After having tried out this blog thing for the last couple of weeks, I have decided I like it. I know which times are good to upload and which are a crime. I have installed a counter so I know how many hits I have. So now it's time to get some sort of structural order into this mess.
I see some bloggers use a theme approach to some of the days. Michael T. Gilbert has Lady Luck Fridays, Arf Forum has Wonder Woman Wednesdays, etc... since I have so much great stuff to choose from, I have decided to devote every day to specific theme.
Monday will be cartoon day. I will explore the rich world of magazine cartoons from the fifties (and sometimes forties and sixties). That will mean more cartoons from people such as Mort Walker, Johnny Hart and Brent Parker. But I have also been gearing up for a couple of surprises.This will include a look at Jack Cole's cartoon career with many unknown early samples.
Tuesday will be humor strip day. Continuing my look at rare and unjustifiably not reprinted comic strip art from the fifties and early sixties. I have a few more P.T. Bimbo Sunday (although my stash is running low), early B.C., maybe some early Wizard of Id, Brent Parker's forgotten bureaucracy strip from the seventies, a Jack Cole Betsy and Me Sunday that was not reprinted in the 'complete' edition by Fantagraphics, early Beetle Bailey, more of Willie Lumpkin (thanks to Angelo) and Stan Lee's other comic strip adventures.
Wednesday will be advertising day. My interest in the company of Johnstone and Cushing has lead me to scan and collect a lot of advertising comic art, as well as 'educational' and 'promotional' comic books, which will be fun to share.
Thursday will be adventure strip day. Up till now, I have been concentrating on cartoon strips, but my interest in the 'realistic' artists of the fifties is just as big. I will start by finishing my run of Jeanie originals, including the complete strips for August and September 1952. After that, who know where we'll go. As always, I will be concentrating on stuff that's not been reprinted.
Fridays will be comic book story day. I will start with comic book stories by the artists I have been covering up till now, but waiting in the wings are Klaus Nordling's The Barker, the funny one-pagers done for the Quality books by Jack Cole, lots of great stories from the fifties by Gene Colan and a look at the depressing war books from Atlas Comics (the later Marvel).
Saturdays and Sundays will be for mopping up and maybe trying out some new stuff. For instance, there are several Dutch newspaper strips I would like to translate and share with you. I also want to delve into such subjects as the silent strip, comic strips reportage's and magazine illustrations by comic book artists.
As you have noticed, I tend to branch out from a few interests into others. My love of Dik Browne has lead me to Gill Fox. Gill Fox has lead me to Klaus Nordling. From Klaus Nordling to Jack Cole is just a short jump. Brown and Fox both worked for Boy's Life, which also has great material by Craig Fleissel, Lou Fine, George Evans and Tom Schreurer/Sawyer (boy scout strips, biographies and other infotainment) and John Collin Murphy, Irv Novick and Bernie Krigstein (illustrations). As well as cartoons by Busino, which may mean nothing to most readers, but has a great nostalgic connection for me.
Anyone who wants me to try and find something else from that period should not hesitate to ask.
Because I wouldn't want to leave you without a nice illustration, I am uploading a advert from 1948 by an unknown artist. It could be Chick Young, the artist who drew Blondie (which at that point was it it's absolute best, as I will show one of these days). But it could also be an artist (such as Gill Fox, but there are more who would be capable of doing something like this) imitating his style. Some of the slicker aspects of this ad make me suspect the following.
It's this ad, by the way, which made me realise how much Dan deCarlo's style owes to Young... just look at the cartoony side view of the female in this strip. DeCarlo made a living from that profile alone (although he did add some attributes of his own).
Aug 19 1948:
2 comments:
Good stuff as usual Ger.
And I like your "restructing" idea. If you ever want to do a cross blog theme with me in something related to precode horror (for example: you do a funny Jack Cole story and I'll do a scary one) just let me know... me and Pappy have been trying this out lately and not only is it fun but it seems to generate some nice new traffic back and forth.
Yeah,
At the very least we should plan a Jack Cole week. I don't know how many more of his horror strips you have, but I can provide some as well.
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