Reading Basil Wolverton brings me such happiness: this Powerhouse Pepper story is full of Basil’s clever and funny alliteration and internal rhymes. The story has Powerhouse, in his own innocent way, and on the water, going up against a couple of thugs who have tied in with the Nazis. Wolverton’s villains are always more funny looking than dangerous, and they always underestimate the undersized Powerhouse Pepper.
From
Powerhouse Pepper 1 (1943):
Wolverton seems to have coined the phrase "boob tube" several years before TV became commonplace.
ReplyDeleteThe script is funny.
ReplyDeleteThe art is incredible. Not a wasted stroke, and the beautiful cartoon-y style is beautiful from panel to panel. I love Wolverton teeth, BTW, those big square teeth.
The undersea shading was heavy but not distracting, a real light touch. I loved every glorious pane of this thing.
Brian, hey, thanks! Even though I had nothing to do with it except post it, I am glad you liked it. It just shows what superior taste you have in entertainment.
ReplyDeleteTo showcase his tastes, Brian shows his expertise in fine motion pictures with his feature, Mondopiece Theater.
I own several original Wolverton pieces of art and have seen probably two hundred more and I can honestly say that every stroke of Basil's pen was precisely planned. Only a few times (and I mean a few) did BW use white out or make corrections on his art. If you have seen the Wolverton artist edition book you can see that white out was not on his pallet.
ReplyDelete