Saturday, May 22, 2010

George Baker and The Sad Sack

Born May 22, 1915, it's the 95th anniversary of the birth of cartoonist George Baker.

George Baker created a character for Yank magazine back during World War II called "The Sad Sack", humorously honoring the average G.I. Joe who was out there saving the world from ruin.

Here's a few of those great pantomime strips collected into book form.

Go Sad Sack, go.




























Beautiful ideas clearly communicated without words.

I'm coming off of 2 week work binge (probably adding to the ruination of the world) of 10-12 hour days and clocking 900+ miles on the odometer. Last night I hit some old haunts with the Crowley boys and Co. and started feeling human again...after falling into deep Sad Sack mode

Thanks be to places like Joe Jost's, Mother's Tavern, The Irish Mist, Harpoon Harry's and Hy-Roy's from all us Sad Sacks for giving us a place to breathe once in a while.
And thanks George Baker for showing us it's OK to be a sad sack.
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4 comments:

  1. Mykal BantaSaturday, May 22, 2010 at 9:54:00 PM PDT

    Great stuff, Jeff. Folks forget about Baker for some reason. Me too, I guess. He had such a unique, identifiable stlye. I really have to get on the stick and post some of his Harvey stuff over at the Big Blog.

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  2. Unca JeffySunday, May 23, 2010 at 12:39:00 PM PDT

    His Harvey covers were gorgeous. I remember always being semi-disapointed by the inerior artwork when the covers by Baker had such panache!

    I'd love to revisit these, I look forward to it.

    I am a Harvey fan...Stumbo the Giant, Hot Stuff, Spooky, Casper, Richie Rich...all great stuff IMHO.

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  3. Thomas Haller BuchananMonday, May 24, 2010 at 4:24:00 PM PDT

    I remember that too about the Harvey covers being so different from interiors. Even as a kid I had the thought that Baker did the covers and the interiors were by some lesser hand. I collected lots of Sad Sack right off the spinners just for the covers. The covers had a heavily inked sort of clunky look, which I really liked, and they were pretty clever. I have no idea when or how I got rid of that collection. This book's art is, of course, the real thing and very nice. Thanks for posting.

    As a kid I also liked Spooky and Casper, and again could tell when it was older reprint material or not. The older the better I thought.

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  4. Unca JeffyTuesday, May 25, 2010 at 11:02:00 PM PDT

    I had stacks and stacks of Harvey comics as a kid. I believe my mom handed then on to my cousin when I wasn't looking.

    I could really go for the idea for diving into that stack now and then...I think I'd find great solace in them.

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