Halloween approaches and with it DC’s classic mystery characters get their due, such as this very first story of The Phantom Stranger.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2012/10/number-1251-phantom-stranger-makes-his.html

Election Day approaches, too, and here’s the Ghost Who Walks to teach you how to vote…if you happen to be an aborigine.

http://www.ep.tc/problems/51/

Over at The Comics Journal, the great R.O. Blechman writes about the great Edward Sorel.

http://www.tcj.com/the-enigmatic-edward-sorel/

Finally, even without translation, Karl-Alfred offers much fun for Popeye fans!

http://thepopeyeadventures.blogspot.com/

So hey people, today we start out with cartoons on some actual warships, just a few years prior to 1916! And guess what, they were arguing back then, on whether they had enough ships! And just out, Mitt Romney’s newest round of advertisements, takes his penchance for lying to a whole new level. He has several ads in which he has extracted his (Mitt’s) comments during the third debate — including the one on the U.S. Navy of 1916 — leaving out the President’s response that tore these same comments apart (as did every truth checking outlet out there). It’s been less than a week since that debate — everyone who watched it knows precisely what this liar is up to. Does he really think the American People are that stupid? Hell, Mitt’s own G.O.P. rivals during the primaries, were pointing out what a constant shifting liar he was (silence, of course, from that crowd now). Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough, whether the majority prefers the truth, or, prefers lies that they simply want to believe, despite all evidence contrary.

This year, we have one political party saying that the best way to balance the budget and get the economy moving, is to give bigger tax breaks to millionaires, increase military spending beyond what the Pentagon has any plans to use that money for, at the expense of slahing programs to help the middle class and poor, and remove the money to enforce environmental regulations, food & drug health regulations, regulations to watch out for Wall Street criminality (because, as we know, there hasn’r been one single Wall Street scandal/swindle since the last huge one where they stole money from us all…

And the other political party, of course, has the opposite approach.

As we can see by the following cartoons from the past hundred years, the debate of spending money on weapons that either get destroyed in war, or later become obsoleted (yet another way of siphoning cash to wealthy arms merchants — just as Republican President and military hero Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation against in his famous speech concerning the Industrial-Military Complex), versus investing tax money in permanent structures to the longterm benefit of the nation, is hardly a new argument.

I’m not a dove, I believe in a strong military, and in support for military personnel. But the current Republican plan to fund weapons even the generals don’t want, does nothing to support our troops, while simultaneously slashing programs that many — including our troops and their families — depend upon. Plus, as many are pointing out, simply doesn’t balance mathematically.

Above, from the September 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine, we have those for & against a larger Navy. Cartoons are by Oscar Cesare, Tige Reynolds, Luther D. Bradley, Herbert H. Perry, and Camillus Kessler.

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

Below, from the March 5th, 1952 issue of the Daily Worker, is a cartoon by artist Fred Ellis, depicting the rich military industrialists that Eisenhower warned of, reaping in money all while unemployment continued to be a problem.

Above, Ellis, in the May 6th, 1952 Daily Worker, showing the tax burden of War upon the American people.

Below, artist Homer Davenport, from his 1910 collection, The Dollar or the Man?, depicting essentially the same thing.

Above, yet another image on the same theme by Ellis, this time from the April 25th, 1952 Daily Worker. All three of the above Ellis cartoons were scanned from the book, The Worker — 36 Years of Drawings.

Beneath, the Marche Militaire, by Ellis again. This time scanned from the publication, Red Cartoons 1928.

One more from Ellis above, from Red Cartoons 1928, titled For the Next War.

Below, A Heavy Load to Carry, by Frederick Burr Opper, from the rear cover of the June 27th, 1888 issue of Puck magazine.

Finally, for our last three cartoons, we switch to the more light-hearted indictments upon rich armament manufacturers of Syd Hoff, found in his 1935 book, The Ruling Clawss.

To find prior episodes of this series,click on Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons. And, to find earlier posts concerning financial reforms in general, click here.

Doug Wheeler

NYPuck Financial Reforms

This being Day One of the World Series, we look back to the Series of a century ago, with help from the November 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

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

Above, struggling to keep one’s hands on the news of the day, by Hruska.

Below, the Presidential Campaign & candidates placed on hold, for the larger priority of the World Series. Art by Matthew Caine, Ralph Everett Wilder, Walter R. Allman, and Harry J. Westerman.

Below, Westerman again, W.A. Ireland, Sid Craiger, and Gaar Williams.

Doug Wheeler

Baseball cartoons Woodrow Wilson Teddy Roosevelt T.R. William Howard Taft Billy Ireland

Another first! This Tuesday, instead of a song about a comic strip character, or the theme from an animated cartoon, or a record by an cartoonist, or even a song sung by a letterer (yes, we’ve had all of these here), we present a tune inspired by a line of classic comic book dialogue. The line, of course, is “Hey, what th-.”

This all-purpose line can be used many wonderful ways. For example, “Hey, what th- My flame doesn’t affect Dr. Doom!” (Johnny Storm, The Human Torch). Or “Hey, what th- My web didn’t hold! I’m falling off this skyscraper!” (Spider-Man). And who could forget “Hey, what th- It’s the Avengers!” (guy on New York street). In Superman comics you’d expect to hear “Great Caesar’s ghost.” On the Batman TV show it might be “Holy icebergs Batman, Mr. Freeze has frozen us solid!” But in the Marvel universe, there’s nothing better than a little “Hey, what th-” to create a feeling of excitement.

The song comes to us courtesy of Mr. Capes (guitar, base, drums) and Mr. Masks (flugelhorn) whose delightful album Comic Book Heroes (see here, here, here, here and here for more) gave us so many great generic comics tunes. When you hear that album by the Capes & Masks you’ll say “Hey, what th-.” It’s practically guaranteed.

Click the link below to experience the sheer majesty of this record!

Hey, What th- - The Capes and Masks

Above, anti-vaccination loons -in the mode of Republican Congresswoman & one-time leading Presidential G.O.P. Candidate Michele Bachmann — pictured blindly marching to disaster. Numerous Republican elected officials, have stated they would like to eliminate the Food & Drug Administration, and with it, all regulations regarding Food & Drug standards. Industry can better self-regulate itself, they say, as there would be no incentive to endanger the public for profits. The current Meningitis outbreaks — caused by a Massachusetts pharmacy which used a loophole in the law to operate outside F.D.A. regulations, a loophole which anti-regulation Republicans have for several years been preventing to be closed — demonstrates precisely what risks with public health, unregulated industries will engage in, in the name of profit.

All the images in this posting, are extracted from the 1930 cartoon booklet, Health in Pictures.

Above, not by Clare Briggs, but with permission, an episode of Ain’t it a Grand and Glorious Feeling?.

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

Click here for prior postings of Tigwissel Tuesdays.

Doug Wheeler

— Doug

Unique since the early seventies, nobody comes close to drawing like artist Richard Corben even today.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2012/10/grooves-faves-mind-of-mass-by-potter.html

If you haven’t been there lately, you’ll be happy to know that The Aquaman Shrine is still open for business.

http://www.aquamanshrine.com/

Pappy shares a cheesecake adventure of fashion queen Katy Keene.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2012/10/number-1249-watch-breeze-make-katys.html

Finally today, Blog Into Mystery takes a look at early Vincent Price comics from Dell.

http://blogintomystery.com/2012/10/22/edgar-allan-poe-roger-corman-vincent-price-and-bonos-sunglasses-tomb-of-ligeia/

Like Kathy the Teenage Tornado, Linda Carter, Student Nurse was a title that straddled that period when Marvel Comics wasn’t really Atlas Comics anymore, but still wasn’t quite Marvel either. In this case between 1961 and 1963 they published nine issues of this title which was an uncomfortable mixture of teen romance, comedy and soap opera. Or as the first story in the first issue put it:

“Linda Carter, destined to become one of your most beloved friends! Let us watch as a new chapter of her life begins … a life filled with humor, thrills, and glamorous romance!”

Sadly it follows the usual Stan Lee teen comedy romance template; our heroine Linda Carter is super nice and pretty which pretty much instantly earns her the eternal enmity of Gwen Glitter, Student Nurse Bitch. If that seems a bit harsh it’s important to know that Gwen spends every waking moment scheming up ways of destroying Linda’s career and happiness. These invariably backfire horribly and Linda goes on believing that Gwen is one of her good friends. Which is, I’m guessing, is supposed to be funny.

Like most Atlas Comics of the era these comics were signed, by Stan Lee (of course) and also artist Art Hartley, best known for the Spire Christian Archie comics. Hartley does an OK job here, but the main trouble is we only know that Linda Carter is an irrepressible blithe spirit and great beauty because the script keeps telling us. As drawn, Linda is just so much ‘meh’.

As it has been pointed out to me Linda Carter, Student Nurse was undoubtedly inspired by the Cherry Ames girls book series. It was also no doubt also the inspiration behind the Linda Lark, Student Nurse comic book series from Dell which came out roughly at the same time. Even with the participation of writer John Stanely it was actually a slightly worse comic book.

WARNING: The below posting includes racially offensive cartoons.

Tonight’s Presidential Debate being on Foreign Policy, and, today being the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, together make this a good day to look back at U.S. foreign policy, in 1912, via that year’s Cartoons Magazine. Decisions made today, can have lasting impact far into the future.

Above, from the November 1912 issue, Peace on the Pacific via gunpoint, by A.C. Fera. Depicting a few of the territories taken by the U.S. during the 1898 Spanish-American War — San Pedro, Cuba (back when Cuba must have been like the island from “Lost”, in that it could apparently move around and change which ocean it was in…), the Philippines, and Hawaii. The latter, of course, being the future birth place of the current President, Barack Obama.

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

Below, much of U.S. policy in 1912, was directed towards Latin America, where the U.S. was having difficulty with certain of those acquired territories. Plus, experiencing general unruliness from several Latin American nations, which just didn’t grasp that the Monroe Doctrine doctrine protected their independence, if only they would do what we told them to do… The cartoon below, titled Airlines, is by Fred Ellis, originally published in the January 25th, 1928 Daily Worker, and found here via Red Cartoons 1928.

One last warning: The below posting contains racist cartoons.

So okay, now you see why I posted those warnings. This represents the general attitude of Americans in 1912, towards their non-white neighboring countries — the titles and pictures tell the story, and it’s important to present those prejudices which influenced national policy, rather than pretend this didn’t occur, and so keep it hidden.

“With Samuel’s Naughty Little Ones”, is the overall theme added by Cartoons Magazine to the page of cartoons above. Pictured as children, inferior and subject to the authority of Uncle Sam, are the Dominican Republic (“San Domingo”), Haiti, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Cuba — all nations which the U.S. militarily invaded multiple times in the 19th and/or 20th centuries.

From above: Trouble in the Back Yard, by Guy Spencer; Anyone Else Need a Spanking?, by George Hager; Watermelon Time, showing Uncle Sam guarding his watermelon patch, against those dark-skinned Latin Americans, Ben Franklin Hammond; and a rather evil-looking depiction, drawn by Charles “Doc” Winner.

Below, more racist cartoons, concerning Cuba. Art by Herbert H. Perry, James North, and Ernest E. Burtt.

Above (from September 1912) & below (October 1912), cartoons involving the then ongoing Mexican Revolution. A Revolution without which we would not have current Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather, fled the United States with his family and other Mormon fundamentalists, settling in Mexico, to escape anti-polygamy laws. Later, Mitt Romney’s grand-father & father (the latter then a child), fled back into the United States, driven out by Mexican Revolutionaries (as per pictured happening above).

Art in the above page, by W.A. Ireland, Herbert H. Perry, and Arthur V. Buel.

Artists in the below two pages, are Charles Henry Sykes, Harry K. Godwin, Herbert Johnson, Elmer Donnell, Gaar Williams, James H. Donahey, and Ernest E. Burtt.

Above & below, another hotspot for U.S. military intervention — Nicaragua. The most recent of which was when U.S. President Ronald Reagan funneled cash and weapons through the Iranian Revolutionary Government (i.e., the current one, with different players), to rebels in Nicaragua, to overthrow their Marxist government.

Above, from the October 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine, we have art by Matthew Caine, Cy Hungerford, Winner, and Bronstrup.

Below, Fred Ellis again, from Red Cartoons 1928.

Finally, below, cartoons involving the soon-to-be-completed Panama Canal. Panama was, as we know, “liberated” from Venezuela and declared an independent nation, by the United States, which didn’t like the terms it was getting from the Venezuelan government. And so the U.S. created a revolt, then “supported” it, propping up the new Panamanian government, which it could then control and dictate terms concerning the projected Canal. Our last military intervention there was under the orders of George Bush I. Plus, it is the birthplace of 2008 G.O.P. Presidential nominee, John McCain (within the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone, which was then U.S. territory.) The “trouble” being referred to below, was that European powers didn’t like that they were going to be charged fees for sending ships through the Canal, while U.S. ships would be allowed to go through “free”.

Art below, by Charles Lewis Bartholomew (“Bart”), Milton R. Halladay, Sykes, and North.

Doug Wheeler

ElectionComics Billy Ireland

Welcome back again to another round of nostalgia for those Good Ol’ Days of one century ago, which we all so fondly remember from our youth (if you’re Methuselah, with selective amnesia). Courtesy of the October 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

And what would be the paradise of the Good Ol’ Days, without a snake in the midst? Above, tempting good, honest folks with the lure of easy money, is race track gambling, by Charles Henry Sykes.

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

Beneath, seasonal lamentation over the fading of that popular men’s fashion accessory, the straw hat, from several cartoonists.

Above, Baseball, Football, Golf, and Yachting… by Robert Satterfield, North, and future Essany Studios animator, Jeff Carlson.

Beneath, Herbert H. Perry, Luther D. Bradley, and Burt Thomas, on Hay Fever.

Life’s Irritations, from William Charles Morris, Clive Weed, Tyler McWhorter, and Rogers.

Below, more temptation, this time tobacco, and involving some newly established laws to prevent selling it to kids. By Lynch, Satterfield, and Perry.

Above, honoring the death of Japanese Emperor Meiji (or, Mutsuhito). By Robert Minor, Jr..

Beneath, by Bronstrup, the Chinese Republic had overthrown the rule of the China’s Emperor approaching a year ago, and was still wondering when the U.S. was going to recognize it.

Above, more, from Hruska, Elmer Donnell, John Campbell Cory, and O’Loughlin.

Below, Gaar Williams, Tige Reynolds, and others.

Above, still more struggles of Man, by George W. French and others.

Beneath, the furor over the Post Office closing its Sunday hours… by Perry, Minor, William Kemp Starrett, and Billy DeBeck.

Doug Wheeler

— Doug

Other websites may keep you informed of the latest stumbles and sneezes of the candidates, but, only here on SuperI.T.C.H. can you remain up-to-the-century on election details!

Today’s focus, embattled incumbent President, William Howard Taft, brought to you courtesy of the October (below) and November 1912 issues of Cartoons Magazine.

Above, a page of cartoons against Taft, by Matthew Caine, and Robert Minor, Jr.; and, a page for him, by Camillus Kessler, Herbert H. Perry, and Robert Satterfield.

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

Below, a page of cartoons on Taft‘s seeming resignation to his coming loss, by Charles MaCauley, Frank Michael Spangler, Robert Carter, and Luther D. Bradley.

Above, yet another page supporting Taft. By Ralph Everett Wilder, Burtt, Kessler, and Henry Barret Chamberlin.

Below, cartoons predicting a third place finish for Taft and the G.O.P. (which is what happened). By Caine, James H. Donahey, and Fontaine Fox.

Doug Wheeler

ElectionComics Woodrow Wilson Teddy Roosevelt T.R.