Art Day — Merrie Chase by Carl Hubbell 1 1

[Readcomix]

Merrie Chase was a short-lived comic strip (mid-1949 through late 1950 or so) written by Renny McEvoy (Dixie Dugan) and drawn for the first 6 months by Carl Hubbell (longtime comics guy from Lev Gleason stable to Marvel inker) and then by Paul Reinman. I acquired some interesting strips from Hubbell’s son.

Here is some history on the strip itself; My searches don’t turn up a lot on this short-lived strip about a female cop but this is the best write-up I found:

https://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2012/12/

 

 

 

[Readcomix]

[Readcomix]

According to Hubbell’s son, McEvoy and Hubbell were initially going to call the strip Maggie Doates, and they did two versions of the inaugural strip. Here is the July 31, 1949 debut strip, and the alternate Maggie Doates version that never saw print. The Merrie Chase logo is pasted over a Maggie Doates logo on the final version, so I guess it was a down to the wire decision..

[Readcomix]

He also had these two pages that appear to be mock-ups/sample proposals for an Archie competitor/knock-off. 

[Readcomix]

On the back of one of the Archie-style pages is this set of pencils; looks like a Classics Illustrated Junior type of story, but again, who knows?

[Readcomix]

Any thoughts/insights out there on the possibly unpublished Archie-style work or the Classics style pencils? The son knew the Merrie Chase history but had no back story on these.

My searches for Hubbell OA out there only turn up his inks over Ayers on Sgt Fury and inks over Larry Lieber on Rawhide Kid. The only Merrie Chase OA I see out there are a few Reinman dailies.

[Rick2you2]

Just that they look nicely done.

[Scrooge]

On 5/5/2022 at 9:54 AM, Readcomix said:

Any thoughts/insights out there on the possibly unpublished Archie-style work or the Classics style pencils?

The Classics style pencils might be Carl flexing before working on an assignment for Uncle Charlie's Fables for Gleason. He did have two stories published in that short-lived 5-issue run. One in # 3 and one in # 5. See links to GCD below:

https://www.comics.org/issue/9714/?

https://www.comics.org/issue/10009/?

 

[grapeape]

Paul Reinman Merrie Chase "Marijuana Molly" Daily Comic Strip Original Art Group (McNaught Syndicate, c. 1950). Offered here are four near-consecutive dailies from Paul Reinman's little seen strip (it only ran in 1950-51), dated 4-25, 4-26, and 4-27, and 4-29 (year unknown). Note the character named "Marijuana Molly." Each strip has an image area of 18.75" x 5.5", and they average Very good condition. From the Joe Simon Estate. 
These sold as a group for approx $450 in 2013. Tough to find examples or comps on Merrie Chase. Couldn’t find Hubbell. These appear well created though.

[Readcomix]

On 5/5/2022 at 10:14 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Just that they look nicely done.

Thank you; that’s what struck me and why I did not dismiss them as unpublished tryouts (they may well be, and probably are.) But if someone pops this thread in three years and says “that’s from blah blah fill in the obscure short-lived Archie knockoff,” it wouldn’t surprise me. I also wonder if it’s Hubbell inking over some early Archie artist on a tryout, as the style is very familiar.

That said, his son said Hubbell was a meticulous and slow draftsman, and he may well just have been very good at capturing the Archie flavor of the early era of Montana and co. 

That lack of speed is what eventually cost him the Merrie Chase strip and led to Reinman coming on, he said.

[Readcomix]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:50 PM, Scrooge said:

The Classics style pencils might be Carl flexing before working on an assignment for Uncle Charlie's Fables for Gleason. He did have two stories published in that short-lived 5-issue run. One in # 3 and one in # 5. See links to GCD below:

https://www.comics.org/issue/9714/?

https://www.comics.org/issue/10009/?

 

Thank you! I’ll have to look at comicbookplus to see if these pencils are similar to one of the published pages in those stories.

Doesn’t look like an alternate take on either story from what I could see.  But he may have been working on something for a cancelled issue? 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Readcomix

[Readcomix]

On 5/5/2022 at 3:47 PM, grapeape said:

Paul Reinman Merrie Chase "Marijuana Molly" Daily Comic Strip Original Art Group (McNaught Syndicate, c. 1950). Offered here are four near-consecutive dailies from Paul Reinman's little seen strip (it only ran in 1950-51), dated 4-25, 4-26, and 4-27, and 4-29 (year unknown). Note the character named "Marijuana Molly." Each strip has an image area of 18.75" x 5.5", and they average Very good condition. From the Joe Simon Estate. 
These sold as a group for approx $450 in 2013. Tough to find examples or comps on Merrie Chase. Couldn’t find Hubbell. These appear well created though.

Thanks Grapeape; that was the only lot I could turn up too. No other Reinman, and no Hubbell at all. I asked the son about Marijuana Molly but apparently that character was a Reinman-era creation as he was totally unfamiliar with her.