Walter Foster and "Modern Cartoon"! 1 of 2

After the fun of "Cartooning the Head and Figure" over the last few weeks, a dug into my stack of books and pulled this gem.  "Modern Cartoon" published by the legendary Walter Foster and illustrated mostly by Hal Rasmussen.

These were books my older brother's had while I was growing up.  I never spent enough time delving into working with the books...but I spent HOURS drinking in Rasmussen's line-work and characters.

There's no copyright date in this bad boy, but the cartoons are definitely from the 1950's (if not late '40's) and rest assured, kiddoes...Walter Foster art instruction publishing is STILL cranking art books out after 90 years!

Dig in!!

More tomorrow!

Talk to you soon!

"Robinson Crusoe!" - Bill Elder - Mad Monday!

Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Elder do what they do best in the closing feature of "Mad" (THE COMIC BOOK) #13 from July 1954, and that's what every social humorist does.  From Will Rodgers to The Marx Bros. to Bob & Ray, they "puncture pomposity".

This time around they aim their guns at that hallmark of class and purity, that comic book that your maiden aunt might buy for you, "Classics Illustrated".

Yes they were well drawn.  Yes they might have exposed kids to works of literature that they may not have otherwise picked up on their own.

But damn they were boring.

Kurtzman and Elder did it right.

Dig in.

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies - A Retrospective, 3 of 5

Happy Sunday, kiddoes!  Welcome to week 3 of Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's 1078 treasure-trove, The Sunday Funnies, this week spotlighting the decade that America got plugged in and began feeling it's oats.

Electricity was a common thing and seeping into rural areas.  Phone service and network radio (1925) and the rough pubescent age of the cinema all served to open communication and make us all more sophisticated.  Whether we liked it or not.  Paved roads outside our cities and Route 66 traipsing across this country bringing us all together.  Just a few decades out of the cowboy era, and our frontier was all pioneered out.  Our world was smaller thanks to communication and transportation, and with the Jazz Age it was louder and sexier, too.

At least the physical nature of it.  The possibilities of the humor, adventure, continuity and story-telling in the comic strip was just being tapped into.  And a wellspring was struck.

This week we get to bask in the talents of George McManus ("Bringing Up Father"), Billy DeBeck ("Barney Google"), John Held Jr. ("Joe Prep", "Merely Margie"), Harold Gray ("Little Orphan Annie"), Cliff Sterrett ("Sweet-Heart's and Wives", "Polly & Her Pals"), Martin Branner ("Winnie Winkle"), C.W. Kahles ("Hairbreadth Harry") and Frank Willard ("Moon Mullins").

The comics were growing up a little, and se were we, America.

Dig in!

Next Sunday: The Dirty Thirties!

Talk to you soon.

Special Problems and Final Word from Jack Hamm!

I conclude my sharing of Jack Hamm's "Cartooning the Head and Figure" today with the final chapter, "Special Problems" and a "Final Word" from Jack.

I had no idea what a touchstone book this had been for so many when it was given to me just last month.  I'm glad I got to hold and see what so many more had seen before me.  Sorry I missed it the first time around,

Whew!  Helluva book!

Talk to you soon.