I just started indexing the Philadelphia Record of the 1900s, primarily for the start and end dates of their long-running feature The Adventures of Willie Green by Harris Brown. I've never seen the strip before, just knew it existed from the reprint books cited in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. Well, now that I've seen a few of these strips I have to comment that I'm really blown away by the art, and show you an example. What a lovely style! Reminds me a bit of Herge's almost clinically clean linework.
Bonus on this example is that we get a look inside the Record's building (pretty darn elegant, eh?), and we have a visit with the paper's editorial cartoonist, John De Mar. Note that Harris still needs to learn about reversing camera angles, as panel 5 doesn't read properly. On the other hand, what a masterful little touch in panel 2 of having the clerk's word balloon peeking out from behind the partition.
Are there copies available somewhere of Harris Brown's 52 page book of the best of The Adventures of Willie Brown?
ReplyDeleteCopies of "Adventures of Willie Green" are very rare. "Adventures of Willie Brown", on the other hand, probably doesn't exist ;-)
ReplyDelete--Allan
Not sure that it will help but I currently have a 1915 copy of The adventures of Willie Green at my comic shop. If you need anything I am more then welcome to help provide pictures or info as long as it is still in the shop.
ReplyDelete