Number 329
No high-hattin' for Hatlo!
While I was growing up Jimmy Hatlo was one of my cartooning heroes. I turned to his single-panel feature first thing every morning, and read his Sunday panels religiously . (The Sunday funnies were the only religion I got or wanted on Sunday.)
I loved the ironic humor, the foibles of people pointed out by Hatlo through his contributors: his readers. Hatlo, who had been a sports cartoonist, had a wonderful ability to connect to his fans, who read his panels and said, "Yeah! I recognize that situation!" Saying that, it must've been havoc around the Hatlo studio, opening thousands of envelopes and reading submissions by the train car load. I wonder if they ever did a cartoon about that?
These panels are from a David McKay Co. 1943 hardcover collection of They'll Do It Every Time panels. Like the greatest cartoonists, Hatlo could draw not only funny faces, but perspective and architecture. His panels are rich with detail, eye candy everywhere. And everything looks right. The office settings he drew aren't Dilbert's, that's for sure.
That's some very beautiful cartooning going on in those panels.
ReplyDeleteThansk for posting these.
Even as a baby I was attracted to Jimmy Hatlo's signature! He was one of the most influential artists in comic strips, in my opinion. A real pro.
ReplyDeleteThat cover art is gorgeous.
Any chance of seeing some more color work by Hatlo?
Thanks for this one, Pappy.
Thanks, guys. I wish I owned some of the color Sunday pages but for now black and white reprints are all I have of this classic strip.
ReplyDeleteMan I love these things! Such craftsmanship in the inking and the anatomy. great stuff! I remember these as colored in the funny pages. I imagine they were reprints though because this was the early 70's. Is there a book out of his stuff anywhere?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these! I saw a copy of this book in a used bookstore recently, but they wanted big bucks for it. Now I know what I was missing!
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