[movielover]

For the next installment of the reading group, we head into the American Old West.

The book is Gene Autry Comics #2, located here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=71608

The first story is 33 pages, so should do.

[The Australian Panther]

What I like most about the reading group is that it directs me to books that otherwise I might not have bothered to look at. This is just what I needed right now, a good straight read with some good art to go with it.
A typical B-grade 40's western with standard narrative, environment and characters, and what's wrong with that if its well-done, which it is. The standard element of being attracted to women but afraid of marriage indicates that these stories were orientated to the mindset of pre-adolescent boys. Till Goodan is an excellent artist. He can vary his art slightly to incorporate drama and slapstick comedy and make it all work seamlessly. He must have liked the opportunity to take a break from the daily strip and let rip with whole page work as in the 10 page western scrapbook segment where he really shows his stuff. Was Tumbleweed a regular in Autry's movies and played by Andy Devine? On the first story, realistically, a horse being valuable, they would have taken the colt into custody and not let it wander off by itself. But, hey, that's a minor quibble.
Thanks Movielover for choosing this.           

[SuperScrounge]

Bio - Interestingly the horse seems to get more written about him than the actor. 

First story - Well, not so much one story, but several run together, but aside from the odd choice of running two cattle rustling stories back to back it was entertaining and nicely drawn.

Second story - A lot tighter, although it does feel like some scenes were missing.

Third story - Ehhh... the feud felt kind of forced.

Fourth story - Okay.

Gene Autry's Western Scrapbook - Interesting.


Betty Goodan, who drew the girls in the stories, passed away earlier this year on February 2.

I wonder how popular Gene would have been if he made movies under his birth name of Orvon Grover Autry? 

[crashryan]

At first I didn't care much for this because of the generic stories.

I warmed up to the book thanks to Till Goodan. This guy can really draw horses! It's sheer pleasure seeing how capably he draws the critters in every conceivable pose. Goodan's semi-cartoony figures are fine, but it's his horses that really put him over. Interesting that his (then) teenage daughter was a champion rider who also drew all the women in the strip.

I get the feeling the stories with Frosty as Gene's sidekick predate those with Tumbleweed. I might be wrong, but I can picture a syndicate editor thinking an active comic-relief character like Tumbleweed would be more interesting than dry, cranky old Frosty. I also wonder if the the strip might have been influenced by Fred Harman's Red Ryder, which was popular at the time. At any rate, I wound up liking the book a lot.

Reading about Gene Autry brought back memories of watching The Phantom Empire on TV when I was in college. I remember how evil Queen Tika always pronounced Autry's name as "Jeeee Notry."

Till Goodan enjoyed a long artistic career and was noted for creating western-themed consumer products like dinnerware. For those who are interested, here are two links about his work:

https://truewesthome.com/goodan.aspx

https://www.cowboysindians.com/2018/09/cowboys-at-the-plate/

[SuperScrounge]

I get the feeling the stories with Frosty as Gene's sidekick predate those with Tumbleweed.

If I read the article at this website http://www.westernclippings.com/comics/geneautry_comicbookcowboys.shtml correctly, I'd say you're right. Apparently the first Gene Autry Rides! storyline was a variation of Phantom Empire with Frosty based on Smiley/Frog.

[lyons]

Lively writing, great art.  The ghost scene where Gene asks, "Where's your horse, Tumbleweed?" - "Heck, I passed him 'bout two mile back!" gave me a chuckle.  Autry never was a cowboy;  stunt men frequently took over for him when he couldn't handle a galloping horse -  but for radio, TV, and movie fans, he was the first of the singing cowboys. 
Interestingly, his first big break came when Ken Maynard was fired for his drunken tantrums, and Autry took over Maynard's lead role in the Phantom Empire.  Autry

[Captain Audio]

I warmed up to the book thanks to Till Goodan. This guy can really draw horses! It's sheer pleasure seeing how capably he draws the critters in every conceivable pose. Goodan's semi-cartoony figures are fine, but it's his horses that really put him over.

The skeletal structure of his horses is fine and for the most part the posing is good, but he makes a common mistake of making the horse far too small compared to the rider.
Don't care much for the texturing.

I did like the young colt, it has the gangly sinuous quality of the very young animal. Almost dog like, which is correct.

[narfstar]

Well the first 33 page story was really two stories. I was put off by the obvious writing to a very young audience. If I had read these at an early age, I would likely be able to appreciate them more now. I thought about how well the girl was drawn in the second half of the first story. It was interesting to find his daughter drew the women. The story looked like a strip and looking it I, I find it was a strip reprint.