitch, and his story for Silver Sreen #1 (1974), an issue full of stories starred by the most dark and bizarre Hollywood legends. Deitch's suitable for this job, don't you think? Entrecomics brings us back another story from this issue: in this case the Art Spiegelman's Fatty Arbuckle. How much pleasure here and there I say!

And The Little King by Otto Soglow (1933). No words, just WOW! Well, just a thing: Thank you John Adcock! We want more!

The Original Art of John Stanley

2009-07-29T20:01:00.003+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

Enjoy these two Stanley pieces corresponding to the front covers of Thirteen Going On Eighteen, issues #18 and #21 being accurate, with Paul Tumey commentaries.

From the best blog ever: Stanley Stories, of course!

This is SO GREAT!

2009-07-29T16:57:00.003+02:00

R. Fiore speaking:
"It's going to be like Dennis the Menace in that they're going to be thick little books, and it will begin with 1938, when the name was changed from Fritzi Ritz to Nancy. The first volume will appear next year some time. I wasn't listening that closely because I'm not that interested, but I would assume the publishing schedule would be similar to Dennis."

And Kim Thompson specifying:
"It will and won't begin with 1938. Because we're having a lot of trouble securing a complete (or indee ANY) run of the earliest strips (1938 being when it turned from FRITZI RITZ into NANCY), we'll begin with 1942-1945 (i.e. the second volume), then probably 1946-1949, giving us 2-3 years to send out the word (including a plea to collectors in the first book itself) and try to accumulate the materials for 1938-1941."

Great news from Fantagraphics. All Ernie Bushmiller fans around the word: It looks that will be our year!!

via Comicopia (gracias harrynaybors!)

Crunch!

2009-07-26T10:16:00.003+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

Hey, here you have your breakfast of champions: a short sample of vintage cereal ads with commentaries. Follow this link!

via Bleat

A Blogroll Round-Up

2009-07-23T12:44:00.028+02:00

Click on image to enlarge

August is just around the corner, so first of all two full summer camp issues by John Stanley form the blog Stanley Stories:

Summer Camp #5, 1957: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Click on image to enlarge

Summer Camp #2, 1958: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
And from the same issue some scans provided by Pappy's Golden Age Comics. By the way, this front cover is by Mel Crawford.

Also Pappy's blog brings us a terrific story from 1959's Marge's Little Lulu and Alvin Storytelling Time.

Click on image to enlarge

Here we are two enjoyable gems form the blog Comicrazys:
The first one is a go-go-hey-hey brilliant story by inimitable Walt Kelly from The Pogo Sunday Book, 1956.

Click on image to enlarge

And the second one, from Huckleberry Hound Annual: Pixie, Dixie & Mr. Jinks: Lone Star Hero by Harvey Eisenberg.

Click on image to enlarge

And now, let's see some Hairy Green Eyeball's:
Fisrt of all, several one-page gag cartoons by Chas Addams, this time from The New Yorker 1955-65 Album.
**You can see more Addam's thank to a Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog from Homebodies, 1954.

Click on image to enlarge

Next, samples from a popular magazine of the 1930's: Ballyhoo.
Next, Sam Cobean, The Naked Eye, 1950.
Next, Cartoon Humor, 1952

Click on image to enlarge

And finally, Babysan's World by Bill Hume, 1954.

Golden Age Comic Book Stories again leads us to our Super-hero section with two gems:
Golden Lad #1, 1945 and #4, 1946 by Mort Meskin, and Captain Marvel early stories from Whiz Comics #20 and #22 by C. C. Beck and Pete Costanza, 1941.

We'll see at once two Bugs Bunny stories provided by two grat blog The Greatest Ape and Easily Mused: from Four Color #200 (1948) and Four Color #838 (1957), respectively.

By the way Easily Mused has another great posts which call yo to pay a visit:
Walt Kelly, "Mr Owl and The Atomic Bomb" from Dell's Four Color #148 (1947)

Click on image to enlarge

And an interesting feature about Robert Crumb by Michelle Delio.

And talking about bunnies, here's one of a pretty different kind: Bunny and her psicodellic days from issue #4, provided by Magic Carpet Burn.

We arrive now to the Pre-Code comics nation; we're talking about The Horrors of It All, a dark and beautiful land:
A Basil Wolverton terror story from Journey Into Unknown Worlds #15 (1953): here!
"The Witching Hours!" from Strange Tales #13 (1952): here!
And "Television Ghost" from Mister Mystery #1, a Kurtzman influenced work by Charles Stern: here!

Click on image to enlarge

The first radioactive funny-animal story starred by Piggsy Pig from Kiddie Kapers #1, thank to Cartoon Snap.

Well, arriving to the final stage with:
Today's Inspiration reminds us some Canada's Forgotten Cartoonists: Peter Whalley, Les Norris and Ken Zeeley.
From Cole's Comics blog 9 Angles O'day stories written and drawn by Jack Cole published in Ken Shannon 1-9 (1951-53).
And "Take A Chair", a story by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko provided by Grantbridge Street & Other Misadventures.

Ending, a short report about the first Frankenstein stories by Dick Briefer published in Prize Comics.

Frank's your man

2009-07-09T10:55:00.008+02:00

I didn't expect this awful recession affects him this way! This is happening too often around here and it's touching me too. Bad times for all. But when I read this Frank's pos t on Stanley Stories, I have to admit I was shocked to hear about his awkward situation.
I'm just an illustrator, I know, and if it was in my power -I mean if I was an editor or an adevertising agent or some such a thing, well, I'd rely on him for everything. He has an amazing CV and the best blog ever, he's clever and absolutely talented. There are proves of that all around. You just have to visit all his blogs to know what I mean:

Frank M. Young--Creative Universalist For Hire

Carter Family Comics: Don't Forget This Blog!
Stanley Stories
TrickCoin.net
Musenick!

He has 30 years' experience as a writer and graphic designer and worked in many areas. So, well, If you're reading this and need somebody with experience to do a good work... Hurry up, Frank's your man!

Those Turkey Trot Days

2009-07-06T17:09:00.009+02:00

Sherm Cohen posted some stories from Around the Block with Dunc & Loo #1 a while ago (just scroll down this page to link up them). The story I bring down here belongs to #2 of the series. When I get a chance I'll upload some more story, honest! For the meantime: enjoy the dance thank to Bill Williams' terrific art qualities! As always, click on images to enlarge.

Even more, Dunc and Loo

2009-06-26T17:23:00.006+02:00

More pages from Around The Block with Dunc and Loo #1 by John Stanley and Bill Williams (such an art!).
Provided by generous Sherm Cohen (Cartoon Snap).

Favourite Stories #3: Bo Bunny from The Racoon Kids #56

2009-06-23T17:27:00.028+02:00

Sheldon Mayer no es otro que aquel jovencito que en 1938 rescató de la pila del olvido una tira de prensa que marcaría el signo de los tiempos de los cómics y daría inicio a la edad dorada del comic book. Se trataba de una tira de la que "cayó inmediatamente enamorado" y que hizo llegar a Harry Donenfeld, uno de los editores de National Allied Publications (más tarde conocida como DC Comics), quien por aquel entonces andaba buscando material para un nuevo título que estaba a punto de lanzar al mercado: la serie de cómics se llamaría Action Comics y la tira que Mayer rescató no podía ser otra que Superman de Jerry Siegel y Joe Shuster.

Y si bien este hecho solo ya garantiza que su nombre quede inscrito en letras de oro dentro de la amalgama cada vez más ingente de hombres y personajes que pueblan la historia del noveno arte, Sheldon es poseedor de otros muchos logros que merecen ser señalados y que justifican que sea una de las figuras más sobresalientes y respetadas tanto como editor, como autor de cómics.

Así, Mayer editó y participó en la creación de personajes tales como Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman o Wonder Woman, y lanzó las carreras de autores de la talla de Gardner Fox y Alex Tooth.

En 1948 abandonó sus labores como editor para "dedicarse de lleno a dibujar cómics" (Wikipedia), y Mayer empezó a escribir y dibujar varios títulos durante este periodo, de los que hay que destacar Sugar and Spike, una serie protagonizada por dos bebés que tienen la habilidad de comunicarse entre ellos y cuyo Baby Talk el adulto es incapaz de interpretar (una especie de Rugrats primigenio). El primer número apareció en mayo de 1956 y la serie quedaría interrumpida en 1971, tras 98 ejemplares publicados, debido a los problemas de visión que padecía Sheldon.

Podemos decir que, como autor, Sugar and Spike es su creación más significativa junto a la semi-autobiográfica Scribbly, The Boy Cartoonist.
Este personaje apareció por primera en Popular Comics #6, título publicado por Dell Comics antes de que ésta se convirtiera en un gigante industrial, al tiempo que seguía con su labor de editor junto a M.C. Gaines, de quien se podría decir que es el creador del formato del comic-book al tomar parte del material que se publicaba en los periódicos y adaptarlos a las dimensiones de la página de comic-book. De hecho, uno de los primeros trabajos de Sheldon Mayer para Gaines fue precisamente hacerse cargo de estos "retoques".

Sheldon dejó sus tareas de escritor y dibujante debido probablemente a la estresante tarea de editar una larga lista de populares títulos, y la "carrera" de Scribbly como prometedora figura del cartooning se vería interrumpida en 1944 en el número 59 de All-American Comics, aunque renacería en 1948 con su propio título.

La única excepción durante este periplo de frenética labor editorial la constituye Funny Stuff #5, un ejemplar de 52 páginas escrito y dibujado enteramente por Sheldon Mayer y altamente valorado hoy día por coleccionistas de todo el mundo. Este insólito número nació de la urgencia de Sheldon por volver a dibujar cómics y casi parece un desesperado intento por reencontrarse a sí mismo y su verdadera vocación. Sheldon justifica su "capricho" en el interior de la portada de este modo:

La historia que os traigo aquí pertenece al trabajo de Sheldon que más admiro y valoro (su ciclo como autor de Funny Animals) y salió publicada en The Racoon Kids #56 (1958). Su inspirada e imaginativa carrera como creador de funny animals produjo criaturas como Doodles Duck, Dizzy Dog y mi favorito, Bo Bunny (siempre acompañado del carismático Skinny Fox).

Me encanta el principio de la historia. El diálogo entre los personajes resulta jovial y ágil y da vuelcos de sentido constantes, pasando de una reflexión espontánea a otra más filosófica, para acabar en el absurdo. Es un guión agudo y meditado pero que se desarrolla sin la intención de parecerlo, mientras que las facultades de Sheldon como dibujante de funny animals están ya claramente desarrolladas, y yo diría que en su apogeo. Un gran conjunto que sólo puede producir placer y alegría. Haced click en las imágenes para aumentar.
Espero que lo disfrutéis!

Estos son algunos links que os pueden parecer interesantes si queréis saber algo más sobre Sheldon Mayer y su trabajo. Por supuesto, hay muchos sitios donde podéis encontrar más información al respecto, los que añado aquí son, simplemente, mis preferidos:

-Otra historia de Bo Bunny y Skinny Fox perteneciente a Funny Stuff #64. ¿Tal vez la mejor Funny Animal Story que Sheldon escribió y dibujó? En cualquier caso una historia que deberías leer.

-Y aquí un asombroso texto escrito por Frank M. Young para el blog TrickCoin.net, en el cual repasa la carrera y milagros del autor a la vez que nos muestra 6 páginas (las mejores en su opinión) publicadas en el mítico Funny Stuff #5. Imprescindible!

-Y aquí una historia de Scribbly, que John Glen Taylor nos presenta desde su blog Easily Mused.

Around The Block

2009-06-22T17:55:00.004+02:00

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More scans of Dunc and Loo by John Stanley provided by Sherm from Cartoon Snap.
Anyway you can get more samples of this series clicking on "John Stanley" tag.
Enjoy!

Stanley, Kelly, Bradbury & Something Funny

2009-06-09T13:09:00.008+02:00

Thad Komorowski provides us an Andy Panda story by John Stanley from New Funnies #79 (1943). According to him: "I’m uncertain if this is Stanley’s first Lantz character story, but it has to be one of the earliest. I also like how Charlie’s sex isn’t taken into account throughout this whole story."

Our dear Doug Gray brings up to us with "Down With the Sea and Ships", a Pogoless story by Walt Kelly from Pogo Possum #10 (1952)

A hilarious story from Giggle Comics #67 (1949) satarred by Fremont Frog in charge of Jack Bradbury. Thank to Pappy.

A short 4-page tale from Spellbound #3 (1952) credited to the writer Hank Chapman, artist unknown. Somtehing different indeed. Thank to Chuck Wells (and Steve Banes).

Clowes' Cover Art

2009-06-08T13:05:00.005+02:00

We could see this Daniel Clowes' cover recently for The New Yorker magazine and that's always an enjoyable experience for our eyes. Clowes' cover art has a large well-known growth, and the ever awsome blog Entrecomics offers a really dig proof of this: click here and here: that's a journey to all Eightball covers, the comic book series by this cartoonist. Here below some samples. Thank to El Tio Berni!

Click on images to enlarge:

Cole's Comics

2009-06-08T12:46:00.003+02:00

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Hey ! Jack Cole has a new blog devoted to his person and work.
All you want to know about this great cartoonist with rarities and interesting, learned commentaries by Paul Tumey. Check it out!

Cats & Christmas

2009-06-04T13:51:00.000+02:00

A lot of Art Deco posters.

via Cool-Mo-Dee

Gropius is close

2009-06-03T11:26:00.006+02:00

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Go get handsome, Wally! Your first collected comic stories book will be launched soon!
Is The Flush Bobby Soxer the tittle for this book? Maybe a chapter? Only Tim Hensley knows.
By the way, click on image: it's worth it. Not joke.
And on Blog Flume you'll see the work process of this picture. Check it out!

Cartons d'apprentissage de la lecture

2009-06-03T09:46:00.003+02:00

Click on images to enlarge

From Agence Eureka a lot of images to learn how to speak french with a good pronunciation. Joy for your Eyes and Ears.

Interesting links for different readers

2009-06-02T16:48:00.025+02:00

From Today's Inspiration:
An interesting report about the new book published by Drawn & Quaterly: The Collected Doug Wright, Vol. 1.

Click on image to enlarge

From Golden Age Comic Book Stories:
Again with Chas Addams: this time Monster Rally samples. And, as always, a great experience!

Click on images to enlarge

From Hairy Green Eyeball:
Works by Jefferson Machamer, Reamer Keller and Jack Markow from Cartoon Humor #51 (1952).
And They'll Do It Every Time by great Jimmy Hatlo (1943).

From Cartoon Snap:
Don't loose the chance to meet Axel and Cam, a robot story from Popeye #26 (1953) by Bud Sagendorf.
And here a beat experience: Beat Nick and Lola by Mort Drucker.

From The Fabuleous Fifties:
Yogi Bear sundays of 1961
And from Frankenstein #29, two short stories by Mort Meskin. Ger is redescovering for all us this cartoonist's works.

from The Horrors of It All:
The Face from the Future from Black Magic Vol. 1 #5 (1951) or beauty feels attraction to the dark side.

Click on image to enlarge

From Easily Mused:
Thirteen one page Donald Duck stories by Bob Karp and Al Taliaferro.

Click on image to enlarge

From Comicrazys:
Huckelberry Hound Treasury: Huck builds a house.

And finally, from Plenty 'O' Fun:
Havig A Party: art on napkins. The artist? Who Knows?

Billy likes Milk

2009-05-28T17:01:00.002+02:00

Musician Billy Kelly speaking: "I'm making an animated video for my song 'People Really Like Milk'. This is all I've done so far. It took 12 years."
It shows promise as a funny thing! We hope not to wait another 12 years to see the entire movieclip.

via Children's Illustration

Joyville

That's all, Folks!

The Visitors by John Stanley

Sundays on Mars

Interesting links for different readers

Víctor E. Pazmiño, part two

Víctor E. Pazmiño, part one

Bushmiller-esque Christmas

Schwartz in Fashion: The Tippy Teen Years

Gorey Book Covers!

Halloween

Pretentious Stan And Everything Else too!

One change, One blog

Gasoline for Autumn

Where's Krazy Kat?

Stanley "versus" Tripp: an original art

Soglow, once again

À propos of a Tom & Jerry story

It's Better with Your Shoes Off (part 2)

Sleeps With Angels

Nancy by Bushmiller

More The Little King by John Stanley

Hard Times

Things to take account!

Otto Soglow for The New Yorker

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #5: Doodles Duck (II)-1951: one duck, two masters - Walt Kelly speaking of Howie Post

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #4: Doodles Duck (I)-Howie Post, The Return of Sheldon Mayer

The Original Art of Chris Ware

Teddy Bear in Toyland

The Little King by John Stanley

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #3

Hensley, 2004

Super-Pop Blain

The Ultimate Briefer's on Blogosphere

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #2 - Favourite Stories #5: Funny Stuff #89

Gold Key Comics!

Sheldon Mayer's Animal Gang #1

Coz you can never get enough Nancy

The Big Blog of Kid's Comics

Twooooo Horrors

A week with Mayer

Frosty The Snowman by John Stanley

Gropius and The Metaphysical Environment

More interesting links

It's Better with Your Shoes Off

See you soon!

Cartoonists & Models

Daniel Clowes Interview

Even more Dunc & Loo!

Interesting links for different readers

The Original Art of John Stanley

This is SO GREAT!

Crunch!

A Blogroll Round-Up

Frank's your man

Those Turkey Trot Days

Even more, Dunc and Loo

Favourite Stories #3: Bo Bunny from The Racoon Kids #56

Around The Block

Stanley, Kelly, Bradbury & Something Funny

Clowes' Cover Art

Cole's Comics

Cats & Christmas

Gropius is close

Cartons d'apprentissage de la lecture

Interesting links for different readers

Billy likes Milk