Bob an' Weave

Saturday Leftover Day.

I have shown Klaus Nordling's work on Lady Luck and The Barker. But that was not all he did. Like all major Quality artists he had different series in different titles. He had Shot and Shell in Military Comics and Bob and Swab in Hit comics and probably more. I had always assumed that he only worked on one strip at the time and that he dropped all his other series when The Barker got going and got it's own title. That may still be the case, as I am not that familiar with the Quality titles' timelines. But here is a very late installment of Bob and Swab (from Hit #64), that shows all of Nordling best qualities. The fancy splash image, the Eisnerial composition, the pretty dames. All the work of a great talent.







But my absolute favorite series is Pen Miller, cartoonist detective in Crack. I looked one up especially for you. This is from Crack #50. Okay, it's a simple story, but the figures and the composition are splendid. Lok at the way Pen Miller and his assistant literaly walk out of the story. Now that's smart.

The Navy's Answer To Fokke and Sukke

Saturday Leftover Day.

As far as writing your own stuff, solid storytelling and giving it all a sense of fun, Klaus Nordling could hold his own against his contemporaries Will Eisner and Jack Cole. Whenever I see one of hi stories I am amazed he didn't achief ore fame during his life. Of course, none of his heroes struck a cor with the audience as Eisner's many creations (culminating in the Pirit) and Cole manic hero Plastic Man. Instead, Nordling gave us the impressive, but ultimately failing Pen Miller, Bob and Swab, The Barker and Lady Luck. Three of those I have shown as much as I can, but I see I have underrepresented Bob and Swab. With a name that was taken from a sexual quicky favorite with sailors, they were as adult as this sort of strips could become. maybe that explains their lack op appeal? Although Nordling is known to have written his own stories, these two characters have not been originated by hm. Earlier stories wre drawn by someone named Ginger and even in this batch there is one that seems to have been done by someone else. Jack Cole expert Paul Tumey once even found one that seems to have been done by Jack Cole - which you can find if you fllow the link to his excellent blog.