Sunday Funnies - Library of Congress - 2 of 3

Happy Sunday Funnies, kiddoes!  Week 2 of 3 of The Library of Congress' celebration of 100 years of the American Newspaper comic strip back in 1995.

This week taking a look at "Cartoon Stereotypes" (Vic Forsythe, Mort Walker), "Love Story" (William Overgard, Allen Saunders), "Adventures in Time and Space" (Milton Caniff, Burne Hogarth, Alex Raymond), "Dream Worlds" (George Herriman, Winsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger), "Home Front" (Bud Fisher) and "Politics as Usual" (Gary Trudeau, Jules Feiffer, Harold Gray).

This really gives a sense of the overall scope of subjects the Sunday funnies conquered in it's best moments of creativity.

Dig in! 

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies - a Retrospective, 2 of 5

Week two of Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's "The Sunday Funnies" from 1978, this week celebrating the newspaper comics giants of the 1910's!  

As I tried to express last week, a good part of the fun of this publication was that it was printed FULL size as you would have read it in 1915 as a supplement in your Sunday paper.  Never-the-less, I trust the fun and enjoyment comes through, even in this humble blog.

This week our eyes are treated to the grand works of Winsor McCay ("Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend"), Rube Goldberg ("Boob McNutt"), Carl E. Schultze ("Foxy Grandpa"), Bud Fisher ("Mutt & Jeff"), George McManus ("Their Only Child"), Harold Knerr ("The Katzenjammer Kids"), James Swinnerton ("Little Jimmy") and some lesser-known, under appreciated but no less deserving, Raymond Crawford Ewer "Slim Jim") and Johnny Gruelle ("Mr. Twee Deedle").

Dig in kids.  Sunday is the most nutritious meal of the week.

Newt Sunday:  Those Roaring Twenties you're all heard about.

Talk to you soon!

The Golden age, Origins and Early Masters of the Comic Strip

As reviewed by the Whitney Museum of Art for their exhibition back in the 1980's. For part 1 of this booklet, see here.

Enjoy!

More next Sunday!

Talk to you soon.

John Wheeler: "Newspaperman" - Nemo #25 - a little more...

The back pages of "Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" were NEVER full of filler like so many other magazines are. Case in Point: Nemo #25 included excerpts from newspaper syndication mogul and pioneer John Wheeler's 1961 memoirs "I've Got News For You", in which he reminisces about halcyon days such as running with Pancho Villa alongside "Mutt & Jeff" creator Bud Fischer, among other things.

Read on Kiddoes...it's fascinating stuff!

More to come tomorrow...talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies: "Nemo" issue #10 - Christmas in July!

"Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" issue#10, their Christmas 1994 issue.

Robert ("All I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten") Fulghum, in one of his essay books of the 1980's, had a chapter about finding a box of unopened Christmas cards in the middle of the summer and how much true joy he got from laying on his hammock in the backyard and sipping lemonade and feeling the Yuletide in the summer sun. There's no expiration date or statute of limitation on these things, folks. Go ahead and appreciate them anytime!

This issue starts out with a great selection of largely unseen Christmas cards from famous cartoonists to their friends and family. Real treasures!

That's pretty much where the Christmas theme stops. But it's a nice change of pace here on July 18th if you ask me.

Next, again Nemo interviews a contemporary cartoonist. Mel Lazarus of "Miss Peach" and "Momma" fame.

"Fantasy in the Comics" hits on the complex art stylings of Gustave Verbeek and his strip "The Upside Downs". Make sure you download these images so you can rotate them in your image viewer or else you'll miss half the fun.

Nemo uses it's far reaching expertise to expose us all to some artists from Europe that we're not often exposed to and the influence they have.

Bill Blackbeard looks back at the time in 1952 when Bud Fisher reviewed his own work from 30 years earlier in an introspective "Mutt and Jeff" sequence. Unique and insightful.

Part 6 of the Allen Saunders autobiography, "Playwrite for Paper Actors", offers more insider info from this long term comics professional.

And "Penman from the Past" celebrates the work of the great Ray Ewer. Drink it ALL in...is it ever worth it!

Finally a sneak peek at what's upcoming in "Nemo" issue #11...

...which I will be happy to bring to you next Sunday! Happy reading and...

Talk to you soon.