"Gasoline Valley!" - Bill Elder - Mad Mondays!

Mad Monday again and time for "Mad" (THE COMIC BOOK) #15 from September of 1954.

This is one of my very first memories of Mad.  I read this story (in a reprint digest in the '60's) long before I was ever exposed to the newspaper comic strip that it parodies.

"Gasoline Alley" (is it still running?) began in newspaper syndication in the 1910's and was originally a "gag-a-day-one-panel" about a group of folks who spent their weekends puttering on their new fangled automobiles.  Eventually it became a multi-panel focusing on one character in particular, Walt Wallet.  What set the strip apart (and does to this day) is that the characters aged in real time.  People met, married, had children...and miraculously THEY AGED!  I believe only Lynn Johnstone's "For Better or For Worse" has done this since.

If it's out there today (and I think it might be) Walt is surely going on 120 years old and his generations of offspring are out there too.  Who knows what their up to, I haven't picked up a newspaper in 20 years.

Until I find out, here's Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's take on what was already a venerable strip..."Gasoline Valley!".

Dig in!

Talk o you soon,

Sunday Funnies - Library of Congress - 1 of 3!

Back in 1995, The Library of Congress hosted an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the American newspaper comic strip.  I never got to see the thing as I live on the other coast, but I did make sure to grab this nifty little commemorative booklet.

There's a lot of great reproductions, informed (if brief) articles and nice history in this little 24 pager, so I'll post it in parts over the next 3 Sundays to give you kids plenty of time to drink it ALL up.  This week we've an introduction by Mort Walker and then snippets focusing on "The Birth of 'The Yellow Kid'" and family strips like "Blondie", "For Better or For Worse", "Gasoline Alley", "Snookums" and "Li'l Abner".

Enjoy your Sunday, eat a BIG bowl of cereal and feed your eyes and head with some classic 4 color art.

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies - A Retrospective, 4 of 5

Well!  If last week's tramp into pubescence didn't blow your mind, this weeks full-flex-their-wings-and-see-what-these-teenagers-can-do sampling from Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's glorious "The Sunday Funnies" from 1978 WILL!

This week we look at the comics greats from the 1930's.  That grand era when no one had anything thanks to the Great Depression, and yet only great things ever happened.

We get to glimpse some beautiful pages (yes, comic strips used to take up whole pages) by Alex Raymond ("Jungle Jim", "Flash Gordon"), George Herriman ("Krazy Kat"), Frank King ("Gasoline Alley"), Fontaine Fox ("Toonerville Folks"), Chic Young ("Blondie"), Roy Crane ("Captain Easy"), Phil Nowlan/Dick Caulkins ("Buck Rogers"), E.C. Segar "("Sappo", "Thimble Theatre") and Frank Godwin ("Connie").

All's I can say is Zowie!

Get a double bowl of cereal today kids...yer gonna need it.

Next Sunday:  The Fabulous Forties!

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.

Boob McNutt, Puck and Frank King - Nemo #24 - 2 of 2

Boob McNutt.

If I owned a candy bar company, I know what my best seller would be called.

Here's part 2 of "Nemo the Classic Comics Library" #24, chock full of Rube Goldberg's "Boob McNutt and lots more for your post-holdiday enjoyment.

Also included is a brief overview of 12 cartoonists who made "Puck" famous. Satirical social and political cartooning at it's best and a periodical that helped shape a nations sensibilities. Ryan Walker, Art Young, Robert Minor, Maurice Becker, Boardman Robinson, Clive Weed, John Sloan, George Bellows, Kenneth Russell Chamberlain, William Gropper, Jacob Burck and Fred Ellis...I salute you!

I love this "How to Be a Comic Artist" 2 pager by "Gasoline Alley" creator Frank King. Funny stuff!

Don't worry, Kiddoes...there's still more to come...

I'm feeling a bit peckish...I think I'll go grab a couple Boob McNutts.

Talk to you soon.