[Robb_K]

Good morning or evening everyone! For this fortnight, I've decided for us to compare and contrast three Golden Age (1940s) comic books filled mainly with zany comedy stories that originated mainly in earlier newspaper comic strips.  The first, is Sparky Watts #7 (7th in a series of 10 books, after a long run in Columbia's "Big Shot Comics", and a story in Columbia's one-shot, "Columbia Comics".  it was written and drawn by eccentric cartoonist Gordon "Boody" Rogers, who had been working on newspaper comic strips since 1929.  The second, "Milt Gross Funnies", published by Ben Sangor's ACG, is #1 of only 2 issues.  It includes strip stories from his 1940s Hearst Syndicate papers.  The third is a one-shot book "Elmo Comics 1" by Cecil Jensen, published in 1948 by St. John Publishing.  Interesting that Elmo, the original star of the strip was dropped to a minor, cameo role after only 2 years, in favour of his foil, the young girl, Little Debbie.

Sparky Watts #7  -  Spring 1948


Sparky Watts #7 can be found here:  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39170

Milt Gross Funnies #1. -  August 1947


Milt Gross Funnies #1 can be found here:   https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=27448

Elmo #1  -  January 1948


Elmo #1 can be found here:    https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=76249

I hope you all will be entertained by the zany humour in these Golden Age books from my youth, and perhaps gain a few chuckles along the way.  I also hope we'll have a spirited discussion of the differences and similarities of the stories and zany or weird characters bestowed upon us these unconventional writer/artist cartoonists.  I look forward to read your comments.

[The Australian Panther]

Looking forward to this.

[Quirky Quokka]

Thanks Robb. I've never heard of any of these, but they look like fun. Good to have something lighter every now and again.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Sparky Watts #7


This was a new character for me. Robb said:

Sparky Watts #7 (7th in a series of 10 books, after a long run in Columbia's "Big Shot Comics", and a story in Columbia's one-shot, "Columbia Comics".

I didn't go back and look at Big Shot Comics, but I noticed that the 10 Sparky Watts books came out irregularly (two in 1942, one each in 1943 and 1944, then a gap of 3 years before going to two a year). So I wondered if these books contained new stories or were reprints of the comics that had been in Big Shot Comics or a mix of both? The reason I'm wondering, is because the first story in Issue 7 seems like an origin story, so what is it doing in No. 7? Though I guess it never hurts to recap (especially for people like me who aren't familiar with this character).

Cover

The cover immediately sets it up as a funny comic, though the actual gag isn't all that funny.

Story 1

An interview was a good way to get across the backstory. The art matches the humour, and there are also some little extras to spot. For example, in the third panel on p. 1, there's a framed picture of a boot on the wall, and we later find out why boots are significant for Slap Happy. On p. 2, it's funny that even baby Sparky has the same hairstyle and glasses as adult Sparky.

p. 4 - Gotta love an asbestos bib. If the blowtorch doesn't kill him, the asbestos will.
p. 6 - Good to know that radioactivity can heal broken bones. Um ...

Completely nonsensical, but a lot of imagination and good for a smile.

Story 2

It makes sense that a strong man such as Sparky would end up at the circus. Would have been a fun story at the time, but hard to look at the idea of a freak show with 21st century eyes. And kids, don't try stabbing people in order to get them to deflate! Will Miss Fuzwuz find love with a midget muscle man? We can only hope.

Story 3

No logical reason why Sparky would shrink when the cosmic rays wear off. That would seem to be a more likely occurrence if the rays had made him super big in the first place. But the premise did give the artist lots of scope for drawing some weird and wonderful bugs.

Ads - A bike that makes a racket? I bet that was popular with the parents. And how come only boys want the roar of a motorcycle while girls run away scared? And I wonder how many 'fat' people were scammed out of their hard-earned cash? Gotta love these old ads.

Overall - Some of the humour has of course dated (and some would now be politically incorrect), but it's a great snapshot of the time and showed a lot of imagination, especially in the art. I can see how this would have been fun at the time, and it brought me a couple of smiles. Thanks for selecting this one, Robb. It's not something I probably would have come across on my own.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Sparky Watts #7


This was a new character for me. Robb said:

Sparky Watts #7 (7th in a series of 10 books, after a long run in Columbia's "Big Shot Comics", and a story in Columbia's one-shot, "Columbia Comics".

I didn't go back and look at Big Shot Comics, but I noticed that the 10 Sparky Watts books came out irregularly (two in 1942, one each in 1943 and 1944, then a gap of 3 years before going to two a year). (1) So I wondered if these books contained new stories or were reprints of the comics that had been in Big Shot Comics or a mix of both? The reason I'm wondering, is because the first story in Issue 7 seems like an origin story, so what is it doing in No. 7? Though I guess it never hurts to recap (especially for people like me who aren't familiar with this character).

Cover

The cover immediately sets it up as a funny comic, though the actual gag isn't all that funny.

Story 1

An interview was a good way to get across the backstory. The art matches the humour, and there are also some little extras to spot. For example, in the third panel on p. 1, there's a framed picture of a boot on the wall, and we later find out why boots are significant for Slap Happy. On p. 2, it's funny that even baby Sparky has the same hairstyle and glasses as adult Sparky.

p. 4 - Gotta love an asbestos bib. If the blowtorch doesn't kill him, the asbestos will.
p. 6 - Good to know that radioactivity can heal broken bones. Um ...

Completely nonsensical, but a lot of imagination and good for a smile.

Story 2

It makes sense that a strong man such as Sparky would end up at the circus. Would have been a fun story at the time, (2) but hard to look at the idea of a freak show with 21st century eyes. And kids, don't try stabbing people in order to get them to deflate! Will Miss Fuzwuz find love with a midget muscle man? We can only hope.

Story 3

(3) No logical reason why Sparky would shrink when the cosmic rays wear off. That would seem to be a more likely occurrence if the rays had made him super big in the first place. But the premise did give the artist lots of scope for drawing some weird and wonderful bugs.

Ads - A bike that makes a racket? I bet that was popular with the parents. And (4) how come only boys want the roar of a motorcycle while girls run away scared? And I wonder how many 'fat' people were scammed out of their hard-earned cash? Gotta love these old ads.

Overall - Some of the humour has of course dated (and some would now be politically incorrect), but it's a great snapshot of the time and showed a lot of imagination, especially in the art. I can see how this would have been fun at the time, and it brought me a couple of smiles. Thanks for selecting this one, Robb. It's not something I probably would have come across on my own.
Cheers
QQ   

(1) Sparky Watts was a syndicated newspaper comic strip in 44 US newspapers during the early 1940s.  It ran from early 1940 through most of 1942, when Rogers was drafted into The US military.  From Issue #13 in May 1941 through 1945, they were reprinted in standard comic book format in Columbia's "Big Shot Comics".  When Rogers returned from his wartime service, he started writing and drawing new "Sparky Watts" stories, which continued his run in "Big Shot Comics", and in his own Columbia, "Sparky Watts" Comics, the first 6 of which had been newspaper reprints, and the last 4 issues of which were filled with completely new stories.  The "origin story" in Sparky Watts #7 is completely new, but uses "highlight scenes" from the  newspaper strip/Big Shot Comics' most memorable stories.

(2)  Freak shows were frowned upon by lots of people during the early '40s, including my family members.  But the 1932 film, "Freaks" was still a very popular filler "B" film for kids Saturday matinee several-hour shows at the movie houses in USA and Canada when I was a kid in the late '40s and early '50s.   
And there were still travelling carnivals in rural areas that had freak shows, back then. 

(3) Yes, this was a not even remotely plausible way to bring in a very nice comedic-looking "World" in which the artist could draw some very funny-looking characters, which could do just about anything, because they were supposed to have been microscopic, and most lay people weren't experts on what real microscopic life looked like at that time.  Before TV in every home, and The Internet, people could use their imaginations a lot more than they do now.  I imagine the Sci-Fi fans, who enjoyed reading about and seeing portrayals of Space Aliens liked these "microscopic World stories" of Sparky Watts best of Rogers' productions.

(4) Having the girls run away scared is a bit far fetched.  But the idea that only the boys would like to have noise-makers on their bicycles to imitate motorcycles isn't far from the truth.  Back then, only rebellious "tomboys" would want to do that.  As I recall, most parents were fairly or oppressively strict with their girls, teaching them that "well-behaved (e.g. "good girls") don't make excessive noise.  They are, rather, polite. quiet, well-behaved, playing quietly, and much more punished for getting their clothes dirty engaging in "rough activities".  We boys were also punished for getting our good clothes dirty.  But it seemed to me that we had a little more leeway with our "casual clothing" (blue jeans and T-shirts).  Many girls I knew hardly had "any " casual clothing.  Their mothers were always showing them off as "little ladies".  The boys who were ages 7 to 10, who would like their bicycles to make noise, would be chastised by the the most outspoken 7-10 year old girls for being "babyish".

[Quirky Quokka]

(1) Sparky Watts was a syndicated newspaper comic strip in 44 US newspapers during the early 1940s.  It ran from early 1940 through most of 1942, when Rogers was drafted into The US military.  From Issue #13 in May 1941 through 1945, they were reprinted in standard comic book format in Columbia's "Big Shot Comics".  When Rogers returned from his wartime service, he started writing and drawing new "Sparky Watts" stories, which continued his run in "Big Shot Comics", and in his own Columbia, "Sparky Watts" Comics, the first 6 of which had been newspaper reprints, and the last 4 issues of which were filled with completely new stories.  The "origin story" in Sparky Watts #7 is completely new, but uses "highlight scenes" from the  newspaper strip/Big Shot Comics' most memorable stories.

(2)  Freak shows were frowned upon by lots of people during the early '40s, including my family members.  But the 1932 film, "Freaks" was still a very popular filler "B" film for kids Saturday matinee several-hour shows at the movie houses in USA and Canada when I was a kid in the late '40s and early '50s.   
And there were still travelling carnivals in rural areas that had freak shows, back then. 

Thanks for the extra info about Sparky Watts, Robb. That explains why there's an origin story in #7. Also helpful for those who might not have read the newspaper strip.

Regarding freak shows, I remember being incredibly moved when I first saw the movie 'The Elephant Man', based on the life of Joseph (John) Merrick. I'm not sure how much poetic licence they took with the story, but in the movie, he was rescued from a freak show run by a cruel owner. That was set in Victorian times though. Although a kindly doctor rescued him, he was still an oddity, as members of Victorian Society started inviting him to tea so they could meet the strange man. It must have been terrible for anyone in those days who was a bit different. More recently, I saw 'The Greatest Showman' based on the life of P. T. Barnum. Again, I'm not sure how much poetic licence they took, but there was a bit of different spin on it in the movie. Barnum treated his 'unusual' people well and provided a means of employment when no one else would.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

[Sparky Watts #7 can be found here]  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39170

There is now a collection of Boody Rogers available.   

Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers
https://www.comicsreview.co.uk/nowreadthis/2018/07/31/boody-the-bizarre-comics-of-boody-rogers-2/

a comic named "Sparky Watts' promises an electrifying good time.
I like the price tied on to the monkeys tail.
Story #!
He's right, you do walk 'forth and back.'
Roger's Sharp mind deals with some of the reasons I find 'the Flash' impossible to take  seriously.
"If it wasn't for my big anchors we'd be pulled along behind him, because when Sparky starts the suction is terrific' - " When he's going at full speed it takes plenty of space to stop............" 
It's clear that although Rogers is an excellent visual artist, his humour is primarily verbal. And he had a very sharp and ironical mind. Twisted logic - in a positive way, 
Story #2
"He could taste ice-cream for 10 minutes before it hit bottom." "This is Texas, the world's largest midget!
Who thinks like that?  Oh, yeah - Spike Milligan.
Story #3
Here we see Rogers visual chops in play and more twisted logic. So verbal and visual gags.
Great stuff - thanks Robb!

,

[Quirky Quokka]

Milt Gross Funnies #1

Cover - The cover immediately sets it up as a funny comic and gives us a bit of an insight into the characters (i.e., Pop a little strange, the son who's proud of his Pop, the wife who tries to support him and the mother-in-law who doesn't like him). Though why is painting a moustache on a model on a billboard an example of 'meaning well'? Or did he just accidentally mess it up? So I don't really 'get' the cover gag.

Ad for Hi-Jinx - Of course it's no surprise that the publisher would promote others in their stable. But if Hi-Jinx is the 'greatest funny book that ever hit the stands', then the Milt Gross book we're holding mustn't be as funny. 

The one-page intro and the other one-pagers

It makes sense to have a page at the beginning that explains the characters. However, the paragraph right at the bottom of the page is the actual start of the story, which seems a little unusual. A lot of people would miss that and go straight to the first page of the comic, though that probably wouldn't matter.
I was also surprised by the one-page 'Well!! What D'Ya Know!' section in the middle, which is basically a recap of the story we're currently reading. It seems like an unnecessary addition unless this was originally a two-parter and this is the recap. Did they include this to meet the requirements for a short story to make it eligible for mailing as an educational magazine? The one-page at the end makes more sense, as it's sort of an epilogue. Though again I wondered why they resorted to a one-page story rather than just continuing with the comic book format, unless it was to do with educational status.

The comic book story

The story is fairly corny by today's standards, but creates a smile. I'm not sure whether Pop is lazy or just hapless, but he has a heart of gold in being willing to forgo his picnic ticket so that he can get his son a baseball uniform. He's even nice to the horrible mother-in-law. I did get a bit confused when Doc calls him Pop as well. I thought that was his name because his son called him Pop. Lots of opportunity for sight gags. Who wouldn't be more comfortable typing on a bicycle? (p. 18)  They also included a lot of funny names (e.g., Miss Spinwangle). I'm almost afraid to ask, but what does the mother-in-law mean when she says 'He'll probably try to borrow a quarter and queer us?' (p. 33)

The art has a unique style, with a more subtle colour palette than some from this era. The layouts were also interesting (e.g., sometimes using framing and other times not). Lots of visual gags, such as La Mariposa springing off into the wild blue yonder.

Overall - It's a fun comic, though Robb mentioned it only had two issues. I think the premise would be hard to keep going indefinitely. I think the gag would wear thin after a while, so maybe that's why it didn't have a long run. It might have been better if Pop had one crazy invention each issue and that was the point of the story. Or a couple of stories in the same book.

Army Patch ad - What boy wouldn't want to wear a Nazi patch on his jacket? Um ...

An interesting selection, Robb.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Roger's Sharp mind deals with some of the reasons I find 'the Flash' impossible to take  seriously.
"If it wasn't for my big anchors we'd be pulled along behind him, because when Sparky starts the suction is terrific' - " When he's going at full speed it takes plenty of space to stop............" 

Oh dear, Panther!  The Flash is one of my favourites. I have the first volume of his Silver Age Comics and recently bought the 80th anniversary volume. Okay, it is far-fetched, but for some reason it doesn't bother me. Gotta love a fast man in a red suit who continually saves the world 

And re Sparky Watts, I liked the price in the balloon held by the monkey's tail too. Such a little thing, but a nice touch.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Not many responses!  Where is everybody???  I guess they're preparing for the Canada Day and US Independence Day, and Bastille Day celebrations!   

[Quirky Quokka]

Not many responses!  Where is everybody???  I guess they're preparing for the Canada Day and US Independence Day, and Bastille Day celebrations!   

Which might explain why the Australians have responded 

[Robb_K]

Not many responses!  Where is everybody???  I guess they're preparing for the Canada Day and US Independence Day, and Bastille Day celebrations!   

Which might explain why the Australians have responded ?

Well, The King's Birthday and Western Australia Day were both much earlier in June than when this thread started, so, unless people had long 2-week hangovers, there should have been no effect.  But, The UK had John The Baptist Day (Summer Solstace) so all the Druids and Wicker Folk, and people who'll use any excuse to drink might have been unavailable for a day or two.  Still, they should have been around and sober by June 23.  Or, perhaps they are on summer holiday vacation trips.  Or, maybe they're just not fans of cartoony zany comedy.  My sister's birthday is July 4th, so, I'll be out of commission that day, and also we'll celebrate Canada Day on July 1st.

[The Australian Panther]

The whole of CB+, as I pointed out earlier, has been quite for at least a month.   

cheers!

[Robb_K]

The whole of CB+, as I pointed out earlier, has been quite for at least a month.   

cheers!

Has been quite........ what?  Quite quiet?   Quite missing? 

Does this happen every summer?  I don't remember this much absenteeism last summer or the one before.  Maybe it would be normal, but The Pandemic kept people at home the past few summers before this one, and now they feel safe to travel again to different regions and countries, or just spend the days out in the countryside?

[SuperScrounge]

Sparky Watts #7

1st story
Just a clip show.  Cute. Nice recap of how Sparky and company got their abilities so newcomers are caught up.

2nd story
Okay, but I turned the last page expecting a bit more and realizing that the story has ended, so a bit of an abrupt ending.

3rd story
Well, the artist had fun making up weird looking beasties. Okay story.

Not bad, but not as wild as some Sparky Watts stories can get.

[SuperScrounge]

It ran from early 1940 through most of 1942, when Rogers was drafted into The US military.

I read somewhere that he just disappeared and his syndicate didn't know what had happened to him until he let them know he was in the army.

Not many responses!  Where is everybody???

Well, the end of the month is when I edit my club's newsletter, but additionally, my dad's in the hospital and hospital visits eat up a bunch of time.

[The Australian Panther]

Robb wrote:-

Has been quite........ what?  Quite quiet?   Quite missing?   

Oops! my dyslexia showing is. 

[Quirky Quokka]

Not many responses!  Where is everybody???

Well, the end of the month is when I edit my club's newsletter, but additionally, my dad's in the hospital and hospital visits eat up a bunch of time.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, SuperScrounge. Hope all goes well.

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

Milt Gross Funnies #1

This one just left me cold. I just didn't care for any of the characters or what happened to them, aside from liking it when the father stood up for his son. While being part of the story, the first text page didn't really add anything to the story. The second text page did at least provide an additional ending to the story that tied in with the overall story, although one wonders why the events couldn't have been drawn.

[SuperScrounge]

Sorry to hear about your Dad, SuperScrounge. Hope all goes well.

Thanks! 

He got out of the hospital a few days ago and is in a rehabilitative facility (not sure of the proper term) where they are supposed to be helping strengthen his muscles so he can walk easier and come back home. He didn't get much exercise with his extended bed rest. He turned 88 yesterday.

[Robb_K]

Sorry to hear about your Dad, SuperScrounge. Hope all goes well.

Thanks! 

He got out of the hospital a few days ago and is in a rehabilitative facility (not sure of the proper term) where they are supposed to be helping strengthen his muscles so he can walk easier and come back home. He didn't get much exercise with his extended bed rest. He turned 88 yesterday.

Sorry to hear that your father was in hospital.  But, I'm glad he is well enough to leave, and is recovering in a rehabilitation centre.  I hope he recovers back to normal quickly, and returns home.

[SuperScrounge]

Elmo Comics #1

Dogcatcher's Date
Okay text story.

Elmo story
Uhhhh... reading this I wondered how it got approved and if the creator was related to the newspaper owner. Looking up info on the cartoonist I see he was the editorial cartoonist and to quote The Comics Journal:

Jensen created the strip in response to a challenge from his executive editor, Basil (Stuffy) Walters, to whom Jensen had confided that “the comics in the News smell.” To which Walters responded: “All right—you draw a strip.” And so Jensen did.

Which makes me wonder about the other comics that were running before Elmo. I won't say it's a bad comic, the art's okay, the tone is genial, once in a while there is something amusing, but that's about it. I just have trouble caring about a character as dumb as Elmo is.

Oddly enough some online places list Debbie as Elmo's sister which isn't true in this comic, but years after Elmo disappearing from the strip the author brought Elmo back retconned as Debbie's brother. Weird. The story of the comic is more interesting than this collection.

[SuperScrounge]

Sorry to hear that your father was in hospital.  But, I'm glad he is well enough to leave, and is recovering in a rehabilitation centre.  I hope he recovers back to normal quickly, and returns home.

Thanks! 

It's funny, I help my dad when he needs to go shopping and he loves talking to people and the last time I was at the store several workers at the store said, "Tell your dad we hope he gets better!" He has a lot of friends who want to see him up and about again. 

[The Australian Panther]

Scrounge,
I hope your Dad gets back on his feet and can come back home - and I'm glad that you want him to.
There is no better place to be when you are getting old, if you are loved, than home.

[lyons]

Hi Scrounge - Sorry to hear that your father was hospitalized and is now recovering at a rehabilitation facility.  Hope your Dad's health improves quickly and he comes home soon.