So It Seems looks and reads like nothing so much as a Mad magazine feature. Perhaps if it had appeared in Mad, rather than the daily comics page, we'd still be reading endless reprints of it, like The Lighter Side Of. As it is, the feature may not have even completed its first year. So It Seems was initially credited to Lou Cameron when its run started on March 3, 1952, but was signed by Sy Grudko starting on September 15 of that year. The feature lasted until at least February 1953, but not much longer (anyone have an end date?)*.The paper from which these samples were taken continued displaying the Lou Cameron credit after 9/13, but I'm assuming that they just failed to update their boilerplate text.
* Update 3/6/2019: Art Lortie supplies a definitive end date of 3/21/1953 based on the Brooklyn Eagle.
This one is very unique and clever!!
ReplyDeleteMay we see more some day??
I agree with John! The date makes it even more special. This form of satire (statement plus samples), now so well known from Feldstein's Mad (Kurtzman never used this style, except in his own earlier Varsity series) was not widely seen anywhere before Mad. Although I have researched a lot of humor magazines from the thirties and fifties and have found many styles of satire that have influenced both Feldstein and Kurtzman, 'statement lus samples' was not a regular staple and I really have to bend the definition to actually find even a few.
ReplyDeleteThe Cameron/Grudko connection makes it even more interesting to comic fans. Was there a period they worked togetehr on it? Do the styles match?
Hi Ger -
ReplyDeleteYour comment would seem to indicate that you're familiar with Cameron and Grudko. I've never heard of these guys - were they known outside of strips, maybe in comic books?
As to art styles, I only say the transition on microfilm, and don't recall seeing much of a change.
--Allan
I see your answer a bit late, but Lou Cameron and Sy Grudko were comic book artists indeed. Camron ahs quite a healthy career and reputation in B-books and in factt, the reason I am revisiting this, is Roy thomas is doing something on him in an upcoming issue of Alter Ego and wanted some samples. I had forgotten te Grudko connection. Here's what Doc V. says about him on Atlas Tales: He started in the Timely bullpen in 1947 and pencilled until the staff was let go. He was not a top of the line artist by
ReplyDeleteany means but another of the grunts who churned out product to keep the
books filled. He does have wonderful stories of his bullpen days though,
and that's what's important to me. A very nice man. His debut for Timely
was a 2-page Human Torch filler he pencilled and inked as a try-out for Stan
Lee. He says it was printed somewhere but I'm not positive. There is a 2-
page filler in a late (last?) issue of the golden-age Torch run. I've never
seen it though.
Doc V
Sy Grudko could be Seymour Grudko, born in 1927, though without signatures for comparison, there’s not much else to go on:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fold3.com/image/695258192?terms=grudko
- Daniel
I discovered this comic strip last week when doing research on another topic and found it in an issue of the Paterson, New Jersey "Evening News." This led me to find details about it. The concept about how one sees oneself and the perspectives of three others is really clever. It is a shame it ran for so short a time.
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