The early art of Walt Kelly -- "the Adventures of Peter Wheat" part one

Before the glory days of Pogo, Kelly was (along with John Stanley and Carl Barks) part of the great but nameless trio at Dell Comics that produced what are still widely considered the best children's comics ever made. It was around this time that Kelly wrote and drew a promotional comic book to be given away at bakeries. "The Adventures of Peter Wheat" should have been awful, but Kelly manages to pack considerable charm and a surprising amount of actual adventure into these stories.

For students of Kelly's art, Peter Wheat offers great examples of the artist's ability to anthropomorphize animals without simply making them people with funny ears and noses.

More adventures in intellectual property -- the other other Captain Marvel

Comic books have always been the badlands of intellectual property law, but even by the slack standards of the industry, MF Enterprises' Captain Marvel was exceptional.

The man behind the other other Captain Marvel was Carl Burgos, who had created the original Human Torch back in 1939. Burgos had tried to sue Marvel when the Fantastic Four came out with a reworked version of Burgos' Golden Age creation (an approach that Stan Lee and publisher Martin Goodman had appropriated, with remarkable if not acknowledged fidelity, from DC's Julius Schwarz).

Perhaps it was bitterness over the suit that prompted Burgos not only to name his character after arguably the most popular character of the Golden Age (the original Marvel's titles had often outsold even Superman), but to use the names of other famous comic book characters to fill out the book.

Despite Burgos' role and a seriously goofy power (you really have to see it), this magazine came and went almost unnoticed except, according to some comic historians, by Stan Lee who immediately brought out his own Captain Marvel as soon as MF dropped the title (despite the fact that the original Captain Marvel was not in the public domain). The land grab worked, which is why DC has the right to publish the Golden Age character but not to use his name in a title.

Somehow, I suspect that Burgos didn't get a lot of satisfaction out of this particular contribution to comics history.

(If all of this isn't weird enough for you, check out the story of the MF behind MF Enterprises... Strange, strange stuff.)

Uncharacteristically well-drawn but typically weird

Fantomah was an obscure Golden Age character remembered (if 'remembered' is the right word) for two things. The first is being a female superhero (defining the term broadly) who predated Wonder Woman. The second is her creator, Fletcher Hanks, a cult figure among comic book historians. Hanks was known for crudely drawn but sometimes memorable stories featuring strange images and dialogue and little suggestion of narrative logic.

Assuming Hanks is the artist (Barclay Flagg was a house name), this is one of his more professional looking efforts, but dropping lions on paratroopers is certainly the sort of thing he'd come up with.








Check out the size of the lion relative to the parachutes on page 36.

Extensive gunfire, multiple dead tough guys -- now that's Spillane

Another Mickey Spillane text story from Target Comics (vol. 3, num. 4)

Little LuLu meets Frankenstein

John Stanley should be on any list of the best comic book writers, particularly when discussing the often (and often justly) maligned area of dialogue. Stanley was, along with Walt Kelly and Carl Barks, one of the Dell triumvirate, three legendary talents who managed to turn the sugary dreck of kids' comics into sharp, smart, funny, medium-pushing stories.

So it's with no disrespect that I point out that Dick Briefer came up with this story idea more than a decade before Stanley. I don't know if this is a case of great minds thinking alike or another example of the old but still useful rule: immature writers borrow; mature writers steal.

Either way, both stories stand up wonderfully one their own. Check them out for yourself and make sure to leave yourself some time leaf through some other delights at Stanley Stories.

Life's too short not to.

Too dirty for Mippyvile...

But too good to miss. McEldowney originally conceived Pibgorn as newspaper strip to follow his successful 9 Chickweed Lane. One can only assume this particular gag would not have been included in this version.

Brooke's pushing the boundries again

And in a family newspaper, too.