The ever romantic Sequential Crush revisits the short-lived genre of gothic romance comics with art and commentary including a nice cover by the late Jeffery Catherine Jones.

http://sequentialcrush.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-wed-devil-sinister-house-of-secret.html

Here’s a nifty site I just discovered which attempts to ferret out long-lost and unknown credits of comic book stories of the past…and does a pretty darn good job of doing so!

http://martinohearn.blogspot.com/

Superman, Swamp Thing and Solomon Grundy…written by Steve Englehart and all drawn by Murphy Anderson! In one story, together! Go. Read! Enjoy!

http://mailittoteamup.blogspot.com/2011/10/tales-from-dollar-bin-dc-comics_29.html

Attempting to interpret Legion of Super Heroes continuity is, of course, a losing battle but here’s a look at questions and speculation regarding the Time Trapper.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2011/10/curious-case-of-time-trapper.html

Entirely by accident I seem to have stumbled across an interesting (to me, anyway) bit of Marvel Comics lore. Between 1969 and 1975 Marvel published 39 issues of My Love and during that run they published the story “His Hair Is Long and I Love Him!” by Stan Lee and Gene Colan three times: in #5, #21 and #39. Of course by the time the final issue came out in 1976 the story had lost much of it’s relevance (i.e. long-hair for men had gone from outrageous to more or less normative).

This issue also included “Too Young to Wear Black” by Joy Hartle and Win Mortimer, which is nice and all…

…but it’s no “My Song and My Sorrow!” by Stan Lee, John Buscema and Dick Ayers.

Well, whaddaya know? WordPress has seen fit to let me back in finally after a lockout of nearly a full week! Betcha there’s been some good posts we can link to since we were last here! Let’s take a look.

One comics artist whose work I have come to really appreciate in recent years is Ernie Colòn whose sci-fi and adventure stuff all has a unique style but he nonetheless remains best known for his Richie Rich stories.

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2011/10/ernie-colons-richie-rich.html

Whoa! Here we see an entire unpublished Golden Age story of Superman, shown in black and white from its original art as seen online at Auction!

http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2011/10/small-super-package-friday-comic-book.html

Speaking of Superman, this has been spreading like wildfire on the Net-the actual check with which DC screwed over Siegel and Shuster in 1938!

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/10/25/superman-check-jerry-siegel-joe-shuster-dc-comics/

And finally today, with Halloween inching up daily, here are some of Mike Ploog’s fantastic Eisneresque covers for Marvel’s Werewolf By Night.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/10/grooviest-covers-of-all-time-mike.html

I’d been planning to resume the Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons series of last year, starting in 2012. But the growing Occupy Wall Street movement has had me itching to get back to the subject earlier.

Click on the pictures above and below, to view larger versions.

First up, Childish Simplicity, published in the October 19th, 1872 issue of Frank Leslie’s Boys’ and Girls’ Weekly. Demonstrating how the reputation currently enjoyed by banks, is one they’ve nurtured over a long, deep, consistent history of (mis)behavior.

Below, a re-presentation from a year-and-a-half ago, of a set of circa 1880s trade cards depicting a child Playing Bank President according to the examples of his day. The set is by artist C.M. Coolidge (most celebrated for his painting of dogs playing poker).

To find last year’s episodes of this series,click on Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons. And, to find posts on financial reforms in general, click here.

Doug Wheeler

financial reform FLBGWeekly

Here’s Joe College #2, second verse, same as the first, which isn’t so bad given that means stories by Bob Powell, Dick Briefer and Frank Frazetta. I suppose you can look at this as inconsequential fluff but I prefer to put in the context of the times, the interesting post WWII period when people were fairly uncertain about how exactly to live, think and feel in the new normal of a world without a world war. College seems to have been on their minds, if movies like An Apartment For Peggy and Mr. Belvedere Goes To College are any indication. Having watched those movies I can tell you that the odd fashions on display in these comics weren’t the fantastic invention of a cartoonist but how people (well, some people anyway) actually looked and dressed.

Yes, I know I presented a Batman song just last week. But I have soooo many Batman songs and I ain’t getting any younger. What if I died of old age before I was able to share Batman-A-Go-Go with all you loyal ITCHers? Then where would modern civilization be? Answer me that!

So here we have it. Another toe-tapper that references the Dark Knight, back when he was just a Caped Crusader. Whether you’re an avid Batman fan or just a casual admirer, you’ll want to Batusi to this tune. Take it away, Combo Kings!

Bizarrely, this is NOT the same record. Just one of the many Bat-masterpieces with a similar name.

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For you music buffs, this song bears a striking resemblance to Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.” Sounds like a Batman villain, doesn’t he?

As usual, click the Bat-link to listen:

Batman a Go-Go - Combo Kings

For this week’s Tigwissel Tuesday, a few images from the 1846, Geneva, Switzerland-published, French-German language edition of Rodolphe Töpffer‘s 1830 graphic novel, Le Docteur Festus.

A scientific social satire, Docteur Festus is amongst the earliest (and probably the first) long-form comic book parody centered on science.

The story involves rival astronomers Lunard, Nebulard, and Guignard arguing — and literally fighting — over whose hypothesis is correct.

The images of their floating telescope (named after astronomer John Herschel)…

…and its ocean landing, presages the Hubble Space Telescope, Apollo program splashdowns, and Jules Vernes’ later 1865 novel, From the Earth to the Moon.

For a complete English-lanuage translation of Docteur Festus — and Rodolphe Töpffer’s other graphic novels — see author David Kunzle’s, Rodolphe Töpffer: The Complete Comic Strips, plus its companion volume, Father of the Comic Strip: Rodolphe Töpffer.

Tigwissel Tuesdays will be going on hiatus for a couple months, returning in January with the eighth Tigwissel appearance. I am taking the brief break on this series, in order to gear up for a number of concurrent series in 2012, including a resumption of the Wall Street Frauds series of last year.

Doug Wheeler

Even though these things are supposed to cover a wide variety of comics I’ll happily admit I revisit some kinds of comics a lot more than others. These tend to fall into the categories of (a) comics I never read when I was kid and (b) comics I wished I could have read when I was a kid. British comics fall neatly into the second so once again here’s another British Annual from Fleetway featuring some of their strange semi-superheroes.

It constantly frustrates and bewilders me that there is such little interest in these comics and characters, both in the UK and in America. I suppose if I was going to be absolutely honest there’s a small part of me that hopes if I keep putting this material out in plain view it will inspire someone somewhere to do something with them. It’s really, really unlikely I know, but never let it be said I didn’t do the least I could do.

But in the meanwhile from 1971, Kelly’s Eye! House of Dolmann and The Steel Claw!

Whilst I was deathly ill a few weeks back, I received several care packages including one featuring the three newest publications from Yoe Books. As ever, by way of full disclosure, what you are about to read are blatant but much deserved plugs, not reviews, because I was privileged to assist with all three of these volumes in various ways. So what exactly are these latest collections from the ever-fevered mind of friend and former muppet Craig Yoe? Well let’s take a look at them, in no particular order.

Our second volume is nothing less than the fascinating history behind the first 3-D comic books in the 1950′s…and I can’t even see 3-D! That’s right. For years I thought it was a practical joke; that there was no such thing as 3-D but that, like the emperor’s new clothes, no one wanted to admit that they couldn’t see it! Then one day, just a few years ago, I DID see it! And I was amazed. It was in the introductory short film made for the 3-D re-release of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. I watched a candle float by me IN the theater! But…that was it. I didn’t see any 3-D in the film itself, nor any in the dozen or so other films I’ve been forced to pay extra for over the past few years since.

But the thing is…now I know that it’s REAL! It’s not a joke! Craig’s AMAZING 3-D COMICS! offers dozens of stories from the original 3-D craze, most of them actually in restored 3-D…complete with the requisite free glasses (albeit better quality than the original green and red cellophane lens ones).

Not just a regurgitation of previously published materials, Yoe spent much time speaking with the legendary Joe Kubert who, along with his then art partner Norman Maurer (and Norman’s brother) gets credit for developing the process involved and starting the craze itself while at St. John. I know Craig actually talked with him because I transcribed the interviews myself. Joe also wrote an inroduction to the book. For Maurer’s side, Craig assigned me to speak with his widow, Joan, who just happens to be the daughter of Stooge, Moe Howard! As a lifelong Three Stooges fan, that was a treat!

Some may recall the originally announced cover for AMAZING 3-D COMICS! as seen in early ads. That was scrapped when Mr. Kubert became so enthused about the project that he was willing to contribute an all-new cover featuring his classic caveman, TOR, star of one of the earliest 3-D comics. Then, given all the elements, Craig Yoe designed a book cover to die for by doing Kubert’s art as a lenticular panel to simulate actual 3-D! The character from the original

intended cover joined Felix the Cat (star of his own previous Yoe Book) and others on the textured sidebar and a fun shot of Kubert and Yoe in actual 3-Dhighlights the back cover!!

Along with the expected Maurer and Kubert, the other stories and art inside are by such luminaries as Alex Toth, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand and Jack Kirby. A lot of the stories are stand-alone horror, humor or western tales but familiar characters include The Three Stooges (Shemp version), Cowboy actor Tim Holt, Felix, Tor, Maggie and Jiggs and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

So no, I don’t get the full effect but that’s my eyes. It’s not the book’s fault. All of the stories are readable even without the glasses. Well…all accept a couple of trick one pagers where the goal was to cover one side of your glasses to get one side of the story and another to get the other side.

AMAZING 3-D COMICS! is not just a fun book but a detailed look at an important and often neglected piece of comic book history from one of out premier comics historians…and his talented sidekicks. Ahem…

I’m a simple bear; give me exactly what I want and I’ll shut the hell up. Like, for years and years (and years) I’ve used every opportunity presented me to talk about how I wished someone would collect Mandrake the Magician. So, since starting in February Titan Books will be releasing the collected strip starting with Mandrake the Magician: The Sundays: 1935-1937 (Vol. 1) this will most likely be the last time I’ll be doing a post featuring Lee Falk’s legendary magician, begetter of an entire generation of comic book imitators.

But for those of you who have no interest in buying the collection, hopefully this beautifully colored Sunday circus situated sequence will give you some idea of just how charming a strip Mandrake could be. It’s a by the numbers circus story with standard cut-out characters that has echoes of Silent Movies in it’s DNA. In lesser hands this sort of material could be so much ‘meh’ but Lee Falk and Phil Davis do a remarkable job of making it a lot more than that.