Sunday, May 28, 2006
A Dink Shannon Self-Portrait
I mentioned Dink Shannon the other day in connection with his work on the resurrected Constable Hayrick feature. Today we have a rare self-portrait of our man Dink at work in 1901. The feature is a one-shot display of single-panel gags and it ran in the World Color Printing Sunday section. As far as I know, Shannon did his only syndicated cartooning work for this poor-man's Sunday section, where he started in 1901 and was one of the foundations of their success until he disappeared in early 1909.
Few comic strip fan have heard of any of Shannon's strips, but amongst the best and longest lasting were Mooney Miggles And The Magic Cap, Sammy Small and Mister Pest, Book Agent. If you look for Shannon's work, keep in mind that he often signed with just a four-leaf clover symbol.
The sample above has double the fun, because in addition to the delightful Dink self-portrait, the gags are all related to crazy inventions. Don't let anyone spoof you with the claim that Rube Goldberg invented the concept! Goldberg certainly took the idea to a new level of lunacy, but lots of cartoonists were plowing the same ground well before the great man.
Monday, May 02, 2016
Obscurity of the Day: Mr. Pest, Book Agent
Repetitive though they may be, you've got to hand it to the Sunday strips at the dawn of the last century for being full of action. And one of the masters of frenetic strips full of antic wackiness was Dink Shannon of World Color Printing. He certainly wasn't the greatest cartoonist from an academic standpoint, but his imagination, pacing and sense of humor more than make up for it.
Second only to Dink's bizarre masterwork, Mooney Miggles, still not yet featured here on the Stripper's Guide blog, Mr. Pest Book Agent is Shannon at the height of his powers. He obviously loved drawing the strip, and tried to shoehorn in as much action and pithy dialogue as could possibly fit in the space. He also brought himself and fellow World Color bullpenner Ed Goewey into the strip on occasion, as you can see in the top two samples, a sure sign that he revelled in penning this feature.
Mr. Pest Book Agent ran in the World Color Printing Sunday comic sections from April 9 1905 to June 24 1906. Thanks to Cole Johnson for the sample scans.
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
Shannon was a great cartoonist, it's a shame he is so overlooked today.
Back in those early days the "Book Agent", was a common figure in cartoons and jokes as indeed, a pest. The character would be modified later as the door-to-door salesman, nearly impossible to get rid of. They pretty much don't exist any more, in real life or in comics, except for the holdouts in Blondie.
Back in those early days the "Book Agent", was a common figure in cartoons and jokes as indeed, a pest. The character would be modified later as the door-to-door salesman, nearly impossible to get rid of. They pretty much don't exist any more, in real life or in comics, except for the holdouts in Blondie.
# posted by 
: 5/02/2016 10:59 AM
: 5/02/2016 10:59 AM 
As a cartoonist, I sympathized with the "It's come! The old, old story!" in re: the inevitable tale of the prodigy who "never took a lesson in his life".
Mr. Pest's unflappable nature and ability to come out on top through sheer perseverance definitely foreshadows silent comedian Raymond Griffith's film persona.
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Mr. Pest's unflappable nature and ability to come out on top through sheer perseverance definitely foreshadows silent comedian Raymond Griffith's film persona.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Obscurity of the Day: Dreamy Dave
No, Winsor McCay certainly wasn't first to take on the subject of dreams in comics, but Dreamy Dave will not tempt you to knock him off his pedestal as king of the dream comics.
Dave has an unfortunate habit of acting out his dreams in real life, which should afford us with an interesting different take on the subject of dreams. Unfortunately a lack of imagination leads to some pretty darn lame strips.
Dreamy Dave debuted on November 13 1904 in the World Color Printing Sunday section, in a series drawn by someone signing themselves what looks like 'Jarrant'*. I don't have any samples at hand of his version of the strip, but you can see them all over at Barnacle Press. The barely passable art of Jarrant reminds me somewhat of Dink Shannon's work, but why Shannon would have chosen to use a pseudonym on a couple strips in late 1904 is unknown.
The Jarrant version of Dreamy Dave only lasted until November 27, a mere three episodes. However, the series was soon resurrected by C.H. Wellington, who penned additional episodes from March 12 to June 25 1905. His version might have been a bit better drawn, but it was no more humorous. Eventually Wellington would be one of the brighter humorous lights on the comics page, but this was only his second pro series, and he was still learning his craft.
Thanks to Cole Johnson for the samples!
* Alex Jay can find no evidence of a cartoonist named Jarrant. Though this might lead a mere mortal to assume that Jarrant is indeed simply a pen-name, Mr. Jay is not so easily put off the scent. Trying other variations of the spelling, he does find a John Tarrant, who shared a studio with New York Journal cartoonist Gus Dirks in 1902 (right before Gus offed himself). Alex says he can find no evidence of this Tarrant being a cartoonist, working for a newspaper, or of having a St. Louis connection (as did many of the World Color Printing cartoonists), but it does leave the door open to the possibility. Thanks Alex!
Labels: Obscurities
Monday, July 04, 2011
Happy 4th of July!
Comments:
I notice that early comics for Christmas or Thanksgiving are also published two weeks before the holiday a lot of the time. Why is that?
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# posted by : 7/05/2011 10:08 AM
: 7/05/2011 10:08 AM Friday, May 26, 2006
Obscurity of the Day: Constable Hayrick The Rustic Sleuth
One of the earliest continuing features from my beloved World Color Printing was The Adventures of Constable Hayrick, The Rustic Sleuth. It started on 8/11/1901 in a comic section otherwise monopolized by one-shot strips and panels. As can be seen from our example, the art by one Albert Bloch (or Block, I've never been sure) is primitive as can be. The cartoonist (or perhaps the pressmen) didn't even know to leave the background white on the word balloons, so not only is the art amateurish, the entire presentation leaves a great deal to be desired.
The strip is pretty standard fodder for the time. Cartoonists in these early days seemed never to tire of spoofing the rural folk. A comic section without a dumb farmer or a cornfed fish out of water in the big city just wouldn't have seemed complete. Occasionally a cartoonist would get the bright idea of having the farm folk outsmart the city slickers, but even that turnabout was a pretty hackneyed concept by 1901. Bloch throws in the minor wrinkle of making his half-wit farmer a wannabe Sherlock Holmes, but doesn't really do anything all that interesting with the idea. Hayrick's sleuthing is mostly confined to outwitting farmboys stealing apples and giving hobo grifters the bum's rush out of town.
Bloch produced the Constable Hayrick strip pretty much every week, as well as contributing a lot of additional one-shot material to the section. But Bloch left the syndicate soon and Hayrick was put on ice after the episode of 10/6/1901. However, the feature was revived in 1902 by Dink Shannon, an excellent cartoonist. His stewardship lasted just three weeks, from 9/7 to 9/21/1902. The constable made one final appearance in the section of 10/12/1902, this time signed by Bloch again. My guess is that this is either a rerun from the first series or a leftover strip that never made it into the section back in 1901.
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
Allan,
Completely OT, I have talked to Kees Kousemakar of www.Lambiek.nl, which is quickly turning out to be the largest and most complete website devoted to comic art and artists. They have over 8.000 biographies of different artists from all over the world. I have urged him to contact you as well, because much of the information on your blog would be great for him to add. Contact me privately if you want me to make contact with him for you (or the other way around).
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Completely OT, I have talked to Kees Kousemakar of www.Lambiek.nl, which is quickly turning out to be the largest and most complete website devoted to comic art and artists. They have over 8.000 biographies of different artists from all over the world. I have urged him to contact you as well, because much of the information on your blog would be great for him to add. Contact me privately if you want me to make contact with him for you (or the other way around).
