They're In The Army Now

Thursday Story Strip Day.

I have already shown of this forgotten war strip from the forties. I quite like the unspectacular drawing style, which is similar to that of Gasoline Alley or Alley Oop or any of the other strips not following Milt Caniff's shadowy style. But is also slightly more lively and animated and reminds me of Bill Elder's work for EC. The artis is Bill Juhre, who would not sign the strip until later on when the name of the strip was changed to Lem and Oinie.

Oinestly

Thursday Story Strip Day.

Answering my own question a couple of days ago - indeed there was a daily version of Lem and Oinie (and I presume Draftie as well). Taken from the most cumbersome (but free) newspaper site, Fulton History. Together with an article about newspaper strips that does mention Fogerty and Juhre.

In All Oinesty

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

I have shown more of Paul Fogarty and Bill Juhre's Draftie here, but I recently got a few from the middle years. I still can't believe that this rarely seen strip doesn't feature larger in comics history in general of books about comic strip in the war in particular. The only strip I know that comes as close to being a pure war strip is Joe Palooka, who does get all the attenton. Was there a daily run as well and is there anyone who can share some with me?

Soldiering On

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

In the beginning of this year I shared a long run of the war strip Draftie, which changed it's name to Lem and Oinie in 1945. This charming and well made strip is quite unknown. The five samples I have today are about a year earlier than the ones I showed earlier and already the artist (which for a large part of the run was Bill Juhre, despite the fact it was signed by writer Paul Fogarty on his own).

Army Sense

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

A couple of weeks ago I showed some Sundays of the early forties Draftie strip by Paul Fogerty. This surprisingly witty and modern drawn soldier strip was a typical product of the forties, a breath of fresh air between all the strips that were aimed at kids. I never really found out who Pual Fogarty was or what he did before or after this. To further the mystery, from 194 on the strip was drawn by Bill Juhre in a very similar style. Juhre had drawn the daily Tarzan strip in it's first incarnation in 1936 after rex Mason quit the job. According to the Dutch Lambiek Comiclopedia he took over Draftie from the original artist Loren Wiley in 1941, which would make Paul Fogarty the writer rather than an artist. In the late forties he did a strip called The Orbits, which I will show more fully some other day. A very competent artist, I can find very little else about him. The Stripper's guide has a couple of color samples here: http://strippersguide.blogspot.nl/2009/12/obscurity-of-day-orbits.html. You can also find more on Juhre there, such as the fact that the Orbits ran from somewhere in 1946 (maybe ever following the demise of Lem and Oinie, the second name of Draftie) to as late as 1953! As well as a comment by myself about yet another obscure Juhre fact: "There was a Bill Juhre working with Mort Walker as staff artist on the Missouri Showme in 1949. Does anyone know if he was related to this Bill Juhre?" Unfortunately that question has not yet been answered. As of yet Paul Fogarty remains unknown.

Lem Online

Thurasday Story Strip Day.

I do not know a lot about Draftie or Paul Fogerty, except that it was pretty well drawn for it's time, that it ran from 1941 to 1945 and changed it's name to Lem and Oinie in the later years.