Number 2258: Beneath the sea with Chuck Hardy and his gal

Years ago I read about comic artist Frank Thomas, that his comic book career was only four years, from 1939 to 1943. It was likely he was drafted or joined up for duty during World War II. He was born in 1914, so would have been 29 in '43, within the age group of men accepted for military service. Thomas’s style was perfect for the era. After his comic book days were done he was working on his own newspaper comic strips, and ghosting others.

Along with the Eye, the Owl, and Billy and Bonny Bee, Thomas created and drew the feature “Chuck Hardy in the Land Beneath the Sea,” which appeared in Amazing-Man Comics for Centaur. The two episodes I have today are from Amazing-Man #5, but actually #1, and Amazing Man #6, actually #2, both from 1939. Thanks to those folks who collected the Frank Thomas Archives now on Digital Comics Museum and Comic Book Plus, making Thomas’s work available online for free.

Number 1016


Frank Thomas' Chuck Hardy


One of the pleasures of doing this blog is hearing from the family members of comic book artists. This is an e-mail note from Frank Thomas' brother, Clint:

Pappy, Thanks so much for the Billy and Bonny Bee sequence [from Pappy's #168 and also Pappy's #299]. I'm Frank's kid brother, nine years younger. You may know Frank passed away in the sixties. He was a great cartoonist and an even greater brother. As you probably know also his last years were spent ghosting Ferd'nand.

Keep up the great blog. Mine by the way is at www.clintnmary.org and is for the family. Frank's daughter Nancy lives in Seattle and is married to Jim Bardeen, youngest son of Nobel Laureate John Bardeen.

Thanks again, Clint Thomas

In a follow-up note answering a question of mine, Clint told me Frank died in 1968 of cancer of the esophagus. He would have been only 54.

Frank Thomas was an early comic book pioneer. This particular strip, "Chuck Hardy," from Amazing-Man Comics #9, was produced in 1939. It is somewhat crude, but when Thomas went on to do his funny animal strips, like "Billy and Bonny Bee," just a few years later, his work was at a very high level, with the best of the funny animal cartoonists.