[MarkWarner]

Well last week was another thumbs up from the Reading Group. This was an Aussie comic printed in b&w landscape format with lots of words and other difficult stuff in. So I think that demonstrates, yet again, what a truly sophisticated bunch of connoisseurs we really are.

Talking of which, this week is an EXTRA SPECIAL one. A reading group guest has chosen the book and it's Jim, aka JVJ! I have been working on him for some time to give us some "arty" recommendations, and as he is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign he finally buckled! Yeh!!

If you haven't already had a look at Jim's campaign, and a really COOL VIDEO that explains about the WONDERFUL book he is intending to publish, then I think that you should!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1694106638/images-magazine-13-the-golden-glory-of-the-art-i-l?ref=email

If after seeing it you don't want to get involved in the project fair enough. But for a guy who has given comic book lovers so much (2,500 of his comics are on this site alone!!), then I think the least we can do is pay him the courtesy of seeing what it is all about! Trust me it is REALLY interesting and in my opinion well worth parting with some hard earned cash (my tip is the signed $60 mag and poster), but that last bit is up to you.     

Anyway back to Jim's choice:

"I'll choose Hillman's Punch and Judy v2:1, Fatsy McPig story. It's by the marvelous Orestes Calpini, who also does Starry Eyes in the same issue, and it's loaded with expression and surrealistic realism that delights me. Actually you could pick ANY early Fatsy McPig story by Calpini. The entire run is magical. A hidden gem of a series. Check 'em out."

Here is the link https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39783.

Happy reading, or should I say art appreciating. Also DON'T FORGET make sure to check Jim's Kickstarter out, here is the link again:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1694106638/images-magazine-13-the-golden-glory-of-the-art-i-l?ref=email

Make sure you do, as otherwise you  may well be a victim of a nasty bout of bad karma!!! Also, if you suddenly discover you have an extra $1k you don't know what to do with, you can buy me the JVJ Photoshop sessions. That would certainly guarantee you the best karma around:)

[narfstar]

Since I got in so late on the last one I wanted to get off to a fast start on this one. Odd little premise there. Made absolutely no sense but that is OK. It was fun. I was disappointed in the rushed ending.

[bowers]

Yes! Anthropomorphic animals at last! Many of the best ones are still under copyright (Disney, Warner), but this one is surprisingly good. Orestes Calpini was also an animator at the old Fleischer studio and worked on one of my very favorite Popeye cartoons- "Popeye Meets Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves". You can tell he was a trained animator by his wonderfully rendered backgrounds and the attention to detail he paid to his character's expressions and personality. My favorite character study is Mr. Sullen's evil leer on page 19- it really captures his essence. I don't know who wrote this, but Calpini was certainly an excellent visual story-teller. As to the story itself, not bad- kid rebels, finds false friends, discovers his folly, defeats villain, and it's back to momma! Many of the "funny animal" comics and cartoons of the time presented little morality plays like this. The kids didn't mind and the parents loved it. And it also sold pretty well. This genre was really quite popular in the GA, often using an adventure story format. Remember the Ducks searching for ancient tombs and lost cities? Mickey in the Foreign Legion? Bugs and Porky tracking down the rustlers? A big thanks to Jim for introducing me to a fun character and a really great artist! Cheers, Bowers

[Lorendiac]

I just read the story for the second time. The first time was a couple of days ago. I didn't feel the overwhelming urge to comment at the time, so I decided to hold off and try again later, when I might be in a different mood.

On second reading, it still doesn't do much for me. On the one hand, I can't take the plot seriously. On the other hand, I felt the actual handling of the simple premise of "let me show you how to be as mean and greedy as possible, in ten easy lessons" wasn't nearly as funny as it could have been. So this falls somewhere in the middle ground of "mediocre" -- neither suspenseful drama nor sidesplitting comedy, leaving me unmotivated to say much of anything about it.

(On second thought -- there was one little point which occurred to me: Was I the only one who thought the lady who bought up all the candy in town, and stored it in a room, might be an unsung heroine, striving to perform a public service by waging war on tooth decay? While she was unfairly accused of just being "selfish"? It's not as if anyone was likely to starve to death for lack of a box of candy to scarf down, and we never saw her eating any of that candy herself, did we?)

[SuperScrounge]

Read this a few days ago and really didn't know what to say about it.

The art generally struck me as okay, same with the writing, although most stories seemed to rush the ending.

Looking back at the Fatsy McPig story, the art was a lot better than my first impression. Fatsy is always shown in motion rather than just standing there like a stick. Probably because of the artist's animation background. The only real sour note in the art was the panel when we first see the inside of the Grouch Box and a woman is dropping what I assume to be a cat off the stairs. Sadly it looks like some kind of cat/monkey/ogre hybrid (my god, what kind of experiments are those people doing?!?)

The story was okay, although I think Lorendiac's idea of how it should have gone would have made it a better story.

[paw broon]

Well, the art is well done with a lot of movement and action, but the story is not very nice.  Not even surreal, imo.  Some of it seems to border on cruelty, as in the same panel with the wifie dropping the animal, what is the bloke doing to the dog's tail, or is it it's back end?   Also, the story is really badly paced, especially with that conclusion thrust upon us suddenly. 
I am genuinely sorry that I did not enjoy this a lot more as the pictures look good, but the seediness of the characters' actions put me off.
Then again, is this a sort of morality tale?  If that is the idea the it works better.

[MarkWarner]

So here we are with the Reading Group's first funny animal book, chosen by Jim (JVJ). Before I start has everyone had a look at his Kickstarter page?

If not, PLEASE do so, and also watch the video. It is all VERY interesting and hopefully you'll end up contributing to a really cool project, massively increase your Karma rating,  and as a reward own a really great magazine! WIN-WIN-WIN! Link is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1694106638/images-magazine-13-the-golden-glory-of-the-art-i-l I see his pledges are building up nicely, so a bit of a push from us and hopefully he'll get there with time to spare!

Right, that is today's sales pitch and lecture over. So, on with Jim's selection!

I am a cover to cover reader of all the Reading Groups' book choices and we start off with a real corker with the Punch and Judy story. The art was great. The story really humorous. I guess that the artists and editor, maybe even Herman Snaffle, were based on real staff members. Well, it's  nice to think so. Surely would have be too tempting for the artist not to do so.   

The next story is our main one Fatsy McPig ... and I thought it was pretty good. The art was cool, it has an animated quality. I am not sure if I mean as in animated cartoon way. I think more in a movement frozen in time. Well I know what I mean (I think). A prime example is the  bottom right panel on our page 20. But so far story wise I preferred the first.

Next up is Little Horsefeather the Indian. Initial thought was "OK racial sterotype coming up" but far from it. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I chortled (lightly) at "Welcome To Sky Land" and also the excellent lightning bolts on the middle panel our page 25. I like the Icarus take, that I guess was deliberate and what really would have happened to him.

Next up Punch and the Dragon which is a jolly little text story. After which we have Dumb Bunny and Officer Hippo, which was great. And page 31 middle right panel "Do I look all right, Bunny?" is a definite "LOL".

A one pager "Thorny the Cactus" is followed by Captain Codfish. Now Jim mentioned surreal about some other stories. This one is beyond surreal and then some! Bizarre!

I didn't "get" the one page Little Leo at all. And here is Jim's second recommendation Starry Eyes. Now I'll be honest some of the art looked like "My Little Pony", BUT Blimey!!! What a VERY strange story, has somebody been at the drugs cabinet?? We finish off with Waddles and that is it!

This judge's verdict (after a second quick flip through):

As an all round package I liked the first Punch and Judy Story.
For art Fatsy McPig wins easily. I think I half get what Jim means.
For a rather jolly surprise Little Horsefeather.
For plain bizarre Starry Eyes is the outright winner.

I liked this book. It was a lot stranger than I thought it would be!!

[paw broon]

Yes this is a strange comic - much stranger then I was expecting.
I have read it again and still have that feeling of slight  uncaring nastiness in some of it.  Punch seems to me to be a bit unpleasant, but then, he is seriously unpleasant in P & J shows. The wee lassie with the mules is pure fingers down the throat stuff.  However, the Indian elf story reinforces my thought that some of this book is a sort of morality tale.  As in, be careful what you wish for. 
Dumb Bunny reminds me of another humour strip.  It's that punchline.  Frustrating, as I can' t bring it to mind.

[bowers]

I decided to see what some younger readers thought of the Fatsy story, so I pressed three of my granddaughters into service. Aged 11, 9, and 7, I asked them to read the story and give me a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down and maybe  a short explanation why. The eleven year-old, a budding artist, gave a thumbs-up as she "liked the drawing" but said the story was "silly". Our nine year-old critic gave it a thumbs-down as "The people in the house were too mean", but she did like the ending. The youngest gave a thumbs-up, liking "the pictures" and Fatsy "wanted to be good" and "got to go home". Looks like only the seven year-old picked up on the morality aspects, although the nine year-old might have noticed some of it. The oldest just enjoyed it as another "funny animal" story. Cheers, Bowers

[Drusilla lives!]

Eh, funny animals aren't my bag, but I gave this one a shot.  Surprised to find that I ended up reading most of it... oddly though, not the Punch and Judy title feature nor the Little Horsefeather tale (although I did thumb through them both). 

Enjoyed Fatsy McPig, I thought the cartoon art styling here was slick and very expressive (as Jim had mentioned), and the story was pretty good as well.  Really liked the Starry Eyes piece, a very nicely constructed children's story, again with some very well done cartooning (I think by the same person who penciled the Fatsy piece).  The Dumb Bunny was also very good, as was Captain Codfish and the Thorny and Little Leo shorts.

I should also add that the text fuller piece "Punch and the Dragon" was superbly done... although I wasn't going to read it at first.  In fact, my first reaction was of surprise.  I thought it odd to include a longish, two page text piece in a comic such as this, over say... a puzzle and jokes page.  But as I read it, I really was pleasantly surprised by its quality.  It turned out to be a rather cute and enjoyable tale in my opinion.

I find the cover rather interesting as well.  Looks as though it's really a photo cover... a photo of a color "paste-up," as opposed to an actual inked art piece... looks much like a photo of an animation cell to me.  I guess done perhaps to enhance depth and give the characters a little more pop... whether successful or not at that possible end, the trick does seem to give the cover a somewhat unique look in my opinion.

Overall, I found it an enjoyable read... we're all children at heart I suppose (well, most of us are), no matter how old we get.

[narfstar]

Great idea Bowers. Though I got started on comics at 7, when I was nine was the magic year for me. Thanks to the Batman TV show the weirdest and most wonderful comics came out in and around 1966.

[crashryan]

I'm late getting into this one. With a few exceptions I'm not crazy for "funny animal" comics, but I'm willing to give anything a chance. To start with the featured story, I agree with Jim about Calpini's art. Lively and inventive, with great posing and delightful backgrounds. A little weak on hands, maybe. I found myself preferring the classic thick-and-thin inking style (like on Punch and Judy) to Calpini's almost single-weight line. Minor quibbles.

As everyone has pointed out, the story is one of several moral tales in the book in which the reader learns that bad things happen if you misbehave. I won't argue with the moral, but I think that as a kid these stories would have turned me off. They're like a lecture from Mother. I was also put off by the way that the protagonists in Punch and Judy and Fatsy McPig were such jerks. So was the mule in Starry Eyes, though he wasn't officially the hero. Punch was so obnoxious, I can't imagine wanting to read another story with him in it. It was fun to see the in-joke caricatures of the artists and editor. Wish someone could identify them.

The art throughout the book was pretty good, though the C. W. Winter shorts were so-so.

One thing that stood out in the Punch and Judy story was that Judy did absolutely nothing. Almost all she and Gepetto--excuse me, Uncle Tony--did was comment on what a jerk Punch was. Come to think of it, Starry Eyes didn't do anything in her story either. All the doing was done by the mule and the prototype My Little Pony. Who, incidentally, got the short end of the stick because though he went out to prevent Bucky the Mule from getting into trouble, Pinky shared the full force of the punishment meted out by the magic shoes.

In my opinion the Big Moral of this book is that story is all. Why has the work of Walt Kelly and Carl Barks been loved by generations of kids and adults alike, while most of these funny animal titles are forgotten? It's not the artwork. Certainly both men were excellent artists, but there were many other excellent animated-style artists in comics. The key is that they had the magical ability to write unforgettable stories. The stories here range from clumsily-structured to downright plotless (Captain Codfish, anyone?). The stars don't star and most stories are simply a chain of incidents strung together.

Final judgement: nice Calpini, rest meh. But JVJ would be the first to say, "You READ comics?" Back when we used to hang out and admire artists, I always ended up in reading the stories. That often spoiled my appreciation.