Electricmastro

Well in speaking of funny animal comics, I find the writer/artist duo of Joe Barbera and Harvey Eisenberg a great transition from the Tom and Jerry animated shorts to their Foxy Fagan comics for Dearfield from 1946-1948. If I had to name a Carl Barks-equivalent for the MGM-styled comics, that would probably be it.

Well if we’re going to be talking about writing, then I suppose it would help to get to know the names of writers more. Names are often used when talking about 40s art, so named examples might as well be mentioned: Ben Farish Bernard Baily Bill Finger Bill Woggon Bob Davis Bob Jenney Bob Kanigher Bob Oksner Boody Rogers Burt Frohman Carl Barks Carl Hubbell Charles Biro Chase Craig Clyde Yeadon David Gantz DickWood Ed Cronin Ed Nofziger Elliot Bruce Frank Frollo Frank Long Gardner Fox George Evans Harry Sahle Harry Shorten Harvey Kurtzman Hubie Karp Jack Cole Jack Kirby Jack Schiff Jerry Siegel Jim Davis Joe Edwards Joe Greene Joe Kubert Joe Simon Julie Schwartz Ken Fitch Klaus Nordling Len Hollreiser Lynn Karp Martin Bursten Mort Weisinger Otto Binder Paul Norris Peter Wells Ralph Wolfe Ray Gill Red Udall Richard Hughes Ruth Roche Sheldon Mayer Sol Brodsky Stan Lee Sy Reit Tom Baron Walter Gibson Will Eisner Woody Gelman

In terms of comic book superhero writing from the 40s, I’m sure Jack Cole’s Plastic Man, from Police Comics and his self-titled book, would be favorited at the top for many, including myself. It can not only be funny, but also occasionally heartfelt, with Cole mixing all of that, along with an old school gangster-esque vibe, I felt, in a consistently convincing manner.

I will say that quite a number of the Heap stories were surprisingly emotional to me in exploring the feelings and humanity of a humanoid plant-like giant who effectively had to leave his previous human life behind. I suppose people who read Swamp Thing and Man-Thing stories have had similar feelings.

I wonder who did the art for this. It seems familiar, but I’m not sure who.

Also, in 1951, Senator Capehart accused Sad Sack Goes Home as being Socialist propaganda. If people will be ready to point out Seduction of the Innocent, then they should be ready to point this out too:

Not much seems to be publicly known about Rolland Livingstone, who was about 70 years old by the time he drew these covers for Gilberton and died very shortly afterwards:

Could anyone tell me which Fox artist this is? For some reason, this looks familiar, but I’m not sure who (and I think it’s all the same artist) could have drawn this particular art from late 1940: Source: CB+ Edit: Found out it may be Rolland Livingstone who drew the art.

Action Comics #80.

The funny animal comics from Fox’s 1944 and 1945 giant-sized issues:

Nice! And speaking of Fox, I also see Ribtickler #1 as a sort of lesser-known highlight if only for the interior art. Makes me want to know the actual artists more.

Doesn’t look too different from him either: Source: https://www.pulpartists.com/Cole.html

E. C. Stoner drew what I think may be the best anti-Axis cover:

Amusing ghost panel from Frisky Fables #v3#5 (August, 1947). Art by Harold Abbey.

I think it really has to due with the changing interests of the times, with most publisheds pretty much giving up on anthropomorphic-funny animals by 1948, except for publishers like DC, Nedor, American Comics Group, and of course Dell. By then, romance, western, horror, and crime comics had gained more interest, and even after the parent complaints and renewed superhero interest in 1956, those sorts of comics would gain more interest and widespread publication again by the 70s, with anthropomorphic-funny animals pretty much being relegated to Disney and Looney Tunes. Even previously popular animal characters like Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, and Felix the Cat had lost much more popularity by then as well.

I’m sure at least one of these stories could be reasonably traced back to Ellis Chambers, though lately, I’ve been discovering funny animal art arguably as interestingly weird as his art. DC artist Lou Ferstadt seems to have contributed more art to Fox than most may have thought, including funny animal art, particularly for Fox’s giant-sized comics. His signed funny animal art done for other publishers very much makes me wonder: Source: CB+

Miss Liberty #1 (1945, Green Publishing), which appears to be a traced swipe of Irv Novick’s original art from page 10 of the Steel Sterling story from Zip Comics #46 (May 1944, Archie Comics). The original art:

Lovelorn #17 (September, 1951) presents a great opportunity for anyone that wants to compare the art of Archie artist Sam Cooper with the art of his older brother, DC artist Paul Cooper. Both of their art in this issue isn’t too drastically different from each other, though Paul Cooper tended to be more detailed in drawing plants and general outside scenes than how his younger brother drew them. Source: CB+

This issue of Fantastic is drawn in a considerably different style and doesn’t seem to have a confidently educated guess made on it. I’ve suspected that it was drawn by Pierce Rice, but I wouldn’t completely doubt the possibility of at least one of the Cazeneuve brothers having drawn it.

As ambitious as George Tukel was, he seemed to always have trouble with drawing anatomy, particularly the eyes. It’s as if he could never figure out how to convincingly portray someone facing forward without awkwardly making them look like some bug-eyed alien (Blue Beetle #25, September 1943): Source: CB+

More weird 1944 comics from Fox:

These Fox covers which don’t seem to have signatures are ones I think Roland Patenaude drew as well. I made this known to GCD, and there was agreement that the guess was educated enough. His recurring stylistic approach seems to be protagonists with small and smoothly rounded heads, distinctly shaded hair, dotted pupils with no irises, wide smiles showing teeth, pronounced chests with a few bumps drawn to convey the ribs, and capes hanging in the air. Antagonists are also drawn with bigger noses and sharper teeth, as well as there being spiky star-esque circles drawn to convey them getting punched.

I suppose it partially had to do with Jerry Bails’ Who’s Who listing Ramona as the artist’s real name. 1985’s Women and the Comics by Trina Robbins apparently reinforced the Ramona name as well. I think it’s also the same book in which Munson Paddock was mistaken as a woman under the name “Cecelia.”

The weird stuff from Fox’s All Good Comics. Wish I knew the artists that drew all this just so I could potentially find out about more weird stories they drew. Haha. Source: CB+

In regards to Jack Kirby, it’s uncertain as to whether it was him or Joe Simon who drew these covers in particular, and I’m not exactly sure how to differentiate between their art: