STWALLSKULL

Amusements, diversions, whirligigs, geegaws, humbugs and comics, comics, comics.

About STWALLSKULL

Learn more about Stwallskull here: http://www.stwallskull.com/blog/?page_id=2

Interesting Links: June 16, 2007

Posted on June 15, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

Herriman Saturday
from Stripper’s Guide
When squirrels attack
from Boing Boing
More Spire Comics!
from scans_daily: Bringing the crack since December 2
Iron age Mickey unearthed
from Boing Boing
More Bicycle Knights
from Bicyclopolis
Gaiman on Miracleman
from THE BEAT
Photo of comic book Polaris submarine
from Boing Boing
News of Yore: Harold Gray Profiled
from Stripper’s Guide
Screensaver of old comic book ads
from Boing Boing
Space Chimps, the movie
from Boing Boing
Cross and Switchblade comic book cover
from Boing Boing
Barron Storey
from Inkstuds
Goodbye Toucan Sam
from Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation
Yes Men crash oil expo, propose turning corpses into…
from Boing Boing
News Free Comics Mag Launches
from The Comics Reporter
Comic book ad cardboard spaceship
from Boing Boing
Obscurity of the Day: Old Bill
from Stripper’s Guide
“Perfect”
from In This Corner

Crumbling Paper: And Her Name Was Maud (1904) by Frederick Opper (strip #1)

Posted on June 13, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

Although he is best known today for Happy Hooligan (which we’ve been reprinting examples of recently) Frederick Opper was responsible for a number of popular strips in the early 20th century. Here’s an example of Frederick Opper’s strip And Her Name Was Maud.

Warning: this strip contains the sort of offensive racial depictions that were typical of this era… if this sort of thing offends you, I suggest you don’t read it. Click the image to read the strip.

Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about And Her Name Was Maud.

Here are some other Opper strips from Coconino Classics.

Here are some other Opper strips at Barnacle Press.

The Hyperion Library of Classic American Comic Strips

Posted on June 13, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

There have been multiple times that I’ve tried googling for information about the excellent Bill Blackbeard edited Hyperion Library of Classic American Comic Strips series from 1977 and come up dry. I’ve decided to provide a list of them here for reference for anyone looking for the same info. Here are the “titles in series one”… I don’t believe there ever was a series two.

Skippy 1925-1926 by Percy Crosby
Barney Google 1919-1920 by Billy DeBeck
School Days 1923-1924 by Clare V. Dwiggins
A. Mutt 1907-1908 by Bud Fisher
Connie 1929-1930 by Frank Godwin
Bobo Baxter 1927-1928 by Rube Goldberg
Baron Bean 1916-1917 by George Herriman
The Family Upstairs Introducing Krazy Kat 1910-1912 by George Herriman
Abie the Agent 1914-1915 by Harry Hershfield
Dauntless Durham of the USA 1913-1914 by Harry Hershfield
Napoleon 1932-1933 by Clifford McBride
Winsor McCayâ€™s Dream Days 1903-1914 by Winsor McCay
Bringing Up Father 1913-1914 by George McManus
Sherlocko the Monk 1910-1912 by Gus Mager
Jim Hardy 1936-1937 by Dick Moores
Happy Hooligan 1904-1905 by Frederick Burr Opper
Buster Brown 1906 by Richard F. Outcault
Thimble Theatre Introducing Popeye 1928-1930 by Elzie C. Segar
Polly and Her Pals 1912-1913 by Cliff Sterrett
Bobby Thatcher Including Phil Hardy by George Storm (Bobby Thatcher 1927, Phil Hardy 1925-1926)
The Bungle Family 1928 by Harry J. Tuthill
Minute Movies 1927-1928 by Ed Wheelan

Note that you can still buy some of these rare volumes at reasonable prices (and many at outrageous prices) here.

Interesting Links: June 14, 2007

Posted on June 13, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #127 Milt Gross

Posted on June 13, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

#127 Milt Gross

Click on the above image to see the full Count Screwloose strip I scanned from November 23, 1930. Rudy Megaphone is a satire of singer Rudy Vallee, by the way.

Milt Gross’ comics drip slapstick. I don’t think Milt Gross aspired to do much with his comics other than make people laugh… and he was very good at it. That said, he wrote what may be the first graphic novel, She Done Him Wrong (a.k.a. Heart of Gold… recently reprinted by Fantagraphics). I wish someone would do a nice big reprinting of his newspaper work. Don’t miss the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive link below… great stuff!

See a number of great scans of Milt Gross comics at the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive here.

See some Milt Gross comics on Bugpowder here.

Read the Toonopedia entry on Milt Gross here.

Read the Lambiek Biography of Milt Gross here.

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #128 Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Posted on June 11, 2007 by STWALLSKULL

#128 Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Drawn and Quarterly’s recent publishing of the work of Yoshihiro Tatsumi is a revelation (in two volumes so far edited by American cartoonist Adrian Tomine, The Push Man and Abandon the Old in Tokyo). This guy was an underground cartoonist in Japan around the same time as the underground cartoonists in America and Europe were getting started (although he was unaware of their work)… and he has a huge body of work going up to the present day. His artwork in the two D&Q volumes is gorgeous, and the stories are bizarre, entertaining and often disturbing. It’s thrilling to discover such a great cartoonist that I was totally unaware of. I look forward to reading more of his work.

Click here to read the lambiek.net entry on Yoshihiro Tatsumi.