Either tonight’s game, or the next, will determine this year’s World Series winner. So, presented is one final round of baseball cartoons for this year. The cartoons immediately above & below, come from the October 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine, with art by Robert Satterfield (above), and Nate Collier (below).

Beneath, though the Philadelphia A’s (now Oakland A’s) won the 1913 World Series, New York City-based Cartoons Magazine reprinted Jeff Carlson‘s cartoon featuring that Series’ loser, the N.Y. Giants. The other pieces are by Hugh Doyle and James H. Donahey.

Click on the pages beneath, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Doug Wheeler

baseball cartoons

It’s October 29th and that means it’s time for Batman! Why? Because Every Day Is Batman Day here on Comics Tunes Tuesdays. As I’ve said over and over (and over) again, the 1966 Batman TV show was the biggest pop culture phenomenon ever. And it’s especially important here at the nexus of comics and records because there were more records inspired by Batman than any other comics-related character. (I’ve made that statement on a regular basis for years here on the I.T.C.H. blog and no one has challenged me yet.)

The effects of the 1966 Batman series are still being felt today. There’s even a new comic book about the ’66 vintage Batman. See the before and after pictures below if you don’t believe me.

Click to enlarge

In the 47 years since, we’ve seen a lot of changes to Batman, from the gritty Neal Adams version to the long-eared Marshall Rogers Batman. We’ve seen Batman grow old and nasty thanks to Frank Miller, and we’ve heard Batman’s voice as a gruff stage whisper courtesy of Christian Bale. There is no end to the myriad ways Batman can be re-invented, re-cycled and re-imagined. But did you ever imagine this?

Front cover

Back cover

At the peak of the 1966 Bat-boom, when Batmania was sweeping the nation, Panda Records released what appears to be an authorized album of Bat-tunes by that swingin’ group, The Dynamic Batmen. (Cue the THUD sound effect.) As with many groups before and after them, The Dynamic Batman do a decent job of covering Neal Hefti’s hefty hit from the TV show. What’s most remarkable is the trippy album cover featuring all of Batman’s famous foes: The Penguin! The Fox! Mr. Mouse! The Fuzzy Widdle Bunny! And of course, The Giraffe! (Note that LSD abuse was pretty widespread by 1966. Just sayin’.) Take a closer look:

Click for the full mind-blowing experience.

Here’s what the brain-bending caption says on the bizarre framed art by noted children’s illustrator George Buckett: “IMPORTANT MESSAGE: The beautiful full color illustration on the opposite side is made specially for framing or as a pin-up for your child’s room. A most wonderful gift for the favorite children in your life.” Well, they got one thing right. It is full color.

Click the link below and groove to the Batman theme for the umpteenth time.

Batman Theme - The Dynamic Batmen

I’ve already “done” an issue of Blue Bolt but this issue features several points of interest, like:

Another “streamlined” ghost adventure with Sergeant Spook, the ghost of a deceased cop who partnered with his living psychic sidekick Jerry, the only one who could see or hear him. There were any number of supernatural crimefighters working during the Golden Age, but the Sarge’s outings were inspired more by the Topper series of movies than the pulp Weird Tales. They were like efficient little b-movies, predictable but pleasant enough.

Here’s a text story by Mickey Spillane.

Here’s an incredibly racist outing of Sub-Zero, a refugee Venusian with the ability to project cold and ice who decided to play detective after getting stranded on earth. He acquired an Inuit sidekick called Freezum who had similar powers (how and when he acquired them I’ve been unable to determine) and since there were no readily known stereotypes for Inuits he spoke like Red Ryder’s kid pal Little Beaver. In this story he’s mistaken for a “Jap” and gets stuck in an internment camp; instead of being bitter he sees it as an opportunity to spy on some Japanese fifth columnists. None of the racism is in any way mitigated by the fact that the day is saved by some loyal “American Japs”.

I’ve always wondered how exactly Blue Bolt transitioned from being the Simon & Kirby superhero who operated in a lost city to a regular guy who was called Blue Bolt for no apparent reason. I assumed it was gradual process but as you can see it took about two panels.

Above, we’ve a second round of baseball cartoons for World Series Week. These come from the May 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine. Art by Sidney Smith, H.R. Manz, Terry Gilkison, and Harry Murphy.

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

Doug Wheeler

— Doug

This being Opening Day for the World Series, above we have a comic strip adaptation of author Ernest Thayer‘s famous 1888 poem, “Casey at the Bat”, as illustrated in the September 19th, 1908 edition of the Chicago Examiner by cartoonist Thomas A. Dorgan (“Tad”).

A dramatized reading of “Casey at the Bat” was part of the Vaudeville line-up at Chicago’s Lyceum Theatre during 1908, whose headliner was blackface minstrel singer Lew Dockstader (whom the advertising flyer above, was attributed to).

Doug Wheeler

baseball Tad Dorgan

It’s hard to beat 1966 for comics tunes. Not only was it the year of the Batman TV show (possibly the most recorded comics-related song in history) but it was a banner year for the competition over at Marvel. When The Marvel Super-Heroes TV show made its debut in ’66, it introduced us to five different super-hero theme songs. Plus, the Merry Marvel Marching Society theme. That’s a.k.a. the M.M.M.S. for those of U who text (U no who U R.).

Until today, I didn’t know who had written those songs. For all I knew it was Smilin’ Stan Lee who limned those tongue-twisting lyrics. But no! Thanks to fellow I.T.C.H.-er Steve Thompson and the good folks at PBS, we now know it was the same man responsible for both music and lyrics – Jack Urbont. The unsung hero of 1966 finally gets his chance to sing.

In a rare departure from our usual Tuesday ritual of sharing a record with you, we’re presenting this video. It showcases all of the Merry Marvel melodies as performed by the man who wrote them. Enjoy!

Click the itty-bitty image to see it in its full-size glory.

Click the link and march along.

I’ve posted in the past about Garth, the sort of Superman who was the hero of a long running newspaper strip that ran in Britain’s Daily Mirror starting in 1943, I say “sort of” because while he had Herculean strength he dressed and behaved more or less like a regular grown up person and fought evil as sort of a hobby as opposed to an angst infused obsession. With no visible means of support, other than his scientist pal Professor Lumiere whom he appeared to be sponging off of, Garth just sort of wandered around having adventures that ranged from the prosaic to the faintly fantastic, as here where he deals with some deadly humanoid robots that seem to owe a great deal to The Cybernauts from The Avengers TV series. Starting out it was pretty much kid stuff but thanks to writer Jim Edgar and artist Frank Bellamy who took over the strip in 1971, it quickly went from Boys Own Adventure to Mens Adventure Meaning along with the standard adventure stuff there were always loads of beautiful women in various stages of undress which eventually included dollops of frontal female nudity.

In it’s later years the strip became obsessed with the character’s past lives and the stories careened from one era to another. Uusally these were recovered memories, ala The Search For Bridey Murphy, while other jaunts seemed to result from him getting unstuck in time ala Slaughterhouse Five. These sequences got pretty repetitive, kind of like Milton Caniff’s interminable “Steve Is Dreaming” continuities. except Steve never repeatedly got sexually assaulted by mostly to completely naked evil queen types.

Comics superheroes have never been more popular on TV and in the movies. Some of the biggest-budget, most-popular films are based on both caped and uncaped comic book superheroes. Tonight we’ll see another episode of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel characters. And tonight at the same time on PBS there is a three-hour documentary about superhero comics. Superheroes are everywhere!

That’s why I’ve decided to ignore all that and post this song about Red Ryder. It’s not a bad record!

Now click the link below and enjoy!

Red Ryder - The Comics

Those following SuperITCH last year, may recall our reprinting of cartoons from the 1912 Presidential Election, covering what is still the most significant splintering of the Republican Party. Republican Party bosses — at a time when most state primaries were mere window dressing (party hacks chose which candidates ran in the final election, not the voters) — decided to stick with their incumbent President, Republican William Howard Taft, while the majority of Republican voters wanted former President, Teddy Roosevelt. When Taft was selected at the Republican Convention that year, T.R. and his delegates walked out of the convention, forming their own political party — the Progressive Party (more commonly known as the Bull Moose Party).

The Republicans in rebellion were centrist reformers. Their exodus left the G.O.P. with mostly die-hard Conservatives. Supported by that faction alone, the Republican Party ended 1912 elections in a dismal third place. The new Bull Moose Party coming in second, did not fare well afterwards, either, as it was built largely around the popularity of one man.

Since the conclusion of the 2012/1912 elections, I’ve shown few political cartoons, because truthfully, even I was sick & exhausted of them! After the end of the 1912 election, however, the G.O.P. split did not suddenly vanished, with both sides happily reuniting. The animosity between the Progressive Party and staid Republicans still filled the air. Bull Moose candidates had won seats in Congress. Throughout 1913, cartoons depicting disdain for the G.O.P. by those who’d walked out, and the failed efforts to reunite the two, continued. I didn’t seen a legitimate context to today, for showing these. But, with these past several weeks of the Republicans’ extreme right-wing holding the nation’s laws & economy hostage (again!), to attempt to gain via blackmail what they failed to win by the ballot box, I now do find these past examples of fratricidal conflict within the G.O.P., worthy of running.

The scans shown here, are ones I’d already completed, before deciding I couldn’t use them. Should Republicans extend their attempted extortion beyond this Thursday, then I’ll starting scanning the cartoons on the G.O.P. Split from 1913, that I had skipped.

Above, the “Munsey Plan” — an attempt to bring together the two parties — depicted by John Scott Clubb and William Kemp Starrett. Beneath, by Charles Henry Sykes, sign posts pointing towards opposite camps (with footprints in the snow showing how some — post-election — switched back). All are from the February 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

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

Above, also from February 1913, T.R. rejecting the Munsey Plan, by Harold Heaton.

Three months later — from the May 1913 issue — publisher and major financial backer of Teddy Roosevelt & the Bull Moose Party, Frank A. Munsey, was still attempting to bring the parties together. Art by Tom May, Coleman F. Naughton, and W.A. Ireland.

Doug Wheeler

Billy Ireland