[MarkWarner]

So, I have to grudgingly admit that last week's Char Chapman was fairly well received by the reading group. I was in the minority of one that thought (and still do) that it is pants.

Anyway, onward and hopefully upwards with this week's choice. This is what our "suggester" wrote:

"I don't know how long a queue you have on Reading Group titles, but here's a suggestion. Recently I've been reading Orbit's Taffy comic. It's rather interesting: Archie-type stories but with a more "real-world" art style, celebrity tie-ins, and social messages. I'm curious to see what everyone thinks..."

Taffy Comics #5 can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=61975. And I just need to say our main story is "Follow in her Father's Footsteps" and happy reading!

[Morgus]

I liked the art a lot, much better then the usual teen comics from the era. The story was pretty much your regular bumbling Henry Aldrich/Archie Andrews teen shtick. Very much a product of the times, with Johnson and Sinatra as the teen heart throbs. But I think this is the first time I've ever seen a bathrobe advertised in a comic book. The social engineering aspects were fascinating.

[crashryan]

This is a remarkable comic. It's impossible to imagine what it was like to be a kid when it came out. World War II had ended just a year previously. Thousands of dads were coming home from the war. Thousands more dads would never come home. Goods were scarce. There was a big housing shortage. The atom bomb had changed human history. What did everyone imagine lay ahead?

The guys who created Taffy obviously thought the biggest challenge was achieving racial and religious harmony. I don't think even Parents' Press comics preached as hard as the Van Johnson and the Hall of Fame features do. Preachy, yes. But think: half of America was still racially segregated. Jews and Catholics were excluded from many jobs and memberships. The Taffy crew must have been sticking their necks out to address these matters so openly. Or maybe it was just postwar optimism. We licked the axis, and we can lick intolerance. Still one can't help noting that the Taffy cast is not integrated.

As for the stories themselves, let me begin by saying I have never, ever liked Mort Leav. His artwork always strikes me as grotesque, with stiff poses and exaggerated expressions. I'll be dining on crow stew tonight, because Leav's art on Taffy is terrific. The biggest reason is that the kids are completely believable. They move and sit like real kids. Whether plopping onto a bed, slouching in an easy chair, or just standing around, these girls and boys are living, breathing people. The same care has been put into the kids' expressions. Nobody strikes the same pose twice, and it's never a stock pose. True, some of the action scenes are a bit overbaked, but overall this is wonderful stuff.

The adults don't appeal to me as much. Taffy's dad is fun, but broad caricatures like the Bonnybrook principal and the mistress of the boarding school seem out of place in this universe.

And the scripts? The same teen-comic silliness everybody else was doing. It's funny. Seeing the unique artwork I expected the stories to be unusual, too. Nope. Good old Riverdale nuttiness. Which isn't to say they're bad. Just undistinguished.

In conclusion, Taffy is a big hit in my book.

[Kracalactaka]

just not feeling this one, don't care for the art, the preachiness [Van (or insert the celebrity of your choice) just shut up and make movies (or music or play ball, etc)] or the stories. (I guess I prefer actual Archie comics to Archie-like comics: gimme some Fagaly/Schwartz/De Carlo, etc please.)

Oh I was sucked in by the back cover ad, I'd love to have that cap gun.

[misappear]

Orbit publishing struck me as odd.  Their line-up includes a western, a crime comic, and a bunch of teen/love comics.  A strange mix.

Regarding Taffy--No denying it; the artwork is better than most teen books.  Perhaps because this was an earlier work.  By the 1950s, a simplistic style emerged that evidently sold as well as more intricate artwork, so why bother with "more" when "less" would do just fine.

I've seen DC public service ad pages putting for similar messages against discrimination and promoting community.  The specific approach used in this issue of Taffy is one I haven't seen before.  If I was reading current comics in 1946, I don't know if I would have been drawn to the format of text and Illustration, as I would have liked to see those messages incorporated into regular comic stories.  That's a minor critique, tho, when you think about what Orbit was doing.  They seem to be thinking about what and why they were publishing comics; not just throwing something out onto the racks that would potentially generate profits. 

It strikes me as these types of comics would appeal to parents more than kids themselves.  How was normal urban society back in 1946?  I remember the late 1950 and early 1960s and my impression is that people were pretty racist and xenophobic in general.  As a high school teacher now, I can confirm that kids heavily reflect the ideas and beliefs of their parents. That probably hasn't changed in many, many generations.  The more I think on it, the more I think that comics like this issue of Taffy were pretty gutsy. 

So many articles and books have been written about comic books and strips that focus on the art and story.  Others focus on the creators and their creations and working conditions.  I would really like to see more articles addressing why comics publishers got into this business (comics publishing) in the first place.  Were these entrepreneurs trying to niche or were they just trying to jump on a bandwagon?  In my reading, I get background on these people through the words of editors or creators working at various companies.  I guess that makes sense, tho.  Most of us readers are focused more on the product and not the business.  That's not meant as a criticism.

If Roy Thomas retires, this type of historical reporting may dry up.  Perhaps.  I don't know. 

[narfstar]

I generally read the comic before the comic. I am glad I read the comments first this time. They gave me some things to look for and I was not disappointed. The art on "Her Father's Footsteps" was exceptional. Taffy was down right cute too. No one mentioned the contents page which itself was a beauty. I have an issue of Taffy around somewhere. I think JVJ made the comment somewhere that he had all the Orbit comics as a testimony to their art. I think of Mort Leav art as usually stiff. Taffy was very much the opposite. I need to read some more of these

[SuperScrounge]

Follow In Her Father's Footsteps - Eh, kinda reads like an early Archie story, okay, but not great, on the other hand the similarity to Archie makes it easy to imagine that the father is a grown-up Archie.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People - eh.

You're In This Too! - And sadly Hitler's method is still in use by politicians today.

Sing For Your Supper! - Okay.

Molly Muddle - Ugh. If they had at least had things end up worse because of her meddling I could have tolerated this.

Kitty Karrs - Meh.

Molly Muddle 2nd story - Odd that it's listed as a Molly Muddle story when Spence & Chubbs star in most of it. Okay. (Well, compared to the other stories...)

Jr. Hall of Fame - Okay.

Betsy Boor the Snob - Eh.

Our Finishing School - Not as good as the first story.

[MarkWarner]

After finishing the first Taffy story, I report that the art and silly plot are excellent. I am a bit of a sucker for "light fluff" when it is well done.

Mitzi Mefirst reminds me of one of my (unlamented) exs.       

The Van Johnson story about the United Nations is excellent. I have been listening to a lot of OTR and the same post war "propaganda" is being sent there. We are not talking about the later "reds under every bed", it is "look outward we cannot stand alone" message. I think it is a shame that this embracing sentiment, is the opposite of the insular view gaining traction on both sides of "the pond".

The messages continue with Jane Froman's (or the script writer's advice). To be successful the most important thing is to love your job, is something that I also agree with.

Molly Muddle starts with a Don Quixote inspired header, that really has nothing to do with anything