Number 1868: Torchy and Nanny

Bill Ward (1919-1998) drew pretty girls. They were his specialty. Not just pretty girls, but eye-popping sexy girls. In his comic book career he spent time on drawing the non-sexy elements of comic art, too. Like cars, buildings, and men. In his last couple of decades Ward’s girls were the focus of his cartoons and artwork, and everything else looks like it just wasn’t as important.

Here are Torchy, as represented from her second story, drawn by Ward for Doll Man Quarterly #9 (1946), and a much later story from Cracked #179 (1981) featuring the sexy Nanny Dickering in one of a continuing series of interview satires. The Nanny strip appears not to use any reference material...the dog in the first panel, the poorly done caricatures of stars (and why a photo of Bo Derek instead of a drawing?), and even using Linus (of Peanuts) instead of Charlie Brown, who is mentioned in the the speech balloon. Who does not know the difference between Charlie Brown and Linus?! (Imagine Pappy in an outraged huff .)

Okay. I took a short walk and I feel better. At least Ward spent time with Nanny, rendering her lovingly, as he did with all his pin-up girls. I like the airbrush effects on Nanny, including her patterned nylons in the splash panel. They disappear after that panel, which is just one more complaint. That’s too many, even for me, so I’m going out for another walk.

Number 1623: John Severin strongs to the finich

The recent suicide of actor/comedian Robin Williams got me searching for a satire on Popeye, his first starring movie role from 1980. Both Mad and Cracked took their shots at the movie. Both used their regular movie artists, John Severin at Cracked, Mort Drucker at Mad. I’ve chosen Severin’s version, “Poopeye,”* from Cracked #179 (1981) to post.

Reviews on Popeye have been mixed. Because of his success on television Williams’ performance was under a microscope, and both Mad and Cracked pointed out his “muttering.” (What? They never saw any Popeye animated cartoons, with Popeye’s muttered asides?) I also have mixed feelings about the movie. There are problems translating a character conceived as comic art to live action. In my opinion it succeeded on some levels,** missed entirely on others. The Cracked opinion of the movie is  negative. However, Severin’s likenesses of the actors are, as always, right on.

*“Poopeye” was also used as a title in Mad #21.

**At the time the general consensus from my circle of friends was that Shelley Duvall was born to play Olive Oyl.

Number 1176: Cracked Jack Davis

Between his stints at Mad (mid-fifties to mid-sixties), Jack Davis’s familiar art was everywhere. I saw his work on magazine covers, record album covers, kids' books (Meet Abraham Lincoln, North American Indians, at Dell (Yak-Yak) and at Mad imitator Cracked.

Jack Davis is a true original, and he's been at his craft for a very long time. Here’s a photo of him I found online, taken at his studio in his home in Atlanta. 
 

These pages are from two 1960 issues of Cracked, #13 and #15.

Retro TV ads by Davis