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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday Funnies: BEETLE BAILEY

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Created by Mort Walker in 1950, Beetle Bailey is one of the longest running strips in newspaper comics. It's also notable in that Walker himself still has a hand in each daily strip, now assisted by his son, Greg, unlike older 'legacy' strips that have no connection at all to the original creators.
At the height of it's popularity, Beetle branched out from the newspapers into comics, cartoons, and lots of other merchandising. This selection comes from the end of that peak period, when the comics were being published by Charlton.

Writing and art uncredited.
from BEETLE BAILEY #1, January 1970









One of the most popular criticisms of Beetle Bailey is that it's bland and old fashioned. That's a matter of personal taste and opinion, but don't be fooled; the strip has stirred up plenty of controversy over the years. These are excerpts from a 'round table' discussion on comic strips, where Mort himself explains two of the bigger upsets.

from COMICS FEATURE #35, May 1985

from COMICS FEATURE #37, September 1985


I laughed pretty hard at the second interview where Mort's trying to defend himself. Especially at the part about women being able to do comic strips "in between changing diapers". Great defense there.

YouTube Links
HIGH HORPS (1961)
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING (1962)
THE SERGEANT'S MASTER (1963)
CAMP INVISIBLE (1964)
I'm not sure if all 50 cartoons are available, but I did find more episodes than I thought I would.
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Saturday, February 27, 2010

ANTS AND AUNTS



In these twin tales of traumatic terror, we see a pair of archetypes rarely seen in the horror genre: giant ants and evil aunts.
In the first story, they try (with some success) for a surprise twist ending in the same vein as Tales From The Crypt or Twilight Zone, while the second just goes for a gag at the end.
Neither story is particularly bad in and of itself, but I think most hardcore horror fans will be put off by the art style.
If it means anything to anybody, I prefer the first one because it ended a bit differently than what I was expecting.

Art and writing uncredited.
from CHILLING ADVENTURES IN SORCERY AS TOLD BY SABRINA #2, October 1972

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Have another look at the second story, courtesy of IWASBEN
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Friday, February 26, 2010

THE EXPERIMENT



This wordless tale comes from an attractive looking short story collection that happens to be out of print right now (sadly). Overall, and not with only this particular volume, Thomas Ott's work straddles the line between "comics as entertainment" and "comics as art". From the few releases I've read, I definitely rank him up there with Art Spiegelman and Will Eisner as one of the very few true journeymen of the craft. By letting the art tell the story, his work is accessible to readers of all ages and languages and succeeds in ways that multitudes of words cannot.

from CINEMA PANOPTICUM by THOMAS OTT, 2005

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"Comics are popularly defined as a combination of words and pictures, but words are no more necessary to the comics than sound is to cinema. Swiss cartoonist Ott employs neither dialogue nor captions in his stories; words appear rarely, usually as chapter titles or signs in the background." - from the review by Publishers Weekly
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Thursday, February 25, 2010

PEP COMICS

It goes without saying that anybody who reads comics knows who Archie Andrews is. Looking at this story, however, you might barely recognize him.
This is only the second time he'd appeared in comics. The trademark style we all take for granted was still a few years off.

By Bob Montana.
from PEP COMICS #23, January 1942

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

ELSIE THE COW COMICS

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I can remember seeing Elsie's face on the little milk cartons that came with the school lunch, but I really had no idea just how popular and iconic that cow was. During her heyday, she was the star attraction at the World's Fair, did a cross-country tour, was in a Hollywood movie, and was basically merchandised every which way but loose. She was Borden's 'cash cow', and they milked her for all she was worth.
It's not surprising that she had a comic series considering her mass market appeal. What is surprising is that it only lasted three issues. Also, I was impressed that they took to the higher pastures and didn't use the comics for advertising dairy products. Instead, they provided wholesome entertainment and are an enjoyable read. And that's no bull.

Art and writing uncredited, but possibly by Vic Herman.
from ELSIE THE COW #2, May 1950
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LINKS
Read another six page story of the Cow family at SENSES WORKING OVERTIME
A brief history of the characters at RETRO PLANET
Vintage Elsie postcard gallery at POSTCARDY
An animated TV commercial from 1961 on YOUTUBE
BOARDGAMEGEEK user Joe Huber actually has pics and a description of The Elsie Game from 1941 (you've gotta see it to believe it).
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