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[MarkWarner]

Well last week's book left me colder than a cold fish in an icebox! For me it was the worst pick so far.

This week's choice is a rather special comic, as it was the first one scanned in the still ongoing "JVJ Project". This is a massive enterprise now being coordinated by our good friends at DCM to digitize the 1,000s of comics collected by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. The book can be found @ https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=6580

The story we are concentrating is the second one "Little Rabbit's Warpath" starting on our page 14.

BTW I think a few of you have been picking up a theme in the last few week's choices. There is a reason, which will become plain in just a couple of days time. Expect a big announcement on August 1, so don't forget to "tune in".

[narfstar]

The older I get the more I like westerns. I liked this one a lot. Story was good and so was art. The coloring was a little garish, but it is a kids comic. Dialog was not the best but again it was a kids comic. I thought the name change was a little off. Going from Little Rabbit to Little Fox was not big jump like going to Mighty Fox or something. I have several Buster Brown and it was a pretty impressive title.

[Lorendiac]

I haven't read the comic yet -- but shouldn't the thread title say "Week 30"?

[SuperScrounge]

I saw Buster Brown #1 and thought it was a collection of R. F. Outcault's comic strip.

Pirate's Gold - Okay, although I've heard that the skull & crossbones was flown when they would leave survivors, a red flag was used for "no quarter". Then again, Budd was hardly an honest man... I also wonder how he would have explained the disappearance of the two men who helped him bury the treasure to the others.

I'm A Little Tea Pot - Uhhhh... yeah... interesting to see the whole song rather than just the chorus, but eh.

Little Rabbit's Warpath - You realize, of course, that this means... oh, sorry, wrong rabbit. ;-) Okay story, nice art.

Pop Goes The Weasel - Same thoughts as the previous song.

Cobra Man - Finally a superhero story and... oh, wait... ;-) Not bad.

Polly Wolly Doodle - Same thought as the previous songs.

Buster Brown Theme Song - Well, I never heard that one before.

[MarkWarner]

Thank you it all now says week 30

[crashryan]

The features on the inside front and back covers refer to wartime rationing. Smilin' Ed's careful description of how to make shoes last is as interesting as the statement on the IBC that your shoe dealer might not be able to supply just the shoe you need but he'd "rather miss a sale than send you out in a shoe that is not right." A philosophy one doesn't find at WalMart.

The first story is an entertaining pirate adventure though it lifts a bit from other sources. Wasn't "Fifteen Men" invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for "Treasure Island"? Or is it really an old chantey? The boomerang is introduced rather awkwardly. We know it's going to save the day the moment we see it. Ed Ashe isn't a top name among artists, but he does a more than solid job here.

Speaking of old songs, until now I had no idea "I'm a Little Teapot" was a recent composition with credits and copyright. I must say the rest of the lyrics are pretty lame. No wonder only part of the chorus survives.

"Little Rabbit" tells a good story. It's interesting to note that there's a lot of killing in this comic; it's just bloodless. The art is quite serviceable though not very exciting. The script has one of those niggling errors that drives the proofreader in me nuts: the narration changes from present tense to past tense in mid-story.

"Pop Goes the Weasel": an old chantey. Years ago I read that the "weasel" was a shoemaker's tool.

"The Cobra Man" suffers from lack of mystery. The kids know right off that Anid is guilty, and only chance and coincidence put them into any danger. I find the captions addressed to the reader a bit off-putting: "Well, help is on the way, but will it arrive on time?" Sounds like the narrator in old-time kids' radio plays. Not surprising, I guess, considering this book ties into a radio show. Jack Sparling does an effective job on the art though he sloughs off the backgrounds as he did throughout his career.

"Polly Wolly Doodle": Come on, surely this song predates 1935!

"Buster Brown Theme Song": I did some preliminary searching and the song that came up as BB's "Theme" concerned "I got shoes, you got shoes." I tried this on my pianola and I wasn't impressed by the melody.

"Buster Brown Comics" got better as they went along, especially with the introduction of artists like Reed Crandall and Ray Willner. But this is an attractive introduction. The art is good and Hobart Donovan's stories are a cut above typical 1945 fare. I can see myself seeking out the next issue even if it meant going to the shoe store (as a kid I HATED going to the shoe store).

[malaprop]

Just found my copy of #1 (NN) about 6 months ago. Not an easy book to find.

[Lorendiac]

I liked "Little Rabbit," by and large, but I felt the kid was showing bad judgment at a critical point. When the enemy had captured Fighting Hawk, it seemed to me that Little Rabbit's top priority should have been to carry a warning to his own tribe as quickly as possible, since no one else was available to do so. Instead, he hung around to see if he could rescue Fighting Hawk from the Apaches, and then maybe they could make it back home together. I call that substituting "wishful thinking" for "tactics."

Fighting Hawk himself agreed with me, expressing the opinion that this was a lousy idea, but Little Rabbit thought he knew better than a veteran warrior.

Since they did, somehow, make it home without being caught, even though a caption says they didn't dare move their horses at anything faster than a walk, it all worked out pretty well, and thus Little Rabbit became a "hero" to his people  . . . but if they'd been caught because of the need to move so slowly for Fighting Hawk's sake, then there easily could have been heavy casualties among the Sioux side of this conflict when they were subsequently slammed by a sneak attack from the Apaches, and I'd say that the resulting body count among the Sioux largely would have been the fault of Little Rabbit for not bringing vital intelligence home as quickly as possible.

So what's the message here? "Kids, you can, in fact, do everything you want to, all at once, instead of needing to set priorities and grit your teeth as you concentrate on doing the most important thing first and letting other people take their chances sometimes. Even if 'older and wiser' heads try to tell you that you are overreaching, taking too many risks, just ignore them! When everything comes up roses, it will prove you were right all along!"

[bowers]

I've read several issues of Buster Brown, but not this one. Some surprisingly sophisticated stories for the young ones- bloodthirsty pirates, warriors of the plains, and some vicious cobra-men. A common thread running through all these tales is the children faced danger and, with courage, strength, and a bit of luck, saved the day. Just the sort of stuff a young lad would enjoy! The "Little Rabbit" story was a good example of a self-confident boy who followed his heart and refused to give up and leave a friend behind. Foolish? Of course! Brash and over-confident? Definitely! In the end, he was the hero, and all was well. Should he have left immediately to give the warning? Yes, if he was maturely considering the situation. What we must remember is that he was a child, and thought as a child, as did his readers. In the era these stories were written, children were not under so much pressure to grow up and be adults. They were allowed to be kids and dream their dreams. It didn't mean they were allowed to be rude, disobedient, and hostile. (Although some were!) It just meant they were allowed much more freedom to learn from their mistakes and act their age. As a kid I was a bit too young for Smilin' Ed's TV show, but a few years later Andy Devine took over and the show became "Andy's Gang". I was a huge fan, enjoying the adventure segment featuring Gunga-Ram and his elephant, as well as the antics of Froggy the gremlin. Really good kid's TV for the time.

[Philv]

I listened to an OTR episode of Buster Brown before I read this comic.  There wasn't too much tie in.  The inside cover showed an ad with Smilin' Ed.  He was the lead in the Buster Brown Show.  I'm assuming he did all the voices for the quirky characters.  In the show, it said to pick up your Buster Brown comic at the nearest shoe store.  So I guess they were complimentary.  I remember comics like that at Big Boy Restaurants growing up.

Just having watched Muppet's Treasure Island, I thought Pirate's Gold didn't stray too far from Stevenson's plot line.  Just having the pirates kill each other seems like a good strategy!

Little Rabbit's Warpath was bright and well drawn.  I agree with Lorendiac, little Rabbit should have gone far help.  Going back to save his friend was risky, but I guess it paid off.

Cobra Man was my favorite story.  The story line was predictable, but the little girl in peril made this the only story that had a little bit of suspense.  There was a lot of stabbing and cutting for a kids comic!

[sipseywilderness]

I remember the shoes  and the comics were only available if you bought a pair...at least where I lived. Most of the time they were out of the comics. This is only one store mind you in the 50s..I don't actually remember getting one of the comics but do remember getting the shoes.

[MarkWarner]

The book has an exciting cover and as it was free I'd have grabbed it out of my local shoe store. In this case the fourth Floor of Lipman Wolfe & Co. It starts with a nice letter from Smilin' Ed that tells me how to take care of my shoes. One of the good things about being an adult is I don't have to clean my shoes anymore, and I don