Jimmy Thompson Appreciation Thread 1 1

[PaulTumey]

Good thoughts, rodan57. However, Robotman was created by Jerry Siegel, not Jimmy Thompson... and yes, it certainly DOES have an undercurrent of an alien misfit in disguise in the "normal" world, just as Siegel's Superman and Funnyman creations did. However, since it was created by Jerry Siegel and developed by other writers and artists before Jimmy Thompson got to it, I don't think the idea of JOT identifying with marginalized ethnic groups holds up.

 

We did think of the "alienated" aspect of Thompson's work right away when we considered JOT as an Afrcian-American, so I can see the thinking in your connection.

 

In the Redmen (or "Black Hawk" ad as McKay called it) in King Comics #23, and which BZ so thoughtfully provided, the address to send the entries to is "Jimmy Thompson" followed by the address of the David McKay offices in Philadelphia. This may not be absolutely conclusive, but it certainly points to JT as the judge of the contest.

 

Again, if anyone can come up with a source from anywhere that cites JT as an African American, or any clues to his background, I'd be grateful. I have been collecting research on JT for 3 years and have no shred of information from anywhere to indicate he was African American, and precious little to shed any light at all on his roots. This is after countless hours combing through old newspapers. Sheesh!

 

Regarding his background, here's a possible clue that Thompson may have been German, from an interview with Timely artist-editor Vince Fago from Alter Ego #11, which is online here: http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/11fago.html

 

"There was a man named Thomas who did a lot of the Human Torch stories; he later became a teacher. I don't remember anything else about him except he was German. [NOTE: Almost certainly Jimmy Thompson, who drew "Torch" tales between '43-'47, as well as "Robotman" for DC and various strips for Fawcett, et al. —Roy.]"

 

Thanks to everyone here for your interest and help. Jimmy Thompson is certainly a mystery man!

 

- Paul Tumey

 

 

Edited January 1, 2012 by PaulTumey

[generic user]

There was a request for a scan of the Redmen strip from King #51, so I figured I'd post it here as well. Anyone got anything else they can share?

 

[Scrooge]

Fantastic!!

[G.A.tor]

Fantastic!!

agreed

[Flex Mentallo]

There was a request for a scan of the Redmen strip from King #51, so I figured I'd post it here as well. Anyone got anything else they can share?

 

 

Masterpiece!

[Moondog]

There was a request for a scan of the Redmen strip from King #51, so I figured I'd post it here as well. Anyone got anything else they can share?

 

 

Masterpiece!

 

A Foster wannabe, but still an amazing layout.

[Scrooge]

"There was a man named Thomas who did a lot of the Human Torch stories; he later became a teacher. I don't remember anything else about him except he was German. [NOTE: Almost certainly Jimmy Thompson, who drew "Torch" tales between '43-'47, as well as "Robotman" for DC and various strips for Fawcett, et al. —Roy.]"

 

Paul,

 

ever since you've posted that bit above, I've meant to reply. I would be careful to assume that Roy is correct on this one. There was some one named Tomasch at Timely.

 

I immediately remembered a bit from an interview with Allen Bellman and here it is (from an interview with Doc Vassallo - http://www.comicartville.com/bellman.htm) -

 

"MV: Who were some of your biggest artistic influences at Timely?

 

AB: At Timely there was a guy named Tom Tomasch (sp?). He taught me a lot when I arrived. He was a short guy, very sophisticated and very nice. A real classy person. He even wrote a book on anatomy. He knew anatomy so well. He originally lived up in Lake Placid. His real name was, I think Elmer Tomasch but he was known as Tom. He would look over my work and correct me early on. Syd Shores was also a great help.

 

MV: Was Tom Tomasch an artist or production person?

 

AB: Tom was an artist and a darned good one at that. He knew his anatomy extremely well. He would make suggestions to me that helped me in my drawing.

 

MV: I've never heard of him before.

 

AB: I can't believe how he'd get lost in the shuffle as he was so good an artist.

 

MV: I find it fascinating how many "new" Timely names are now being turned up after so much time has passed. Tom Tomasch is one. I'd never heard of Bob Deschamps until Jim Amash interviewed him. I'm betting there are even more guys who are not accounted for."

 

The issue still remains that I don't recall Tomasch ever being associated with The Human Torch unlike Thompson. Tomasch work is typically found in Miss America and other books that needed mag illustrations. But, it is possible that Fago confused the two folks and that his reference to German descent is for Elmer (Tom) Tomasch and not Thompson.

 

I assume that you also have been in touch with Jim Vadeboncoeur, Doc Vassallo, etc ... in your search.

 

Thank you for bringing the spotlight onto Jimmy T. He is well deserving of it.

[PaulTumey]

Thank you Generic, for the Redmen scan from King 51!!! That's a real standout page and great have!

 

And thank you, Scrooge, for the information and insight on that Vince Fago comment. We will be careful in our assumptions. The way we wrote the article, it's just sort of a clue, but nothing's definite.

 

To my knowledge, Jimmy Thompson drew well over 20 Human Torch stories in about 2.5 years for Timely, and that makes Fago's comment possibly linked to Thompson. Or it could be the other fellow. There is a frustrating lack of information on Jimmy Thompson and a lot of other worthy GA folks. Arrrgh!

 

Here's a recent rare find for all you JOT fans out there (Jimmy O. Thompson = "JOT," as he sometimes signed his work), the first three episodes of Jimmy Thompson's tour on the War On Crime comic strip from 1937, just before he started the Redmen series for David McKay.

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

Glad you posted these.

 

I also have a question. I picked up a copy of an issue of All Funny from DC and I believe (at least according to the GCD) that there is some Thompson work in there, on a funny feature. Do you know if that credit is accurate? And, how much work did JOT do in that genre?

[adamstrange]

Thanks for sharing the samples, Paul.

 

Scrooge: Any chance you scan a page or two from All Funny?

[Scrooge]

Sure! There are two sequences credited to Thompson in All-Funny # 8.

 

The Two-Gun Percy is the one that stands out as the closest to Thompson's work I've seen in this thread.

 

 

 

The Hamilton and Egbert is looking like the same artist but one more step removed from the "standard" Thompson as I've seen him on here.

 

Edit: Now that I look at it, it's harder to support that it's the same artist ...

 

[adamstrange]

Thanks, Scrooge. He really amps the cartoony aspects of his style.

 

[PaulTumey]

Just a quick update on our Jimmy Thompson article. It's still in progress but my writing partner, Frank Young, and I have both been sucked into various other time-consuming projects. I'm working on a book about Rube Goldberg and Frank just had a new graphic novel released (The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song). We haven't forgotten the project and have a lot of it written. Hopefully, Roy Thomas and Alter Ego will still be interested. We STILL haven't ascertained if JOT was African-American or not (in his recent book on GA covers, Sadowski said Thompson was African American).

 

FYI - we have posted several Jimmy Thompson stories on our blog, Comic Book Attic blog.

 

 

[PaulTumey]

Here's Jimmy's masterful splash page from The Music Master story in Heroic #23 - enjoy! - Paul Tumey

 

[mopee167]

It would seem David Saunders has solved much of the mystery surrounding GA artist Jimmy Thompson: http://www.pulpartists.com/Thompson.html

 

 

[Electricmastro]

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