Vintage Comics

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Comic panel of Secret Agent X-9 fighting a gang of armed thugs.

Alex Raymond excelled in dynamic action illustration

I immediately fell in love with Alex Raymond’s art when first exposed to it.  As a film noir and detective fiction fan, I discovered that he illustrated a comic strip called Rip Kirby, with the script by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon and Thin Man author).

After Raymond’s death, the strip continued with other artists and changed to Secret Agent X-9.

Raymond made his biggest splash as the originator (author and artist) of Flash Gordon.  Awesome stuff and influential to this day.

Here you go — enjoy Alex Raymond.

WADE

 

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EXCERPTED FROM: The Comics Journal

It’s my understanding that venerable industry news and criticism magazine The Comics Journal let the world know today that Tim Hodler and Dan Nadel will be taking over the magazine’s web iteration.

Hodler and Nadel are best known as an editorial team in terms of their work on the magazines The Ganzfeld and Comics Comics. Nadel has also written two lauded books for Abrams collecting artists that worked in mainstream comics that might have been alternative creators in modern times, and is the driving force behind the art comics publisher PictureBox.

Tim and Dan are among my favorite writers about comics and favorite comics people generally. I look forward to what they bring to the Journal, and I greatly look forward to their long overdue attention to a proper on-line archive.

Read more on Comics Review Newsmaker Interview: Dan Nadel, Tim Hodler Of TCJ…

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“Not all the notable comic-strips being published today are included in this group. There are some conspicuous absences. Each of the group represents a particular innovations in strips that sets it apart in appeal to mass readership.

Seen over at Rosebud Archives (thanks!)

Joyville

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Garfield Minus Garfield

I don’t know — Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never really found Garfield that funny.

If you’ve never seen the comic strip before and you start reading it on Monday, you will know all the jokes by Friday.  From then on it’s just variations on the same few situations.

Garfield is lazy, he loves to eat, he’s crazy about Lasagna, his master is a dull and dim-witted fellow.

So what could you do to improve Garfield?

Irishman Dan Walsh has a project called “Garfield Minus Garfield” or “G-G” in which — well, I’ll let him explain it.

Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.

So you might wonder if simply deleting the title character from the strip actually improves it.  Maybe — maybe not.  But it certainly can’t make it any worse.

WADE

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Cover art or horror comicThe LA Times ran an awesome article about 1950’s horror comics on Halloween.  It’s actually a review of a book detailing the gory history.

You can read the review here, and then decide if you have the courage to go read the book!

Bwwaaa-haaa-haaa-haaa

WADE

Thanks for the tip from Golden Age of Comic Books

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Gasoline Alley has been around forever.  It was old when I was a wee lad.  It shows the difference between modern one-shot gag strips today and the leisurely pace of illustration in the early 20th century.

Here is a contribution from Joyville:

WADE

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There!

I’m just getting out from these latest crazy weeks crammed with work (of that kind one has to do to live decently), particular obsessions (what would Life be without them?) and a lightning visit to Paris (where I had the pleasure to meet nice and very talented women: Mathyld, Lili Scratchy, Chamo, Delphine Durand: thanks so much for sharing with us a piece of your time).

Luckily, a comic lover always get any time to taste the fruits of the noble art of cartooning. As for me, I gave it completely to reread Frank King’s Gasoline Alley (a little part of King’s vast volume of work, of course). And it worked like a motherly hug, as it couldn’t be any other way!

To tell the truth, the strip was practically a mystery to me before D+Q decided to reprint it. Yes, I had seen before some scraps here and there, but naturally nothing to draw my own conclusions. So here goes my deeply thanks to Jet Heer, Chris Oliveros and Chris Ware, the editors of this gem, because Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Otherwise, one can’t help feeling a lively sensation of being a witness to a medium establishing its form and conventions while reading Gasoline Alley nowadays. Frank King amongst other masters had the privilege (and cleverness) to lay comics foundations in order to Cartooning was regarded as a real mass medium: an art with its own, not transferable language.

Comic is necessary elliptical, a “space” where the reader has to fill up the gaps, and so panels (and the gutter between them) turn into the most significant tools in comics. And I was surprised how was King conscious about this matter. Look these comic strips from the early years:

Read more on Gasoline Alley — A Timeless Place…

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I love to check in with The Comics Reporter occasionally.

This time, I happened to discover an artist I wasn’t familiar with. Bill Everett toiled in the under-appreciated field of romance comics, and his artwork is exceptional.  I’ll let you go browse for yourself and see what I mean.

WADE

Cover for comic "Death Was My Rival"

 

 

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Today we’re traveling back over a hundred years to meet Walter Bradford’s Fizzboomski the Anarchist! Inspired by the drama of the Russian Revolution, Bradford dreamed up his bungling anarchist, Fizzboomski (né Fitzboomski), whose assassination plots are constantly foiled by elaborately comic countermeasures; his targets, the Czar and the Prime Minister, forever one step ahead. The humor is pretty dark for the Sunday funnies, but the feature hardly takes itself seriously. Along with the madcap antics of the titular star we’re treated to those familiar jabs at Russia, you know, ending words in “-ski” or referring to the Prime Minister as the “Prime Minister-a-vitch.” Sometimes I worry you folks must think I live under a rock, but I will admit that I was surprised to see that sort of humor so early in the 20th Century (I think of that sort of silliness as more of a Cold War thing, but here it is).

The Stripper’s Guide featured this title a few months back and, needless to say, the coverage is certainly worth your time. If not for the history lesson, certainly for the color samples. According to Allan’s dates we have half the original run and all of the 1907 revival here in the archives (no luck finding that 1908 oddball). Enjoy.

BarnaclePress

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Couple cutting turkey with a saw

Windsor McKay's Thanksgiving

I have spent hours browsing throught the oldies-but-goodies comic strips at Barnacle Press.

They have an awesome collection of newspaper comics from the past hundred years or more, and are always adding more.

Some of them are obscure and you’ll delight in discovering them.  Others are familiar — some still printing today — and you’ll be amazed at how long they’ve been around.

I warn you — if you go there, you may not get anything else done the rest of the day.

WADE

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Here’s a fun blog — thanks to Joyville.

Someone seems to think Stan Lee gets a little over the top sometimes.  Especially during his (drug assisted?) era 1965-67.

I always thought the Submariner talked like a wannabe Shakespearan ham, but here are some scans of covers and some snarky commentary on Stan’s writing prowess.

Read it and … uh … grin.

WADE

Joyville —

This is the craziest blog related to comics I hit myself against lately.
You know Stan? I’m sure you do! No man can serve two masters: Lee… Stan Lee, The Pretentious. Tittle in comics were never the same after his break in the world. Lo and behold the result, hosted by two of the nicest people you can find in the blogosphere: …LO! And they shall call him… STAN…?

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