Erector Sets

Well, Christmas is coming as it usually does at this time of year. When I was a child, one of the most wanted (read: most widely marketed and advertised ) toys was an Erector Set. Oddly, I never got one. I knew kids who had them but I never had one of my own. When I saw them, they seemed complicated and confusing. I did want one, though. Perhaps the reason I never got one was that the company that made them declared bankruptcy in 1967 and they were picked up by a competitor. It wasn't long after that that I hit puberty and finally got one of my own. Sorry but the jokes just tend to write themselves on this one...which may well be another reason they faded from popularity in the more sexually-aware sixties.

Yellow Submarine

In the late sixties, Gold Key experimented with putting fold-out posters in some of its comics. As I recall they had them in DARK SHADOWS, CHITTY CHIITY BANG BANG and the adaptation of the Beatles film YELLOW SUBMARINE. This one was particularly cool because it gave nice views (and names!) to some of the monstrous Peter Max-style villains of the story, many of whom went unnamed (and under-utilized) in the film itself. YELLOW SUBMARINE was the very first film that I was allowed to go to see on my own (age 9) to the best of my recollection. The line for the Saturday afternoon matinee was stretched all the way to the Woolworth's down at the other end of the block. As previously stated, I was NOT really a Beatles fan until the LET IT BE era but, having discovered the comic at that selfsame Woolworths a week or two prior to the movie opening, I HAD to see it! I saw it twice that day and went to bed that night with Beatles songs echoing in my head for the very first time.

Popeye

One of the most wondrous things about the age in which we find ourselves is that the once lowly newspaper comic strip is now at long last given its due as an art form and little by little, the true classics are coming back into print. The current case in point would be POPEYE by E. C. Segar. The first of a series of handsome tabloid-sized volumes presenting the original dailies and Sundays is just out and we highly recommend it.
It took nearly ten years before the one-eyed sailor man even appeared in THIMBLE THEATRE, a pre-jazz age comic strip showcasing the adventures of one Castor Oyl and his friends and family. Despite the historical significance of a volume reprinting those undoubtedly worthy strips, publisher Fantagraphics has wisely—at least from a marketing viewpoint—chosen to begin with that first storyline involving Popeye. We do see a bit of what the strip was like earlier as the storyline begins 27 pages prior to Popeye’s debut. Castor Oyl is presented a magic Whiffle Hen which he tries at some length to kill, then sell, but the bird keeps returning to him. Ultimately, he and friend Ham Gravy rent a ship and need a crew which is where Popeye comes into the picture.
Strangely, that first appearance is presaged by an early panel in which Castor yells, "I’ll be pop-eyed!" and then by the brief appearance of a tramp who resembles the later star of the strip!
Also in this initial volume is Castor’s sister and Popeye’s future paramour, Olive Oyl as well as the first appearance of the Sea Hag, originally one of the scariest strip villains of them all!
Visually and verbally inventive, Segar’s run on THIMBLE THEATRE stands with the work of the best humorists of the early twentieth century. In fact, as times have changed, much of the prose humor of the period doesn’t really hold up all that well but this strip is at turns exciting, amusing and endlessly ingratiating. In almost no time, Popeye takes center stage at the THIMBLE THEATRE never to relinquish it again. It’s about time whole new generations will get to discover the wonder of one of the very best comic strips and the true, unexpurgated version of a character they THINK they’ve known for years.

Wonder Woman Paper Drive Ad-1944

Okay, okay, I know. Enough with Wonder Woman already. Sorry but here's yet another example of why golden age comic books are so rare and expensive. Ads like these encouraged kids to turn in old newspapers--AND COMICS-- to the government for recycling. AARRGH!

1940's Cereal Ads

Yaaaawn! It's early on a sleepy Sunday morning so let's have some Breakfast! Here are a few vintage cereal ads from mid-late forties comics!

All American House Ad

Here's yet another cool house ad, this time from the All American Comics company. Although we think of them as DC characters today, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and the Justice Society were all actually published by All-American, a sister company to DC (which published Batman and Superman). It was kind of like the deal that DC has with some of the smaller companies today. There were some crossovers and cross promotion but they really were two different companies. In fact, in the late forties, All American publisher Max Gaines took his company out of the mix. DC ended up with the super heroes and the remaining books continued to be published as DC titles. Gaines took only his PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE and PICTURE STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY and used them to spearhead the new direction for All-American which he now renamed Educational Comics or EC Comics. After his sudden death in an accident just a few years later, of course, the companywould fall to his son, Bill Gaines. Ditching the failing trend, Bill would rechristan EC as Entertaining Comics and, along with Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman, go on to create not one but several legends, not the least of which was MAD. In the seventies, MAD would end up connected to DC through various corporate takeovers and by the new century this last remaining vestige of All American Comics was now finally officially being published by DC. If you're in Columbus, Ohio don't miss Mark Evanier interviewing EC's Al Feldstein this weekend at Mid-Ohio Con!

Jerry Bails

I never met him but I always kind of idolized Dr. Jerry Bails who died today at 73. I think its safe to say that comic book fandom as we know it would not exist if not for Jerry. So great was his influence amongst fans and pros alike that it's probably a safe bet to say that comic books themselves as we know them might not exist if it had't been for Jerry. Jerry's childhood appreciation of the Justice Society of America led him as an adult to correspond with creator Gardner Fox and Editor Julius Schwartz who were very open to his suggestions. A lot of the comics blogs will give more of the specifics but here's a link to a 2004 interview with the man himself:COMICON.com: OF FANS & FANDOM: THE JERRY BAILS INTERVIEW Rest in Peace, sir...and a belated thank you.