The Golden Age of Comic Strip Reprints 0

[Scrooge]

Now, back to finishing the ninth volume of On Stage - Mary Perkins (1967 - 1969).

 

I know it's not Golden Age but, again, wow! Quite simply the strip collection I enjoy reading the most. It's not action so I don't know if it would be for every one but it hits the right spot for me. Mary's character continue to evolve as she become more successful, she has become more confident in her abilities and more assertive in her ways. In fact, in one of the better sequences of this volume, she gets downright mad and places an implied ultimatum on some long-term business partners with quite some resolve. I was disappointed in the last two sequences in which the writer wanted to explore the issue of the relationship in a marriage and the issue of personal responsibility to the world at large (in an awkward manner) but overall, another winner. DCBS is ready to ship the next volume

 

Now, back to tackling the (now ancient) Scorchy Smith BIG volume & the Meskin Out of the shadow recent reprint volume.

[adamstrange]

I avoided Mary Perkins like the plague when I was a kid but perhaps I need to take a second look at it.

[Scrooge]

 

I must have read volume 10 of On Stage without posting about it

 

At any rate, I just finished Volume 11 and this one left me a little bit cold. It's not that the strip is no longer good but a good half of the strips reprinted here do not directly involve Mary Perkins but rather personae peripheral to her which is always less interesting and second, the scripts attempt to address more directly issues of the day (women's lib, in particular) and this is a mistake for this kind of strip.

 

Here's one of the many Sunday strips I'd love to own from this volume -

 

[adamstrange]

That's a beautiful example (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Now, back to finishing the second volume of Rip Kirby (1949 - 1951).

 

Funny, I posted the above in June 2012. I did finish that second volume of Rip Kirby (1949 - 1951) but never posted about it. Well, today, I finished the third volume of Rip Kirby, 1951 - 1954. We've established that this isn't the Raymond of Flash Gordon. He is more interested in photo-realism and depicting current fashion rather than fanciful alien worlds. The stories aren't sci-fi either and some on the boards feel that it drags this work down compared to the younger Raymond. Yet, the stories are better constructed than the Flash ever were. The only disappointment is that the art seriously lack flashes of brilliance. It's not to say the art is lackluster, it's solid comic book stripping and Raymond seems to enjoy some sequences more than others. I am pulling examples (my scanned sucks for the format of this collection) from three such sequences, one with a con in the Florida Keys, one in the world of car racing (bittersweet in the face of Raymond's death but he clearly enjoyed drawing those race cars) and the final one about a long lost and rekindled love.

 

One more Raymond volume to read and then on to the Prentice years.

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

Also finished today is the recent (this month) volume of Miss Fury by IDW. This is the second volume published though these are the earlier Sundays. I have the other volume but have never read it and used this new arrival to push me in the Miss Fury universe. What a wild ride!

 

I didn't know what to expect and I believe my mental picture of Miss Fury came from those few Miss Fury covers from the Timely series and was thinking socialite crime fighter, à la Phantom Lady. Oh so wrong I was. In fact, Miss Fury in costume is a rarity. The strip can run from December to August without Marla (a.k.a. Miss Fury) in costume and months go by without even any appearance by Marla!

 

The -script flows fluidly and follows a natural course that switches the focus from one character to another whose path keep on intersecting. That is we will leave Marla to follow Baroness Von Kampf until their paths cross again to abandon both to follow General Bruno for a while. Yes, the main driver of over two third of the stories in this volume is the attempt by General Bruno to take over Brazil for the Germans, not the Nazi party, since Bruno secretly wants to usurp power from the Nazi party. It's wild and crazy and fun to read!

 

What's more, the book is a lot more violent and brutal than I thought it would be. In particular, Mills does not shine a bright light on men, as her leading women, good or evil, are constantly mistreated. Yet, throughout there is still a streak of humor, via some characters like Fingers Martin or through relationships, Era being jealous of Marla because Chico can't help himself and try to seduce Marla.

 

All in all, I've devoured this volume in a week (the volume only collects 158 strips) and I guarantee you I am pulling Volume 2 (published first) down from the shelves tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[adamstrange]

Thanks for the reviews, Scrooge. I had the privilege of seeing a couple dozen originals earlier this year and I think you may be under-rating Raymond's art for Rip Kirby. While it lacks the grandiloquent style of his 30s space opera (which would be out of place if used for his post-war detective storyline), it is very sophisticated graphic design incorporating a variety of techniques that serve story well but that offer further appreciation upon subsequent viewings.

 

Now, back to finishing the second volume of Rip Kirby (1949 - 1951).

 

Funny, I posted the above in June 2012. I did finish that second volume of Rip Kirby (1949 - 1951) but never posted about it. Well, today, I finished the third volume of Rip Kirby, 1951 - 1954. We've established that this isn't the Raymond of Flash Gordon. He is more interested in photo-realism and depicting current fashion rather than fanciful alien worlds. The stories aren't sci-fi either and some on the boards feel that it drags this work down compared to the younger Raymond. Yet, the stories are better constructed than the Flash ever were. The only disappointment is that the art seriously lack flashes of brilliance. It's not to say the art is lackluster, it's solid comic book stripping and Raymond seems to enjoy some sequences more than others. I am pulling examples (my scanned sucks for the format of this collection) from three such sequences, one with a con in the Florida Keys, one in the world of car racing (bittersweet in the face of Raymond's death but he clearly enjoyed drawing those race cars) and the final one about a long lost and rekindled love.

 

One more Raymond volume to read and then on to the Prentice years.

 

 

 

[damonwad]

I just finished the first 4 volumes of Mary Perkins On Stage a week or so ago.

Not something I would normally read, but anything that Scrooge liked so much had to be good.

Great art and entertaining stories. Starr really does an excellent job in getting the reader to care what happens to Mary. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Scrooge]

Starr really does an excellent job in getting the reader to care what happens to Mary.

 

Amazing, isn't it! Who knew we'd love a soap?

 

And those backgrounds

[damonwad]

Starr really does an excellent job in getting the reader to care what happens to Mary.

 

Amazing, isn't it! Who knew we'd love a soap?

 

And those backgrounds

Definitely some great backgrounds.

Also, I say it's not a soap until Mary has an evil twin.

[Scrooge]

 

Just finished reading Volume 1 of the IDW collection of X-9, Secret Agent Corrigan's Williamson / Goodwin run. Very entertaining but irritating somewhat. First, it takes a little bit of time for Williamson to get into the strip artistically. I don't think he gets his own voice until about the third sequence in the book. Second, I find that the continuities (daily only, no Sundays) are too short and do not allow for the story to develop properly though either Goodwin got better or the sequences lengthen toward the end of the collection but the stories are allowed more "space" to play out. Third, IDW should have found a better way to slice the collection as this volume ends with Stanley Pitt ghosted an entire sequence (June through August 1969) and it ends the volume on a downbeat (even the lettering is different and annoying).

 

That said, the above are minor hiccups compared to the chance of seeing Williamson work his craft on a concentrated piece of work. The sequence where they riff on The Prisoner of Zenda is splendid and, yes, there is a sword fight

 

 

... and this reminded me also that Williamson is not just the master of luxurious greenery / jungle and even desert but can stand on his own when it comes to female protagonists. Corrigan is no James Bond. He is married and does not fall for the people he protects or fights but I am sure glad to be looking in on all the action (sorry for the screen stretch).

 

Note: Jim's wife, Wilda, is shown on the leftmost panel on the second tier (with Jim smoking behind her).

 

 

I quite enjoyed the volume though not the best strip material there is.

 

Funny and fun to be able to go back to my thoughts on Volume 1 of this series of reprints. I didn't remember the negative notes I see above. There is a reason for journaling and this is it!

 

I find that in Volume 2, there is less jarring changes. The two creators have found their paces and are collaborating in harmony in these sequences. Yes, there are still many "babes" in this volume but they are not always in peril as in the first volume. The variety of female characters increases with still damsels in distress but also witless pawns, embroiled fighters, feisty spies, fatale connivers, and wonderful wife. From that angle, this is by far a better volume ... and if only for one reason, there is a Lost World sequence by Al Williamson

 

In the end though as the first volume, this is a guilty pleasure book with popcorn spy / sci-fi fun that demands for pages to be turned quickly.

 

Corrigan's wife (in a splendid sequence in Venice)

 

Feisty & friendly spy

 

Fatale nemesis

 

Dinosaurs!

 

[adamstrange]

Thanks for the follow up review.

 

there is a Lost World sequence by Al Williamson

[Scrooge]

From one agent to another, I realized I am woefully behind in my Modesty Blaise reading so I sauntered over there to read Cry Wolf, the 10th book in Titan Books' series. What a pleasure to have a series with the lone voice of a single writer over such an extended period of time. The relationships are there, the give and take with Tarrent, the government man, the implicit trust between Modesty and Willie. It's everything you want ... though I will admit that the UFO first sequence doesn't hold well at all. Oh well, Modesty does Lapland later on Perfect for this time of year

 

The one downside to these collections is that reproduction is too small and the material is not well reproduced so while I know this could look better, I have to make do with sub-par quality presentation. I believe it's evident from the scans below.

 

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

 

It's been a while but then again I was scanner-less for a looong time and since I fell into Manga June of last year, I haven't read much else.

 

However, with a new scanner and a new collection I was excited to get, let me revive this thread.

 

Last week the new collection of Mandrake the Magician by Titan Books arrived -

 

 

It's not Flash Gordon size by IDW. Amazon lists the book at 9.4 by 12.3 which is a nice manageable size for reading and does not affect reproduction badly, reproduction which I found in general quite good.

 

The book suffers a bit being from Titan as I have been spoiled by the efforts of folks by Dean Mullaney or Jeet Heer in providing a wealth of information about the strip and its authors. We get a little bit of that in this volume: an overview of the strip and short bios of Lee Falk and Phil Davis but they end up sounding more like a Wikipedia entry rather than research pieces. A stronger editorial hand would have been welcome but that's not Titan's strength. The overview piece has annoying typos: Richard Burton (the adventurer) becomes Richard Halliburton and Electric Tiki becomes Electric Kiki. Though it could be worse, it could be from Hermes Press.

 

This volume starts from the beginning of the Sundays and covers 6 complete sequences:

 

1 "The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers" - 3 Feb 1935 to 26 May 1935 or 17 weeks

2 "Land of the Fakirs" - 2 Jun 1935 to 6 Oct 1935 or 19 weeks

3 "Land of the Little People" - 13 Oct 1935 to 1 Mar 1936 or 21 weeks

4 "The Circus People" - 8 Mar 1936 to 23 Aug 1936 or 25 weeks

5 "Chamber into the X Dimension" - 30 Aug 1936 to 7 Mar 1937 or 28 weeks

6 "Prince Paulo the Tyrant" - 14 Mar 1937 to 29 Aug 1937 or 25 weeks

 

These early sequences funnily cover some classic strip tropes: a hidden kingdom of crooks, a land of little people, the circus, another dimension but had a fun side-trip to India. In all, I am not faulting Falk for these themes, they reflect the time period and are fun to see here. Prince Paulo is the weakest of the entry and The Circus People is more episodic & disjointed than the others (Falk didn't have grounded conflicts for Mandrake to tackle) and The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers is OK for an intro sequence.

 

Phil Davis' art does not really take off until Land of the Little People. The first sequence is rough, the second in India is a vast improvement but the art blooms with the Land of the Little People for which I am glad; it would have been a shame and underwhelming if tackled too early.

 

Here's a sample Sunday from that sequence -

 

 

Davis is quite versatile. He is seemingly as at ease with relaxed poses as he is with action sequences (though Mandrake rarely does any of the action, Lothar carries that weight)

 

[sidebar: For natural poses, check out the tremendous work by Nicola Scott on Black Magick, written by Rucka and published by Image. Her work on that series is a delight to observe. The more Rucka I read, the more it's clear that in Rucka's books people talk a lot. Most of the action is going from point A to point B to see someone in point C. People are always getting into car, going over to someone's place, etc. This has to be a challenge for an artist but Scott's work is very natural, her characters look and act very casual and fit the situation. Check it out if you can.]

 

Anyway, a few select panels to show that Davis can handle people, train wrecks, wheel men, panthers, action with Lothar etc ...

 

 

 

 

 

Notice how Mandrake breaks the 4th wall to look directly at the reader since we are in on the joke played on Paulo -

 

Style-wise, I was somewhat surprised at how much Davis reminded me of Raymond on Flash Gordon. I know that it reflects similar influences. It seems that Davis is more a follower and is less idiosyncratic than Raymond became but he is skilled.

 

What I found striking is how some of Davis' work seem a precursor to Everett. Check out these panels. As soon as I saw those, I couldn't help but recall Everett's work.

 

 

 

I've waited a long time for Mandrake to be reprinted and I am glad Titan initiated this, I hope, series of hardbacks. I'd recommend it to any one :thumbsup:

[catrick339]

Just finished reading the latest Titan volume of Modesty Blaise.

 

They're within three volumes or so of reprinting THE ENTIRE STRIP in a large format consistent set of volumes.

 

I can't recommend this series enough, it ranks up there with the best adventure strips in history.

And while the reproduction is mebbe a touch sketchy here and there, seeing it printed on good paper in a size

considerably larger than the local paper (The Detroit News ran it for decades) is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

 

EDIT (Or was it the Detroit Free Press?)

 

I own a couple of original strips, and of course those are better still, next time

I dig 'em out I'll see if I can get some good scans and reproduce them here.

Edited March 18, 2016 by catrick339

[adamstrange]

Thanks for bumping this thread and providing your reviews.

 

I just ordered several books I should have ordered last year.

[Scrooge]

I have been sitting on the final two volumes of On Stage (a.k.a. Mary Perkins) by Classic Comics Press. It's a combination of not wanting the series to end and slight disappointment that the lusciousness of the early years are long gone that has held me from diving in. I started Volume 14 (1975 - 1977) last night ... and can't pull away!

 

Everything that worked in the middle years is still working. We are used to the confident Mary (and don't want to go back to her debutante years) and cheer for her.

 

What makes this strip work is the combination of words & pictures and the natural feel of the -script. Meaning, this strip shines in the small moments. I was really struck by this daily from 12-25-1975 where the interaction between Mary and Pete is grounded, funny and very real in the low level tension visible not only in the writing but also the body language. A real marriage on display. A simple daily but packed with so much goodness. This strip wouldn't work as effectively if Mary's expression in the last panel wasn't nailed down so right. We see that she is irritated in the middle panel but still playful, forgiving and almost smiling in the final panel. Yes, I am biased and might gush too much but you rarely this much brio in other, more celebrated strips.

 

[Scrooge]

Semester is ending. Kids are growing up. I'm winding down to normal level on Manga reading. Summer is beckoning ... so my hare-brained plan is to delve back into reading strips. I've created a pile of strips. Needless to say, my wife isn't too thrilled about the aesthetics of it. Under perfect plan, I hope to switch from one collection to another reading only a week at a time from each. I should be able to get through a couple of these through the summer. Yeah, right. Oh well, I'll update occasionally on how this is panning out.

 

 

Here's the list in somewhat order:

 

Gasoline Alley Sundays

Little Nemo

Wash Tubbs & Captain Easy

Little Orphan Annie

Skippy

Polly and her Pals

Popeye

Blondie

Scorchy Smith

D_ick Tracy

Mickey Mouse

Flash Gordon

Li'l Abner

Alley Oop

Terry and the Pirates

Tarzan

Rip Kirby

Cisco Kid

Johnny Comet

Pogo

Flash Gordon (Raboy)

Rusty Riley

Steve Canyon

Wonder Woman

Buz Sawyer

Johnny Hazard

Prince Valiant

Tarzan

Modesty Blaise

Secret Agent X-9 (Williamson)

Secret Agent X-9 (Raymond)

On Stage - Mary Perkins

The Heart of Juliet Jones

Brick Bradford

Smilin' Jack

 

Not portrayed but in the pile:

Bringing up Father

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

 

Are there some I am missing? I know I am missing: The Phantom, Captain Easy (I have read them all and didn't put them back in the rotation).

 

[BB-Gun]

Last week the new collection of Mandrake the Magician by Titan Books arrived -

 

 

It's not Flash Gordon size by IDW. Amazon lists the book at 9.4 by 12.3 which is a nice manageable size for reading and does not affect reproduction badly, reproduction which I found in general quite good.

 

The book suffers a bit being from Titan as I have been spoiled by the efforts of folks by Dean Mullaney or Jeet Heer in providing a wealth of information about the strip and its authors. We get a little bit of that in this volume: an overview of the strip and short bios of Lee Falk and Phil Davis but they end up sounding more like a Wikipedia entry rather than research pieces. A stronger editorial hand would have been welcome but that's not Titan's strength. The overview piece has annoying typos: Richard Burton (the adventurer) becomes Richard Halliburton and Electric Tiki becomes Electric Kiki. Though it could be worse, it could be from Hermes Press.

 

This volume starts from the beginning of the Sundays and covers 6 complete sequences:

 

1 "The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers" - 3 Feb 1935 to 26 May 1935 or 17 weeks

2 "Land of the Fakirs" - 2 Jun 1935 to 6 Oct 1935 or 19 weeks

3 "Land of the Little People" - 13 Oct 1935 to 1 Mar 1936 or 21 weeks

4 "The Circus People" - 8 Mar 1936 to 23 Aug 1936 or 25 weeks

5 "Chamber into the X Dimension" - 30 Aug 1936 to 7 Mar 1937 or 28 weeks

6 "Prince Paulo the Tyrant" - 14 Mar 1937 to 29 Aug 1937 or 25 weeks

 

These early sequences funnily cover some classic strip tropes: a hidden kingdom of crooks, a land of little people, the circus, another dimension but had a fun side-trip to India. In all, I am not faulting Falk for these themes, they reflect the time period and are fun to see here. Prince Paulo is the weakest of the entry and The Circus People is more episodic & disjointed than the others (Falk didn't have grounded conflicts for Mandrake to tackle) and The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers is OK for an intro sequence.

 

Phil Davis' art does not really take off until Land of the Little People. The first sequence is rough, the second in India is a vast improvement but the art blooms with the Land of the Little People for which I am glad; it would have been a shame and underwhelming if tackled too early.

 

 

 

 

 

I've waited a long time for Mandrake to be reprinted and I am glad Titan initiated this, I hope, series of hardbacks. I'd recommend it to any one :thumbsup:

 

 

Those pages look really nice Scrooge.

I am a fan of Mandrake and purchased some extra comics after viewing some of BZ's collection on the boards. The Feature Books are really nice and Magic copies are fairly priced.

Edited May 5, 2016 by BB-Gun

[Scrooge]

That middle image in your group shot is the next Sunday to the one I posted It's nice to have them in a larger format though the Magic do offer some other interesting strips reprinted as well ... BUT I like to have full stories so the old comic reprints don't attract me much unless it's a strip that has not been reprinted. For example, I'd love for some publisher to tackle Kerry Drake