Hold on to your sombreros! SILLY SYMPHONIES, VOL. 4: 1942-1945 is coming in July 2019, collecting rare Disney comics featuring fan favorites José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles!
Episode 012 with special guest Bruce Canwell
Bruce Canwell and Kurtis Findlay are back for another episode of the Library of American Comics & EuroComics Podcast!
Bruce and Kurtis talk about the newly released Little Orphan Annie, Vol. 15: 1950-1951, take a look back at Jack Kent’s King Aroo, Vol. 1, and recall the secret origins of the Library of American Comics!
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November Nibbles Before Turkey-Day Gobbles
It’s an honor, but never a joyous task, to pen a remembrance for a luminary in this artform who has left us, as I recently did for Stan Lee. Thinking about Stan’s passing in the days that followed, it led me to wonder, “What upbeat comics milestones are attached to the month of November?” The 90th anniversary of the creation of Mickey Mouse is getting wide-spread — and justly deserved — recognition, but I found another handful of items that put a smile on my lips …
For instance, Sesame Street‘s inimitable Cookie Monster marks November 2nd as his birthday. Here he is, doing what he does best, in this 1973 installment of the Sesame Street newspaper strip:
Writer Alan Moore was born November 18, 1953. While his credits are many, varied, and often exceptionally fine, I have a sentimental fondness for his work with Steve Bissette and John Totleben (and sometimes Rick Veitch) on DC’s Swamp Thing.
Face Front, One Last Time
Though not unexpected, it is certainly sad to mark the passing of Stanley Martin Lieber, known the world over as Stan Lee, at age ninety-five.
“Silver Age Stan,” circa the mid-1970s
Much has already been written about Stan’s career while he was with us, and his obituary is appearing everywhere, including The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Comics Reporter, BBC News, and elsewhere.
I met Stan once, at a Boston convention, along with my good friend Mike Dudley. Stan was gracious to all, and personalized a bit of Fantastic Four memorabilia for Mike that had been previously autographed by both “King” Kirby and Joe Sinnott.
Stan in his later years, when the public-at-large knew him primarily through his movie cameo appearances.
And of course, in recent years I interviewed Stan in association with our own Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip collections. Stan was forthright and upbeat, and as we wrapped up our twenty-minute session he told me, “You’re a good interviewer, and I wish you a lot of a lot of luck with those books.” A cynic might say he was only being polite, but it was a pleasant moment for me, to have a man whose work brought me years of enjoyment give his brief connection with me a thumbs-up.
It’s natural to want to speak of one’s own brushes with a passing Great, but it also seems right to me to use this occasion to let The Man speak for himself. Here is Stan, on the Soapbox that was familiar to so many of us in our formative years, delivering a message at least as relevant today as it was when it was first published, almost a half-century ago:
Speaking for everyone at The Library of American Comics, our most sincere sympathies are extended to Stan’s surviving brother, Larry Lieber (himself just recently retired from drawing the Spider-Man newspaper comic), and Stan’s daughter, Joan (J.C.) Lee.
Rest in peace, Mr. Lee.
Still ESSENTIALly The Baron — and His Friends
This week I received an advance copy of the twelfth LOAC Essentials volume, which also completes our reprinting of Baron Bean. As a stone George Herriman fan, that made my entire week special! Fronted by an incisive introduction by Jared Gardner, this volume collects the 1918 strips that wrap up The Baron’s misadventures, aided and abetted (as usual) by his man-Friday, Grimes.
But the arrival of The Baron’s swan song gave me pause — yes, this book is the latest in the Essentials line, but it’s also the third in Baron Bean‘s distinguished, perhaps-too-short run. Since I shelve all my Essentials volumes together, should I arrange them in order of publication, which would sprinkle the Bean books throughout as the first, sixth, and twelfth of the series … or should I make a “mini-series” out of Baron Bean, grouping those three book together, and leaving the other Essentials standing side-by-side in publication order?
Giving it perhaps too much thought, I came up with a third option, hastily shuffled my Essentials into this order, and snapped a picture of it to share with you:
As you can see, the solution I’ve settled upon is to simply shelve my Essentials in by-year chronology. This has the benefits of keeping the three Baron Beans together, since they’re by far the earliest strips reprinted in the series, then grouping the remaining books in such a way so that common styles of each period are also grouped together (and styles did change, as the young artform matured and attracted new talent).
Looking at this arrangement we see two ends of the comic strip spectrum in 1929, with the family serials, epitomized by The Gumps, in the ultraviolet and the a’borning adventure features (represented by the first-ever Tarzan newspaper comic strip) in the infrared.
And how about that 1933? Family comedies move in zany new, often-Deco directions, thanks to Cliff Sterrett’s terrific Polly and Her Pals, while Dan Dunn debuts as part of a wave of hard-bitten crimebusters in the then-still-fresh Dick Tracy mold, while Alex Raymond elevates Tim Tyler’s Luck to new artistic heights before he leaves Lyman Young’s employ, striking out on his own on series like Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim, and what was that other one …? Oh, yes — Flash Gordon!
The years represented by only one Essentials volume are nevertheless well represented indeed — a slice of the classic Bungle Family (“Such crust!”) in 1930; a 1934 dose of Coconino Craziness from Herriman’s dear Kat; Alley Oop totally changing its narrative structure in ’39; and an end-of-the-War dose of Americana as only Edwina Dunn could do it with our collection of “Cap” Stubbs & Tippie (hurray!) circa 1945.
Looking at the Essentials-to-date in this manner gave me a fresh appreciation for the series. These little books pack a mighty historic punch!
I’m hoping you’re enjoying each release in this series as much as I am — and that you’ll be on the lookout for Baron Bean Volume 3, as it goes on sale very soon. Of course, we’d love to see photos of your comic strip collection, either in its entirety or focused on the LOAC subset of the whole. Feel free to send them to us via social media or Facebook!
Silver Age Superman Now in Stores!
SUPERMAN: The Silver Age Sundays – 1959-1963 is now in stores! Discover these rare Superman stories in this first of two volumes collecting these amazing Sundays scripted by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Wayne Boring. It’s the Man of Steel in his full Silver Age glory!
Larry Lieber, May Your Webs Never Wiggle!
Back after too long an absence: deadlines are implacable (just finished proofing galleys for Steve Canyon Volume 9, which is chock-full of terrific material) and some family commitments placed their demands upon me (including a wedding in my wife’s family, which took me out-of-state earlier this month) … but the crunch is over, so at last I have a chance to offer a hearty “Salute!” to Larry Lieber, who stepped down in September from penciling The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip after an incredible run that spans more than three decades. I’ve selected ten examples of Larry’s work on the wall-crawler’s newspaper adventures, grouped loosely by theme. Peter Parker’s far-famed bad luck is on display in these three strips from January of 1981 and July and October of 2001:
Episode 011 with special guest Wallace Ryan
Dean Mullaney and Kurtis Findlay are back for another episode of the Library of American Comics & EuroComics Podcast!
Dean and Kurtis are back to discuss this month’s releases, including Superman: The Silver Age Sundays, Vol. 1: 1959-1963, Enola Holmes, Vol. 1: The Case of the Missing Marquess, and Batman: The Silver Age Dailies complete 3-volume boxset! Plus, Kurtis talks to loyal LOAC supporter Wallace Ryan to talk about his life in the comic world and his LOAC complete collection!
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Episode 010 – Comic-Con Debrief
Dean Mullaney and Kurtis Findlay are back for another episode of the Library of American Comics & EuroComics Podcast!
Dean and Kurtis are back from a short break to talk about their Comic-Con experience! Plus, hear from fans at Comic-Con about why they love For Better or For Worse, and listen to clips of Dean Mullaney and Lynn Johnston from their Comic-Con panel appearances! Plus, Star Hawks! Star Wars! Corto Maltese! Quest of Ewilan! And we answer all of your questions!
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