I would be remiss if I did not note the recent passing of comic book artist Jim Mooney. Although best known for his work on ROBIN, TOMMY TOMORROW and SUPERGIRL from the late forties through the late sixties and then a very successful switch to inking SPIDER-MAN at Marvel through the seventies, I will always associate Mooney with PUSSYCAT. Longtime readers may recall that my very first published article was an AMAZING HEROES piece on this obscure semi-Marvel character. We wrote about it (as well as reprinted the original article) here:BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY. The first page of the original AH article was illustrated with a gorgeous Jim Mooney rendition of our heroine. The piece here at the Library also prints the rest of that Mooney story which was NOT one in the legendary PUSSYCAT magazine collection. Above is yet another Jim Mooney splash from a thus-far uncollected PUSSYCAT story
. Hey, Marvel! Are ya listening? have you not noticed that large-breasted women tend to sell comics these days? You are sitting on a potential gold mine. All you have to do is gather up the rest of the 5 page PUSSYCAT strips and reprint them along with the rare magazine. THE ESSENTIAL PUSSYCAT! Heck, they're alraedy in black and white! I can see it now under that fantastic Bill Everett cover! See what you can do, okay?
. Hey, Marvel! Are ya listening? have you not noticed that large-breasted women tend to sell comics these days? You are sitting on a potential gold mine. All you have to do is gather up the rest of the 5 page PUSSYCAT strips and reprint them along with the rare magazine. THE ESSENTIAL PUSSYCAT! Heck, they're alraedy in black and white! I can see it now under that fantastic Bill Everett cover! See what you can do, okay?
jim mooney's dead?!! when?!! man, that's a shame. i always loved jim's supergirl over any and all of the other incarnations of the maid of steel. there was something so. . .well, wholesome, if you like, about her, kind of the way a supergirl should be. the recent efforts by dc to "slut up" their female characters rally annoys the crap out of me ( do NOT get me started on mary marvel ).
ReplyDeleteand pussycat was excellent. see, jim could do sexy without it being slutty for even a moment. the man was, i think, a greatly under-rated talent. i, for one, am saddened at the news that he's gone.
keep up the good work, matey.
Pussycat was created by WALLACE WOOD who produced her first appearance in 1965. Mooney, Ward and others continued the feature after Wood left Marvel/Goodman. Wallace (Wally) Wood is world famous for his sexy girl comics, whether in EC titles like Weird Science, his 12-year run on MAD, in the pages of Vampirella, Claws of The Cat or for his own creations: Sally Forth, Cannon, Dragonella, Far-Out Fables, Malice in Wonderland, The Wizard King, Animan, et al, ... and, in 1965, Pussycat, agent of S.C.O.R.E! Wood was the perfect talent to create the sexy girl strip Pussycat, his answer to both the '60s spy craze and, former collaborator Harvey Kurtzman's Little Annie Fanny which, was proving very popular over at Playboy. Though Wood quickly moved on to other projects, his sexy spy-girl creation has had a enduring life, with Pussycat adventures appearing in a long list of Martin Goodman men's magazines from 1965 into the 1980s — most notably by the late, great Jim Mooney.
ReplyDelete