[THREAD CLOSED - BACK WITH NEW THREAD END OF WEEK] WWII Work of Comic and Newspaper Strip Artists 3 3

[sfcityduck]

THREAD CLOSED!

 

Page 1

 

Caniff - 1943 Burma Pin-Up Customized for Military Base - TAKEN OFF TO BE RELISTED LATER

 

Capp - Lil' Abner Training/Propganda Poster 3 foot x 4 foot - SOLD!

 

Eisner - 1942 Joe Dope Poster - STILL AVAILABLE for $450 $365 or Best Offer!

 

Page 2

 

Various - 1945 Cartoons for Fighters PB - SOLD!

 

Mauldin - 1943 Sicily Sketch Book - SOLD!

 

Page 3

 

Seuss - 1943 This is Ann Overseas Edition Poster - $1,500 $990 or best offer. Ok, ok, that first price was high. Especially, since I think you should linen back this thing.

 

Sickles - 1944 poster and bonus - $550 $375 or best offer. Discounted to allow funding of linen backing if that's what buyer desires.

 

CANIFF SUSPENDED!

 

What were comic book and newspaper strip creators doing during WWII? 

 

Well, like a lot of Americans, many served in the military or helped out the war effort on the home front. Some even did both. And a fair number used their artistic skills in the effort.

 

This sales thread is going to offer WWII items with art by some of the legends of the industry - artists from both newspapers and comics. The offerings are going to include posters (were their posters by GA greats during WWII? Yes!), rare publications, books, and more. 

 

This is a sales thread for folks who feel patriotic about WWII, appreciate great art by the masters of the 1930s and 1940s, perhaps want to put art on their walls not just in a cold dark box, or like rarities. Hopefully, this thread will have some surprises for you. And for you lurkers, hopefully you'll learn something from the write-ups. 

 

TERMS: 

 

First "take" wins. I am open to offers on all items, so feel free to PM me. But first "take" wins. So if you want to make an offer, make it quick and don't be surprised if I wait a bit to see if I get a "take" first. If you really really want an item, just say "take." 

 

Buyer pays actual shipping cost including insurance for full purchase price. If you have your own collectibles insurance and want me to ship under your shipping label, that's fine. For this auction, I anticipate that all shipping will be by USPS flat rate medium box. You can propose an alternative shipping means, but I get a right of reasonable refusal if I'm uncomfortable with the means. 

 

I prefer payment by check, m.o., wire, Zell or equivalent; however, I am open to other options.

 

I will generally take a return if notified within 3 days of delivery.

 

Notably unique or exceedingly rare items are hard to value. A lot of buyers want the comfort of comparable sales. You might not get it for some pieces on this thread. Buyers of notably unique or exceedingly rare items from me on this site include SOTIcollector. I can provide other references, including of five figure items, if desired. I have no doubt that none regret their purchases.

 

 

Edited April 16 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

CANIFF ITEM (ONLY) WITHDRAWN LIKELY TO BE RELISTED ON OA SALES BOARD!  

 

They say the early bird gets the worm, but the early bird could also have been burned. I should have looked closer at this item. Was doing some more research on comparables when I found the heritage listing for the Ms. Lace pictured in the Male Call book below on Heritage as original art:

 

 

And then I realized, looking at the dirt grime and whiteout on the Ms. Lace, how lacking in intelligent thought I was. This piece of original art had sold at Heritage for $5,125 back in 2009. So I took a very close look at my piece and my sanity was restored as it all clicked into place. Did I think I was Blind? yeah. Here's why:

 

 

All of the background images and lettering is original art. The blacks used in the background art are different in color and texture, brushed texture, than that on the blacks on the Burma which does appear to be a printed image. The removed paste-up and white out on the other side should have alerted me, but I thought maybe he was correcting a printed image. Not true. The pasted on copyright should have also made clear to me this was at a minimum production art and to have looked more carefully. I didn't. This is Original Art. 

 

I also noticed my piece and the Heritage piece had similar prices on the bottom right of each piece. Fortunately, I noticed this before all of you! But a cautionary tale worth sharing.

 

We might as well start with Milt Caniff - probably the most famous comic and strip artist entering WWII. 

 

Background

 

Everyone knows that Caniff's Terry & the Pirates was published in civilian newspapers, but Caniff also created a comic strip especially for publication in only military papers. A strip with one of the hottest GGA characters he ever created. Yep, that's right, that strip was Terry and the Pirates!

 

Oh ... you thought I was going to say Male Call?  

 

Well, here's the thing: Male Call was Caniff's second GGA comic strip created just for military publications. Ms. Lace was not Caniff's original plan. She was just a fill-in after his first plan hit a roadblock. Most Caniff fans know that the fans and military guys would write Caniff asking for pin-ups. And Caniff, who must have been a great guy in this respect, would send them back a pin-up. Caniff had a stack of pin-up prints of his characters he'd hand color and send to his fans. 

 

However, in certain very rare circumstances, when Caniff got a request for a pin-up from a military base, camp, or outfit, he'd sometimes put in the extra effort to customize the pin-up for that military group. There's a great example of this in Hermes Press's "Male Call: Complete Newspaper Strips 1942-1946":

 

 

These customized hand colored prints for a camp, base, or outfit by Caniff are very rare. They are NOT, however, the rarest of the very rare. Ms. Lace and Male Call were published from January 14,1943 to 1946 .... wait a second!  If that's the case why does the Hermes Male Call book say 1942-1946? 

 

Caniff's original 1942 GGA strip creation for GIs was a parallel universe Terry and the Pirates published ONCE A WEEK only in military publications. Because Dragon Lady and the other great Terry characters were already accounted for in the main DAILY Terry strip, Caniff featured Burma (who wasn't part of the Terry storyline then) in the ultimate GGA for GIs role which Ms. Lace would later inherit in Male Call. Here's an example of the 1942 military only Terry & the Pirates strip from the Hermes book featuring Burma and a legion of topless serving girls:

 

 

Obviously, GIs loved Burma and wanted pin-ups of her well before Ms. Lace appeared on the scene. But here's the thing: Burma only ran in the Terry & the Pirates military strip from October 1942 to January 1943. Only four months. After that Ms. Lace and Male Call took the field. 

 

Why? Because a Florida civilian newspaper publisher was pissed and he forced Caniff to stop publishing "Terry & the Pirates" to the GIs. As a result, Caniff had to create a new GI oriented strip that did not use the Terry name or its characters. This story is all told in the Hermes book and an issue of a 1943 Life Magazine (which magazine I am generously including in this lot to provide storytelling context for the lucky person who wins this first listing). The magazine shows the Burma weekly strips and the very first Ms. Lace strip:

 

 

The magazine is also the poor man's version of Caniff's infamous and embarrassingly racist "How to Spot a Jap" which is also partially reprinted therein. But enough of that, lets get to the main offering.

 

Offering 

 

A very very rare example of a hand-colored, customized, pin-up for "Bombadier-Navigator" trainees featuring not Ms. Lace, but Burma! This was undoubtedly requested in late 1942 and issued by Caniff in January 1943 before or around when Ms. Lace and Male Call debuted. I've seen Ms. Lace and even the Dragon Lady in these type of GI oriented pin-ups later in time. But never Burma. Very rare, super cool, and likely very early for a customized GI pin-up. It is 14" x 11"

 

When will you see another? Like some of my past offerings on this site - maybe never. Take special note of the innuendo in Burma's dialogue!:

 

 

It is possible that this was intended or was used as the paste-up for printing of a reproduction. I haven't seen a reproduction, but the copyright line below Burma is a paste on - which is suggestive that this is a one of a kind piece intended to be reproduced. That shade of blue was also used by Caniff to get shading in a b&w reproduction, and that might also indicate it was to be reproduced. If so, then this was an actual production art original. I could see Caniff might have created this so he could print up enough b&w copies to send to the Bombadier School so each airman could get a copy. Again, if so, never seen one.

 

Condition

 

The above picture accurately captures how it presents to me. I think it is beautiful. It is 81 years old. So it has some creases and wrinkles none of which break color. These are the issues as I see them:

• 1/4 inch tear above the left word balloon;
• Five horizonal creases across the page which appear of the kind you get when paper is rolled and then gets a bit of weight on top of it, but they do not break color;
• There are other creases consistent with its age that do not impact the image;
• There is a correction of some sort - white out and maybe a paste-up residue above the pilots head;
• Faint pencilled "25 -" lower right (probably erasable); and
• There is minor soiling consistent with its age and some mat burn type tanning on the surface of the back page but does appear to impact structure or the image side of the page.

Below are pictures in strafing light intended to accent flaws. These pics are not color accurate, they darken the page, and highlight flaws. Why am I doing this? Not to scare off buyers but to make sure you understand every nuance. Not only does this piece look great as is, per the above pic, I believe all flaws can be minimized and overall look improved with a minor conservation budget for dry cleaning, maybe a gentle press, and perhaps removal of the correction residue.

 

 

 

 

 

Comparables

 

Caniff's hand colored prints of a single character for non-GIs are not rare. They are not really comparable because they are simple images with no customization. But they still get prices from around $400 to $1,000. Most recently, on April 10, 2024 (Wednesday), a very faded hand-colored print of the Dragon Lady on tan paper sold on Liveauctioneers for $475. That print was 13 inches tall.  https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/173749129_milton-caniff-hand-colored-the-dragon-lady-illustr

 

This piece is clearly more than twice as desirable. I am aware of only two other hand-colored customized GI pin-ups (the one in Hermes book and one on CAF), as well as one other non-colored customized print (b&w on CAF). 

 

Price  

ITEM SUSPENDED!

I think this piece tops out any single character images, especially as it is customized for WWII airmen and has suggestive dialogue. Yours for only  $1,350 or best offer. Again, as I said, I'm open to offers, but first "take" takes it.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

From impossible to find to impossibly big:

SOLD!

This piece is just a gateway drug. An impossibly big 3 foot by 4 foot propaganda poster featuring a special Lil' Abner strip on military courtesy:

 

For context, that suitcase above the image is a full size wheel-aboard. Each of those panels are 7" by 6". It is huge!

 

But, as you can see, the condition is not museum quality. It has some tears and creases. But if you want to dip your foot into this exciting area of comic and cartoon adjacent collecting, then this is a great way to do it. 

 

Price:  SOLD!!

 

For this a mere $36.00 or best offer. This is your chance to start a new addiction at a very inexpensive price. My gift to someone. Don't worry, there are more items in line which will not be so inexpensive.

 

Edited April 12 by sfcityduck

[SpideyFein]

On 4/10/2024 at 9:30 PM, sfcityduck said:

From impossible to find to impossibly big:

This piece is just a gateway drug. An impossibly big 3 foot by 4 foot propaganda poster featuring a special Lil' Abner strip on military courtesy:

 

For context, that suitcase above the image is a full size wheel-aboard. Each of those panels are 7" by 6". It is huge!

 

But, as you can see, the condition is not museum quality. It has some tears and creases. But if you want to dip your foot into this exciting area of comic and cartoon adjacent collecting, then this is a great way to do it. 

 

Price:

 

For this a mere $36.00 or best offer. This is your chance to start a new addiction at a very inexpensive price. My gift to someone. Don't worry, there are more items in line which will not be so inexpensive.

 

I’ll take it

[sfcityduck]

On 4/10/2024 at 6:44 PM, SpideyFein said:

I’ll take it

Congrats! This is how the dealers hook you!

PM me your shipping info and payment preference. I may not get back to you until tomorrow a.m. if you don't mind.

 

[SpideyFein]

On 4/10/2024 at 9:47 PM, sfcityduck said:

Congrats! This is how the dealers hook you!

PM me your shipping info and payment preference. I may not get back to you until tomorrow a.m. if you don't mind.

 

You got it. I think this is going up in my garage depending upon how it fits. Thank you!

[MattTheDuck]

You have collected some of the most amazing pieces.  Every time you have a sales thread it just blows my mind.

[TheComicsPreacher]

This is incredible….

[sfcityduck]

PRICE CUT TO $365 or best offer!

Here's a message for our friend who just bought the "gateway drug" piece from Will Eisner:

"Don't be a dope!"

Yep, next up is a very early poster by Will Eisner. He did the "Joe Dope" series of posters for the US Govt. from 1942-1944 and its sort of neat that his rank increases in his signature. But what we have here is one of his earliest 1942 posters signed "Pvt. Will Eisner." These are what collectors of GA artists WWII work are looking for:

This poster is 82 years old and was a working poster displayed at camp, base, or where ever it would do some good. Like most of the original posters (which I guarantee this is), it has pin holes in the corners. It is 14" x 18" (the fakes usually aren't) and is on the right paper stock. But this is one is a cut above others I've seen as it has square corners, bright colors, and looks vibrant. For display, I would probably give thought to a linen back. The only flaw really worth noting is a repair: A prior owner, probably in the distant past, applied two cellophane tear seals to preclude small rips on the central horizontal crease from moving. These are applied to the back and they and the tear are not detectable from the front. Let me know if you want a photo.

This is really one of the most important grails for a collector of GA artists WWII work for a reason beyond just that it is by Will Eisner - it is so early in his Joe Dope career that Eisner was killing off Joe to make the point, or scare straight, the audience. Later on he let Joe live. And, indeed, the Joe Dope posters were a precursor to Eisner's years later PS Monthly project for the military.  

Really historically interesting, presents very well, hard to find.

Price: PRICE CUT TO $450 or best offer!  A steal at $500 or best offer.

Edited April 14 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

EDITED: Changed my mind. Too much to do tonight. I'll come back to that listing later. It deserves very serious attention.

I'll be here all week. Future offerings will include WWII work by Dr. Seuss (a poster I did not know existed) and Noel Sickles (a legendary output during WWII), and others. 

Edited April 11 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

Quick quiz: Can anyone here name a major Timely artist who did a WWII poster?

[Jesse-Lee]

On 4/10/2024 at 10:26 PM, sfcityduck said:

Quick quiz: Can anyone here name a major Timely artist who did a WWII poster?

I would assume Jack Kirby, but that seems too obvious...

[sfcityduck]

On 4/10/2024 at 9:10 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

I would assume Jack Kirby, but that seems too obvious...

Nope. He was busy fighting. There is only one major Timely artist I know of that did anything artistic for the war effort other than just draw comics. Curious if anyone has come across his work or any work by any other Timely artists. 

[Jesse-Lee]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:25 PM, sfcityduck said:

Nope. He was busy fighting. There is only one major Timely artist I know of that did anything artistic for the war effort other than just draw comics. Curious if anyone has come across his work or any work by any other Timely artists. 

I knew Kirby was a recon scout during the war. Imagine - there could be now de-classified WW2 maps drawn by Kirby himself...

[TheComicsPreacher]

On 4/10/2024 at 8:26 PM, sfcityduck said:

Quick quiz: Can anyone here name a major Timely artist who did a WWII poster?

I wanna say Bill Everett, but that is definitely a guess. I feel like I saw Everett sigs on some pretty racy WWII posters before, but not sure that was Bill…

[Jesse-Lee]

I just have to say I absolutely love that you're collecting and sharing all of this by the way. I'm sorry to derail your sales thread, but I recently was given my grandpa's WWII haversack, and it had a number of items in it, including a journal he kept for his first year in the war (1942-1943). He was in the 738th MP Battalion, which left San Francisco aboard the USS Mt. Vernon in July of 1942, headed for New Zealand and then Australia. He ultimately left Australia for the Pacific, where he received a Purple Heart during an injury in battle. He died in 2018 at age 96.

I've been using his journal and online resources, as well as the book "They passed this way: The United States of America, the states of Australia, and World War II," to trace his movements and the greater context of the war from the U.S. to Australia and beyond. I've been scanning and also transposing his journal (which was mostly written in pencil and hard to decipher in places as it's fading), and I hope to put together a keepsake book with everything I can gather, adding context to the entries based on dates of major airfield bombings, etc.

Again, sorry to derail, but I thought you might find interesting just a couple of the things from his haversack, including scans of my grandma's war rations, Japanese WWII Centavos, his first journal entry from June 8, 1942, and some of the places he noted that he was stationed:

 

[sfcityduck]

 

On 4/10/2024 at 10:12 PM, TheComicsPreacher said:

I wanna say Bill Everett, but that is definitely a guess. I feel like I saw Everett sigs on some pretty racy WWII posters before, but not sure that was Bill…

The only one I can locate is Paul Gustavson. But I'd kill for a Bill Everett poster.

Edited April 11 by sfcityduck

[TheComicsPreacher]

On 4/10/2024 at 10:24 PM, sfcityduck said:

 

The only one I can locate is Paul Gustafson. But I'd kill for a Bill Everett poster.

Can we see it, por favor?

[AJD]

Great stuff Mr Duck. I hope you don't mind me linking something related in your thread. Here is a short about a famous B-17 that had some Caniff art on the nose "A bit o' Lace" (I've started it at the close ups of the art)

 

[gunsmokin]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:58 AM, AJD said:

Great stuff Mr Duck. I hope you don't mind me linking something related in your thread. Here is a short about a famous B-17 that had some Caniff art on the nose "A bit o' Lace" (I've started it at the close ups of the art)

 

Bert Christman did nose art for his fellow flying Tiger pilots.