Number 269
Oona Goosepimple and the Yo-Yo Mirrors
Somebody should reprint the John Stanley issues of Dell Comics' Nancy,* done in the late 1950s and early '60s. The Little Lulu reprints seem to be doing well, and no reason why the same people buying them wouldn't want Stanley's Nancy. Like Lulu--created by Marge Buell--Stanley took Nancy--created by Ernie Bushmiller--and turned her into his own character. Stanley was a writer whose signature style was so clear you can always tell one of his stories, if only by looking for panels of someone yelling "YOW!" or "OW!" in large letters.
Oona Goosepimple was a character most likely inspired by Charles Addams. I own four issues of Nancy and Sluggo with these stories and they follow a pattern: Nancy is invited to Oona's, does not want to go, through some mysterious force ends up there anyway, then has an adventure from which she barely escapes. In this hilarious story from Nancy and Sluggo #175, March-April 1960, she encounters the Yo-Yo funhouse mirrors. Stanley was at his most creative when it came to these strange and bizarre, funny little stories.
*UPDATE: Somebody did, about a year after this was posted. Drawn and Quarterly is the publisher. As of February 2015 the Nancy books are still available at Amazon as parts of The John Stanley Library.
Beautiful artwork and storytelling. And you're right, I'd love to see this material re-printed.
ReplyDeleteI really love this blog!
Lots of fun, these are great and reprints would be neat for modern kids instead of the crummy new Archies or Scooby Doo comics. I've been enjoying the Harvey Comics Classic collections, just read there's a Baby Huey volume coming in May and supposedly the Hot Stuff collection should be out later this month!
ReplyDeleteGood work in your comics blog, it's a nice one. I have a new comic books directory site. Hope you will like it as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vince! We need all the love we can get around here.
ReplyDeleteKarswell, Harvey Comics were my gateway drug to comics addiction. My own mother got me hooked by supplying me with Harvey Comics in '52-'53. Within a short time I was mainlining EC Comics. It's a long and sordid tale...
That was, easily, the greatest thing ever.
ReplyDeleteIt mind me Gasoline Oil!
ReplyDeleteWow! I've been looking for one of those Oona Goosepimple stories for ages! Anyone the one I remember best? That's where Nancy & Sluggo go on a merry-go-round that turns them into ponies. Someone *please* post this and let me know!
ReplyDeleteMind you... I remember the art being a little better than this. I wonder if it's that a different artist did it, or it's just that 45years tends to tamper with a memory?
Drawn & Quarterly's Stanley Library has already published three volumes of Nancy comics. Thanks for the story though -- Oona Goosepimple and her Uncle EEk were fabulous characters.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for posting these surreal stories. I've wanted to find the story where Nancy loses her face, it has stuck in my mind since circa 1960.
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