Other Little Golden Type Books!

Last Sunday I posted a sheaf of eye candy in the form of my childhood collection of Little Golden Books, I hope you all dug on them even half as much as I have for the last 49 years.

This week I'll drop some more Western Publishing deliciousness on you from my collection of Whitman Tell-A-Tale books.  Western published under a slew of banners, not just limited to the children's book market, they also published those dell, Gold Key and Whitman comic books so many of us remember from our past, and probably all manner of 4 color printing for all manner of other folks besides themselves.  The older I get the less interested I am and more unapologetic I am for my ignorance of the business side of this stuff.  The more important part of it all is the art and happiness that came out of it all.

These were intended with the youngest of readers to hold in their tiny hands...measuring only 5.5" x 6.5" approx. in size, they were perfect for tiny hands to hold and read for hours with the pictures inviting you in so the words could become your friends. 

"ABC a Tale of a Sale" is the story of a guy selling off his entire zoo full of animals, and using their distinctive tails as a way of keeping inventory...colorful stuff!

I read this one till my eyes turned blue...love the art style and dig the story of a huge family who's grandparents come to visit and the youngest kid does his best to grab their attention.  I didn't just re-read this for this description...I didn't have tom it's ingrained in my brain from childhood.

This one I may need a refresher on...but I remember digging the cartoony style!

This was NOT from my toddler years, but rather bought in my teenage years,  The mid to late '70's in a town with only 2 television stations made for a desert climate of trying to get ahold of classic cartoon characters to look at...so I used to sneak a few of these in to drink up.

This WAS from my kiddie-hood.  Love the painted versions of our favorite ducks.

Check out the color pallette on this bad boy.  All those "hot" colors, yet it never gave me the angst that those colors are supposed to represent...somehow they were warm and inviting and really helped me into the world of the writer!

I don't remember the Hoppity Hooper show, though I am a gigantic fan of Jay Ward!  My only real exposure to this group of characters is this book.  The other day I went ahead and ordered a public domain DVD off of Amazon that has a few of these cartoons on it...I await with bated breath!

I always loved the artwork in this one as well.  Disturbing little story here though, it's a bout a hungry lion and every time he meets another animal (who obviously don't want to be dinner) they try and lead him to somebody else he can eat.  By the end, they all get loaded up on a boat to be taken to a "civilized" county where they live out their days in a zoo.  Probably one which won't be re-printed in 2012.

I don't think I ever heard the legend of Johnny Appleseed from anyone other than this book and the Disney cartoon.  Yet it's as ingrained an American legend/folk tale as any I'd heard every day of my life.  Powerful stuff, these little Tell-A-Tale books.

Again..being born in 1963, my memory of these great TV cartoon character is a little fuzzy, so this is my strongest memory (until later in life when te source material became available to me) of Magilla and Mr. Peebles.  O.G. did not appear :)

This cover makes me calm.  Candy and kittens...how centered in your being with happiness can you get?

Another one that beat the cartoon to my brain.  Those HB character designs made it verrrrrrrry apparent that these guys were nothing but fun, though!

These next guys I knew...I should have known by the similarities in characterizations between these books and Dell comics, that there was a connection.

Trains were cool then.  Trains are cool now.

Argue with any 5 years old boy...I dare you.

Thin Arnold was a pretty regular Jeffy bedtime story read, too.   But I got fat anyway.

Another late addition to my collection.  Like the Bugs Bunny book above, I've only had this one for a little over 35 years.

Great cover...and even as a toddler I knew Wally Cox' voice.  Loved it then, loved it now.

Just argue with any 5 year old.  :)

The colors in some of these are just amazing.  They set mood, they clarify images...and this from a guy who knows diddly about color.  These guys were great!!!

I could read this one to my mom before I was supposedly old enough to read.  Had this down by the age of 4...pre-Kindergarten.  

Laugh if you will, I'm puttin' that on my resume!

Have a great Sunday!

Talk to you soon.

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.

Adventure Comics - "The Shining Knight"!

Next up in my "A 'Slight' History of Golden Age Comic Book Super Heroes" look at the heroes of National (DC) Peridocals "Adventure Comics, is "The Shining Knight".

The Shining Knight made his debut in the September 1941 issue #66 of Adventure and was created by Crieg Flessel. A knight in King Arthur's court of Camelot and member of the legendary Knights of the Round Table, Sir Justin was battling an ice ogre, when he fell into a crevass and was frozen solid, only to be preserved until scientists in 1941 found him and thawed him out. In one little nap, he went from battling dragons and ogres in merry old England, to fighting the dreaded Hun and evil Niponese scurge of World War II!


Oh, I forgot to mention. During his tenure at Camelot, he was rewarded for his bravery and steadfastness by Merlin the Magician and endowed with magic bullet-proof chain mail, an enchanted sword which could cut through any material and his horse Victory was given wings.

Hitler never had a chance.

Here's Sir Justin in a 1945 exploit from Adventure Comics #101. It has a little flash back to his origin, and shows some nice insight into Sir Justin's private life, working as a shlub in a museum to hide his gallant true self, and being taught the ways of the 20th century by a kindly old curator.

It really is a fun little story. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, in case you were concerned, Jeffy's Angels have lent the back-room of "Ye Olde Drink Hole out to a little Super-Hero-Elixir-aholic support group. Let's wish Roger Ramjet, Underdog, Hourman and Super Chicken all the best.

Talk to you soon.

Adventure Comics - "The Hour-Man"!

Time for another post in my on-going "A 'Slight' History of the Golden Age of Comic Book Super Heroes", every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday inside my head. Hit the A'S'HGACBSH label below to see what's come so far, or just start here and...whatever.

The next hero after The Sandman to color up the pages of National (DC) Comics "Adventure Comics" was a mild-mannered chemist by day, Ray "Tick-Tock" Tyler who invented "Miraclo" which when taken in handy pill form, gave Tyler the power of 10 men for sixty minutes. For 1/24th of a day, he would become "The Hour-man"!! I think Rusty would like him.

With the advent of every hero on the block having a kid sidekick, Hourman was no exception, though instead of just a lone boy in a copycat costume, Tyler was given a team of boys. A loyal bunch of junior fan-boys called "The Minutemen of America" who aided our man of the hour.

Created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Bailey (just like Sandman), Hour-man debuted in "Adventure Comics" #48 in 1940 and would soon become (again...like Sandman) one of the 8 charter members in The Justice Society of America, comics' fist ever superhero team.

Here he is in a sweet little solo adventure with giant-robot-flame-throwing-dinosaurs from Adventure Comics #61.

Ride along with the Minute Men of America and have some fun!

Talk to you soon.