More Fibber McGee and Molly Ads

Yes, I'm in radio mode at the moment. You should try it. One of my all-time favorite radio comedy series is FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY which ran for roughly 25 years in one form or another. Here are some magazine ads featuring the classic comedy duo.

More Radio Ads

Rare Jack Benny Photos-1935

R.I.P. - PD Angel Gabriele

This is getting too close to home. P. D. Angel Gabriele has died. As a founding member of the Charlton-Neo movement and PIX-C, he was the artist on Paul Kupperberg's N.E.O., the strip which shared the spotlight in UNUSUAL SUSPENSE with my wife's MS. MOLECULE strip created with Sandy Carruthers. He had been ill for some time but his passing was apparently still quite sudden. As with many others in his situation, there is no money for funeral costs and a GoFundMe has been established. We're perpetually broke and sometimes all we can afford to do is pass these things along. This time, though, we managed to find enough to make a contribution. It was too close not to. See what you can do, please.

https://www.gofundme.com/ucqy36vw

Early Fibber McGee and Molly Ads-1935

Coming Soon: The Return of Ms. Molecule!

Fear not, fans of my wife's Ms. Molecule! A new series will be starting soon with art by Mort Todd! Meanwhile (as they say in the comics), check out the original stories at http://pix-c.me/mole.html

Vampires Over Hollywood!

Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd introduced me to Batton Lash a few decades back in TBG (or CBG. I can

never keep track). Batton is the fella who chronicles their legal cases specializing in Supernatural Law. He's also the best-dressed man in comics!

A bit more than a decade ago, I actually met Batton--although not in person--when I interviewed him about, of all things, Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd...and Jack Benny! Since then, I've spent some quality virtual time with Batton in Riverdale and then we hung out with Bart Simpson's favorite superheroes as well!

This past year, I transcribed a long interview that someone else had done with Batton in which, a bit weirdly, he suddenly talks about me! 

Seems like Batton Lash just keeps turning up in my life...although we've still never met in person!

Now, here he comes again, with Alanna and Jeff back by his side, looking for VAMPIRES OVER HOLLYWOOD! That's the title of the new Kickstarter campaign to publish the latest Wolff and Byrd collection!

Let's face it, an increasingly large portion of today's comic books stories from anywhere just plain suck! It's folks like Batton, though, with not just his smart writing and deft drawing skills but also his understanding of both the medium and its history, that keep me from giving up on comic books completely. 

There are lots of worthy causes out there these days asking for your money for support. If you're a comics fan, I ask you to consider donating to VAMPIRES OVER HOLLYWOOD! Thanx!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1379875462/a-vampire-in-hollywood-and-other-tales-of-supernat

1952 Comics Controversy Newspaper Series by Gertrude E. Flyte

From March of 1952, here is a series of newspaper articles written by Gertrude E. Flyte on the comic book controversy. These were published in Mitchell, South Dakota's DAILY REPUBLIC. Click to make bigger.

Christa Helm 1949-1977

Today is the 39th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Christa Helm. Every year there are numerous reports of cold case crimes being solved so hope springs eternal. 

R.I.P. 

Shaft and the Warner Archive

When I was 15 years old, I enjoyed watching the TV mystery movie version of SHAFT starring Richard Roundtree as what can only be thought of as an Earth 2 version of the movies' John Shaft. Here the streetwise anti-hero character who was a sex machine to all the chicks became decidedly middle-class with a lot of rather expensive looking, fashionable suits and a nice office. So, yeah, it may not have been exactly THE Shaft, but it was still well done. This evening, best selling author Kliph Nesteroff tipped me that Warner Archive Instant had all 7 of the SHAFT TV movies and that I could catch them on a Free Trial!

Turns out they also have HAWKINS, the Jimmy Stewart TV series from that same period that I had also long wanted to see again. And quite a few other long unseen TV series as well as a nice selection of movies from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Booksteve says, check 'em out, if only for the Free Trial!


http://instant.warnerarchive.com

Fantastic Splash # 3

This third issue of FF offers yet another multi-chapter story that would have been quite at home in an Atlas fantasy title. Notable here, though, is that our heroes add (and the Thing just as quickly discards) costumes, making the title start to lean more toward the superhero title it was quickly becoming.