Cloud 109 looks at the absolutely horrid “archival” reprinting (or rather re-drawing) of some of author, artist, comics historian and industry elder statesman Jerry Robinson’s Detective Comics covers of the early forties.

http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-robinson-and-volume-2-of-batman.html

Here we have no less than four of Lev Gleason’s 1950′s Crime Does Not Pay stories from artist George Tuska who made his name on these before taking on Buck Rogers and later becoming a mainstay at Marvel and DC.

http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2011/01/crime-pays-bills-friday-comic-book-day.html

Here’s writer-artist-editor Rich Buckler’s behind the scenes anecdotes from the brief but well-remembered 1980′s revival of the MLJ superheroes under Archie’s Red Circle logo.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/01/swash-buckler-saturdays-red.html

Finally today, the always entertaining Al Bigley re-presents a nicely illustrated Dynamite childrens’ magazine article from the 1970′s about Lou Ferrigno, TV’s Incredible Hulk.

http://bigglee.blogspot.com/2011/01/1979-incredible-hulk-article-in.html

The Green Hornet movie opens to decidedly low key buzz today but if you really want a Hornet fix, here’s Gold Key’s sixties version by the prolific Paul S. Newman and artist Dan Spiegle.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/01/grooves-faves-green-hornet-and-threat.html

Here’s some rare and certainly little-seen pages from the 1950′s industry trade publication Freelancer that deal with Jack Cole and Mort Walker as well as giving a brief history of comics.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2011/01/freelancer.html

Jimmy Olsen is a guilty pleasure for many comics fans of a certain age and Jack Kirby’s heavily retouched Jimmy is in a class of its own as seen here compared and contrasted with the unretouched versions.

http://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2011/01/jacks-secret-jimmy.html

Finally today, Comicrazys gives us 1983′s Animated Cerebus Portfolio animated…slightly…in a way as Dave Sim’s long-running earth-pig anti-hero gets a new sword.

http://comicrazys.com/2011/01/12/5114/

Click on the above & below pictures, to open larger versions.

This week — and for the next several weeks — I’m engaged in an activity which makes many book/comics collectors cringe, and question their sanity in having accumulated such a quantity of stuff (weighing one down, like the chains gathered by the ghost of Jacob Marley in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”). I.e., I am packing up my stuff, and moving.

So for the next couple months, my posts will involve extracts from cartoon & caricature books devoted to those who are constantly on the move — theatrical people! (Okay, the real reason is I can’t scan images from my collection while the stuff is packed & sealed in boxes, and I happen to have already scanned a bunch of theatrical cartoons. The “people on the move” theme, is an afterthought.)

For this week’s entry, we feature extracts from the 1926 Hearst Era comic book (“Platinum Age”, for you Overstreet fans), The High-Kicking Kellys, by Jack Ward. This book collects 44 High-Kicking Kellys strips, reprinted from the series’ run in the theatrical publication, Vaudeville News. While neither the first booklet concentrated on Vaudeville cartoons, nor the first to feature sequential comics about travelling actors (we’ll showcase both, later), it is a subject comics series were rarely built around. Enjoy!

Doug Wheeler

TheatricalCartoons

Let’s start the day with a particularly clever (but then again, weren’t they all) story of the original Captain Marvel and his never-ending battle (pardon the expression) with Dr. Sivana!

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2011/01/number-877-sivana-sounds-off-how-many.html

It’s fun to discover legendary comics artists in obscure places such as this Sierra Smith, Western Detective story by the great Alex Toth story originally published in, of all places, DC’s Dale Evans Comics.

http://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2011/01/alex-toths-sierra-smith-western.html

Over at one of my own blogs, Shades of Gray, we find, from The Illustrated Roger Zelazny, are some absolutely lovely artistic highlights from the late, great Gray Morrow.

http://graymorrow.blogspot.com/2011/01/highlights-from-shadow-jack.html

Finally, if you’re in NYC on Thursday and you’re a grown-up, be sure to stop by the Museum for a little sex…err…that is…stop by the Sex Museum for Craig and his special Comics Stripped exhibit!

http://www.museumofsex.com/exhibit/comics-stripped

Oh, and if you’re out and about scouring the Web, don’t forget to check out my new and quite surprisingly trendy 1976 blog, A Geek’s Journal-1976.

http://geeksjournal1976.blogspot.com/

It’s not easy being green. Recycling, conserving energy, planting trees. It’s hard work. But pretty soon it’s going to get a lot greener around here!

The new Green Hornet movie looks like a winner. And there’s a Green Lantern film coming up soon! Can a Green Arrow movie be far behind?

Enjoy this theme music from the Green Lantern cartoon. Just click the link to listen.

Green Lantern

This week from 1954 I present Approved Comics #2 — Invisible Boy, the first and only appearance of Danny Blake, a twelve-year old All-American boy type who used an invisibility formula to fight crime. Approved Comics was a series from St. John where each issue focused on a different character, like Magazine Enterprises A-1 or DC’s Showcase. During it’s twelve issue run it featured such St. John characters as The Hawk, Wild Boy, Kid Cowboy, Flyboy, Dinky Duck and Northwestern Mounties.

BTW and FYI; there’s a 1957 film also called The Invisible Boy. It manages to shoehorn in a boy genius, an evil super computer and the second film appearance of Robby the Robot into it’s ninety minute running time and is still kind of dull. It has absolutely nothing to do with the comic book version of The Invisible Boy.

I have no idea who wrote or drew it the four perfectly adequate Invisible Boy stories here but I can tell you the painted cover is by the legendary Norman Saunders and is pretty darn cool. This is pretty standard 50′s adventure stuff but apparently there are “problematic” scenes like the one here where Danny opens fire into the street with a machine gun…

…and was seen carrying a flask that contained his ‘secret formula’. Even worse, to activate it he has to huff the fumes.

It should be noted that in “The Secret Formula” it’s friendly neighborhood super scientist Dr. Crown who suggests Danny keep using the invisibility formula to fight evil. Which I suppose puts the seal of approval of an adult authority figure on the all crazy crap he later gets involved in.

“Death Stalks The Night…TERROR IN THE STREETS” screams the cover and darn it all, there actually is a story inside titled “Terror In The Streets”. Danny single-handed takes on a group of crooks who’s random acts of terror mask a filthy commie plot. The word ‘terrorist’ gets used a couple of times, proof that terrorism is hardly anything new.

It should be noted Danny generally used his new ability with a remarkable amount of maturity, but in this story he doesn’t so much fight crime as use it to get petty revenge on a pantywaist named Percy for making time with his best girl Margie. Generally All-American Boys of Danny’s age are still firmly in their latency period (see Jonny Quest) but he’s way into girls and going to parties. Also of note; during the party Margie mentions she’s on a diet, proof that girls having body image issues is hardly anything new either.

As cool as that Norman Saunders covers is this is usually where I write something to the effect that “sadly no such scene appears anywhere in this issue”. But, son of a bitch, in “A-Haunting We Will Go” Danny does in fact kick a guy in a sheet in the ass; I wish i could tell you he was facing down the Klan but no. It’s just a standard bunch of crooks who dress up like spooks in the local abandoned ‘haunted house’ to keep nosy interlopers away from their counterfeiting operation. You know, the way you do. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that this standard comic book/movie/book trope is something else that has never happened in the history of the planet earth.

Robert “Buzz” Baxter was a friend of Timely/Atlas/ Marvel’s Patsy Walker who later became a ridiculous super-villain called Mad-Dog — but I try not to think about that. Here the enterprising youth is shown picking up some extra money doing ads for outside publishers.

All of us here at I.T.C.H. took the weekend off but we’re back! What’s linkworthy today?

If you haven’t checked out Scott Shaw!’s Oddball Comics lately, you almost lost your chance due to someone grabbing the domain name out from under Scott. Problem solved now and while there’s nothing new posted yet, you can check out the archives here:

http://www.oddball-comics.com/staticpages/index.php?page=intro

Silver Age Comics takes a look at DC’s first ambivalent superhero, Metamorpho, in a nicely illustrated (by Ramona Fradon) piece on the Element Man’s debut in The Brave and the Bold.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/brave-bold-57-dc.html

Now iconic fantasy painter Boris Vallejo first got noticed on the comics scene with a series of magazine covers for Skywald, Warren and Marvel Comics in the seventies and here we see a nice selction.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/01/grooviest-covers-of-all-time-iconic.html

Finally today, Bhob Stewart’s Potrzebie shares the ultra-rare Jack Kirby does Jack Ruby comic strip done for Esquire Magazine in the mid-sixties complete with Bhob’s contemporary review from Castle of Frankenstein.

http://potrzebie.blogspot.com/2011/01/jack-kirby-meets-jack-ruby.html

We start today with Doc Stearn, aka Mr Monster, Michael T Gilbert’s over-the-top 1980′s reboot of an obscure 1940′s superhero monster hunter, this issue guest-written by Alan Moore!

http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2011/01/doc-stearnmr-monster-3-case-of.html

Here’s a favorite Neal Adams-drawn Superman/Batman story from a late sixties World’s Finest. In spite of the poster indicating that he opted to post the original rather than the re-colored recent reprint, these scans are from the 1975 reprint of the 1968 story.

http://thewarriorscomicbookden.blogspot.com/2011/01/worlds-finest-175-superman-batman.html

Although he’s been out of fashion for some time now, Mike Sekowsky was once a great utility player when it came to comics artists and is shown to great advantage in this 1950′s horror tale.

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2011/01/girl-who-wasnt-there.html

Finally today, here’s an appeal that artist Alan Kupperberg ran yesterday on Facebook on behalf of veteran comic book colorist, Tom Ziuko who is having health issues right now. Alan reports a huge outpouring for Tom already. Can you help?

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2011/01/appeal-on-behalf-of-colorist-tom-ziuko.html

No, today’s title is not just an excuse to plug Craig’s Official Fart Book (now available at Amazon! Get one for your friends-maybe two!) In fact, let’s start today with some early, early Jim Aparo art from Charlton’s Miss Bikini Luv!

http://themagicwhistle.blogspot.com/2011/01/go-go-6-4-of-4.html

From one cute comics blonde to another even cuter one-you’ve heard about her, you’ve read about her, now here’s your chance to see the entire one and only issue of Marvel’s 1968 Pussycat with art by Wally Wood, Bill Ward, Bill Everett and Jim Mooney!

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2011/01/pussycat-number-one-and-only.html

Here is a fun story from the little-known syndicated newspaper spy strip entitled Ken Winston that was written by Superman creator Jerry Siegel and drawn by Herbie Popnecker’s biographer, Ogden Whitney.

http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2011/01/make-mine-winston-thursday-story-strip.html

Finally today, thanks to Bhob Stewart for pointing out this excellent parting video tour from Lucy Caswell as she retired from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at the end of 2010.

http://vimeo.com/16065357

Today, the 112th Congress begins its session. I thought it appropriate we look back towards the Congress most resembling the temperament of our current incoming members — the 36th Congress, which ushered in the American Civil War. (Double-appropriate, as 2011 is also the start of five years’ worth of 150th anniversaries of Civil War dates of interest. I anticipate we will be posting numerous cartoons from that era.)

So to begin our 112th Congress/Civil War coverage - from the December 31st, 1859 debut issue of the Northern weekly humor magazine, Vanity Fair, comes the below prose piece and illustration, Opened with Prayer, by Vanity Fair‘s cartoonist/founder/editor, Henry Louis Stephens.

P.S., for 2011 — or at least until I change my mind — I’m moving my regular weekly postings to Wednesdays.

Doug Wheeler

AmCivilWar HLStephens