Golden Age Collection 22 22

[BangZoom]

I wonder if the badge that I purchased a while back, fits with this ad from popular?

Has the blue paint been removed or is this another radio premium?

 

 

Neat item.

[adamstrange]

Always the con men...

 

 

 

 

Nice strip!

[BB-Gun]

From Wikipedia:

 

Mutt and Jeff is an American newspaper comic strip created by Bud Fisher in 1907. It is commonly believed to be the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspaper strip featuring recurring characters in multiple panels on a six-day-a-week schedule had previously been pioneered through the short-lived A. Piker Clerk by Clare Briggs, but it was Mutt and Jeff as the first successful daily comic strip that staked out the direction of the future trend. It remained in syndication until 1982, over time drawn by several cartoonists, chiefly Al Smith who drew the strip for nearly 50 years. The series became a comic book (initially published by All-American Publications and later by DC Comics, Dell Comics and Harvey Comics), as well as cartoons, films, merchandising and reprints.

 

Under its initial title, A. Mutt debuted on November 15, 1907 on the sports pages of the San Francisco Chronicle. The featured character had previously appeared in sports cartoons by Fisher, but was unnamed. Fisher had approached his editor, John P. Young about doing a regular strip as early as 1905, but was turned down. According to Fisher, Young told him, "It would take up too much room, and readers are used to reading down the page, and not horizontally."

 

Publication history

 

This strip focused on a single main character, until the other half of the duo appeared on on March 27, 1908. It appeared only in the Chronicle, so Fisher did not have the extended lead time that syndicated strips require. Episodes were drawn the day before publication, and frequently referred to local events that were currently making headlines, or to specific horse races being run that day. A 1908 sequence about Mutt's trial featured a parade of thinly-disguised caricatures of specific San Francisco political figures, many of whom were being prosecuted for graft.

 

On June 7, 1908, the strip moved off the sports pages and into Hearst's San Francisco Examiner where it was syndicated by King Features and became a national hit, subsequently making Fisher the first big celebrity of the comics industry.

 

Fisher had taken the precaution of copyrighting the strip in his own name, facilitating the move to King Features and making it impossible for the Chronicle to continue the strip using another artist. A dispute between Fisher and King Features arose in 1913, and Fisher moved his strip on September 15, 1915, to Wheeler Syndicate (later Bell Syndicate), who gave Fisher 60% of the gross revenue, an enormous income in those times. Hearst responded by launching a lawsuit which ultimately failed. By 1916, Fisher was earning in excess of $150,000 a year. By the 1920s, merchandising and growing circulation had increased his income to an estimated $250,000.

 

In 1918, Mutt and Jeff became a Sunday strip, and as success continued, Fisher became increasingly dependent on assistants to produce the work. Fisher hired Billy Liverpool and Ed Mack, artists Hearst had at one point groomed to take over the strip, who would do most of the artwork. Other assistants on the strip included Ken Kling, George Herriman, and Maurice Sendak while still in high school.

 

More details at: Link

 

 

From the interior of the first Mutt and Jeff book (1910)

[Duffman_Comics]

Since this is the best thread in the joint - and attracting a better class of reader - I figured I'd post here as the best option for getting a response.

 

Has anyone read Don Hutchison's "The Great Pulp Heroes"? I just finished it and it has a few interesting observations.

 

First up, he seems to know his stuff. I have long been non-committal as to whether comics derived mainly from the pulps or newspaper strips - the ambivalence dates back to the first Steranko "History of the Comics". (As an aside, I noticed Steranko is credited with the title logo on this book, but I digress).

 

This book, however, has pushed the pendulum much further into the "pulps as precursor" camp (for me) than any other thing I have read. I am sure most readers here are familiar with the Batman (comics) vs Black Bat (pulps) controversy (they both debuted respectively in May 1939 and July 1939). After some legal sabre rattling, the similarities between the characters were deemed a coincidence and both continued to be published.

 

Now, I have long had some disdain for Bob Kane. With each passing year it seems more and more of what Kane passed off as his own work is revealed as the labour of someone else. So it is with interest I repeat this piece regarding the pulp hero and magazine "The Whisperer";

 

"A brash and stocky police commissioner with a taste for violently clashing clothes, James "Wildcat" Gordon assumed the strange gray guise of "The Whisperer" in order to deal brutal justice to criminals the law could not touch".

 

This was first published in October 1936.

 

I find it much easier to believe that Kane plagiarised Commissioner Gordon from "The Whisperer" and simply tossed it into the Batman milieu than yet another "coincidence" of not-so-great-minds thinking alike.

 

It also got me wondering whether somehow Kane got a look at a draft of the Black Bat story.

 

Anyway, if this has been covered before I would appreciate a pointer in the right direction - I did a search and came up with (obviously) nothing. Here's the cover:

 

[BB-Gun]

Always the con men...

 

 

 

I believe that is part of the Train Scam series which was printed around 1908.

Edited April 4, 2009 by BB-Gun

[The_Captain]

I just read the following thing. Does anyone know if this is true?:

 

All American #16 While not possessing the mainstream cachet of some of the other books in this list, this, the first appearance of Green Lantern, has gained considerable attention in the past few months. A notoriously difficult book to find in high grade, the best known copy (the Edgar Church/Mile High copy) was recently graded by the Comics Guaranty Corporation at Near Mint (9.4 out of 10 in their numerical grading scale.) That by itself was exciting to many in the hobby as books that significant rarely come up for public appraisal like that. Beyond even that, it was learned that it was graded by its owner, long time dealer and super collector John Verzyl, in order to facilitate a sale. As of this writing all rumors point to a sale price of 1.1 million dollars, a figure that, if verified, would triple the previous record price paid for a single comic book.

 

http://itsalljustcomics.com/collecting-superhero-comic-books/

 

[Scrooge]

The last word on this is that the seller backed away from the deal so that sale never occured.

 

Still a NICE book (thumbs u

[The_Captain]

The last word on this is that the seller backed away from the deal so that sale never occured.

 

Still a NICE book (thumbs u

 

Would be a record price however. Interesting though someone is even considering to pay that much for it.

 

Thanks for the info (thumbs u

 

George.

[BB-Gun]

In Detective # 42, Batman is on the prowl trying to catch a killer who presages his murders by mutilating the victim's portrait. Here Batman tries to go up to the penthouse of a soon-to-be victim trying to prevent the crime and he uses (for the first time I believe) suction cups to go up the facade of the building.

 

Now, as mentioned in the caption, human flies were "common" earlier in the century and certainly it is part of the inspiration but The Shadow had been using the gimmick quite often before Batman did ... inspiration? Maybe.

 

Here's an excerpt from The Black Falcon, from The Shadow Magazine, February 1st 1934, the issue I am currently reading: (Note: my italics)

 

"A batlike shape was clinging to a wall which projected at an angle from the set-in fire tower. Invisible in the darkness, this hidden creature seemed other than a human form. Above a shrouded head was a darkened, open window of Rowland Ransdale's apartment.

 

Something squdged upon the wall. The mobster who had turned back to his fellows paused to listen. The sound was so elusive that he gave it no second thought. He did not hear another similar noised that followed.

 

The batlike shape was moving away from the fire tower. Past the angle, it crept with sidewise crablike motion along the extended wall. The glow of city lights revealed the figure dimly. Like a huge vampire, The Shadow was sidling across a vertical surface!

 

Hands and feet were pressing against the wall. Each was equipped with a large concave disk of rubber. Each pressure of a suction cup gave its wearer purchase upon the wall. Each twist released one of the supports.

 

The Shadow had become a human fly. So familiar was he with this method of progress that his motions were timed to perfect precision. [..]"

 

 

Yet it's such a bizarre idea, contrary to everyone's common experience. Except for glazed brick, which is rarely if ever used on skyscrapers, who's ever seen a suction cup stick to a brick building?

 

But people fly and run at the speed of light. Why should I let a suction cup get in the way of my suspension of disbelief?

 

The author gets extra points for "Something squdged" though.

 

Jack

 

Before Spiderman, there were several sticky characters that climbed walls.

The creators of Batman used a lot of the gimmicks that were found in the pulps.

He was probably more mystery oriented and Superman was more Sci Fi.

 

Not my scans, just using illos to make a point.

 

[BangZoom]

Has anyone read Don Hutchison's "The Great Pulp Heroes"? I just finished it and it has a few interesting observations.

 

First up, he seems to know his stuff. I have long been non-committal as to whether comics derived mainly from the pulps or newspaper strips - the ambivalence dates back to the first Steranko "History of the Comics". (As an aside, I noticed Steranko is credited with the title logo on this book, but I digress).

 

This book, however, has pushed the pendulum much further into the "pulps as precursor" camp (for me) than any other thing I have read. I am sure most readers here are familiar with the Batman (comics) vs Black Bat (pulps) controversy (they both debuted respectively in May 1939 and July 1939). After some legal sabre rattling, the similarities between the characters were deemed a coincidence and both continued to be published.

 

Now, I have long had some disdain for Bob Kane. With each passing year it seems more and more of what Kane passed off as his own work is revealed as the labour of someone else. So it is with interest I repeat this piece regarding the pulp hero and magazine "The Whisperer";

 

"A brash and stocky police commissioner with a taste for violently clashing clothes, James "Wildcat" Gordon assumed the strange gray guise of "The Whisperer" in order to deal brutal justice to criminals the law could not touch".

 

This was first published in October 1936.

 

I find it much easier to believe that Kane plagiarised Commissioner Gordon from "The Whisperer" and simply tossed it into the Batman milieu than yet another "coincidence" of not-so-great-minds thinking alike.

 

I have a copy of Hutchison's book. It's been a long time since I read it. I'll dig it out and give it another look.

 

Did he mention a Whisperer - Batman connection?

 

V1#1 (November 1936)

 

I don't have any doubt that Siegel and Kane were influenced by the stories and images they'd seen in the pulps and comic strips.

 

It's fun to conjecture about possible inspirations. My own pet theory is that Siegel was more influenced by Philip Wylie's Gladiator than he ever admitted; and that Superman's garb was inspired by the superhero type costumes worn by many characters found in the Flash Gordon comic strip.

 

Here are a couple of posts from earlier in the thread that illustrate my viewpoint.

 

Similarities between certain passages in the review of "The Gladiator" and Jerry Siegel's origin of Superman in Action Comics #1 are quite remarkable, I think.

 

Amazing Stories (June 1930)

 

Pertinent excerpts from the review:

 

"The child, a boy, is a marvel. At the age of one week he is able to lift himself back to a chair by the use of one hand."

 

"He is invulnerable. Sharp bayonets just glance off his skin, nor can machine gun bullets puncture it, only leaving red spots. His ability to jump forty feet and to run with the speed of an express train..."

 

"He naturally helps to make the world safe for democracy..."

 

"...his gift of super-human strength."

 

"It is based on the fact that insects, such as ants and grasshoppers are veritable giants of strength, comparing their size to that of a man."

 

Superman's 1938 origin...

 

Flash Gordon 1934

 

[BangZoom]

 

I believe that is part of the Train Scam series which was printed around 1908.

 

I was curious about how that storyline began.

 

Thanks for posting the scan, BB.

[BB-Gun]

BZ,

I think you have provided several examples that explain Superman's origin. The Gladiator story is a good example but the other stories by Siegel, such as the Slam Bradley Scifi stories, indicate that Siegels' mind was nurtured by science fiction magazine stories. His letters to the editor are proof of that.

 

Shuster seems to be influenced by Raymond but who wouldn't be? Those full page Flash Gordon strips are just amazing and would stick in the mind or a young artist. This isn't a negative thing. Shuster provided his own special touch on the early Superman art and could only have been improved by Foster or Raymond, especially his style of 1937. I think there also must have been an influence by Noel Sickles who provided a simple style to visualize complex action. Thanks again for the info.

bb

[Scrooge]

Didn't we surmise earlier that Crane and Captain Easy was an inspiration to Shuster? Esp. since the typical Sam Bradley / Clark Kent character Shuster always drew looks so similar to the Captain. AStrange had the same thought for the layout and I did for the characters. Here's a quote from a while ago -

 

Here's the second piece with the Superman / Spy / Slam Bradley by Shuster visual reference I wanted to showcase. Now I've been able to scan some of Roy Crane work for people to reference when looking at Shuster's standard male character -

 

Shuster -

 

and Crane -

[BB-Gun]

BZ,

There are several Train Scam cartoons in the 1910 Mutt and Jeff book. Mutt and Jeff seemed equally inept at performing the Train Scam. In this case Mutt was disguised as a dog, of course.

[BangZoom]

Didn't we surmise earlier that Crane and Captain Easy was an inspiration to Shuster? Esp. since the typical Sam Bradley / Clark Kent character Shuster always drew looks so similar to the Captain. AStrange had the same thought for the layout and I did for the characters.

 

Yes, I agree about those artistic influences on Shuster's style.

 

I was just referring to what I thought was a likely inspiration for Superman's costume (skintight fabric, boots, cape, symbolic chest emblem, etc.).

[BangZoom]

BZ,

There are several Train Scam cartoons in the 1910 Mutt and Jeff book. Mutt and Jeff seemed equally inept at performing the Train Scam. In this case Mutt was disguised as a dog, of course.

 

Great strip.

[BangZoom]

 

Here is Jeff doing what we all do when we go on vacation......visiting an opium den.

 

[BangZoom]

...I think there also must have been an influence by Noel Sickles who provided a simple style to visualize complex action.

 

BB, are you familiar with the "Today's Inspiration" blog?

 

Leif Peng posts a boatload of old illustartion art.

 

On August 18th of last year, he posted lots of illos from the "Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles" book: Link

 

The latest artist he focuses on is William Smith: Link

 

 

[Flee-Marquette]

I visit the Today's Inspiration blog from time to time. (thumbs u

BZ, do you read Illustration Magazine? It is quickly becoming my favorite mag

now that CBM is no longer being published.

 

http://www.illustration-magazine.com/

[adamstrange]

...I think there also must have been an influence by Noel Sickles who provided a simple style to visualize complex action.

 

BB, are you familiar with the "Today's Inspiration" blog?

 

Leif Peng posts a boatload of old illustartion art.

 

On August 18th of last year, he posted lots of illos from the "Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles" book: Link

 

The latest artist he focuses on is William Smith: Link

 

 

That's a great blog, BZ! Thanks for the link. (thumbs u

 

I'll get to Sickles book as soon as I've "seen" the Norm Saunders book.