Mad Mondays continues with Mad THE COMIC BOOK #21!
Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Elder, Popeye, Tarzan, Superman!!!!
As good as it ever got.
Enjoy!
Talk to you soon.
A daily almanac of events and people I admire and appreciate. All things, and the people who did things, that were WORTH DOING! Songs and Cartoons and near-insane ramblings by me, too.
Showing posts with label Popeye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Popeye. Show all posts
Monday, November 5, 2012
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Adventure Comics - "Manhunter"!
Next up in my "A 'Slight' History of Golden Age Comic Books" look at the heroes of National (DC) Periodical's "Adventure Comics" is a lesser known character in the DC universe, but oddly enough, one that's been used more than you might think, "The Manhunter"!
The feature "Paul Kirk, Manhunter" began in Adventure #58 (1940), but he wasn't a costumed adventurer as we're spotlighting here, but rather an investigator who helped the police with tough cases. Running around in a suit and a tie stopping the bad-guys like so many in the early golden age.
In issue #72 however, he got a make-over courtesy of the great Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and a snazzy red and blue outfit with a very unusual full face mask, and became "The Manhunter"! Um...kind of... The character's name was now Rick Nelson and NOT Paul Kirk...until 2 issues later in #74 when they changed his name back, but kept the costume and new feats of heroic derring-do!
Simon and Kirby only stayed with the character until #80 and the character fell to other staffers. I don't have any of the Kirby stories from this era, but here's a couple of cool Kirby Adventure Comics covers I did latch on to!
And even one without the funky mask!
The feature only lasted until #92, when wartime paper shortages cut back the magazine from 64 pages to 52 and the character wasn't seen again until he was ret-conned by Kirby himself in the early 70's during the bronze Age of comics, and that's not what we're talking about here, now is it.
Here's the only golden age Manhunter story I have, done by an unknown artist and writer. Still good stuff though, and a rare glimpse into this little used character with a cool mask.
Enjoy!
Meanwhile in the back room at "Ye Olde Drink Hole"...
Talk to you soon.
The feature "Paul Kirk, Manhunter" began in Adventure #58 (1940), but he wasn't a costumed adventurer as we're spotlighting here, but rather an investigator who helped the police with tough cases. Running around in a suit and a tie stopping the bad-guys like so many in the early golden age.
In issue #72 however, he got a make-over courtesy of the great Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and a snazzy red and blue outfit with a very unusual full face mask, and became "The Manhunter"! Um...kind of... The character's name was now Rick Nelson and NOT Paul Kirk...until 2 issues later in #74 when they changed his name back, but kept the costume and new feats of heroic derring-do!
Simon and Kirby only stayed with the character until #80 and the character fell to other staffers. I don't have any of the Kirby stories from this era, but here's a couple of cool Kirby Adventure Comics covers I did latch on to!
And even one without the funky mask!
The feature only lasted until #92, when wartime paper shortages cut back the magazine from 64 pages to 52 and the character wasn't seen again until he was ret-conned by Kirby himself in the early 70's during the bronze Age of comics, and that's not what we're talking about here, now is it.
Here's the only golden age Manhunter story I have, done by an unknown artist and writer. Still good stuff though, and a rare glimpse into this little used character with a cool mask.
Enjoy!
Meanwhile in the back room at "Ye Olde Drink Hole"...
Talk to you soon.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
A Lifetime of Popeye - Unca Jeffy's Toy Box Saturday!
I like Popeye!
I like E.C. Segar's Popeye, I like Bud Sagendorf's Popeye and I like Max & Dave Fleischer's Popeye!
I like the idea of Popeye, the mythos of Popeye and the way he looks and acts!
I loved him as a child and as I grew older and learned all the more in-depth stories and sub-text, I loved him even more!
This Saturday's "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box" skims through about 45 years of Popeye collections of toys. It's not all I have, but diving into my toy trunks is not something done easily, I hop you like some of what you see.
I've had this dye-cast metal/plastic/moving toy since before I can remember, I can only assume I've had it since I was 3 or so.
Popeye on board as lookout/navigator rotates to the left and right as the car moves, belting pilot/driver Olive Oyl in the noggin. This of course has her rock back and forth and turn the helm.
Wimpy and Bluto's heads bob up and down as pistons....
And sweet li'l Swee' Pea rocks gently in his dinghy as the car/boat rolls along.
Other than some serious dust build up and a broken dighy plastic rope...the whole darn thing works like new.
And Swee' Pea can even dip down for some independent fun of his own!
Another 40+ year fixture in the ol' Toy Box de Jeffy is a classic. Remember "Bendys"? A soft rubber exo-skeleton over some metal wire armature, give it a vague resemblance to a cartoon character and a sloppy paint job and you have something that actually has a warm place in my heart!
The next two toys are ones I've picked up new sometime in the last 5 years. The first is from a series of PVC figures that are base on hacky cartoon movie one-sheets of the day. Usually these posters were created by the distributers without any input from the originating cartoon studio and they must have been drawn by the owners nephew or son-in-law, because more often that not, they were as off-model as you could get without really trying.
For example, this abboration was an original theatre one-sheet generically used for whatever new Popeye cartoon came along that week.
The sad thing is, these weren't just made before the character was recognizable or had a following, this piece of shit was drawn rigth in the heat of Popeye Mania, right when Popeye was actually rivaling the top tier Mickey Mouse as king of the animated box office! Sheesh!
The cool thing is, the toy looks GREAT! A wonderful work of art, masterfully styled after a hack's dung pile. Amazing! More from this series of toys next Saturday.
And lastly for today, a set of Popeye and casts PVC figures from sometime in the last 5 years which truly does justice to some of my favorite characters. These came as a box set of 7 for about $40...not a bad deal at all...and they look great!
A big chunk of Popeye's cast of supporting players is represented here, and in all their loveable glory. There's J. Wellington Wimpy complete with hamburger...
The magical other-dimensional Eugene the Jeep, standing atop the crate he was shipped to Popeye in...
Popeye's Pappy, Poopdeck hisself...
Popeye's adopted son, "Scooner Seawell Washenting Cristiffer Columbia Daniel Boom"! We know him by his nickname Swee' Pea best though...
Olive Oyl, the love of Popeye's life...
And his sworn enemy, Bluto!
And of course, the sailorman to beat all sailormen hisself. Popeye!
Lot's of years under the bridge for this guy. He's been around since 1929, that's 82 years! Not many creations of that vintage can be identified by so many people. Hell, Olive Oyl made HER comic strip debut in 1919, that's 92 years.
We should all be so lucky.
Guess we'd better eat our spinach.
Talk to you soon.
I like E.C. Segar's Popeye, I like Bud Sagendorf's Popeye and I like Max & Dave Fleischer's Popeye!
I like the idea of Popeye, the mythos of Popeye and the way he looks and acts!
I loved him as a child and as I grew older and learned all the more in-depth stories and sub-text, I loved him even more!
This Saturday's "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box" skims through about 45 years of Popeye collections of toys. It's not all I have, but diving into my toy trunks is not something done easily, I hop you like some of what you see.
I've had this dye-cast metal/plastic/moving toy since before I can remember, I can only assume I've had it since I was 3 or so.
Popeye on board as lookout/navigator rotates to the left and right as the car moves, belting pilot/driver Olive Oyl in the noggin. This of course has her rock back and forth and turn the helm.
Wimpy and Bluto's heads bob up and down as pistons....
And sweet li'l Swee' Pea rocks gently in his dinghy as the car/boat rolls along.
Other than some serious dust build up and a broken dighy plastic rope...the whole darn thing works like new.And Swee' Pea can even dip down for some independent fun of his own!
Another 40+ year fixture in the ol' Toy Box de Jeffy is a classic. Remember "Bendys"? A soft rubber exo-skeleton over some metal wire armature, give it a vague resemblance to a cartoon character and a sloppy paint job and you have something that actually has a warm place in my heart!
The next two toys are ones I've picked up new sometime in the last 5 years. The first is from a series of PVC figures that are base on hacky cartoon movie one-sheets of the day. Usually these posters were created by the distributers without any input from the originating cartoon studio and they must have been drawn by the owners nephew or son-in-law, because more often that not, they were as off-model as you could get without really trying.
For example, this abboration was an original theatre one-sheet generically used for whatever new Popeye cartoon came along that week.
The sad thing is, these weren't just made before the character was recognizable or had a following, this piece of shit was drawn rigth in the heat of Popeye Mania, right when Popeye was actually rivaling the top tier Mickey Mouse as king of the animated box office! Sheesh!
The cool thing is, the toy looks GREAT! A wonderful work of art, masterfully styled after a hack's dung pile. Amazing! More from this series of toys next Saturday.
And lastly for today, a set of Popeye and casts PVC figures from sometime in the last 5 years which truly does justice to some of my favorite characters. These came as a box set of 7 for about $40...not a bad deal at all...and they look great!
A big chunk of Popeye's cast of supporting players is represented here, and in all their loveable glory. There's J. Wellington Wimpy complete with hamburger...
The magical other-dimensional Eugene the Jeep, standing atop the crate he was shipped to Popeye in...
Popeye's Pappy, Poopdeck hisself...
Popeye's adopted son, "Scooner Seawell Washenting Cristiffer Columbia Daniel Boom"! We know him by his nickname Swee' Pea best though...
Olive Oyl, the love of Popeye's life...
And his sworn enemy, Bluto!
And of course, the sailorman to beat all sailormen hisself. Popeye!
Lot's of years under the bridge for this guy. He's been around since 1929, that's 82 years! Not many creations of that vintage can be identified by so many people. Hell, Olive Oyl made HER comic strip debut in 1919, that's 92 years.
We should all be so lucky.
Guess we'd better eat our spinach.
Talk to you soon.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Whitney Museum and More Vulgar Modernizm!
The Whitney Museum of Art Comic Art show covered the gambit of cartooning from comic strips to comic books to todays topic, animation.
Vulgar modernism sounds like an insult. I'd say it's pure Americana. My favorite flavor!
Enjoy!
Talk to you soon.
Vulgar modernism sounds like an insult. I'd say it's pure Americana. My favorite flavor!
Enjoy!
Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Nemo number 3: E.C. Segar, Popeye and the Thimble Theatre
"Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" #3 from October 1983.
The contents that are bursting the seams of this one...
Editorial by Richard Marschall sharing his love of comics art and storytelling...
The contents that are bursting the seams of this one...
Editorial by Richard Marschall sharing his love of comics art and storytelling...
The genius of Elzie Crisler Segar. One of my top 5 heroes in the realm of the comic strip. Incredible cartoonist, master of characterization...true pinnacle of the medium.
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