Nice To See Ya!

Friday Comic Book Day.

Hving shown many goodies from the British Film and Radio Fun magazines, I have saved the last for best. These will mean more to British readers than to American (or Dutch), but I think the one and two page gag stories featuring famous British comedians are great even if you don't know who they are based on. In an earlier lot I already shared the more familiar Benny Hill and Terr-Thomas, but here are three other greats of British radio and television (and occasionally movies): Tony Hancock, Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth.

Hearts And Finds

Thirsday Story Strip Day.

I first read The Heart of Juliet Jones in a Dutch newspaper weekly that reprinted several American comic strips (inlcuding Steve Canyon, Rip Kirby, Boner's Ark, Tiger and Hagar). Listing them just now makes me suspect that all or most pf those strips were from King Features. Anyway, all we done from their start and all included Sundays in color. When Juliet Jones was reprinted by Classic Comic Press (and you should get them all) my biggest disappointment was the fact that they could not include the color Sundays. The Sundays had a seperate storyline, so they were not missed. But they were also beautiful and a book of those would work form me. Possibly even in the tabloid format recently used by IDW for their exemplary Beyond Mars reprint. Anyway, I do not have the Sunday Juliet Jones complete and infact the majority of y samples are from the late fifties and early sixties. But here are some of the earlier ones I do have (and check the link for more and nmore complete runs in black and white). Onlt two three tier versions here, which seem to indicate that at that period the middle panel was dropped for the tabloid version (as with Pogo).

The Inbetweeners

Wednesday Advertising Day.

Here are some black and white ads I have been wanting to share for some time.

The Campbell's ad looks as if it could be by jack Betts, only a bit more realistic. Maybe a collaboration? The Tootsie ad is one in a long, long series that just has never been listed anywhere properly. I hope my leaving them here willy nilly will someday help someone compile a titled list. The Dr, Lyon's and Kylonos ads are by the great Frank Robins. I have more and in color if you follow the link. The Smith Brothers ad is either by Gill Fox or Dik Browne and the Pepsi Cops Ad is by Mal Eaton, one in a long line of artist to take over the series from Rube Goldberg.

Bluffer's Guide

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

ere are some more British comic pages. These are from Knock-out, the ame magazine that published Billy Bunter Sporty is the more familiar of the two, because it was published in Dutch as well. But I like the blustery Barney Bluffer as well. And they say Stan Lee had a habit of always using alliterating names...

Quick Quips

Monday Cartoon Day.

Last Saturday I showed a remarkable series of one page gags from the British magazine Film Fun. Today I have just one page, filled with one panel gags based on reader's jokes, possibly by the same artist. For me this style brings back a lot of memories...

Born To Be Tamed

Sunday Meskin Measures.

Next up is a very dramatic romance story by Meskin from Young Romance #61.

Dream On

Saturday Leftover Day.

The British magazine Film Fun had all sorts of funny and adventure strips based on famous charcaters, movies and television series. For many years, they carried a British drawn version of the Laurel and Hardy characters, which were quite dull. To make them even more dull, until well into the sixties the text was put underneath the illustrations as well. That might work for adventure stories, but for humor it was terrible. In the idfifties more and more strips about famous (radio) comedians were added, maybe because the similar Radio Fun was doin gthat as well. Any way, it lead the way to an exciting run of a not very well collected weekly m rroughly between 1957 and 1962. You will find strips with Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper, Norman Wisdom and Terry-Thomas, which were often drawn by the best of British comic art as well. I already shard som eof those strips and I am rpeparing more. But in the meantime, here is a short feature that ran in Film Fun, which is either a strip version of a (radio) panel show in which famous guests made up their dream stories OR it is a comci version of an imagined panel show that never really excited. But with caricatres of the panel members, Norman Wisdom, Petula Clark and Charlie Chester.

Oh, The Horror!

Friday Comic Book Day.

I am selling my Timely books on Ebay at a slow and steady pace. At the moment I have the first of a few lots up with my Marvel Tales issues from the fifties, Timely's golden age of horror. Among them is a very poor book, without a cover even. So I am showing it here in full, not from my own scans, but an online copy, with the cover.

I particulary like the odd styles that were allowed in these books. Among comic book historians there was the idea that EC was the only company that allowed their artists to use their own style, but in fact it was mostle DC who had a strict visual editorial policy. Stan Lee got his art everywhere and he liked it (or didn't care) if every story looked different. He also allowed artists to sign their work, although he apparently didn't mind if they did not want to.

Followers of this blog know I am a huge fan of the mid fifties work of Gorge Tuska. This story shows all his strengths. In fact, both the theme and it's handeling suggest that this could be a Stan Lee story, who like working with Tuska. But teher are no other hints supporting this. Stan Lee wrote in batches and there are no other Lee stories surrounding this job number.

Martin (or Marty) Rosenthall was a comci book artist with a very small output. Among fans he is best known for working alongside Ross Andru and Mike Esposito on their selfpublished titles under the MikeRoss imprint, mostly inking Ross Andu and signing as Thall. In an interview in Alter Ego a couple of years ago, he told the interviewer he had even invested in their company with money he had gotten from his mother.

Chuck Winter's style is just plain weird. He was not suited to very much except horror comics and even then only in limited doses. He was a graduate from the Iger shop, where drawing abillity does not have been the primary requisite. Steven Thompson mentions that he was a jazz age advertising artist and he may have gotten back to that. There are no credits for his work after the fifties and also no mention if he is still with us or not. probably not, because it seems he was an older artist by the time this story was made.

Tony DiPreta deserves a book of his onw, so varied and long lasting was his career. He is now mostly remembered for his run on joe Plaooke from the ealry sixties onward. But before that he did all sorts of stuff, including a long run as a regular on Gleason's crime comics of the forties. But the work he did for Stan Lee and the atmospheric style he adopted for this, is the most inspired of his career to me. And at least it looks most like a personal style.