Here’s a too-brief look at Dell’s fascinating Four-Color Comics, a series so complicated that Overstreet gave it it’s own separate listing in his Pice Guides right from the beginning!

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2011/08/other-showcase.html

Speaking of Four-Color, here’s the first part of an issue with art from Larry Silverman spotlighting the short-lived, highly stylized Tales of the Wizard of Oz TV series.

http://themagicwhistle.blogspot.com/2011/08/wonderful-wizard-of-oz-1-of-4.html

Here’s an unusual Shang-Chi story from Marvel’s black and white mags by Mary Skrenes and Paul Gulacy, here arguably at an early peak after leaving behind his strict Steranko influence.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/08/black-and-white-wednesday-casket-of.html

Craig’s working on a new Ditko collection! If you, too, are a Ditko fan, check out The Ditko Cultist where, amongst other delights, you can find Craig’s Big Boy story with Ditko!

http://ditkocultist.com/

For the past 20 years or so (at least it seems like 20 years) I, D. J. David B., have been bringing you a comics-related tune every Tuesday. I give a little information about the cartoon character I’m spotlighting and some background on the record I’m sharing.

This Tuesday I’m turning the tables (turntable, get it?) and presenting a tune without a title. It’s up to you, the loyal I.T.C.H. readers, to tell ME what the song is.

To make it tricky I’ve chosen an instrumental, so there are no clues in the lyrics.

Post your answers in the comments section and first one with the correct title wins a big fat nothing. I’ll even autograph it for you.

Here’s a clue, it’s the theme music of a cartoon. That narrows it down to about a bajillion.

Think you know it? Name that tune!

Click the link to listen.

(Main Title)

Yo! Now you can take part in designing Yoe Books’ latest release, Bob Powell’s Terror! If you’re on Facebook (and all the cool people are these days) go to the link below and “Like” the page. Then “Like” your choice from the four possible covers shown above! Deadline is this Friday at Midnight and three autographed copies will be given away!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yoe-Books/157174217659112

Here’s an extremely politically incorrect 1943 comics story featuring Paul Gustavson’s Rusty Ryan and his pals, all done up in their Captain America costumes…but from Quality Comics!

http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/2011/08/rusty-ryan-and-boyville-brigadiers-paul.html

Skywald came along in the early seventies as a low-rent version of Warren with horror titles such as Psycho, seen here with Tom Sutton, Rich Buckler, Ross Andru, Dan Adkins and more and features such as the debut of The Heap!

http://comicreadinglibrary.blogspot.com/2011/08/psycho-2.html#more

Finally today, here’s an artist whose work deserves to be much better known-Mike Zeck at Charlton in the seventies.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/08/boys-from-derby-obsessed-by-gill-and.html

The fourth published appearance of Professor Tigwissel, is found in an interior page of the August 7th, 1875 edition of the (New York) Daily Graphic. In Midsummer Musings by our Cynical Artist, Livingston Hopkins has assigned Tigwissel only a cameo role consisting of two of the near dozen cartoon panels. Tigwissel’s use here seems forced — i.e., he is not playing the scientist, inventor, or explorer, but is mere fodder for a joke involving a farmer pulling one over the intellectual. Of note, though, is that Hopkins’ attempt to stick Tigwissel into a joke which could have been pulled off (and perhaps better) using a generic, anonymous city-slicker, signals that Hopkins now consciously regards Professor Tigwissel as a comic character he wishes to re-use again and again, and is actively seeking ways to integrate Tigwissel into his cartoons. It is at this point, that Professor Tigwissel unequivocally attains the status of a continuing comic strip character.

(NOTE: Click on the picture above, to make it large enough to read!)

To view the prior episodes in this series, click here on Tigwissel Tuesdays.

Doug Wheeler

ProfTigwissel NYDailyGraphic

Canteen Kate was an altogether unexceptional military humor comic with a Korean War setting made exceptional by Matt Baker’s art and his singular protagonist. It really is sort of amazing just how many toxic 50′s female stereotypes Kate manages to avoid. Although she felt affection towards enlisted men romance never entered her mind; she wanted to be treated like one of the guys. And, just as unlikely, the guys felt the same way about her. She was always eager to help them with their problems and while her plans invariably went pear shaped it was never due to a lack of either smarts or gumption

But of course the principal part of her appeal was visual;with her rumbled short hair and abbreviated, disheveled military outfit she was every bit as sexy as any of Baker’s jungle girls. And maybe it’s just me projecting but along with that hot tomboy quality to me Kate always looked really relaxed to the point of being post-coital. As if minutes before appearing on panel she had she woken up in a strange bunk, pulled on her rumbled outfit from off the floor of some lucky guy and hastily gotten dressed when heading for the door.

But that’s probably just me.

She made her first appearance in St. John’s Anchors Andrews, a by the numbers buddies in the navy comic by person or persons unknown.

Kate was apparently a civilian US government employee who worked at an Army base PX that seemed to be fairly close to the front. I write “apparently” because while clearly not a WAC I was unable to discover online whether civilian women were permitted to run an Army PX on foreign soil during the Korean War. Not that any of that matters given she’s clearly a fantasy figure with a tenuous connection to reality at best.

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In issue #2 Anchors Andrew changed it’s named to Anchors The Salt Water Daffy and Kate graduated to her own short-lived title. It was a minor effort to be sure but one that was as odd as it was interesting.

Ever feel like quitting your job (in spite of the economy)? Well, so do your favorite superheroes as seen in this fun gallery of “quitter” covers.

http://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2011/08/bunch-of-quitters.html

After Spider-Man, Steve Ditko threw all his efforts into modernizing Charlton’s Captain Atom and reinventing the Blue Beetle. Here are the tow issue in which he did just that!

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/2011/08/captain-atom-blue-beetle-artwork-by.html

Yesterday would have been Jack “King” Kirby’s 94th birthday and here we have a whole big bunch of his Jimmy Olsen art from the early seventies. Kirby says, “Don’t ask, just click!”

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/08/making-splash-king-kirbys-jimmy-olsen.html

Finally, we end with a massive post of every single Thor cover from King Kirby’s classic sixties run on what was said to be his favorite title in the long run.

http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2011/08/jack-kirbys-thor.html

Let’s start today in Old Brazil with Portal Do Gibi Nostalgia, a South American comics site with translatable articles and a feast of fun illustrations from US Golden Age Comics.

http://portaldogibinostalgia.blogspot.com/

Space Ghost never seemed to have as many actual comics as fans wished but here’s his Big Little Book from when he was still on the air, complete with color comics-style illustrations.

http://waffyjon.blogspot.com/2011/08/cbt-space-ghost-blb-sorceress-of-cyba-3.html

Here’s an interesting discussion (including the comments. Don’t skip the comments.) of rejected comic book covers at Marvel in the late sixties.

http://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-rejected-covers.html

Finally, here’s a fun piece entitled, “What if Jack Kirby Was a Photoshop Expert?”

http://www.whatifkirby.com/news/what-if-jack-kirby-was-photoshop-expert

Last year, we presented on SuperI.T.C.H. several postings involving the theme of Back-to-School, each of them showcasing Victorian Age and Hearst Era comics published by college students. Amongst these postings was the first part of the circa 1850 sequential comic book, The College Experiences of Ichabod Academicus, written & drawn by Yale University student William T. Peters.

Peters structured Ichabod Academicus into four chapters, one for each year of university life. Below is Ichabod’s second, or Sophomore Year. Ichabod Academicus’ format & layout is patterned after that of Swiss graphic novelist Rodolphe Töpffer, while Peter’s art style appears influenced by French cartoonists such as Cham (who got his start copying Töpffer comics) and Daumier.

To see last year’s batch of college comics — including the Freshman Year of Ichabod Academicus, click here. Enjoy!

Click on any picture, to open an enlarged version.

Doug Wheeler

CollegeComics

You never know what you’ll find at The Internet Archive-for example, downloadable high resolution scans of every episode of Winsor McCay’s comic strip, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend.

http://www.archive.org/details/DreamOfTheRarebitFiendByWinsorMccay

Here’s Spidey and Doc Ock in the Amazing Spider-Man issue from 1981′s collection of mini-comic books entitled Bubble Funnies.

http://wonderfulwonderblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/bubble-funnies-amazing-spider-man.html

Back to the Golden Age for an adventure with The Boy King and his giant stone friend drawn by later Flash Gordon artist Dan Barry.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2011/08/number-1005-boy-king-and-giant-boy-king.html

You may have heard that Craig has a book out about Krazy Kat’s George Herriman. If you happen to somehow be unfamiliar with the strip, go here for examples.

http://comicstriplibrary.org/browse/results?title=1

Professor Tigwissel‘s third published adventure — Professor Tigwissel’s Arctic Experience — appeared on July 28th, 1875, on the front page of that day’s (New York) Daily Graphic.

Tigwissel creator — comic artist Livingston Hopkins — took his inspiration from contemporary accounts of Polar explorers (and popular cartoon parodies of same). Concocting a polar scenario during New York City’s hot summer, was a bonus. 1875 was the year of the nearly disastrous British HMS Discovery expedition and its attempts to reach the North Pole, as well as the first of two expeditions by the steamship HMS Pandora to the North West Passage, and its search for signs of another Arctic expedition, lost thirty years earlier.

(Click on the above picture to open a version large enough to read!)

The prior episodes in this series can be found by clicking on Tigwissel Tuesdays.

Also, later this week, I’ll post the adventures of another “academic” — the Sophomore Year chapter from the circa 1850 graphic novel, The College Experiences of Ichabod Academicus.

Doug Wheeler

ProfTigwissel NYDailyGraphic Polar Exploration