Jimmy Thompson Appreciation Thread 1 1

[adamstrange]

Thanks for the scans, Boot. This is more evidence of an over-looked artist.

 

[Ted Knight]

That Robotman is really good stuff. Thanks for posting, Boot. (thumbs u

 

I had never even heard of Jimmy Thompson before adamstrange mentioned him in another thread. Thanks to everyone for the contributions.

[generic user]

any interest in scans of the Indian Lore pages from Magic Comics?

:hi:

 

I was waiting to scan a few new additions to my collection, but it doesn't look like that'll happen soon. I remember buying a copy of Magic 25 in 2004 because it had that odd cover with Blondie wearing the flower pot hat. I sat down to read it (hard to imagine that there was a time when I'd actually read every golden age book I owned) and saw the usual stuff: "these old Blodie reprints are fun", "this Mandrake story is kinda neat", "oh cool, Lone Ranger". And then I got to the Indian Lore pages...

 

Anyhow, here's the stories from a few Magic Comics.

[generic user]

Magic Comics #1 (August 1939):

 

Several months after disappearing as the topper for the Redmen feature in King Comics, Indian Lore is back as a two page feature.

 

 

[generic user]

I have nothing else until Magic #8

 

If anyone has #2-7, 9, 10, or 19 I'd appreciate a scan or picture of the IL pages.

 

The next scans I have are from Magic Comics #15 (October 1940):

 

 

[generic user]

Magic Comics #20 (March 1941):

 

Feature is up to four pages now.

 

 

 

 

[adamstrange]

Thanks for posting the additional scans!

[BOOT]

Magic Comics #1 (August 1939):

 

 

That guy could draw! Thanks for sharing these!

 

Here's another Robotman story from Det. 147 (not my scans):

 

[BOOT]

Pt. 2

[generic user]

backtracking to Magic Comics #8:

 

 

[generic user]

Magic Comics #11

 

 

 

[generic user]

Magic Comics #12

 

 

[generic user]

Magic Comics #13

 

 

[generic user]

Magic Comics #14

 

I love the second page, but not the coloring.

 

 

[Scrooge]

Magic Comics #13

 

 

 

Immeditaly, I had flashes of Moldoff doing Foster but looking at it now, Thompson is not derivative of Foster but his own man on that top right panel -

 

[PaulTumey]

Thank you very much for this thread!

 

It's a treasure to have images of Red Men and the rest that's posted here!

 

My fellow comic book archaeologist, Frank Young, and I are writing a piece on Jimmy Thompson for a future issue of Alter Ego.

 

We'd appreciate it if anyone has scans of the following to help with our article and research:

 

Thompson's work as a staffer at the Philadelphia Ledger (1930's)

Red Eagle

Gang Busters

Early issues of Famous Funnies that reprinted War on Crime comics that Thompson drew

Music Master stories by Thompson that appeared in Heroic Comics

 

Also if anyone has any photos of Jimmy Thompson or biographical information (other than the great 1-page Goulart bio that someone very kindly shared on this thread earlier), that would be very helpful!

 

We've posted an article on Jimmy Thompson's Timely work, with several complete stories on our Comic Book Attic blog. Feel free to swing by and check it out. http://comicbookattic.blogspot.com/2011/05/greatest-comic-book-artist-you-never.html

 

Also Frank did some nice writing and reprinting of Jimmy Thompson's Robotman work at CartoonSnap (animator and cartoonist Sherm Cohen's great blog): http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2009/09/robotman-and-jimmy-thompson-golden-age.html

 

To contribute to this thread, here's a page of Jimmy Thompson original art, from his work on The Music Master series (Heroic Comics #23). While it's not exactly a standout page for Thompson, we can still note (cough cough, no pun intended) his skilled brush work, appealing cartoony style, and distinctive lettering.

 

 

 

[PaulTumey]

This is a longshot, but worth a try. My friend and fellow comics scholar, Frank Young, and I are researching the work of Jimmy Thompson - most notable for his long stint on DC's "Robotman" feature. Before DC, Thompson worked at David McKay. We have just recently heard from Ron Goulart that he recalls seeing an actual photo of Jimmy Thompson. His exact words: "I used to have an issue of King Comics or one of the other McKay's and it had a picture of Thompson judging a contest involving one of his Indain pages. "

 

This would very likely be a 1939 issue of King Comics. We don't know the issue number.

 

This is BIG NEWS to us, since this is the first and only such photo of this important Golden Age artist that is currently known. Biographical data about Thompson is very very limited, so getting a scan of this page, with Thompson's photo, would be a huge help to us.

 

Now my humble request: Is there anyone out there who might be able to email me a scan of this page? There are not many King or Magic comics scanned, mainly because the books are mostly strip reprints, which are of limited interest. So scans are awfully hard to come by.

 

Many Thanks,

Paul Tumey

Cole's Comics

Comic Book Attic

paultumey@gmail.com

[BangZoom]

 

I would guess that this is the contest.

 

 

King Comics #23 (February 1938)

 

[sacentaur]

I have admired Thompson's work from afar, but did not gain a true appreciation until reading this thread - many thanks to generic user for the wonderful scans.

[PaulTumey]

Hey BangZoom!

 

WOW!!!

 

Thanks for sharing that photo and clarifying what the contest was. We were thinking it could be the coloring contest from Red Eagle (Feature Book 16, August 1938), but this makes more sense.

 

Oh gee I wish we could locate that photo of Jimmy Thompson! Thank you for sharing this -- it's a stunning page in itself!