Thursday, July 28, 2016

A Darker Shade

Thursday Story Strip Day.

In the forties Chad Grothkopf did a series Sunday pages called Famous Fiction. I have shown quite a few of these, namely the Alice in Wonderland and Ali Baba adaptation. Those were in a variation of his 'funny' style, which he later simplified to use in comics and for the Howdy Doody newspaper strip as well. But he also had a 'serious' style, whch he used for his earliest comic book work and the Sunday edition of True Comics (where he was only one of many artists contributing). So here is part of a story he did in the serious style. A remarkable artist with a remarkable career.

7 comments:

Alberto said...

Ger:

The artist on these pages is not Chad Grothkopf, but Baryé Phillips, better known as a paperback cover illustrator.

Have a look at my blog

http://alberto-s-pages.webnode.it/news/barye-phillips/

for detailed information about Phillips, who Drew the following sequences of Famous Fiction:

The Murders in the Rue Morgue - 23 July 1944-27 Aug 1944.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - 3 Sept 1944-8 Oct 1944.

A Midsummer's Night Dream - 15 Oct 1944-5 Nov 1944.

Arabian Nights - The Fisherman and the Genie - 12 Nov 1944-17 Dec 1944.

Hansel and Gretel - 24 Dec 1944-28 Jan 1945.

Treasure Island - 4 Feb 1945-25 Mar 1945.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - 1 Apr 1945-20 May 1945.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor - 27 May 1945-15 July 1945.

Huckleberry Finn's Trip Down the Mississippi - 22 July 1945-9 Sept 1945.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - 16 Sept 1945-4 Nov 1945.

Aladdin's Lamp - 11 Nov 1945-30 Dec 1945.

The Minotaur - 6 Jan 1946-1946.

King Arthur - 1946-19 May 1946.

Best,
Alberto

Ger Apeldoorn said...

Thanks! I am always surprised how you know these things! Thanks for the link. I never knew you had a website!

Ger Apeldoorn said...

By the way, I did not know how to contcat you quickly, but have a look at my Charles Raab stuff. I have some samples of the series he did for one Sweet Sixteen. I also have a set of army newspaper cartoons he did, which I was keeping for my book on the Sickles/Caniff school. But I can send them to you when I am back from my trip this week. Hey, maybe we should work together on a proposal for such a book.

Ger Apeldoorn said...

About Raab... based on the story in Western Fighters and his work on the Charlie Chan comic I wonder if he isn't the mysterious 'button nose' inker in some of the Prize Comics westerns (and other Prize titles). There is a ysterous inker there, who is clearly int he Caniff/`Sickles school. Sometimes I have thought it might have been Leonard Starr, but he is a bit too good for that. Raab seems to fit (and may even have been one of the inkers on Carmine Infantino's Charlie Chan as well).

Alberto said...

Ger:

I'm very much interested in your Caniff School project and would like to contribute if I can. Please show me those Raab samples... You still have my email, don't you?

Best,
Alberto

Alberto said...

Ger:

I have just posted a detailed profile of Chad Grothkopf on my blog, here:

http://alberto-s-pages.webnode.it/news/chad-grothkopf/

Best,
Alberto

Ger Apeldoorn said...

I'll contact you as soon as I am back from my holiday trip and can get to the saved mails.