APAROFAN’S WORLD OF COMICS shares three impressive WWII-era BATMAN covers with patriotic themes. I first saw all of these Golden Age delights in tiny black and white images in STERANKO’S HISTORY OF THE COMICS and it’s always a thrill to see them big and in color.

http://aparofan.blogspot.com/2009/09/batman-war-covers.html

Mort Meskin was an unusually stylized comic book artist from the 1940′s and ’50′s who worked with Simon and Kirby and Jerry Robinson and whose work has grown in popularity since the advent of the Internet. Perhaps the best place to find info and art and discover him yourself is at MORT MESKIN.COM.

http://www.mortmeskin.com/

Author Steve Holland’s BEAR ALLEY is essentially a blog about British comics but today he writes an interesting biographical piece on the pioneering cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay.

http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2009/09/winsor-mccay.html

If you’re of age and not easily offended, check out TIJUANABIBLES.ORG for a serious historical perspective and reprints of the infamous 8 Pagers, the still shocking little cartoon booklets (“The kind men like!”) that thrived from the 1930′s through the 1970′s presenting your favorite comics, film and historical characters in the types of kinky, X-rated adventures you’d never seen before.

http://tijuanabibles.org/

TEN CENT DREAMS showcases a number of page of original Sunday newspaper strip art from the likes of Walt Kelly, Frank Frazetta and Wally Wood, all of which can be embiggened to humongous proportions where one can see every little line and nuance! Wow!

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2009/09/sunday-funnies-original-art.html

Happy Sunday to you! The weekend is not always a great time for comics history on the ‘Net as many of those posting it choose to take the days off. Today is an exception with several good things that will fill your afternoon until football starts!

Back when I got that great big BUCK ROGERS books from the early 1970′s, I didn’t like or appreciate Lt. Dick Calkins’ work on it. I’ve been re-reading BUCK in recent months, however, and I’ve grown to downright admire it! The folks at COMIC CRAZYS have been reading it too and chose now to present a few full color Sunday strips in continuity!

http://comicrazys.com/2009/09/11/buck-rogers-mysterious-saturnian-1930-dick-calkins/

FUNNYMAN was Siegel and Shuster’s one and only attempt to re-create the magic of SUPERMAN after being ousted by DC (and before Joe’s SECRET IDENTITY mischief as chronicled only recently by Yoe!) The premise was essentially-What if a Danny Kaye-like comic actor became a superhero in a clown suit and used clown gimmicks to stop the bad guys. Joe’s art is still top notch (although with several assistants including a young Dick Ayers) but you’ll note that FUNNYMAN is NOT playing at your local multiplex.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2009/09/number-592-he-counteracts-our-every.html

THE COMIC ART OF JACK BRADBURY is a site devoted to the life and art of a man many consider the quintessential animation and humor cartoonist. Set up by his son, there’s the usual biography and galleries of the late artist’s work including the unsold Sunday strip seen above. There are also more than 100 reprinted stories including a few reprinted from the original art!

http://jbrad.org/

THE KRIGSTEIN ARCHIVES is a similar site dedicated to innovative comic book artist and painter Bernard Krigstein, again with a number of galleries and reprinted stories. Krigstein’s late fifties and early sixties comic book art is highly regarded for his unusual, often cinematic layouts in such works as JUDGEMENT DAY, perhaps the most famous EC story of them all.

http://www.bkrigstein.com/index.html

THE TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN’S COMICS seems to owe its very existence to the revered 1982 collection of comics stories entitled THE SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMIC BOOK COMICS. Both have about 350 pages of rare stories reprinted directly from the original newsprint pages of the comics of the Golden Age era. At least one person (Michael Barrier) was involved with both books and both books prominently feature the work of, among others, Walt Kelly, John Stanley, Carl Barks and C.C. Beck. This similarity is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing! The original book from 27 years ago has long been a favorite and, in fact, was my introduction to the delights of LITTLE LULU and UNCLE SCROOGE!

The respected and award-winning team of Art Spiegelman (Tell me I don’t have to recount his resume here of all places?) and Françoise Mouly have compiled this collection and they know good comics when they see them. In the introduction, the point is made that after the emasculation of adult comics by the Comics Code in the mid-1950′s, children’s comics became, surprisingly and subversively, the place where one could find more nuanced characters and even more adult subject matter, all dressed up in animal skins or funny clothes so nobody really noticed. These comics, it is said, were as much of an influence on the pioneering underground cartoonists of the 1960′s and ’70′s as the more openly anarchist MAD.

Once past all of that grown-up intellectual stuff, though, one is left here with a couple of hours or so of the most enjoyable couch reading imaginable. Old friends like Sheldon Mayer’s SCRIBBLY and SUGAR & SPIKE, LITTLE ARCHIE, THE FOX AND THE CROW, Dick Briefer’s FRANKENSTEIN, Disney’s Ducks, Basil Wolverton’s POWERHOUSE PEPPER, POGO and Fawcett’s CAPTAIN MARVEL mingle easily with fun and funny work from Jules Feiffer, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Cole, Milt Gross and a dozen more creators.

One could argue the lack of so much as a single Harvey Comics story but the stories that are present tend to mask that fact. I didn’t notice it until I was done. I’ve read where the story credited to Bob Bolling is actually by another artist. If so, this marks a sad exclusion for one of the greatest of all kids comics cartoonists but the story itself is still fun.

I’d be curious as to how young kids would take to these stories which are, of course, meant to be shared with them. I read the 1982 book out loud to my son so many times (voices and all!) that he enjoys this collection but he’s nearly 13 now. If anyone out there reads these classics to newer kids, let us know how they react.

THE TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN’S COMICS is well worth its $40.00 price tag but several online sources offer it at a good discount. Between coupons and bookstore incentive bucks, I was able to get my copy for about half price. It’s a beautiful book all around and a worthy, if unofficial, follow-up to the Smithsonian book of all those years ago. Make sure you have your local Public Library order a copy or two, also.

It may seem hard to believe in this day of Nascar specials but there was a time when there was a whole sub-genre of car racing comics! Mostly from Charlton. DC decided to cash in on the trend belatedly in 1970 with a licensed series based around the toys called HOT WHEELS. The best part about the short-lived DC series was that they turned car buff and master craftsman Alex Toth loose on it. Here’s one of his stories as shared at DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/09/those-groovy-saturday-mornings-more.html

Not to toot my own horn but we offer a weird little bit of history today at BOOKSTEVE’S LIBRARY as we are finally able to show Galexo (above), the virtually unknown superhero who took over the BATMAN AND ROBIN newspaper strip that ran from 1966 to 1974 at a time when it was barely appearing in any papers. Bruce and Dick continued to appear as supporting characters but the Caped Crusaders disappeared.

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2009/09/galexo-found.html

SEKVENSKONST, the blog of Joakim Gunnarsson, showcases some 1937 strip reprints by artist Mel Graff. THE ADVENTURES OF PATSY had begun as a fantasy strip (even featuring a prototype superhero, the Phantom Magician) but by this point in its 20 year run, young Patsy was becoming a Shirley Temple-style star in Hollywood.

http://sekvenskonst.blogspot.com/2009/09/patsy-january-1937.html

Some later reprinted episodes of THE ADVENTURES OF PATSY are also available for order through Tony Raiola’s Pacific Comics Club which has been offering classic newspaper strip reprint books for decades now! 35 volumes of Raymond’s JUNGLE JIM, Frank Godwin’s exquisitely drawn CONNIE, 31 volumes of Frank Robbins’ great JOHNNY HAZARD Sunday strips in full color! You’ll wish you could afford it all!

http://classiccomicspress.com/

We start today with a selection of Edwardian music hall caricatures by artist George Cooke found at EPHEMERA ASSEMBLYMAN. These JIB-JAB style pieces were done in the earliest days of the 20th Century and are nicely annotated here.

http://assemblyman-eph.blogspot.com/2009/09/george-cooke-caricatures.html

GOLDEN AGE COMIC BOOK STORIES comes through again with a nice selection of seminal MR A stories by Steve Ditko from various sixties and seventies fanzines. Randian philosophy but much better drawn than some of his later rants.

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/2009/09/steve-ditkos-mr.html

Brian Cronin at COMICS SHOULD BE GOOD has been presenting a series on the Top 5 Iconic covers of various comics. Today’s featured character is Marvel’s Hercules and there’s some good stuff here including the above AVENGERS cover, one of the first of that title that I myself ever bought!

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/10/top-five-most-iconic-hercules-covers/#more-30558

Then we end up back at Pappy’s today with some incredibly detailed Atlas horror art from everyone’s favorite inker Joe Sinnott. It’s a tale entitled “The Last of Mr Mordeaux.” Seriously, though, if you have the time, go back through all of Pappy’s nearly 600 posts for some truly rare comics reprints.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2009/09/number-591-mr.html

THE SILVER AGE OF COMIC BOOK ART by Arlen Schumer is an award-winning oversized volume from 2003 that has become one of my favorite books on comics history…even though most of its history is purely and eye-openingly visible A triumph of pop art layout, every single full color page is a delight not only for nostalgic Silver Agers like myself but for anyone who appreciates the unique artistic possibilities of comics that were being explored like never before during the 1960′s. This is true pop art at its purest, the originals that Lichtenstein and Warhol and others passed off pastiches of as social commentary.

For the most part Individual chapters on specific artists let the art speak for itself. The sleek lines of Carmine Infantino are showcased alongside the graceful violence of Gil Kane, the unbridled creativity of Jack Kirby, the psychedelic layouts of Jim Steranko and the equally brilliant, revolutionary work of Joe Kubert, Neal Adams, Gene Colan and Steve Ditko.

Although there’s little background given in many cases, there are extensive quotations, often incorporated into the word balloons of the art itself. It’s my understanding that the out of print hardcover edition actually covered even more artists (although apparently not in as much depth).

Schumer is known as an authority on comics art and THE SILVER AGE OF COMIC BOOK ART is ,ost enjoyable proof of his credentials. Check your local comic shop or the usual online sources while you can still find it.

SILVER AGE COMICS leads us through an introduction to MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER, a Gold Key series drawn (mostly) by the great Russ Manning that held its own against Marvel and DC’s better known comics for many years in the sixties and seventies.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2009/09/magnus-robot-fighter-22.html

I plugged this over at HOORAY FOR WALLY WOOD earlier today but it definitely fits here, also. GOLDEN AGE COMIC BOOK STORIES today shows us the various different stages of the creation of the great comic book artist Wallace Wood’s OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE cover from 1979. As this was during the period when Woody’s demons started catching up with him, these are remarkable pieces.

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/2009/09/wally-wood-some-stages-of-art-for-1979.html

Missed this one yesterday. DR. K’s 100 PAGE SUPER-SPECTACULAR has started a regular feature called BLACKHAWK WINGSDAYS in which they analyze individual Silver Age BLACKHAWK stories at some length. Seeing as how Silver Age BLACKHAWK stories could get pretty bizarre at times, this should be fun every Wednesday.

http://doctor-k100.blogspot.com/2009/09/blackhawk-wingsday-1-or-all-i-need-to.html

Now here’s some real comics history! As part of a larger site on the history of comics, Jamie Coville has published the 1954 Interim Senate Report on Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency in its entirety! Lots of interesting minutiae not usually found in the histories summing up the controversy of the period.

http://www.thecomicbooks.com/1955senateinterim.html

Pappy treats us to an EC war story from Kurtzman, Severin and Elder which would be historical in and of itself but which adds the bonus of showing us the same story in original art form.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2009/08/number-590-luck-heres-another-great-ec.html

In what is claimed to be their final reprint post, COMIC BOOK CATACOMBS offers up a choice 1949 RULAH, JUNGLE GODDESS strip.

http://comicbookcatacombs.blogspot.com/2009/09/rulah-jungle-goddess-in-death-image-fox.html

NEDOR-A-DAY has become one of my favorite stops fro reprints and today is no exception. One of the first Golden Age comics I ever purchased was an issue of FIGHTING YANK. Here we get a nice FIGHTING YANK story from an early 1940′s issue of STARTLING COMICS.

http://nedor-a-day.blogspot.com/2009/09/fighting-yank-vs-torchmen.html

John Glenn Taylor’s EASILY MUSED shows off a reprint from a 1949 issue of DC’s FUNNY ANIMALS drawn by Howie Post. At one time considered as a successor to Walt Kelly on Dell’s POGO comics, Post honed his own style on humor comics and eventually did the fondly-remembered ANTHRO for DC in the 1960′s. This piece also links to more info on the artist and his career.

http://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2009/09/howie-post-1949-style.html

It’s been a while so I should probably re-introduce myself for newcomers and those with short-term memory loss. I’m DJ David B. and as your Tuesday host, I will be playing a unique role in presenting music as it relates to comics history. This is where my dual hobbies of comic collecting and record collecting merge in a sometimes wonderful, often awful marriage of tunes and cartoons.

To kick off this new version of the blog I thought I’d dig out a gem I’ve been saving for a special occasion. Don’t ask me who Joe Capp and the Starfires are, or were. All I know is they released “Comic Strip Wobble” (backed with “It’s Wobblin’ Time”) on the Roulette label in 1962. Joe Capp (related to Al?) had a couple of singles after that and then faded into rock & roll (and comic strip) history.

I’m sharing this toe-tapper with all you Itchies because it mentions a whole list of comic strip greats: Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Popeye and Humpty Dumpty. Talk about an obscure comics reference!

Time to get up and dance! But don’t fall off the wall.

For a musical treat that will make you move your feet, click on the link below…

Comic Strip Wobble by Joe Capp and the Starfires

Next Tuesday, tune in for another tune!