The GA "Short Bus" Thread Post your unpopular books! 2 2

[ft88]

And the reason it is derogatory is because in America, or at least in 1960's to 1980's America, the long buses bused in "regular" students while short buses bused in - how shall I put this - the retarded kids.

 

Not sure which comedian made it a joke first, but calling someone or something as "Short Bus" means you are a little sub par. And since so many of us have ridden on buses, we all get the joke.

[Scrooge]

I feel I spend my time on the Short Bus ... but the good thing about it is that we're having fun on this ride

 

Here's another one people tend to loath: Fawcett Photo Cover Western. Say ARRRRGH all together now. Young Eagle # 2. What's unusual about the issue is that there is only one story, 26 pages long as advertized on the cover as a Complete Picture Novelette. The saying on the back is a little over the top ... but if it helped sell books, why not?

 

Remember kiddos: "Wisdom, Might and Majesty crown the sentinel of the sage - Young Eagle!"

[Scrooge]

Another: "It came from the pile" book: Rocket Kelly # 1. It's a late Fox book. I thought some here would like to see the interior splashes to the Rocket Kelly stories. Rocket appears somewhat constipated on the cover and I don't think he ever really relaxes on the inside -

[Jayman]

Scrooge, who is the artist on that Rocket Kelly cover? Kinda looks like LB Cole a bit.

[selegue]

Based on the overwhelming response to the Golden Age books I posted in the cigar thread last night, everybody sing along:

 

"Oh Short Bus sounding louder

Glide on the Short Bus

Come on now Short Bus

Yes, Short Bus, holy roller

Everyone jump upon the Short Bus

Come on now Short Bus"

 

Jackie Gleason 2 from St. John, October 1955. Nobody loves low-grade celebrity humor. This series precedes the longer-running DC run.

 

 

Brocho Bill, 1939. Early Golden Age compilation of a defunct Western comic strip by Harry O'Neill. The bottom of each page is "Bumps" (also by O'Neill), a circus strip that I've never seen before. It reminds me a bit of The Barker.

 

I think the book is saddle-stitched.

 

 

Real Life Comics 21, January 1945, got some feedback, but if any Schomburg cover has a seat reserved on the Short Bus, this is it.

 

 

Jack

 

 

[selegue]

Scrooge slipped a couple of books on the Bus while I wasn't looking!

 

I feel I spend my time on the Short Bus ... but the good thing about it is that we're having fun on this ride

 

 

I think we're all bozos on the Short Bus.

*Squeaka squeaka*

 

Here's another one people tend to loath: Fawcett Photo Cover Western. Say ARRRRGH all together now. Young Eagle # 2. What's unusual about the issue is that there is only one story, 26 pages long as advertized on the cover as a Complete Picture Novelette. The saying on the back is a little over the top ... but if it helped sell books, why not?

 

...

 

Probably Nyoka photo covers get almost the same reaction.

 

I've got the same Young Eagle, and it's my one and only. Is #2 especially common?

 

Does anyone know who's the actor? Do you suppose that he has a drop of American Indian blood in him?

 

Jack

 

 

 

[selegue]

Another: "It came from the pile" book: Rocket Kelly # 1. It's a late Fox book. I thought some here would like to see the interior splashes to the Rocket Kelly stories. Rocket appears somewhat constipated on the cover and I don't think he ever really relaxes on the inside -

 

 

Fox mid-40s science fiction seems a little too desirable for true SB status.

 

I can't ID the artist either, but a very stylish rocket. Not that the art looks anything like Harry Peter, but those or the sorts of fins he's put on a rocket in Wonder Woman.

 

This splash is a hoot. Are the intrepid explorers high enough that upside-down doesn't make any difference? (Hard to tell.)

 

Jack

 

 

[selegue]

Vitaman from Heroic Comics 29. Weird. More details in the cigar thread.

 

Jack

 

[shiverbones]

Man that is a creepy comic! I don't know what is worse, the mouth with the missing teth holding the text, or the odd placement of the clown head in the last panel! Another winner!!!!

[selegue]

Man that is a creepy comic! I don't know what is worse, the mouth with the missing teth holding the text, or the odd placement of the clown head in the last panel! Another winner!!!!

 

It doesn't get any less strange as it goes along.

 

 

Jack

 

 

[rjpb]

Uh-oh looks like shiverbones might have a new quest.

[shiverbones]

hahaha! That is wonderful, completely bizarre in every sense of it. Should be cheaper then Dickie & magic whip too...

[selegue]

Uh-oh looks like shiverbones might have a new quest.

 

He looks kind of like the love child of Fletcher Hanks' Stardust and (Frisch's) Big Boy, doesn't he?

 

 

I mean Vitaman, not shiverbones.

 

Jack

[CAP Freak]

Man that is a creepy comic! I don't know what is worse, the mouth with the missing teth holding the text, or the odd placement of the clown head in the last panel! Another winner!!!!

 

It doesn't get any less strange as it goes along.

 

 

Jack

 

Did he pop pills to grow hair on his arms or to bite ?

[Montezuma]

Here's a group from Parents Magazine, their entire output would probably fit on the short bus. In the mid to late 1940's this title's circulation was so bad they replaced it with Calling all Kids, which should really tell us something. The best of it is made up of someone who appears to be a George Carlson wannabe, and fails.

I'm putting this here, because any company that takes the moral high ground that Parents Magazine did, and names a character Poopy Penguin, should be recognized in an appropriate manner, so welcome to the short bus Funny Book.

 

 

[shiverbones]

I've had some of their books, and they are terrible! I kinda like them for that though. And yes, every single one is a short busser!

[selegue]

Wow, the ol' Bus don't get much Shorter than this! Must be one of those "kneeling" buses.

 

So many amazingly silly details without even seeing all the interiors:

 

The imaginative name, "Buggsy Bug".

"The fish that wore glasses", apparently swiped 20 years later by Don Knotts in "The Incredible Mr Limpet".

A buck with forks attached to his antlers.

The realization at issue 6 that all the good funny animals were taken, followed by the desperation move of opening the dictionary to O and creating Otto the Oyster and the Ugly Ostrich.

 

These Poopy books look like something I'd buy!

 

Jack

 

 

 

Here's a group from Parents Magazine, their entire output would probably fit on the short bus. In the mid to late 1940's this title's circulation was so bad they replaced it with Calling all Kids, which should really tell us something. The best of it is made up of someone who appears to be a George Carlson wannabe, and fails.

I'm putting this here, because any company that takes the moral high ground that Parents Magazine did, and names a character Poopy Penguin, should be recognized in an appropriate manner, so welcome to the short bus Funny Book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[selegue]

I've had some of their books, and they are terrible! I kinda like them for that though. And yes, every single one is a short busser!

 

*check list*

 

Looks like I've got 5 Calling All Kids and a handful of True Comics and True Aviation, some coverless. I'll have to take a another look at them.

Calling All Kids features the animated star, right?

 

Jack

 

[Jayman]

Was thinking Mr Limpet after seeing the fish with glasses.

Too bad these books are groaners as some of those characters were so bizzare!

 

Still curious as to what the Otto the outcast oyster and Icicle the turtle stories look like!

[selegue]

Was thinking Mr Limpet after seeing the fish with glasses.

Too bad these books are groaners as some of those characters were so bizzare!

 

Still curious as to what the Otto the outcast oyster and Icicle the turtle stories look like!

 

Me too! The joy of Short-Bus books is that you can find out for just a few bucks -- if you can find them.

 

"Icicle the Turtle"? Don't turtles die when they get too cold? He's flying with a tree branch tied to the back of his shell?

 

Jack