Number 356
Herbie and a planet called Bertram
Last week I showed you a straight-forward, adventure story by artist Ogden Whitney, this week something zany.
Looking back on the Herbie stories from Whitney and writer Richard E. Hughes from a vantage point of 45 years all I can say is, were these guys on something? This story, "Snedigger's Salad Oil," is from Forbidden Worlds #110, March-April 1963. It was the third published Herbie, with the same hallucinatory craziness we've come to associate with this character and his creative duo.
Pretty wonderful stuff, paps!!
ReplyDeleteI love the sparse composition! I wonder if the title's subject is an anagram for philosopher/phenomenologist Martin Hiedegger? The story doesn't really resemble his metaphysics, but it's way-out, dad!
I've never been a fan of ACG, although I know people that love them. The scripting always seemed off-putting and impenetrable, the artwork dull and lifeless (moreso than some of the antiquated art the editors of DC were so fond of) and the coloring unimaginative, with it's heavy handed use of yellow.
ReplyDeleteHerbie in particular never held any appeal to me, especially compared to Marvel comics of the same period. I even bought the '80s issues with reprrints/new stories, but it was like trying to dive into a swimming pool filled with ice.
Was there ever a story featuring Herbie's dad? He certainly didn't get his mother's looks.
Love this blog, Pappy.
More "Ghost Patrol", please!
Vince, Richard Hughes served ACG as editor, but he also wrote most (if not all of the stories) that the company published.
ReplyDeleteHe was sorta like "Stan Lee on acid", and that's saying something.
I give ACG a bit of a pass for the herculean effort Hughes turned in (under a variety of aliases), besides Herbie, Magicman & Nemesis, are all pretty fun characters.
I've never heard of Herbie before, but I'm absolutely enthralled. This story was a hoot, and I definitely want to see more.
ReplyDeleteSteve, go to "labels" at the bottom of the post and click on "Herbie" for the other two stories I've included here. There are also more Herbie stories in different places on the web if you search them out.
ReplyDeleteVince, what can I say? I guess Herbie is an acquired taste, like Snedigger's Salad Oil! ACG, like Herbie, was kind of in its own little universe. Nothing quite like them anywhere else.
I just noticed there's another Herbie collection coming out this fall/early winter.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think people are nuts to completely rag on ACG altogether though... especially their pre-code horror stuff which easily produced as much awesome stuff as crappies. Having said that I must admit that I haven't read many Whitney horor stories from ACG that I liked as much as his horror work for Atlas.
Awesome! Thanks so much for this.
ReplyDelete