Scrooge

Right now I am scanning from the Gladstone Carl Barks Library of WDCS but I don't have them all so at some point I'll have to start scanning reprints from other sources.

from WDCS 38 - November 1943 The title should say it all:

One of my favorite concepts: the Horror Comic Writer Cover. Has anyone compiled a list of these? I know there are a few, anyway! The only other "pre-code" covers I'm aware of are: Punch 9 Adv Into Unknown 39 Does anyone know of more than these? What I like about the AIU and the Beware is that there is a story inside corresponding to the cover. The Punch doesn't. There are many comics with interior stories with this theme, the best IMHO, is in Venus 17. Bill Everett. Here's another I saw this morning - Tales of the Unexpected # 1 - Scan Courtesy of the GCD.

Wowsa You're right. Everything else was pretty well copied to the line but that area (which I obviously overlooked) is definitely different.

from WDCS 36 - September 1943 So the story starts with DD bragging and the nephews calling his bluff making him believe there's a fox to trap but DD figures it is a trick and trick the tricksters by getting a large dog out of the pound and making it look like he trapped a wolf (forget about foxes). HDL undaunted want to show up DD (who cheated) and they show him their new trap of which DD makes fun in this page:

# 66 Four Color Comics # 379 - Bought from Basement Comix (with missing centerfold ) Content: Cover by Bob Grant (?) Southern Hospitality by Bob Moore 22 pgs Big Fishing Contest by (?) 10 pgs To give you an idea where this one fits in the DD series, it is after A Christmas for Shacktown (OS 367) and before DD in Malayalaya (OS 394), both Barks issues. I have lost in the midst of time how I decided to select which FCs to buy for the collection but at one point I settled on the 8 issues ranging from 379 to 386 and they are the next 8 issues we will see in the thread. Let's start with a little information on Bob, from the Comiclopedia: "Bob Moore was an animator at Disney in the 1940s and 1950s. He drew funny animal comics at Dell Publishing from 1950 to 1953. He did several 'Donald Duck' comics for Walt Disney's Christmas Parade and Four Color Comics. He also drew filler panel gags for Lev Gleason from 1947 to 1948." Let me add that Bob became a Disney Legend in 1996 - for Animation and Film. The Disney Legends awards are given annually by The Walt Disney Company to honor individuals who have made a notable contribution to the company. The awards were first given in 1987. Also left out is that Bob earlier worked for The Brooklyn Eagle, scripting this time for the adventure strips Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire, Tad of the Tanbark and Gordon, Soldier of Fortune 1935-1941 (artwork by Carl Pfeufer). Not only that but Bob was also a storyman on Melody Time and Donald Duck shorts. Quite a busy fellow Bob was. As for his work at Dell, here's a synopsis of his output (as summarizing full credits you can see at the INDUCKS COA. I counted that this was Bob's longest single story work at 22 pgs even though he had more pages in separate story in FC 339 with 1 16 pgs DD story + 1 10 pgs DD story + 1 6 pgs DD stories. In FC 353 he had stories about DD for 1 + 3 + 8 + 1 U$ for 6 + 1 HDL for 6 + 1 Grandma Duck for 6, again for a total of 30 pages in the issue. Bob also drew the 20 page DD story in which DD meets Peter Pan in the Peter Pan Treasury and in addition had work in Christmas Parades, Vacation Parades and longer 1-row per page Wheaties Premium books. Well, this got me thinking that I was quite ignorant of pre-Barks 10 pagers artists. In the Show me your Ducks thread, I started with WDCS 31 with the first Barks 10-page DD story and wanted to learn who did those pre-WDCS 31. After a quick research, I figured out that the answer is no-one. Pre-WDCS 31, the DD content of the issues was filled with reprints from the daily strips mainly. Oh there were occasional longer stories in those pre-31 issues but they were few and far between. As a matter of fact, here are the ones I was able to identify (if an issue is not listed, it means there were no stories longer than 8 pages): WDCS 14 - 7 pgs Dumbo (Text with illos) WDCS 24 - The Flying Gauchito by Walt Kelly WDCS 27 - Jose Carioca in The Carnival King by Carl Buettner WDCS 29 - Thumper 10 pgs by Ken Hultgren WDCS 31 - Barks DD 10 pagers and Friend Owl 10 pagers by Hultgren and that's it. So the Barks's DD were a "novelty" in the series. I had never known that before. Yes, you will stop me there and point out that there were longer stories in those issues but they were MM reprints from mostly the dailies (and at times from the Sundays). Here's the list (the numbers reference the WDCS issues) of the MM sequences: 1-2 - Island in the Sky 2-3 - Oscar the Ostrich 3-4 - The Seven Ghosts 4-5 - In Search of Jungle Treasure 6-9 - Monarch of Medioka 7-10 - MM Joins the Foreign Legion 11-12 - The Robin Hood Adventure (from the Sundays) 13 - Service with a Smile (from the Sundays) 14 - On a Camping Trip 15 - No MM but Talafierro Three Little Kittens and Cookieland stories 16 - No MM but Talafierro Three Little Pigs 16 pgs 17 - No MM but Talafierro Ambrose and 7 pgs of Dumbo text 18-21 - Back to MM starting here with Miracle Master 22-24 - An Education for Thursday 25-29 - The Bar-none Ranch 30-35 - Bellhop Detective 36-39 - Love Trouble 40-44 - The Land of Long Ago 45-48 - MM on a Secret Mission and so on. Moore Splash Moore Page Moore Page Moore Page Second Story Splash

Not to want to influence your buying habits but while we are it, here goes another:

Actually I had been looking at the mechanical equipment detail myself and while different looking it seemed that those differences could directly be attributed to different coloring not different line art. Give it another close look and you might see what I mean. As far as liking one over the other, are the contents in the IW reprint the same as the Strange Worlds or is it filled with random reprint?

Quite glad you concur that the second one is not Crandall. Maybe I am getting better at this ID thing (but again Crandall and Everett are easy to spot ... I'm climbing that mountain though). I realize also I worded my question oddly before - I meant to say that, of course, that second splash could hardly be called Crandall and that's what rjpb had requested: Crandall art.

I should be scanning some DD antics but here are two splashes. Can't be sure that the latter splash is Crandall's work though. Anyone agree?

Not in as nice a shape as Lorna herself ( ), here's the Panama Chapter. Not the most exotic cover of that series. I guess in the 50's Panama called up imageries of seedy bars since the country was probably viewed as one gigantic port-city.

My guess is Bill Everett ( Hence the Thank you Bill in my previous post.) I was posting at the same time as you! Oopps. Hey Tim, it's Bill Everett.

from WDCS 35 - August 1943 So DD decides to spend the day riding out of a dude ranch in the desert and of course they get off course and DD won't listen to HDL's advice. A rather slow moving 10-pager actually

My guess is Bill Everett ( Hence the Thank you Bill in my previous post.)

OK you did it. Now I understand why someone would stick to HG copies of books. Man, she *cough cough* it's gorgeous. Thank you Bill. So What was the Secret of Zambalai? Nice sounding name.

Now should you play Find the 10 differences? Actually I should go at the extent of these differences. I think I like the dark eyes on the IW reprint better. Also we have the guy at right shrunk, more arms, more small tendrils, loss of mohawk, ...

# 65 Forbidden Worlds # 5 - eBay purchase Content: (GCD IDs) Cover - Ken Bald (?) The Tomb of Terror by Lou Cameron 8 pgs The Merman Menace by Lin Streeter 8 pgs Priestess of the Sphinx by Al Camy 10 pgs The Dance of Savages by Beck (?) 1 pg The Day the World Died by George Wilhelms 8 pgs Land of the Living Dead by Al Williamson inked by Roy Krenkel 8 pgs I'd say this make it a great issue. Let's concentrate on Al Williamson for today. From the Comic Art & Graffix Gallery site, here's a short bio of Al: "Al Williamson was born in New York on March 21, 1931. His family moved to Bogota, Columbia when he was still a child and Al spent most of his adolescence there. While in Bogota, the youngster found comics, including Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon", Hal Foster's "Tarzan" & "Prince Valiant" and the art of South American comic strip great Jose Luis Salinas' "Hernan el Corsario". He moved back to New York in the 1940's and attended Artist's & Illustrators school (later the School of Art & Design) where he was taught by Burne Hogarth, among others. Burne saw promise in the young man's work and let him do some pencils on his Tarzan Sunday pages in 1948. While at Artists & Illustrators he met and befriended Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta, and the three of them became lifelong friends and collaborators. Al's first work appeared in Heroic Comics #51 (1948), and his long career was launched. Over the next few years he worked at Toby Press, ACG, Eastern and others before he secured continuous work at EC. He immediately began appearing in most all of the EC titles, but it became obvious from the start that his forte was science ficton, and it is in this area that Al excelled while at EC. He quickly became a staple in the EC titles Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. During this time his artistic style began to solidify as well, showcasing the fine lined technique that has become so well identified with the artist. Influenced by Raymond, Foster and Salinas, and then being exposed to Lou Fine and Will Eisner, Williamson's art became one of the leaders in the realist style of comic art that later became the norm when artists Leonard Starr, Stan Drake, John Prentice and Neal Adams popularized it. Unfortunately, Al was in the same boat with everyone else when the comics business universally went under in 1955, hastened by left wing advocates of censorship. During this time he worked mostly at Atlas (Marvel) illustrating horror, western, adventure and whatever else he was assigned. he also worked at Prize with Jack Kirby & Joe Simon for a few years in the late fifties, and ACG as well. For a while from the late fifities through the sixties Al did quite a bit of assisiting comic strip artists who made good use of his work. He worked with Prentice on Rip Kirby, a strip originated by Alex Raymond that he liked tremendously, he did some work on the Dan Flagg strip and reportedly helped some with Alden McWilliams Twin Earths strip. Then in 1964 a big break came. Warren publishing was starting a new line of black & white magazines in the vein of EC and James warren/Archie Goodwin were rounding up as many of the EC artists as they could. The resultant titles, Creepy & Eerie, were only moderately successful, but they were an excellent showcase for the artists whose work appeared in them. Frazetta covers, stories by Williamson, Reed Crandall, Angelo Torres, Johnny Craig and Steve Ditko amongst others. These were absolutely fabulous, and lavish comic magazines. But their praise was short lived as publisher James Warren was so continually late with paying the artists that the original crew all left within a couple of years. Al then went on to King, where he drew several issues of a Flash Gordon comic book. These books are very highly regarded by fans and rightly so. the fantastic artwork makes these books classics in their own right. As a note, Williamson is the only comic book artist I know who has drawn both of Alex Raymond's creations, Flash Gordon & Rip Kirby. After illustrating the Flash Gordon books, Al became the artist on the syndicated strip, Secret Agent X-9 (another Raymond strip) which later became Secret Agent Corrigan. He drew this strip for almost two decades, beginning on January 20, 1967. He drew the Star Wars strip for a period at the request of Star Wars creator George Lucas, a longtime comics fan. He also drew several issues of the Star Wars comic book for Marvel, where he eventually became the inker for the Daredevil, over John Romita Jr's pencils. He remained on Daredevil for quite some time, starting with issue #237 and working on most of them up to #289. Al has worked on many more projects than this article could possibly begin to mention. Over the course of some five decades he has been recognized as one of the top artists in comics, recieving many accolades for his work over the last fifty years. He frequently makes appearances at comic book conventions to the happiness of lucky fans who get to meet and chat with this talkative and personable legend of comic art." Now, about Al's art from Ray Cuthbert page at Comicartville: "In 1998, Al Williamson marked his 50th year in the comic art business. His first published artwork appeared in Heroic Comics in 1948. One of the things that any artist hates with a passion is for someone to tell them that they love his artwork, but that "your old stuff was better." Williamson has been hounded with this comment throughout his career. Williamson himself, despite all of what fans claim to see in his artwork, is incredibly modest. Where a fan sees beauty, he sees flaws. Technically, he probably knows the strengths and weaknesses of his own artwork at any given moment better than any fan who has ever lived. But perhaps because of what he knows about the technicalities of his work, he is incapable of seeing what the fan sees. Where the fans see a forest of a beautiful overall creation, Williamson seems to see only the trees, stumps, creepers and decaying leaves of individual mistakes. When someone is as humble as Williamson is, it is incredibly difficult to get him to give any kind of objective appraisal of his own work. If a fan says that they love his EC work better than anything he has done since, Williamson probably feels two things, a nostalgia for the energy and love he brought to those projects more than forty years ago, and the collaborators (read: friends) he worked on them with; and secondly a sense of anger that the fan cannot see all the progress which has been made in his technique in the forty-plus years since that time. Williamson has been known to say that earlier in his career, he was a better penciller than an inker, whereas in the eighties (and presumably right through to the present) he is a better inker than a penciller. See his interview with Steve Ringgenberg in The Comics Journal #90, May, 1984, p.65 for this self-appraisal. It seems to this observer and fan of Williamson's work that Williamson has strengths in certain aspects of his drawing at certain times in his career with concurrent weaknesses, whereas at other points in his career the weaknesses of former years have been replaced with strengths and some of the strengths have been replaced with weakness as well. To my mind, the most objective and critical appraisal of Williamson's artwork came in an early 1970's review of Flash Gordon artists in general, and Williamson's work in particular. This review was done by Williamson's sometime classmate, sometime collegue, and knowing Al , life-long friend, Larry Ivie in the fanzine Heritage 1b. Ivie's review does not measure Williamson's artwork by its being better or worse in one period of his career than another, but merely on how it measures up in suitablilty as a successor to Alex Raymond on Flash Gordon. Ivie's assessment of Williamson in this regard is that Williamson would have been best suited to draw Flash Gordon in the late 1950's or early 1960's before his association with John Prentice, the artistic successor to Alex Raymond on the Rip Kirby strip. Ivie suggests that Williamson, before his connection with Prentice, had "the unbeatable element of youth, in addition to talent and interest." (Heritage 1b, p.31) Stylistically, Ivie states "the drawing was superb, and the figures all had movement. But the inking reached its peak-being at the same time most tight, most fluid feeling, and most personal during the lates 'fifties." (Heritage 1b, p.31) He goes on to suggest that the Williamson who actually drew those three issues and four covers of Flash Gordon for King Comics had all the stylistic changes in his work influenced by his association with Prentice. He suggests that: "it is the scenes with heavy shadows-seldom used by others-that the Williamson style is most his own." (Heritage 1b, p.31) Ivie's analysis is not an overly negative one, in the end he suggests that "there is only one successful successor to Raymond, in keeping alive the true Flash Gordon feeling-Al Williamson." (Heritage 1b, p.33) Now Ivie is an artist himself, and his credentials for review of Williamson's work are far superior to mine, but let me offer a somewhat different analysis than Ivie's. The Williamson of the EC period had trouble with faces. He was magnificent with other aspects of anatomy, design, costumes and drapery, but his faces were problematic. He would hit upon winners often, but at least as frequently he depended on the strengths of a particular inker to get him past his flaws with the face. This particular problem was one that would come back and haunt him a bit at other times in his career, as well. Ivie strangely seems to have missed the fact that Williamson's artwork matured during the time he worked with Prentice. Williamson has commented that one of the most important things that he learned from Prentice was a professional work ethic. But in addition to this, he learned a great deal about the proper use of reference, and through practice, practice, practice, he learned how to draw some of the most beautiful and expressive faces in the history of comic art. The other great plus to Williamson's work in the middle 1960's through the seventies was that in my opinion, he achieved his greatest balance as penciller and inker. He was the total artist. His layouts, always lovely, reached a pinnacle that would be difficult to top. His pencils were virtually flawless, and his inking, although lack ing some of the sophistication and techniques that the next twenty-plus years would bring to him, was perfectly suited to his pencils. He knew how and when to use a thick line and when to use a thin one. His cross-hatching during this period was unparalleled amongst comic artists, either his contemporaries, or his artistic idols. One might say that Williamson's inking never achieved the liquid fluidity of Alex Raymond, but it was very much like the inking of another of his artistic heroes, Hal Foster. I have suggested elsewhere that one of the chief differences between Raymond's and Foster's approach to art is that Raymond attempted to give the ordinary mythic stature, whereas Foster attempted to give myths humanity. Interestingly, Williamson's approach is philosophically akin to Raymond's and this is seen in his pencilling and in what he chooses to draw. But, as I see it, Williamson's inking overall is more like Foster's. Williamson's abilities continued on this ascending grade of beautiful pencils and complimentary inks throughout his term on Secret Agent Corrigan. But by the time his stint on Star Wars began, I believe that Williamson began a period of growing doubt over his ability to pencil as he would like. Don't get me wrong, Williamson's pencilling on Star Wars was better than anything else that anyone else was doing in adventure syndicated strips, but I begin to notice a certain stiffness to his figures' poses becoming problematic during this period. Although there were many panels and even whole strip continuities where Williamson flew through with confidence and excitement, there were times when a lack of assurance seemed to be evidencing itself, particularly around his figures, which had always been his strong point up until this point in his career. What carried Williamson through all of this was that his inking prowess had achieved unparalleled sophistication. By this point in his career, Williamson had more inking technique in his head then seemingly anyone else in the business. What seems to me to be a weakness in his pencilling was covered up by his wonderful sense of design (which has never deserted him) and his virtuosity as an inker. As early as The Comics Journal #90 interview in 1984, Williamson was already admitting to a slowing down of his pace as a penciller. He was at a loss to explain this slowing down to Ringgenberg, but I believe that Al was beginning a period of critical self-doubt which had been known to paralyze him at other points in his career: Williamson:" Y'know, one time I was deathly afraid of losing my job (with Prentice). I realized that there were others out there who could do the "civilian" stuff in Rip Kirby much better and quicker than I could. And then one day I got very sick...asthma...the works. ...All these people that I was afraid would take my job came in and took my job. But then I said to myself, "OK, it's done. Forget it. I'm glad they took my job. Let's see what happens now!" Bang! I got well... and started working again. Got my job right back. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be jealous. You don't have to worry about someone else. Just do your job to the best of your abilities, take your responsibilities, meet your deadlinesand that's all that matters. That's it. That's it right there. because you are YOU and nobody else... and what YOU do they can't take away from you. It's yours." Williamson understood his own problem in a historic perspective, and perhaps he realizes it today. His lack of pencilling speed or prowess over the past ten years or so has little to do with the talent which lies within, and everything to do with an attitude of self-doubt. This slowing of his pencilling speed led almost directly, in a very short time, into Al's period as an inker, only, over other people's pencils. At first this was for DC, and predominantly for Marvel. Williamson fell out of the syndicated market with the collapse of the Star Wars strip. This was the second strip which had failed him, thanks to the syndicates themselves. In neither Corrigan nor Star Wars did Williamson fail the strips he was working on, despite whatever minor flaws I have mentioned in some of the Star Wars pencilling. The syndicates failed the strips by not promoting them. This must have had some effect on Williamson, because after a brief but triumphant period doing a few comic book stories, principally for Bruce Jones Associates, Williamson decided that his pencilling had slowed down to such a crawl that it was easier to make a living wage inking someone else's pencils. Williamson has only made three significant pencilling forays since his embarking on his career as an inker of other folks pencils: his Star Wars covers, his two issue Flash Gordon revival for Marvel, and a beautiful story for Dark Horse Presents, ominously entitled "One Last Job." With the exception of the last story, and a few other flashes of genius, Williamson's pencilling jobs appear to be too infrequent to allow him to hit his artistic stride once again. I hope it will still happen. The magic is still there, just waiting to be reawakened.... The Boards Themselves There are some unique aspects of the physical artwork which Williamson created for Flash Gordon which may be of interest to those in our hobby. Although the artwork was drafted in 1966, the originals were not drawn "twice up" or what is increasingly being described in our hobby as "large art." The boards for the Flash Gordon pages were drawn at today's standard 11" x 17" size. Reed Crandall followed Williamson as the regular artist for the series after Williamson left for the syndicate job on Secret Agent X-9 (later Secret Agent Corrigan). Crandall's originals for the same series were drawn at the "twice up" ratio. The cover to number one is even more unique, measuring still smaller at about 11" x 14" or so. The cover to #4, which is in Albert Moy's collection, was done at the same size. You will note from the cover copy attached to this contribution that the art actually extends beyond the borders which were printed on the published version of the comic. There were red-penned border lines drawn into the art which have since been covered by white-out by either Williamson or Morrow, since they are the only two previous owners of the work. Another element which is unique to the cover of the Flash Gordon #1 cover is that the cover logo was drawn right onto the board by Williamson. Presumably that beautiful logo, with its distinctive "top-tail" for the "A" in Flash, which was the standard Flash Gordon logo for years afterwards, was created by Williamson himself, and the stats for future issues were made from the #1 logo. I hope to confirm my assumption about this with Williamson the next time I get to talk with him. If it is true, this puts Williamson in the same category with another of his artistic heroes, J. Allen St. John, who created the later and most distinctive logo for Weird Tales, "the unique magazine" amongst the pulps." Don't forget to read Part 1 of the preceding piece at comicartville. EVERY one should visit this next link and follow it through as it shows the different stages of Al's work on a Flash Gordon Sunday. Now, Al also pencilled another cover to a book I need for this month: the cover to Buster Crabbe # 3. If only I had the money, I could buy that cover as well as it is for sale here but at $12,500 it is a wee tad expensive but pretty for sure. Oh well, onto the pages. Cameron story Splash Cameron Story Page Streeter Story Page Camy Story Splash Wilhems Story Page Williamson / Krenkel Splash Williamson / Krenkel Page Williamson / Krenkel next Page In-House Ad

from WDCS 34 - July 1943 If you wonder what's happening to DD: he started the day deciding he would do nothing but good deeds and of course they all backfire on him, including him feeling he should volunteer a match to light his funeral pyre!

# 64 First Romance # 11 - bought from ?? Content: Those Stolen Kisses by ? 6 pgs Warned Against Him by ? 5 pgs Backstage Love by ? 6 pgs I Mortgaged my Heart by ? 6 pgs This is going to be a short one as I have no ID for any of the artists. Powell did a lot of work for the series in 1-5, 8-10, 14, 18, 20-22, 24, 25, 28, 36, 46, 48, 51 but not in here This was a long running title for Harvey lasting until November 1958. The book has a table of content with a note from the editors as seen below. Since all the splash pages are presented here I won't show them again and only show story pages below. Story 1 last page Story 3 last page Story 4 last page I don't know if you notice the similarities in the ending but in each of these three stories the main female character realizes the boorishness of the man they had all eyes for throughout the story and have the chance of being rescued / accepted by the more mild-mannered young guy all parents would wish for their daughters. Very repetitive (as one would expect from a Romance title). Reading output from many publishers, I had established that on average Fawcett had better second tier talent for their secondary books but now I am wondering if I shouldn't adjust my judgment and place Harvey on top of the second-tier publishers for art's sake while still keeping Fawcett second for scripts / stories. For a one to one comparison, look back up to Exciting Romances from Fawcett. There are several neat in-house ads in the issue. Still odd to me to advertise "Blood and Guts" and Horror titles in a Romance book . Is this the correct audience ? Anyway, here are the ads. The second one is printed in B&W.

Great pages ft88. It's amazing how difficult it is to pick a single page out of those 10 pagers as so many are stunning on their own! WDCS 33 - June 1943 DD tries to impress the girl and, of course, lands flat on his belly. Great pages as well of HDL dressing up as a shark.

I wish! You're correct these are from reprints my friend. Call me crazy but I figured I scan so much stuff for the other thead that I could easily squeeze in another page while I was at it so yeah I plan on posting regularly, again chronologically, from the Barks 10 pagers. I know people would also like to see the Scrooge and Donald Duck Adventures comics but I got started with the 10 pagers so I'll go on with those for now. We'll see where this goes. I know some of the non-duck collectors have been really surprised at how much they like the ducks from seeing them in this thread so I am stoking the fire.

# 63 Firehair # 11 - Bought at Remember When in Dallas Subtitle - Warrior Maid of the Wild Dakotas Content: (GCD IDs) Firehair in Wolves of the Overland Trail by Bob Lubbers 10 pgs Tex Rainger in Take'em alive, son by Sam Savitt 4 pgs Firehair in Yellow Knife in the White Man's Jail by Bob Lubbers 10 pgs I really like this comic, especially the effort put in the effects in the art. We will come back to Sam Savitt once we see his painted covers later and will focus on Bob for today. The nice folks at AC Comics tell us that: "Bob Lubbers is best known for his "good girl art" from both the comic strips and comic books. Bob was born in 1922, and attended the Art Students League before breaking into the comic book profession at the tender age of 18. His first work was for Centaur, (then known as The Comics Corporation of America) illustrating such features as The Arrow, Reef Kincaid, Red Riley and The Liberty Scouts. When Centaur folded in 1942, Bob moved over to T. T. Scott's Fiction House line and found a home for the rest of the decade. There he served as Art Director, doing many action features and spectacular covers. He drew Camilla in Jungle Comics, Señorita Rio in Fight Comics, Captain Wings in Wings, as well as Space Rangers, Rip Carson, Flint Baker, Captain Terry Thunder, and a long stint on Rangers Comics' frontier girl, Firehair. In 1950, Bob began a four-year run on the Tarzan comic strip. Bob did a lot of work in newspaper strips including The Saint, Big Ben Bolt (ghosted) and Rusty Riley (ghosted). He did two strips of his own creation, Long Sam (1954-58) and Robin Malone. Long Sam was written by Al Capp and featured the exploits of a tall and gorgeous montain gal. He began working on Lil' Abner in 1970, and later did a stint on Secret Agent X-9. He did some work at DC Comics on The Vigilante. Bob also did some Westerns at Pines (Standard / Nedor) comics on into the 1950's. His work also popped up at Gleason, Timely / Marvel, St. John and King Comics, and even stories in The Twilight Zone comic book for Western in the 1960's. Bob is still going strong today, producing a prodigous amount of artwork for collectors and fans that is absolutely the best work of his career. If you are interested in commissioned artwork, or if you are interested in contacting Mr. Lubbers directly, email us and we will forward the information to him." Bob was also the focus of coverage in a CBM issues a few years ago. IIRC, Jon Berk in has some of Bob's recent recreations in his online gallery. Great stuff. To see some of his work on Secret Agent X-9, please check this site and for another Firehair story, please visit here for a story from Rangers 39. Story 1 Splash Story 1 Page 2 Story 1 Page 2 OA QUESTION - This OA is for sale at Anthony Snyder's website along with some other pages from the story. I need wiser folks advise on this. I would like to purchase at least a page but I have never bought OA before. Is this Anthony Snyder reputable? Is the $75 price tag reasonable? Does the page look OK condition-wise? I hesitate between this page and the last page of the story shown below. Which would you choose or would you choose yet a different one from the set. Your input is important to me. Thank you in advance. Story 2 Splash Story 3 Page Story 3 - Nice Page

From WDCS 31 - May 1943 Donald is trying his luck with the nephews rabbit's foot. His usual luck takes over.

Bonds, those moderns are anything but lame-o. I like your copies! So trying something different, let me show the insides of the ducks: from WDCS 31 - April 1943 Donald is running into some difficulties when trying to plant his Victory Garden From the Smithsonian : "The Smithsonian Institution invites you to visit its new Victory Garden, an outdoor garden produced in conjunction with the Within These Walls... exhibition at the National Museum of American History, Behring Center. Using a design from a 1943 pamphlet, the Horticulture Services Division of the Smithsonian Institution is re-creating a World War II victory garden on the terrace outside the Museum's cafeteria. The 130-foot long garden contains over fifty varieties of vegetables and flowers that change with the seasons. The vegetables are heirloom species, older varieties that were available to gardeners during the 1940s." Let everyone proudly display their ducks' insides!

# 62 Fightin' Marines # 4 - eBay purchase Content Tripoli Shores in Detour of Destruction by ? 8pgs Guerrillas Die at Dawn by ? 4 pgs Canteen Kate in Tailor Maid by Matt Baker ? 6 pgs Danger Ahead by ? 8 pgs Leatherneck Jack by Gene Colan ? (GCD guess) 6 pgs Gallantry in Action by ? 1 pg Not a lot to work with in regards to artist credits. Guessing Matt Baker for the Canteen Kate story, here's a brief recap of Matt's career from the Comiclopedia: "Matthew Baker is best known for his romance and "good girl" comics. He is considered a master in drawing the female form. Baker started his career in 1944 working for Fox, Fiction House ('Tiger Girl' and 'Sky Girl') and Atlas. He is mostly remembered for his work on the 'Phantom Lady' series. He has also done the daily 'Flamingo' strip with Ralph Rutte. Unfortunately, his career ended abruptly in 1957, when he died at the young age of 34. He was one of America's first major black cartoonists." I can't wait to read the recent Alter Ego with coverage on Matt, including interview with relatives (I know it is out but haven't gotten it yet). In the meantime, we can all visit this Baker fan site which is illustrated. For more Baker Romance reprints, one could also read John Benson's Romance without Tears - 50's Love Comics with a twist focusing on the writing of Dana Dutch for St John, today's publisher. The reprint book contains 11 Baker stories. For a competing view on these stories, one should read Michael Barrier's review of Romance without Tears. Keeping this quick today, onto the art Story 1 Splash Story 2 Splash Story 3 Splash Story 3 Page Story 4 Splash Story 5 Splash - ID tentatively as Colan on the GCD. Any one disagrees? One Page story about a Silver Star recipient - I wasn't able to confirm if this was a true story but at least let me provide you with what the 7th Marine did in Korea below the one-pager. " On August 17 , 1950 the 7th Marines were again activated for service. On September 15, the 1st Marine Division, with the 7th Marines in Reserve, landed at the port city of Inchon. Once the port was secured, the 7th Marines landed and took over the drive for Seoul. For 5 days, the 7th Marines fought against the communist North Korean forces and entered the capital city of Seoul. In bitter house-to-hose fighting, the city quickly fell to the Marines and the communists were driven north. In October, the 1st Marine Division landed at Wonson. After liberating the port, the Marines began their drive north to the Chosin Resevoir to either capture or destroy a key hydroelectric plant. By November 15, the Marines had reached the southern tip of the resevoir. Then all hell broke loose. Eight Chinese communist Division stormed out of the mountains and attacked the 1st Marine Division. The Marines began to withdraw just as winter set in. For four weeks, the Marines fought through 78 miles of mountain roads in icy winter conditions all the while battling the Chines forces. By mid-December, the Marines had finally reached the port of Hungnam and were evacuated. The fighting withdrawal had cost the 1st Marine Division over 4,000 casualties but the enemy had paid a high price. The Marines had inflicted over 25,000 casualties on the 8 Chinese Divisions. The Chosin Reservoir, or "Frozen Chosin", had been one of the bloodiest fights of the war and the Marines finest hour. The 7th Marines participated in numerous operations in 1951 including the assault on the Hwachon Resevoir. In May, the 7th Marines were on defensive duty when 500,000 Chines soldiers attacked the main United Nations lines in their Spring offensive. For three months, the 7th Marines fought with the rest of the UN forces to defeat the Chinese offensive. For the rest of 1951 and 1952, the 7th Marines maintained their defensive positions and conducted patrols around their area of operations. In 1953, the 7th Marines were ordered to relieve the Army 25th Infantry Division. Soon after, the Regiment came under attack by North Korean and Chinese forces. The Marines held out for two weeks and did not lose any ground. The attacks ended on July 27, when the Panmunjom truce went into effect. During the Korean War, 20 Marines of the 7th Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroism under fire. The 7th Marines remained in Korea for several years before returning stateside" Update - Earlier we were discussing George Roussos career evolution. On Meskin.net , there is a nice bio of George from which I excerpt here concerning his decision to dedicate his time fully to coloring: "After working for Marvel for years, in 1972 he joined the staff of in-house artists and began a second career in comics, as a full time colorist. He took over the position after Marie Severin quit. Roy Thomas, chief editor at Marvel, from 1972-‘74 remembers Roussos as somebody who knew what he wanted: "I liked his coloring and we got along real well. We used to go around and around about one little thing. When he was coloring interiors, whenever Spiderman, who wore red and blue, leapt from one wall to another, he was always leaping from a yellow wall. Whatever wall he headed for suddenly became yellow when he landed on it to contrast. He would say, ‘You've got to have contrast.' and I would say, ‘There's also got to be continuity.'" Roussos' amazing color sense reinvented the look of Marvel books, particularly the covers. He believed that colors in comics had to be simple and striking and developed a unique approach to using white that would "make a white seem whiter than the paper it was printed on." he told Gruenwald. His color sense is unmistakable. He was working on cover proofs and corrections until his death this year. He still continued to do hand coloring as a back up, even when computer coloring became the norm in the ‘90s. As usual, playing down his own role, Roussos told me in 1999, "A very easy job, I have now."