Monday, February 28, 2011


Number 904


Big Pappy and the rowboat fender-bender


Sometime in the mid 1950s my father, Big Pappy, took us for a week's vacation at a lake. One morning after we'd fished from a bridge, Big Pappy took us for a rowboat ride. He wasn't paying enough attention and bumped into another rowboat, which caused quite a loud discussion between him and the other rowboat pilot. I hadn't thought of that in years, but that's what I was reminded of when I read "City Park" by the team of writer Fred Toole and artist Al Wiseman in Dennis The Menace #18, 1956. I bought it in California last October and it gave me a flash from the real-life past. Art imitating life.

Speaking of art, Dennis creator Hank Ketcham drew the cover, which ties in with the story.

We've had some other stories by the Toole-Wiseman artistic team, and you can find them by clicking on "Al Wiseman" in the labels below. For this post I've included a non-Dennis story by the team, "Screamy Mimi."














at

5 comments:

  1. Tamfos4:31 AM

    Sweet. Thanks for the Wiseman, Pap!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geoff Grogan4:49 AM

    thanks, Pappy! Al Wiseman's Dennis is a great way to start off the day! (unless you're Henry Mitchell, that is)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pappy8:27 AM

    I (HEART) WISEMAN! I'll be showing more of his work in the future.

    Thanks for the thumbs-up, guys.

    ReplyDelete
  4. rnigma6:39 PM

    I met Marcus Hamilton, the current Dennis artist, at Heroes Con in 1996, not long after he took over from Ketcham. He shared my admiration for Wiseman's work. I particualrly like Wiseman's layouts and his lettering.

    And Dennis's 60th anniversary is occuring this month, as well as the 60th anniversary of that other Dennis the Menace (in the British comic book The Beano).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unca Jeffy10:12 PM

    Love them old Dennis comics!

    ReplyDelete

I have gone to comments moderation to try to eliminate spam. Please be patient while I get to your comments for posting.