| Comments |
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| Lots of lovely Walt Kelly animals in this one. A fun read, despite the charicature in the second story. |
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| Kelly makes the common error here of depicting Sambo and his family as Africans - despite the tiger. Helen Bannerman wrote the book in India during the British occupation and the original illustrations depict them as South Asians. Also, this is the first time I have seen Thumbelisa with an s instead of an n. Apparently the Danish original was Tommelise. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | [June-July] 1942 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 2 |
| Notes | Wraparound cover. |
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| Credits | Pencils: Walt Kelly (signed) | Inks: Walt Kelly (signed) |
| Notes | Wraparound cover. |
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| Foreword/Afterword | Fairy Tale Parade (1 page) |
| Credits | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Notes | This is the inside front cover. The border of the page was tentatively ID'ed by OtherEric on the goldenagecomics.co.uk message board as drawn by Walt Kelly. The border is used in several other issues.
The introduction printed here includes this paragraph:
"Often we have longed for more pictures in our favorite fairy tale book. Now Walt Kelly, the artist who drew all the wonderful pictures in this book, makes our wish come true. So let us go with him into the land of trolls and wicked witches." |
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| Comic Story | Thumbelisa (18 pages) |
| Credits | Script: Hans Christian Andersen (original story); Walt Kelly (adaptation) | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Notes | The story is adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's 1835 short story. |
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| Comic Story | Little Black Sambo (8 pages) |
| Synopsis | Little Black Sambo runs into tigers in the woods. |
| Credits | Script: Helen Bannerman (original story); Walt Kelly (adaptation) | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Content | Genre: Children | Characters: Little Black Sambo; Black Mumbo; Black Jumbo |
| Notes | The story is adapted from the 1899 children's book by Helen Bannerman.
Text comparison between original book (as found on http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/sambo.htm) and this version indicates that Kelly substantially rewrote the story, eg:
- Details in the description of Sambo's clothing added to this version: gold buttons, patch pockets - and an obvious Kellyism: the umbrella being not only remarkable, but also adjustable - while in Bannerman's version the umbrella is just beautiful.
- Sambo's bargains with the first three tigers are varied in this version, while in Bannerman's version the proceedings are repetitive.
- The greatest differences between the two versions occur when Sambo has but his umbrella left and meets the fourth tiger. In this version he evaluates upon the situation, realizing that any of the tigers could have eaten him AND had the clothes anyway. The tiger argues that it's no use for Sambo to give him the umbrella, as the tiger has gotten it already. In Bannerman's version the proceedings with the fourth tiger are almost identical to the first three cases.
- Bannerman has a fairly detailed description of Sambo hiding from the tigers behind a palm tree and his umbrella. These details are omitted in this version.
- The settings are very different: Bannerman's version clearly takes place in India with indian humans as protagonists, while this version features black Americans, though still taking place in a location with wild tigers. |
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| Comic Story | The Story of Hansel and Gretel (17 pages) |
| Credits | Script: Jacob Grimm (original story); Wilhelm Grimm (original story); Walt Kelly (adaptation) | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Notes | The story is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale first published in 1812. |
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| Comic Story | Winkie and the Wishing Well (15 pages) |
| Credits | Script: Walt Kelly | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Notes | This is an original story, not an adaptation. |
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| Comic Story | The Flute O'McTootle (6 pages) |
| Credits | Script: Walt Kelly | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly |
| Notes | This is an original story, not an adaptation. |
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| Credits | Pencils: Walt Kelly | Inks: Walt Kelly? |
| Notes | Inside back cover. Border of page drawn by Walt Kelly (tentative art id by OtherEric on the goldenagecomics.co.uk boards) used in several other issues. |
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| Illustration | In This Issue ~ (1 page) |
| Synopsis | List of stories inside issue. |
| Credits | Pencils: Walt Kelly (signed) | Inks: Walt Kelly (signed) | Letters: Walt Kelly? |
| Notes | On back cover of comic. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
