Archie Comic Book Fairs Press Release

Superboy/Superman PSA's--1950's

I believe the art on all of these mini-masterpieces of the fifties to be by Winslow Mortimer.

Skeeter Davis' High School Picture-1949

Thanks to a reader for sharing this high school photo of country/pop singer Skeeter Davis with whom I had a most memorable encounter about 18 years ago when I in essence brokered her final area concert! Skeeter attended Northern Kentucky's Dixie Heights High School about a block away from the mall where I ran a bookstore for many years in the '80s' and '90's. Click this link to catch up on the whole story of SKEETER DAVIS AND ME. If you have the least bit of interest in country music, I highly recommend her autobiography which can now be had from the Amazon link below for under a dollar! A bizarre story told in one of the most readable celebrity bios ever...and I've plowed through a lot of them!

My First Handfasting--Brittany Rose

In trying to think of an unusual parting gift for friend and muse Brittany Rose as she left for Iowa, friend Lisa M. suggested that I marry her! A ridiculous thought I said. I told Brittany Rose expecting her to agree but she liked the idea...even though she had already planned a beach wedding later this year. Her boyfriend Thomas was not opposed to the idea at all. Thus the wheels were set in motion.

First I had to get ordained--a surprisingly simple task these days. I did so. The big glitch came in the fact that I was from Kentucky and I would be marrying an Iowa couple in Ohio. For one thing, Ohio is arguably the most complicated state for registering to perform weddings. The point became moot when Brittany Rose decided that it didn't have to be the legal ceremony--they would save that as planned for the beach. No, this would be a ceremonial celebration for friends and family who would not be able to attend the actual wedding...including me!

Rene made the handfasting cord from the three colors of ribbon that were requested, sewing on little flowers and beads. I wrote what was called "a lovely ceremony" incorporating various aspects of others I found online.

Today was the big day. 9o degrees as we stood in the shade of an old, old tree. I drafted Brittany's niece Laura to help by doing the actual looping of the cord during the ceremony since I was having to read it.

A lovely time was had by all and a reception with cake and soft drinks followed at her brother's apartment with his family, my family, the happy couple, her father and an old friend and her children.

Silver Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Sundays # 20

This week we're presented with a dandy piece! New/old artist John Buscema is back and out of the gate he lets you know Subby ain't at all happy! You might notice that the backgrounds here are mighty sparse. Even the street doesn't have lines. In my opinion, this was a purposeful choice either by Buscema himself or more likely continuing inker Johnny Craig. It all serves to emphasize the particularly strong Namor figure. Except for that right arm looking like it might be a bit too long if held at his side, this is some darn good comic book anatomy! One can almost imagine that he might even have nipples...if one could see them! As far as the story, this one is a tad less convoluted than some of the recent ones--which weren't bad, mind you!--just complex. Roy T continues with his excellent brand of comics storytelling and the villain is...duh, duh, DUUUUUH!...Dr. Doom!

Peanuts Bicentennial Stickers

Review: If You're Cracked, You're Happy!

CRACKED.COM is one of the funniest sites on the 'Net these days with its bizarre lists and irreverent reviews. Outside of the vaguest connection to the name and the logo, CRACKED.COM has absolutely no relation, however, to CRACKED, the magazine which never really came anywhere near that type of popularity.

What's that you say? You didn't know CRACKED ever WAS a magazine? Sigh. CRACKED was the Rodney Dangerfield of humor mags, the Avis of humor mags, the nearly forgotten survivor of the scores of MAD rivals that began--and mostly ended--in the 1950's.

As a humor magazine, CRACKED lasted nearly half a century and yet somehow still remained under the radar, a guilty pleasure for those who liked the art of John Severin, Bill Ward, Gray Morrow and others.

Author Mark Arnold, a man after my own heart, understands that sometimes reading about something is more interesting than reading the something itself. Thus, he has written IF YOU'RE CRACKED, YOU'RE HAPPY--not one but TWO illustrated books detailing the history and office politics of the mag as well as offering a mind-numbingly complete checklist for those few readers who happen to have complete collections!

There are a few attempts at being funny here such as the non-Foreword by--or not by--none other than Steve Ditko or the blacked out Don Martin art where the artist's estate apparently balked at giving permission. For the most part, though, this is the tale of a business as told by some of the people who ran it and some of the folks who worked there. As with any office, not everyone will like everybody else so various names are both praised and vilified throughout.

One name that comes out relatively unscathed is that of Mort Todd aka Michael Delle-Femine. In fact, the funniest part of the books to me is the intermixing of his names (along with occasionally a few other pen names) and the seeming constant need to explain that the two were one and the same. That said, Todd comes across as an extreme creative force at a mag where following the well worn paths others started tended to be the norm. Although management, he worked tirelessly for creators' rights and thus managed to bring some very talented new blood to the show for one last burst of minor success on the stands.

Before Todd, CRACKED started out not only as a MAD imitation but with MAD contributors including Will Elder and Jack Davis. George Gladir, known also for his long-running (and still ongoing!) stint at Archie Comics was probably the best and best known writer. Former MAD artist John Severin made CRACKED his home for decades and his art, in turn, identified the magazine. Former BLACKHAWK artist Bill Ward, best known for his Golden Age "Good Girl Art" strip TORCHY and a zillion later (and often much more explicit) variations on same, was also a mainstay under both his own name and as "Bill McCartney."

Later, post-Todd versions of the mag included one edited by Rick Nielsen, the Huntz Hall guitarist from Cheap Trick. Another attempted to ape MAXIM as a humor mag.

Arnold's prose is fairly straightforward allowing the many interviewees to speak for themselves. As in real-life, sometimes those memories conflict. There's some cutthroat business moves and some diva creators, some lingering issues and some catty gossip. Fun stuff!

The tough part about recommending IF YOU'RE CRACKED YOU'RE HAPPY is its packaging. With a nearly 50 year checklist including absolutely tons of specials and recycled collections of reprints making the tome weigh in at more than a thousand pages, the book was cut in half. Each simultaneously published volume, therefore, contains only part of the story and part of the checklist! A bit too much both in concept and in price for the casual fan and yet were there ever really any CRACKED fans who were anything more than casual? Were there ever rabid CRACKED fans? It's a fun read and a story that deserved to be told. Arnold tells it as only an obsessively curious completist could tell it. After reading this book, I couldn't resist contacting Mort Todd and saying if he ever again found himself working on a mag I wanted to work for him! In the end, I have to recommend IF YOU'RE CRACKED, YOU'RE HAPPY as an important contribution to any pop culture book collection. That said, I just wish there had been some better way to put it together and get it out there.