Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine

2008-05-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 309

"...hungrily lap my blood…"

The writing in this Sheena story from Jumbo Comics #93, November 1946, is a really good example of purple prose. Deep purple! The artwork is by Robert Webb, a workhorse for the Jerry Iger shop.

Queen Darma of the Dawn Race (and that's what they call themselves, apparently realizing they're not evolved) looks like she could use a 55-gallon drum of hair remover.

It's very silly, but great fun from Fiction House.

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2008-05-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 308

The Filler Brush Man

I wonder if anyone has ever counted how many individual DC Comics cartoonist Henry Boltinoff appeared in. When I was a kid in the 1950s reading DC he was in every single issue I read. For years he was the filler artist for DC. Boltinoff, who died in 2001, sold me some of his original art years ago. There was an ad in Comics Buyers' Guide from Mr. Boltinoff, three pages for $25! A real bargain. He sent me a couple of full-pagers, and a "Cap's Hobby Shop" entry, all from 1960s comics.

Studying Henry's original artwork showed me he was a meticulous craftsman. Nearly every neatly brushed line is worked over in white paint to make sure it looked as smooth as possible. He probably didn't need to spend that much time on it, but he did. He was a true professional in every sense.

If there's anything else I can say about these examples from my 1940s Batman issues, it's that the gags themselves aren't laugh-out-loud funny, but more like mildly amusing. His work is very appealing, though, and someone thought it was funny because he made many sales of single panel cartoons to prestige publications like Saturday Evening Post. He also did syndicated panels in newspapers for years.

The example on the top of this page is from Batman #37.

Batman #53:

Batman #54:

Batman #55:

Batman #56:

Batman #57:

Batman #58:

2008-05-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 307

Oona Goosepimple's Uncle Oaf

Of all the postings I've done for Pappy's the one with the most blogosphere buzz, resulting in links to this blog, has been Pappy's #269, which featured the Oona Goosepimple story from Nancy #175. Who am I to go against the vox populi and what the public desires? Here's an Oona story from Nancy #170, September 1959.

As with the previous posting, it's written by John Stanley. Even if I didn't tell you, you'd know by the huge OW! when Nancy runs into the light pole.

2008-05-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 306

That ol' black magic has me in its spell…

Poor Gar Macon, pilot, coward. He's doomed to repeat his mistakes. Most of us wish for a chance to go back and undo something we've screwed up, but in this case Macon gets to do it again until it undoes him. "Vengeance of the Living Dead" is from Fawcett's World's Beyond #1, 1951, the only issue of that title. It became Worlds of Fear with the next issue.

The artwork is by Bernard Baily, a fine golden age artist who contributed some of the best and most gruesome covers ever for horror comics. His abilities show in this effective and creepy story.

Speaking of doing things over, I'm going back to work today after having a week off. I get to do the same thing I've done every working day of my life for three decades. Having the week off gave me the ability to post to Pappy's every day. It was fun, but now I'll be going back to my usual three-a-week schedule.

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2008-05-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 305

Zoo Zoo Zsa Zsa

David Miller provided these scans from his copy of Ajax's Madhouse #1, June 1957. Thanks, Dave!

The story is a satire about Zsa Zsa Gabor, her two sisters and their mom, who were a band of Hungarian immigrants to the U.S., eager for publicity, fame and fortune. Just in case you haven't ever heard of Zsa Zsa, you can read about her here. Long before Paris Hilton was a celebrity with no discernible talent beyond standing in front of cameras, Zsa Zsa created the template by which no-talent people can be in magazines, newspapers and television. It's the trick of celebrity: she was famous for being famous. It's fitting for Paris Hilton to emulate her; they're related. One of Zsa Zsa's many marriages was to a Hilton.

The artwork in this story is by the Jerry Iger studio, and it's probably a reprint from the 1954 Madhouse series, also by Ajax. Whew. It gets tough keeping track of all of this. The references to Tooloose Latruck are to the 1952 John Huston movie bio of Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge, starring José Ferrer, and featuring Zsa Zsa as Jane Avril.

2008-05-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Number 304

The Gunmaster

Gregory Gayle is Toni Gayle's dad. Who's Toni Gayle? She's the sexy chick with Bettie Pageboy hair who is the main character of Guns Against Gangsters. I showed her story from this issue, #6, July-August 1949, in Pappy's #22. Guns Against Gangsters, or GAG for short, is a crime comic book, but not like the type that we usually think of, the Charles Biro-edited books like Crime Does Not Pay, or Crime and Punishment. GAG had regular characters, and attempted to deflect the flood of criticism of crime comics that was following in the tidal wave of their success.

Gregory Gayle was kind of an early NRA spokesperson. He liked guns and was an expert as he shows in this story, taking out the crooks with an antique Kentucky long rifle. L. B. Cole, who drew the story, and maybe wrote it too, was reputedly an outdoor type of guy who liked fishing and hunting. There was probably some of L. B. in Gregory.

When you read the bottom of page 8, you see the line, "All comics are not alike. First read and compare them, then criticise." Some of the readers took them up on that. They could earn a buck for getting their letter published. This letter by a soldier shows both that GAG published critiques of itself, and also how the language and meanings have changed: "[The cover] should be more gay, with more action," read a lot differently 59 years ago than it does today.

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2008-05-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

Number 303

2 x Everett

Karswell of The Horrors Of It All is showing Bill Everett stories the first week of May. I've chosen a couple by Everett from the Marvel reprint comics of the 1970s, a Venus pre-code story from Venus #18, 1952, and a postcode story from Astonishing #47, 1956. The thing that ties them together to me are the walking plants in Venus and the spacemen in Astonishing are both drawn in a cartoony style. More cartoony than Everett's usual style, which could get pretty cartoony.

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2008-05-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Number 302

Lady Danger and the Shakespeare Clue

Lady Danger returns. The last time she showed her cute, sexy self was in Pappy's #254. This story is from DC's Sensation Comics #84, December 1948. As with the last episode, it's written by Bob Kanigher and drawn by Bob Oksner. Enjoy! I like this character, and I love Bob Oksner's art on anything.

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2008-04-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

Number 301

Lay off my roof, goof!

Here's a funny Wolverton strip from Daredevil Comics #22, February 1944. Can it really be that I haven't posted a Basil Wolverton strip since Pappy's #3? To rectify the situation, Jason, here's a hip strip to make you flip!

2008-04-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Number 300

Calling all Video Rangers!

To celebrate Pappy's #300 I'm bringing you two stories drawn by George Evans from Captain Video #1, a Fawcett comic from 1951. Evans went on to comic book glory with his stint at EC Comics. Fawcett stopped publishing comics in 1953. Captain Video lasted six issues as a comic book, and vanished from the airwaves as the network carrying his adventures went out of business in 1955.

To read some background on the TV program and the DuMont Network where it appeared, read this article. The show had its fans in the larger Eastern U.S. markets where it was carried. In the American hinterlands where I was raised, we had no idea it existed except for the Fawcett comic book and the great parody by Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis in Mad #15.

The Secret of Sun City

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The Creatures of Doom!

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2008-04-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

Number 299

Billy and Bonny Bee to the rescue!

From New Funnies #79, September, 1943, comes this excellent 6-page strip by Frank Thomas.

As I explained the last time I posted a Billy and Bonny Bee story, the Frank Thomas who drew these characters was not the same Frank Thomas who was one of the Nine Old Men at Disney. But there is some sort of Disney connection: Billy and Bonny appear to be influenced by Disney's Bucky Bug. In my last "Billy and Bonny" posting I called it a funny animal strip, but "funny insects" is a sub-genre of "funny animals." A really small one. Get it? Insects, small? Oh well…maybe you had to be there.

2008-04-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

Number 298

Ghost Rider and The Haunted Tomb

Ghost Rider makes an appearance in this blog after several months. Last time I posted a Ghost Rider story was "League of the Living Dead." "The Haunted Tomb" is the cover story for Ghost Rider #7, from 1952, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Dick Ayers and his cousin/assistant Ernie Bache. Love the cover: big snake and skulls. Yow. A Doc Wertham special!

The pencil checkmarks in some of the panels mean this particular copy is from the Cosmic Aeroplane collection, which turned up in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the late 1970s. The man who owned the comics had bought them off the stands from 1939 until his death in 1961. Several of the comics used in this blog have come from that collection, including all four issues of Jet by Bob Powell.

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Say what?

It's nice that some folks can keep it in the family!

2008-04-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

Number 297

Pussycat wins!

What a babe! With a body like this Pussycat isn't built for speed, but she wins anyway. With guys especially. With protests over the upcoming Beijing Olympics headlines the past few weeks it's time to run an Olympics related story, and this is the only one I have. It's a funny Bill Ward story from the only issue of Pussycat, published by Marvel Comics in 1968.

There's another Pussycat strip by Ward in Pappy's #148.

2008-04-23T03:39:00.001-07:00

Number 296

Foley of the Fighting 5th

You won't see a lot of Wild West-type comics on Pappy's cuz Pappy don't like 'em. Most of them, anyway; there are a few I like. Tom Gill's Lone Ranger and Dick Ayers' Ghost Rider spring to mind. I also like some of the DC Western comics, and I'll show you a couple as we ride along the dusty trail. I like this one from All-American Western #104, November 1948, because of the early Joe Kubert art. I like Joe's 1940s art but there are flaws, like the bad figure drawing on the bottom of page 4. John Giunta did the inking.

All-American Western, a continuation of All-American Comics, went for 24 issues, then became All-American Men Of War. In its war incarnation it lasted a lot longer than it did in its Western phase. This "Foley" strip is one of the stories in tear sheet form, cut out of the original comic books by a man who liked certain artists. The vandal would clip those stories and throw the rest of the book away. I got them over 25 years ago, hundreds of pages of loose tear sheets in a big box, and put them together like puzzles. It was probably that task that finally convinced me to wear glasses.

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Karswell, of The Horrors Of It All is posting a Zebra story today. He asked if I had any, and what I have is another of those crumbling stories cut from comics. The pages are much worse than the Foley story. They've disintegrated, as you can see, but the story is understandable…just screwy. John Doyle, the lawyer who is the Zebra, won't show up in any John Grisham novels. Considering how he represents this client I'm surprised he wasn't disbarred. The story, "The Phantom Philtre," was the last Zebra story, is from Green Hornet Comics #30, May-June, 1946, and is drawn by Bob Fujitani.

2008-04-21T03:02:00.000-07:00

Number 295

Melvin Monster and Crazy Klutch

The Stanley Stories website has a funny Melvin Monster story from Melvin Monster #3. The lead-in page also tells of Stanley's lifelong battle with depression, which probably affected his themes and storytelling. He refused to seek treatment, instead letting his depressive episodes run their course. In that way he was like Charles Schulz, who worked out his depression in his comic strips for 50 years, refusing treatment because he thought it would take away his gift.

Ain't it funny how funny people can be so sad?

The Melvin Monster stories were written and drawn by Stanley, and they have a dark side to them. Melvin's parents threaten to turn him over to a bogeyman. As we find out in the story from Melvin Monster #5, Crazy Klutch isn't how he's portrayed by the parents. The strip is constructed like a shaggy dog story, ending different from what is expected.

As smart and good a writer as Stanley was I can't figure out him spelling daisies as "daisys".

2008-04-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Number 294

Mr. Sardonicus

Author Ray Russell wrote the short story, "Sardonicus," which was made into the 1961 William Castle film, Mr. Sardonicus. It has nothing to do with this story, "Death Takes Four," from Strange Mysteries #13, October, 1953, but I thought I'd impress you with my knowledge of arcane trivia. Risus sardonicus, called rictus sardonicus in this strip, is a pretty horrible condition that contorts and freezes the face into a smile. You know, like all of the contestants on American Idol when they're being ripped a new blowhole by one of those idiot judges.

The sardonicus sufferer in "Death Takes Four" is a murderer who fakes--or think he's faking--insanity. It's by the Jerry Iger shop, and it's published by Superior, which used the worst printer in comic book history. My copy of this issue was a target. It has a couple of b-b holes through it, which shows what the previous owner thought of it.

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Say What?

No wonder they call him Sad "Sac."

2008-04-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

Number 293

Bikini babes in space

Trust Fiction House to come up with undressed heroines to the rescue. This tale is from Planet Comics #69, Winter 1952, in turn reprinted from Planet #20, 1942. According to the GCD the breathless artwork is by Saul Rosen, an artist I'm not familiar with.

Fiction House plots are usually unmemorable for me. I just re-read this interplanetary story of jewels and a queen, also eventually undressed, and better write this while I can still recall it. The girls in the stories I can recall because they bought their work outfits from Frederick's of Hollywood.

2008-04-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Number 292

Doll Man meets the Mother Goose Gang

Al Bryant drew this entertaining tale from Doll Man Quarterly #7, Fall 1943. The Mother Goose gang lives up to its name with members like Simple Simon, Humpty Dumpty, and Jack and Jill. Jill is a bad girl, and you can tell because of the comic book law: girls dressed in red are bad girls. Jack's sin seems also to be sartorial. A green suit with a red striped tie. Those wartime shortages were tough if that's all he could find on the ready to wear rack at his local J. C. Penney's store.

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2008-04-14T06:37:00.001-07:00

Number 291

Nothing He Couldn't Do!

I have two gruesome postings for you today. What the hell, it's Monday, I've got to go to the dentist. I'm sympathetic with Jonesy above and the spike through his face.

Recently Karswell of The Horrors Of It All had a request for a wild story from Charlton's The Thing, but said he didn't own any. I have a copy of The Thing #16 from 1954, and one of the wildest stories ever, Dick Ayers' "Nothing He Couldn't Do." The panel above was reprinted in Time Magazine during the uproar over comics that resulted in the Comics Code.

2008-04-14T03:28:00.001-07:00

Number 290

Hangman and the Executioner

Correspondent 1506NixNix sent me these scans from Hangman Comics #3 and commented, "Hard to believe this bloody stuff is from the same guys who came up with Archie and Betty and Veronica." For the few of you out there who might be unaware, MLJ, publisher of Hangman Comics, became the Archie Comics publishing company.

The racism is that of its era, typical of American attitudes toward Asians in 1942, and especially our then-enemies the Japanese. The graphic gore is the sort of thing that got noticed by the bluenoses in the early days of comics. MLJ, showing its pulp origins, didn't have a monopoly on violence, but in this example they did it with flair, that's for sure. Grand Comics Database says the art is by Mort Leav ? and John Cassone ? which I guess means they think it might be, maybe, kinda, probably those artists. Whatever. The art is done skillfully, and is all the more effective for it.

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2008-04-11T02:52:00.000-07:00

Number 289

Dan D.'s dumb blonde

"Stan and Dan," Stan Lee and Dan De Carlo, do some funny stuff with the radio/TV dumb blonde, Irma Peterson, in this issue of Atlas' My Friend Irma. It's a coverless copy, so I don't know the number, but it's from the early 1950s. The vaudeville-style jokes come fast, and De Carlo's artwork is always excellent.

The My Friend Irma radio and television series lasted several years, and featured Marie Wilson as Irma. There were even a couple of movie versions. You can read more about the series here.

I posted another story from this issue in Pappy's #138.

2008-04-09T03:04:00.000-07:00

Number 288

Supermouse Underwater!

Here's a Supermouse story from Standard Comics' Supermouse #12, April 1951, drawn by Milton Stein.

For you Supermouse fans--and I know you're out there because you write me and tell me you want more Soupie--this is the second-to-last story I have drawn by Stein; sometime in the future I will be posting from Supermouse #22, and unless I get more Supermouse comics, that will be it. If you're new to Pappy's Supermouse stories by Stein have been posted in Pappy's #126, Pappy's #202, and a story drawn by an unknown artist in Pappy's #246.

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2008-04-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Number 287

The Face On Mars

When this picture was released by NASA in 1976, showing the famous face on Mars, I knew I'd seen it before. Sure enough, Jack Kirby had covered it back in 1958 in Race For The Moon #2.

"The Face On Mars," which concludes this issue, is among my personal favorites of great Kirby short stories. Al Williamson did the dynamic inking.

In 2001 NASA debunked its own picture. They spoiled the fun by showing us the face is a natural formation, and our imaginations were filling in the details. With all due respect to the joykillers at NASA, I'll always prefer the Jack Kirby version.

2008-04-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Number 286

Ghost Patrol

Another from the Pappy archive, a story in the form of tear sheets given to me over 25 years ago by a man who bought the comics off the stands, then clipped out stories by artists he liked. To a comics fan this should be considered a crime, but I couldn't be showing you this stuff at all if he'd kept his comics intact and they'd had any monetary value.

"Ghost Patrol" was one of those secondary features produced for DC Comics' titles. I appreciate these back-of-the-book strips, which made do with characters not strong enough to star in their own titles. Many of them were illustrated and written by the same top talent that was producing the star features. In this case, "Marked For Danger" comes from Flash Comics #98, August, 1948. Talk about top talent: it's drawn by Carmine Infantino and inked by Bob Oksner.

I like the ghost character playing baseball out in the universe, whacking meteorites!

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2008-04-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

Number 285

Bang!

This is another of my favorite fanzines, even if I can't read it. Bang!#7/8 (double issue) was published in Barcelona, Spain in 1972. The cover features a character called Grogui. The bulk of the issue is a retrospective on science fiction comics, mostly Spanish, but with the clear influence of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon.

The top illustration and this entire 4-page strip are by Emilio Freixas. "'Grap', El Pirata Subterraneo" is from the 1949 publication, Chicos, done with a strong Raymond style.

From what I could find out from the Internet, in English, Freixas went from comics into illustration, which is why when looking for information I found this picture on a photo hosting website.

Freixas died in 1976. You can see more of his work, and the work of other Spanish comic artists, at this amazing blog, viñetas.

This page from the daily comic strip "El Planeta Del Horror" is written by V. Mora and drawn by J. Remeu, published originally in 1954.

The Al Williamson page is from the Spanish translation of Williamson's greatest (to me) version of the Flash Gordon strip, done for King Comics in the mid-1960s.

Bang! is a great looking magazine, 112 pages, professional all the way. It's probably not even fair to call it a fanzine.