Joys & Glooms by T.E. Powers
Today, one final example of a 1912 comic strip book, that comics fans of a century ago might have hoped to find waiting for them, beneath the Christmas tree — Joys & Glooms, by T.E. Powers, reprinting comics which had appeared in the newspaper New York American.
Powers’ strip was populated with tiny characters, which represented a variety of emotions, but most often used were those representing “Joy” and “Gloom”. Above, on the front cover, along the top runs a row of dancing yellow “Joys”, while along the bottom trudge the purple “Glooms”.
Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.
Below, a full list of Powers’ cast of emotions.
Above, presentation signature to Stewart Knapp from his parents, showing that this copy was once a gift (albeit not dated when or for what occasion). Below, sample extracts from the book.
NOTE: for all double-page samples, read first the top tier of panels across both pages, then the next tier of panels across both pages…
— Doug
