Let’s start today with some vintage Bill Everett Sub-Mariner from the last pre-Code issue of the fifties.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2012/05/number-1158-sub-mariners-fatalist.html

20th Century Danny Boy uncovers yet another fascinating comics-related legal case, this time revolving around Joe Simon.

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012/05/joe-simon-fbi-and-strange-case-of.html

Ol’ Rip tips us off on a little-seen version of Doc Savage from Golden Books in the seventies.

http://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2012/05/golden-man-of-bronze.html

Finally today, some early sixties beatnik cartoons from Mad’s Mort Drucker.

http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/2012/05/beat-nick-mort-drucker-1961-63.html

Well. What can I say? I saw The Avengers movie and it made me glad to be alive. Glad that I lived long enough to see the comics I read secretly 48 years ago turn into a mainstream movie. Will wonders never cease?

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It’s not surprising that the Avengers film set new records for the biggest weekend box office grosses (toppling a Batman movie and a Spider-Man movie, interestingly enough). When they use the word “blockbuster” from now on, this is what they’re referring to. More than one block gets busted in this film, and that’s without Giant Man!

So without further ado (because who needs ado anyway?) here is this week’s tune. A nifty number that’s all about The Avengers movie. “We have a Hulk” is now the catchphrase for a generation.

Click the link below to listen.

Avengers Assemble Soundtrack Parody Thor Iron Man Hulk

As regular readers of these things should very well know by now I tend to become over-fascinated with certain kinds of comics, like British superheroes.  There weren’t a lot of straight up American style superheroes in British comics which is probably why I’m so interested in characters like  Thunderbolt Jaxon.  It was a fairly agreeable variant on the Captain Marvel ‘inspired’ trope of the boy as adult superhero, though one with a confused mythological basis. It seems that upon donning Thor’s magic belt of strength standard issue orphan Jack Jaxon would become a strapping adult who fought evil in a vaguely Hercules looking outfit.

According to a piece published on the fine Bear Alley website in the late 1940′s to fight off unwelcome intrusion by American comic books  Amalgamated Press decided to create comics for the Australian market.  Editor of the weekly Knockout Edward Holmes created new new titles similar in format to the Australian DC Comics reprints I’ve repeatedly posted about.

Here’s something that will no doubt offend a certain number of people but a lot of the British comics produced around this time were, to be extremely generous, really, really primitive by American standards,  Especially the adventure material.  But that being said I have to say that I rather like the simple, straight forward Thunderbolt Jaxon stories.  There’s an assured level of skill on display that makes it look positively polished in comparison with other features being produced at the time.

Written by T. C. H. Pendower,  Leonard Matthews, and  Edward Holmes and drawn by Hugh McNeill, Geoff Campion and Roger Rodger, the Thunderbolt Jaxon stories appeared in both Britain and Australia.  In the UK he appeared in serialized form in the British boys weekly Comet and his own Australian title but he wasn’t a success in either country.  In Britain he lasted only a matter of months and in Australia his title was cancelled after six issues.  The character was revived Knockout in 1958 but that was pretty much his career — under his birth name.

Under the marginally better name of Johnny Samson the comics first printed in Comet were reprinted in the weekly Buster in 1964 but his original run was so short new material was created before it all came to an end in 1965.  Though he did make a brief return in the 2006 Wildstorm/DC mini-series by Dave Gibbons, John Higgins and Todd Klein.  It was basically a Vertigo approach to the material and, it almost goes without saying, was also not a success.

For this week’s up-to-the-minute Election coverage from the May 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine, we focus on the internal strife between our major two political parties. The headline grabbing struggle is between current president, William Howard Taft, and more popular ex-Prez Teddy Roosevelt, attempting to come back to the Presidency for an unprecedented third term.

Above, by Harry J. Westerman, the front cover of Cartoons Magazine‘s fifth issue, depicting Taft and T.R. locked in mortal struggle, while an anonymous dark horse candidate (i.e., someone who enters the race at the Convention, stepping in when delegates can’t reach agreement on those who had been running) watches on.

Below, by William Allen Rogers, Deliver Me from My Boy Scout Friends, referring to the childish internal battle within the G.O.P.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Above, a page of cartoons on the Republican battle, including one cartoon by W.A. Ireland.

Below, Charles Henry Sykes, Bushnell, and others, depicting both parties with trouble-makers — Teddy Roosevelt for Republicans, and William Jennings Bryan, who had been the Democratic Presidential nominee (and ultimate loser) multiple times, and somehow still had loyal followers within the party, ready to attempt to seize the nomination for him, should he signal his interest.

Finally, amongst a page of cartoons showing the party symbols suffering from the infighting for their nominations, we have the appropriate for our times, The Tonsorial Artist, by cartoonist Ole May.

Doug Wheeler

ElectionComics W.A. Rogers Billy Ireland

Let’s start the day with a whole blog devoted to Torchy Todd, the classic Good Girl Art strip by Bill Ward and Gill Fox that led to a hundred variations.

http://torchytodd.blogspot.com/

Saw this link on Facebook–a one-stop for a hundred current newspaper comics and webcomics available at the press of a button.

http://comics.gotux.net/

R.I.P. Tony DeZuniga–Here’s a rare teaming of Tony’s inks with John Byrne’s pencils on a 1978 Spidey and Thor tale.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2012/05/rip-tony-dezuniga.html

Let’s end today with an overview of a seminal run of Doctor Strange in which Gene Colan and Tom Palmer began casting their own spells.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2012/05/dr-strange-171-173.html

I’d initially planned to run one of Buster Brown‘s typically nasty pranks for Mother’s Day, as I’ve done the past two years. But while searching, I came across this even more appropriate story, instead. So, extracted from the 1910 to 1911 collection, Buster Brown’s Fun and Nonsense, is Buster Gets Up to See the Sunrise by Richard Felton Outcault. Enjoy!

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their balloons.

Below, the front cover from Fun and Nonsense.

Doug Wheeler

R.F. Outcault

The Cartoons Magazine for May 1912, placed focus on three cartoonists.

Above, photos and brief biographies of American cartoonists Fontaine Fox (whose first name they managed to mispell) and William Allen Rogers.

Beneath, early work by Danish artist Gerda Wegener (warning to those at work: clicking on her name will bring you to a site which includes samples of some of Wegener’s more sexually oriented work). Cartoons Magazine referred to Wegener as Europe’s answer to American female cartoonist, Nell Brinkley — whom ironically, to this point, Cartoons Magazine had yet to publish anything by.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view them in detail, and to read the accompanying text.

Doug Wheeler

W.A. Rogers

I usually shy away from outright declarations of out and out theft of intellectual property, but Horace and Dotty Dripple looks for all the world like a National Lampoon Newspaper Parody version of Chic Young’s legendary strip.  It seems to have existed for the express purpose of giving smaller newspapers who couldn’t get (or afford) Blondie s perfectly adequate factory second version of it  I mean, check out the panels below…

Maybe more interesting than Horace and Dotty Dripple is the window it provides on the Harvey Comics of the 1950′s, which appears to have been a much different publisher than the one dominated by Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost.   Please to note the letter from Alfred Harvey.

Here’s another peak at the world of Harvey Comics back in the 50′s. Me, I’m hoping  to some day to come across copies of Paramount Comics  (I have a strange and abiding passion for the Herman & Katnip cartoons ) not to mention Jiggs & Maggie as well as  The Katzenjammer Kids.  Obviously the inexplicably success of  Mutt     & Jeff as a comics for kids made someone think, “You know what kids like as a comic book?  Really, really old comic strips”.

SuperITCH’s Up-to-the-Minute Election Coverage continues, with cartoons of Presidential Hopeful Woodrow Wilson, fresh from the May 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine! Included is a cartoon by hot celebrity silent film star, Charles Bowers!

Click on the above picture, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Doug Wheeler

ElectionComics

Love him or hate him, Stan the man has always been the face of Marvel Comics. Here he is in 1968 in an interview with Ted White in Castle of Frankenstein.

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/dynamics/2012/05/08/stan-lee-interview-from-castle-of-frankenstein-12-1968/

“All for one…!” Here’s a little-known Three Musketeers story from seventies DC illustrated by the great Lee Elias.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2012/05/random-reads-secret-of-spanish-blade-by.html

All kinds of cool Barnaby-related posts can be found over at Philip Nel’s blog.

http://www.philnel.com/tag/barnaby/

Finally today, some lovely samples of the sixties newspaper strip by Ken Muse entitled Wayout.

http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2012/05/blog-post.html