Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Obscurity of the Day: Languid Leary and his Wonderful Tomato Can
What more really needs to be said than Best Comic Strip Title Ever!
Languid Leary and his Wonderful Tomato Can came from the fertile pen of Walter "Brad" Bradford in his early days at the Chicago Tribune. Although long-forgotten, Brad is on my short list of the funniest cartoonists ever. Every pen stroke and every word is pregnant with comedic genius.
Languid Leary is a play on the old Aladdin tale with a tatterdemalion standing in for Aladdin and an empty tomato can for the lamp. Only Brad could be so inspired and then follow through with just a few hilarious strips on the subject, then throw it away in favor of his next big idea. Brad was no slave to continuity either, as we note in the final strip that Leary has turned into a typical commuter for Brad's skewering of Chicago's north side trolley service.
Languid Leary and his Wonderful Tomato Can ran in the Trib from January 5-26 1902. Cheers and applause to Cole Johnson, who provided the gems above.
Labels: Obscurities
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Herriman Saturday
Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons
Friday, September 03, 2010
Obscurity of the Day: The Family Foursome
Not sure why Murat "Chic" Young elected to do a strip about golf for his topper but this one was about a links-mad family. The example above, provided by Steven Stwalley (thanks Steve!) doesn't show the golfing angle, but how about that decapitation scene, eh? Can't believe that wasn't done 'off-stage'! Some syndicate editor was sleeping on the job the day that crossed his desk.
It is probable that Alex Raymond did some ghosting or at least assisting work on the topper, though I see no really solid evidence of it on this example. I'm also told by Alberto Becattini that the venerable Bud Counihan also did assisting on the Sundays during this period (that iceman looks sort of Counihan-ish to me).
I should take this opportunity to mention some pretty exciting Blondie news ... well, exciting to historians anyway. The 'official' starting date of the Blondie strip has long been cited as September 8 1930, but after trying to verify that date for many years and coming up empty, I have contended that September 15, the start date found in several papers, was more likely to be correct. However, when IDW and Dean Mullaney decided to do a reprint book of Blondie that began from the start he delved further into the question and finally found paydirt in, of all places, the Wisconsin News, where the strip did indeed begin on 9/8. Congratulations on that important find Dean! Unfortunately now that casts doubt on my Sunday start date of 9/21. It would seem more likely that the first Sunday, then, was on 9/14. Has anyone seen that Sunday?
Labels: Obscurities
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Obscurity of the Day: Peter Pumpkin
Charles M. Payne was one of the most prolific cartoonists of early newspaper comics, so it surprised me to find that I haven't covered any of his work yet here on the blog. Let's correct that omission now with a short-lived entry that he penned for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Pumpkin.
In the 1900s and early teens Payne worked mostly for the Inquirer and the New York World; later he worked for King and then Bell Syndicate. His main claim to fame is his series S'Matter, Pop, which ran from 1911-1940. Payne was able to out-produce his fellow cartoonists by the simple expedient of omitting backgrounds from his panels. His characters usually floated in mid-air and props were kept to a bare minimum. His breezy, sketchy style was both fast to draw and eye-catching in the days when cross-hatching and fussy art were the norm.
Peter Pumpkin, a pleasant enough series in which a globe-headed smart kid gets bested by the common sense of his companions, ran from July 16 to November 5 1911.
Payne's later life is a rather tragic story, but it will have to wait for some other post, or a helpful commenter, since I've run out of time today -- got to go do real life stuff!
Labels: Obscurities
