Number 2434: Dick Tracy gets his man woman

Dick Tracy was a perennial favorite for years, a very popular comic strip, and popular comic book. I bought Dick Tracy Comics Monthly, as it is titled, from 1957 to the end of the Harvey Comics run.

This Tracy story involves a female villain, a sultry woman called Sleet.

According to the Grand Comics Database the story, which the cover touts as “Another Complete Detective Adventure,” is actually edited down from a three-issue telling of the tale from Dick Tracy #'s 57-59 in 1952. (The original newspaper appearance was from March 3, 1949 to April 5, 1949.) The Comics Code had its way on this reprint, removing weapons they did not think appropriate for young readers, including a tomahawk. The Code had it removed altogether. Here is an original panel from the 1952 printing with the tomahawk:

You will see the censored panel toward the end of the story. Most important of all, there is a gorilla! My last shot at showing a comic book gorilla before going into retirement.

From Dick Tracy Comics Monthly #118 (1957):

For Pappy readers, a goodbye, a thank you, and a happy New Year to you all!
Looking back, it doesn’t seem like Pappy’s Golden Age has been going for as long as it has. I could not expect it to last forever. With age I have slowed down...considerably. Mrs Pappy said what she saw of me in my peak years was the back of my head while I worked at my computer for hours, every day. She is not complaining. She liked having me busy, and quiet.

I want to tell you again how much I have appreciated all the readers who have been reading this blog from its beginning, right up to those who just joined in. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed doing it.

This is my last posting, but before I go I want to wish everyone a happy New Year in 2020.

Goodbye! Pappy

Number 2433: Stuart Taylor says goodbye 1946, hello 1975!

“Stuart Taylor, Weird Stories of the Supernatural” was a silly feature from Jumbo Comics, played for laughs. I like a silly story as much as any other kind of comic...just go back a few posts to the story of the Deadlings.

I have sometimes forgotten what I have posted in the past, so I made sure to check that I had not shown this story before. What I found was that I had shown the Stuart Taylor story for Jumbo Comics #89, which preceded this. When those issues of Jumbo were published they were a month apart. In this case it took procrastinating Pappy almost 10 years to post the second part, from Jumbo #90 (1946).

The story is provided by the Iger Studios, who did most of the contents for Fiction House, if not all. Grand Comics Database credits Alex Blum with the artwork.

The link to the previous Stuart Taylor story; just click on the thumbnail.

Number 2432: Happy Christmas from Albert and Pogo and Pappy

Are you having a nice holiday? Mrs Pappy and I are enjoying our Christmas, and that is our wish for you: enjoy!

Albert and Pogo give some Christmas cheer today from Santa Claus Funnies #254, from 1949. At that time in the late ’40s Pogo and his Okefenokee pals had gotten a newspaper strip. The characters’ familiar appearances had finally been achieved by creator Walt Kelly, after a long period of development.

Just a reminder that there are only two more of Pappy’s postings before I slip off into retirement. I don’t mean to scuttle your otherwise pleasant holiday (depending on how you feel about this blog, that is), because I have a sense of nostalgia, both from Christmases past in my own life, and in the years since this blog has been appearing. I had a chance to show what I have loved all my life...comics!

Having said that, hoist your tankard of wassail; I shall raise my drink and across the miles we will all toast a “Merry Christmas!” together.

Number 2431: Bozo is no clown

The word “robot” is from the 1920s, from the Czech word “robota,” meaning forced labor. It comes from K. Čapek's play, R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots, now over 100 years old. It seems that since the industrial age the fantasy has been to have robots do all the work. We humans can sit back in a rocking chair sipping our drinks while our obedient ’bots do the heavy lifting. It’s a great idea!

A personal feeling is that not only was the fantasy of a mechanical man doing the repetitive, hard work, but of making a perfect working man who asks no questions, nor asks for more money.

Bozo was invented by a mad scientist, and where would fiction be without scientists who are mad? Bozo later hooked up with Hugh Hazzard. In this episode, as explained by the Grand Comics Database, “Bozo truly meets his match in a modern-day Prometheus named Brutus, created by a mad scientist, who stole its body parts from graves.”

From Smash Comics #14 (1940). Drawn by George Brenner using the pseudonym Wayne Reid.

 

 

 

Bozo’s origin from Smash Comics #1. Just click on the thumbnail.