Tales from the Great Book

By the 1920s, comic strips were apparently a mature enough bit of newspaper content that they could be trusted to offer serious content. This was when the story strips really got going, and factual and educational strips began to be offered and become popular with readers. 

One of the last realms to be conquered was religion, but biblical stories in comic strip form began being offered in this decade, too, though not with any notable popularity. The idea with these strips seemed to be to ingratiate the newspaper with religious folks, or at least to enliven their Saturday church pages. Quite a few were tried, and some lasted many years, but none exactly set the newspaper world on fire.

No religious strip made any real dent in the syndication world until 1954, when John Lehti convinced Publishers Syndicate that his version of a bible strip would sell big. What was different about it? Well, a combination of ideas coalesced to make Tales from the Great Book a hit. First, it was a very colourful and well-drawn Sunday, not a weekly black and white strip as many had been before. Second, while scrupulously researched, Lehti picked his stories for their ability to translate into exciting graphic narratives. Third, he kept his stories short, rarely more than eight or so episodes, so that the stories moved along and didn't get bogged down in lots of speeches and philosophizing. Fourth, he told stories that weren't the endlessly repeated stuff like Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, and so on; readers were presented with stories that many of them didn't already know. Finally, Lehti stuck to the Old Testament so that both Christians and Jews would feel comfortable with the material. 

Here is the article announcing the new strip in Editor & Publisher, March 20, 1954:

Tales From The Bible For Sunday, In Color

By Mather Wallis

 A Sunday release from Publishers Syndicate dealing with great biblical stories is due to make its initial appearance March 21. To be done for color comics sections by John Lehti, ‘Tales from the Great Book” will deal with episodes from such stories as Samson, Joshua and the Walls of Jericho, and Daniel. Plans call for them to appear in that order. Mr. Lehti said titles beyond that re somewhat tentative.

The creator of this feature, who lives with his wife and daughter in Syosset, N. Y., did “Tommy of the Big Top” from 1946 to 1950. A member of the 104th Infantry Division during the war, and wounded in action, Mr. Lehti said he has had the idea for this work in mind for about six years.

 “I’m really keyed up about this,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of biblical and archeological research under my belt, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it. The reason I wanted to do it is not just for the story value, and these stories are the basis for all literature, but to show the feelings of people and how they did things in those days — how they cooked, what they wore, what kinds of door hinges they had on their houses.”

 Prior to service in World War II Mr. Lehti did. as he put, “a little of everything, but mostly advertising art.” For this new feature he said he has been doing “a lot of heavy research for the past six years.

 Born in 1912, Mr. Lehti studied at the Beaux Arts Institute, the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. Some of his New York sketches have appeared at the Modern Museum of Art. His wife is Jean Tighe, radio and television singer, and he is the grandson of Johann Gustave Lehtinen, chapel designer in Finland and later founder of one of the first Finnish language newspapers in the United States.

 The style of ‘Tales from the Great Book” is clean but immensely detailed with great attention being devoted to dress, artifacts and the tools of war.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

Above, sample strips from the first 1954 story and the final 1972 story

Lehti's strip was practically an instant success. It ran from March 21 1954 and ended April 16 1972. During that time Lehti's art style changed a bit, but never for the worse. It was consistently one of the most attractive strips in the comics section. He is known to have had at least one assistant, Sid Couchey. 

It is unknown why Tales from the Great Book was cancelled in 1972, but Lehti still saw a clientele for it. He reworked the old material and came up with a new feature he titled Facts About the Bible; the new feature was black and white and was marketed mainly to smaller papers. According to Lehti's daughter, he prepared ten years worth of weekly material, and it was known to have been still in circulation in reprints until quite recently. 

Here is a complete list of the stories serialized in Tales from the Great Book. Though several titles were reused, as far as I can tell the only story that was actually re-run was Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream, in 1961 and '71. Apparently the end of syndication came unexpectedly, because a new story (Joshua And The Promised Land) was announced to follow Zechariah a Young Prophet.

Saga Of Samson	03-21-1954	04-18-1954
Joshua Marches on Jericho	04-25-1954	06-06-1954
Young Daniel's Faith	06-13-1954	09-05-1954
King Saul and the Witches of  Endor	09-12-1954	10-24-1954
Joash the Boy King	10-31-1954	12-19-1954
The Tower of  Babel	12-26-1954	01-16-1955
The Unselfish Love of Ruth	01-23-1955	03-20-1955
The Little Captive Maid	03-27-1955	04-17-1955
Moses and Miriam	04-24-1955	06-19-1955
Young David	06-26-1955	07-31-1955
Jonah and the  Whale	08-07-1955	09-25-1955
Deborah's  Triumph	10-02-1955	11-27-1955
Samuel and the Voice	12-04-1955	12-11-1955
The Shepherd's First Christmas	12-18-1955	12-25-1955
Samson and the Philistines	01-01-1956	02-12-1956
Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness	02-19-1956	04-01-1956
Joseph's Loyalty	04-08-1956	07-08-1956
Joshua's Double Battle	07-15-1956	09-02-1956
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba	09-09-1956	09-30-1956
Abraham's Obedience	10-07-1956	10-28-1956
Daniel and the Wizards	11-04-1956	12-09-1956
Cain and Abel	12-16-1956	12-30-1956
David and Goliath	01-06-1957	03-10-1957
Rahab	03-17-1957	05-12-1957
Noah's Ark	05-19-1957	06-30-1957
Samson and the Gates of Gaza	07-07-1957	09-01-1957
Ruth and Boaz	09-08-1957	10-27-1957
Solomon Asks for Wisdom	11-03-1957	11-24-1957
Moses the Egyptian Prince	12-01-1957	02-02-1958
Elisha Saves Two Boys From Slavery	02-09-1958	03-16-1958
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego	03-23-1958	06-01-1958
Jacob Wrestles with an Angel	06-08-1958	06-29-1958
Joshua Battles the Five Kings	07-06-1958	09-28-1958
Esther-How She Became a Queen	10-05-1958	11-23-1958
David and his Harp	11-30-1958	12-28-1958
Samson and Delilah	01-04-1959	04-05-1959
Joseph's Brotherly Love	04-12-1959	07-05-1959
Daniel in the Lion's Den	07-12-1959	08-30-1959
Solomon and the Two Mothers	09-06-1959	09-27-1959
Moses the Egyptian Prince (different version)	10-04-1959	12-06-1959
David and Saul	12-13-1959	02-07-1960
Mordecai	02-14-1960	04-10-1960
The Sword of Gideon	04-17-1960	07-17-1960
Moses' Flight From Egypt	07-24-1960	10-09-1960
Jonah's Lesson	10-16-1960	01-08-1961
Joshua's Victory	01-15-1961	03-19-1961
Elijah and the Priests of Baal	03-26-1961	05-28-1961
Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream	06-04-1961	07-23-1961
David's Fighting Courage	07-30-1961	10-08-1961
Moses in Midian	10-15-1961	11-26-1961
Daniel and the Handwriting on the Wall	12-03-1961	02-18-1962
Jacob's  Toil	02-25-1962	06-17-1962
Elijah and the Angel	06-24-1962	08-05-1962
Moses and the Burning Bush	08-12-1962	09-02-1962
The King and the Arrows	09-09-1962	11-11-1962
David Outlawed by Saul	11-18-1962	02-24-1963
Joshua and the Giants	03-03-1963	06-16-1963
Gehazi's Wrongdoing	06-23-1963	09-08-1963
Moses' Return to Egypt	09-15-1963	11-03-1963
David an Outlaw	11-10-1963	02-23-1964
The Blind Prophet	03-01-1964	04-26-1964
Jephthah	05-03-1964	09-06-1964
Jeremiah	09-13-1964	12-27-1964
David and his Army of Outlaws	01-03-1965	05-09-1965
Othniel's Triumph	05-16-1965	08-15-1965
The Evil Sons of Eli	08-22-1965	10-24-1965
Moses and the Plagues of Egypt	10-31-1965	02-27-1966
The Evil King	03-06-1966	05-22-1966
David and his Army of Outlaws (2nd version)	05-29-1966	08-28-1966
Elijah's Mantle	09-04-1966	11-06-1966
Moses and the Red Sea	11-13-1966	01-29-1967
Samuel and Saul	02-05-1967	06-11-1967
Evil Haman	06-18-1967	10-22-1967
David and Saul	10-29-1967	01-14-1968
Nehemiah and the Wall	01-21-1968	06-16-1968
Abraham's Battle with the Five Kings	06-23-1968	09-01-1968
The Shunammite's Son	09-08-1968	01-05-1969
Moses In The Wilderness	01-12-1969	02-16-1969
David and his Outlaw Army (3rd version)	02-23-1969	05-11-1969
A Bride for Isaac	05-18-1969	08-17-1969
Isaiah's Promise	08-24-1969	10-19-1969
Moses in the Wilderness	10-26-1969	12-28-1969
David Among the Philistines	01-04-1970	03-15-1970
Abram in Egypt	03-22-1970	07-05-1970
Death of a King	07-12-1970	11-01-1970
Signs of a Prophet	11-08-1970	12-13-1970
Moses' First Battle in the Wilderness	12-20-1970	03-07-1971
Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream (reprint)	03-14-1971	05-02-1971
Amos the Shepherd Turned Prophet	05-09-1971	08-08-1971
The Greedy Servant	08-15-1971	10-24-1971
Moses and Jethro	10-31-1971	12-12-1971
David Becomes King	12-19-1971	02-13-1972
Zechariah a Young Prophet	02-20-1972	04-16-1972