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[jimmm kelly]

For the 3rd of December--the Hassenfeld brothers offer a plastic, posable figure for creative play.

[josemas]

I remember working on the final Superhero catalog back in 1979 during my first year at the Kubert School.  Doing pasteups and the occasional spot illo.  I can still picture myself and several others students working on it at night with Big Joe in the old school building at 45 Lehigh Street in Dover.   

We cannibalized sections from the art boards of earlier catalogs. I salvaged one old page that Joe tossed in the garbage after he cut out a section he needed for the new catalog.  It had a nifty drawing of several Marvel superheroes on it that Joe had done himself which I thought was pretty cool.  I still have that packed away somewhere.

Best

Joe

[jimmm kelly]

I always enjoy reading stories from you and others who were at the Kubert School and your experiences there. I applied to it circa '78, but didn't get in. Part of the reason I joined the navy in '77 was to save up enough to go there. So as those catalogues arrived in the mail, I always imagined the students who must have worked on them--as I still do.

[jimmm kelly]

For the 4th of December, MASTER COMICS 21 sets in motion events which will lead to the origin of Captain Marvel Junior--in the meanwhile the United States suffers a catastrophic attack on its people which will have fall-out for the whole world.

[josemas]

I always enjoy reading stories from you and others who were at the Kubert School and your experiences there. I applied to it circa '78, but didn't get in. Part of the reason I joined the navy in '77 was to save up enough to go there. So as those catalogues arrived in the mail, I always imagined the students who must have worked on them--as I still do.

Yeah I had to work two job for two years (while taking night classes at a local community college) in order to save up to go to the Kubert School myself.  Had very little time for anything else during those two years.  Always seemed sleep deprived.  The Lil Missus and I were just starting to date in those days and she still laughs about how I would nod off every time we squeezed in date to go to the movies.

Because I lived on the other side of the country I did my interview with Big Joe over the phone when I applied to the school.  I remember being very nervous during the interview but very little about what we discussed and then a couple of weeks later I was very relieved when I got the news I had been accepted.

When I finally got to the school we started off with a class of 44-45 students but only 6 of us made it through to graduation after three years there.

Best

Joe 

[jimmm kelly]

For the 5th of December I revisit Stumbo the Giant.

[jimmm kelly]

The 6th of December is Nikolaustag, the feast day of St. Nicholas--a big holiday in many European countries, especially for German people--and from which many of our Christmas traditions spring. Naturally there's some German content today--I get far more views on my blogsite from Germany than any other country other than the U.S. or Canada--so I like to give them something. But don't despair, there's some English content, as well.

[jimmm kelly]

For the 7th of December, if you haven't sent out your cards yet, Sugar and Spke can help you out with that.

[jimmm kelly]

On the 8th of December it's time to light the second candle on your advent wreath. Captain Action is featured on this day. I'd still like to know who inked Schaffenberger on those ads.

For the second week in December, there were some really amazing comics released--a stunning number. I could only mention a few.

Prof H. must be excited because Dell's FOUR COLOR 614 came out on December 14 '54. And Walt Disney's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA came out in theatres the following week on December 23.

Such good fortune.

[jimmm kelly]

For the 9th of December, a brief look at CAPTAIN BILLY'S WHIZ BANG, the December 1924 issue. I encourage checking out the whole issue on CB+.

And I also encourage searching out the bittersweet tale of George Washington Johnson and Maggie Clark--and the poem inspired by their love story, WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG. MAGGIE.

[Osgood Peabody]

Hey, looking forward to further entries from your blog!

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this latest entry of mine in this month's DC Time Capsule, as I give my tip of the hat to the 50th anniversary of the "New Look", including the celebrated "Ear in the Fireplace"':

http://marvelmasterworksfansite.yuku.com/reply/699886/The-DC-Comics-Time-Capsule-March-1964#reply-699886

Enjoy!

[jimmm kelly]

The blog was not generating as much interest as I hoped. The posts that continue to get the most views are all from June, July and August of last year. Not that I'm just in it for the views, but I don't want to do a blog that only satisfies myself--that seems vain. So I decided to lay off doing more new posts until I could think of a way of doing it that I thought was truly worthwhile.

But I had always planned to do something to recognize the 50th anniversary of DETECTIVE 327 and I may still do something about that--although I haven't given it much thought. Since that great milestone book came out on March 26 '64--I hope I have a stroke of genius before then--but time is running out and the Old Wizard seems to be low on thunderbolts.

[Osgood Peabody]

OK I understand.

And hey, even if you're not moved to compose a full-blown blog entry, stop by the ol' Time Capsule and share your thoughts... your perspective is always welcome!

[jimmm kelly]

These days other stuff calls me away from my computer and I can't always connect to the internet--necessary for doing the research on my blog. But hopefully those interested caught the old/new post back in March. And recently I've been updating the information on some past blogs. I've gone through Mike's Newsstand--where the information has been updated--and I'm incorporating this new information into the 8 Days Louise! blog pages and other posts, when I have the time. I'm also adding new images for those old pages. Everything old is new again.

[jimmm kelly]

For Canada Day, I would return to Montreal, with artist Doug Wright. Also a bit on Expo '67 and Lily Renee.

OTF.01.07.14

By the way, the map of the Expo site was found on the internet--taken from an issue of the Belgian comic SPIROU.

I never knew anything about Spirou before this--I'll have to do more research on the character.

[profh0011]

Found a fascinating article on NESTOR REDONDO I just had to pass on!

http://thegeeksverse.com/2010/10/27/filipino-art-in-american-comics-part-2-nestor-redondo/

[jimmm kelly]

Thanks for posting that. Looks like he found some of the same scans I found for my blog--plus a few I didn't use. I might rely on this source if I ever do a sequel to my ever popular More R n R in Eden post (the blog post that continues to get the most hits for my site--a testament to how popular Redondo continues to be).

Right now I'm working on a different project (somewhat comic book related) that requires all my attention, but once I've put it to bed, I can get back to the next blog I have planned but haven't had a chance to write.

[profh0011]

I think (not sure) I may have exactly ONE Nestor Redondo comic in my collection (a coverless copy of RIMA). But I can see what a talented guy he is. And I'd rank him WAYYYYYY above his probably-more-well-known (and inexplicably more-popular) fellow Phillipino, Alex Nino.

I keep doing research for my "classic authors" project... and I'm still on Jules Verne. Heck, I only just got started on "JOURNEY" this week!!  Found a site that had the Gilberton version posted online and am in the middle of reading it.  I like the art MUCH better than their version of "20,000 LEAGUES".

I was under the impression the entire Pendulum Press line of "classics" were reprints from WEEKLY READER, but the Wikipedia page doesn't agree with that. I was also surprised to find the Marvel version of "WAR OF THE WORLDS" was brand-new, not a reprint of the Pendulum version like damn-near all the others were.  According to the post at the "War of the Worlds" website, the Pendulum version (with Nino art) had the script dumbed down for kids in the 70s.  3 years later, Chris Claremont (of all people) decided to go the whole route and include ALL the "nasty bits" nobody else wanted to touch. Also, I'm not big on Yong Montano, but I find his stuff a lot easier on the eyes than Nino.

This'll sound bizarre, but Nino's comics remind me of Jess Franco's movies... 

Anyway, it was the Redondo DRACULA that really caught my attention. I gotta do a DRACULA blog page one of these days!

[jimmm kelly]

It's taken me a long time to get around to posting another blog on MY FAVOURITE FUNNIES, but I finally done it, before the end of another year. This is the first of two blog posts on the Norse--in particular, this one is on Erik the Red and his colonizing of Greenland. I've also thrown in related stories about Vikings in the New World.

GR

[jimmm kelly]

Continuing from where we left off with the previous issue, Erik the Red's son, Leif, as well as others from that family go looking for a new world in:

VINLAND SAGA

Scroll down to the bottom for more of My Favourite Finds, with G.I. Joe and Hot Wheels.

[narfstar]

NICE thanks

[bowers]

Jimm, thanks for putting together this great compilation of comics and other info. A fascinating subject, indeed. Cheers, Bowers

[jimmm kelly]

Thanks.

I'm always wrestling with where to draw the line in offensive text and images from vintage comics, when I'm doing my blogs. With the Greenland Saga, I didn't show much of ASTERIX AND THE GREAT CROSSING--partly because what I have is a translation and not the actual French version of the comic--but also because I think the illustrations of the native people in that book are too over the line.

That's my fuzzy determination of the line. I thought Hal Foster's illos were the best and probably very well-researched (though likely anachronistic)--but every comic I looked at had a very different take on the indigenous people.

On the one hand, I want to present the work without much editorializing, but on the other hand I want my blog to be welcoming. I had a similar problem with my blog on Seicherl und Struppi last year.

Today I was looking at  pages from O TICO-TICO, a Brazilian magazine that published a lot of comics art in the 20th century--and for most of its run, every issue features what I would call extremely offensive images of black cartoon characters. It's odd, because this specific stereotype was prevalent from the '20s to the '60s, by many different artists. Yet in the very early 1900s, O TICO-TICO features images of black cartoon characters that are relatively inoffensive.

While I'd like to use some of the art--such as that by J. Carlos--the stereotypes are so far over the line that I don't think they belong on my blog. It's okay for a site like this or other historical archive sites to feature them--but on a regular entertainment blog, I just can't see using them, because people could click on them unawares. I want people to smile when they look at my blog, not get depressed.

[jimmm kelly]

It took me a few more weeks than I anticpated, but I finally published to my site the blog on Bob Oksner.

THE MANY LOVES OF BOB OKSNER

It's a very long blog, and may take time to load, given all the images I used. But once I got into Oksner's work, it was hard to limit myself. I focused on that work that Oksner actually pencilled (and often inked, as well). All Bob's work as just an inker would be too much to include. And I didn't include any of Hasen's DONDI art, as Bob was usually just the writer on that strip.

I also mainly focused on panels and covers with women and girls--as that's what Bob is known for, though he's an all around artist in reality.

I've been an Oksner fan all my life, before I knew what an Oksner was or how to spell it--since we had BOB HOPE comics and JERRY LEWIS in our house by the time I was born. But it was really Bob's Mary Marvel that made me admire the guy so much.

Once I got into looking at all the other stuff he did, I discovered new loves. Of all these the most amazing and surprising was PAT BOONE. I knew that comic existed, but I never gave it much thought. Little did I realize how innovative that comic was.

It's like Oksner or Nadle or whoever was behind the project decided to totally take a new approach to comics that hadn't been done at DC. Everything is different--there aren't panel borders for a lot of the work, there's no balloons for the dialogue. Colouring is completely new--not filling in the figure, but using the colour with discrimination to create lighting effects.

It was because Oksner lived in Teaneck, where Pat Boone also lived with his young family while he was making his TV show, that Bob ended up doing the comic. Oksner would come over to the house, to draw Pat and his family. So I wonder if some of the ideas for this comic weren't born there.

[profh0011]

Fabulous blog post (if a little long).  I only really had time to briefly (very briefly) skim over it, but my appreciation for Oksner has definitely gone up.

I LOVE his stuff on JERRY LEWIS.  In the last few years, I've commented multiple times that in the 70s DC missed a real sure bet by not having Arnold Drake & Bob Oksner do a DON RICKLES comic.

Tons of incredible stuff here.  Thanks in particular for posting the "JOURNEY" pages from PAT BOONE;  I'm sure I'll eventually get around to using them in my Jules Verne project (once I'm done with my Edgar Allan Poe project-- 4 months now and counting).

The ONE thing Oksner seems totally wrong for, in my view, was super-heroes.  He was TOO GOOD for that crap!  It was particularly jarring when I glanced at a page you posted INKED BY VINCE COLLETTA  (aaaaaaaaugh!!!). How many countless artists did that guy desecrate over the years?