Number 2387: Uncle Sam is just Fine!

This exquisite collection of original art is all one story of Uncle Sam, from National Comics #13 (1941). I have used the scans from Heritage Auctions. They did a beautiful job showing near-pristine artwork by Lou Fine; very few globs of white paint, no pasteovers — or at least none that I can readily see — and what blue pencil marks I see are very light.

Lou Fine is credited with the artwork for this story, and Will Eisner with the writing. Seeing the original art is depriving you of seeing it in full eye-blasting color, but here is an example from the printed comic book of the phantasmic look it gives to the story.

Blue boulders? Egad. Other pages have bright red skies, and other color anomalies. Like most comic book publishers of the time, Quality Comics’ “quality” in printing left much to be desired, even with the oddball coloring. The colors cover up the delicate line and feathered brush work that Fine was known for, which is why I am showing the original art and not the comic book version.

Heritage Auctions sold the artwork in 2013 for $53,755.00. Thanks to them for providing the art on their website.

Here is the origin story from National Comics #1. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1871: Carnie Callahan and his gang of special people

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! In 1944 for 10¢...a thin dime, the tenth part of a dollar...you could see the origin story of the Barker, the one-and-only Carnie Callahan. Carnie is in charge of a wondrous group of very special and talented human beings, who make up the sideshow of Colonel Lane’s Mammoth Circus.

As a gift to readers encountering this carnival crew here at Pappy’s, we let you in free! You don’t even have to come up with a dime. Is that generous? Is that a gift? Well, sure it is! (We make our money on rigged games of chance and on overpriced concessions in the midway.)

The Barker, for the mid-forties, was a fairly long-running feature. This first story, drawn by the inimitable Jack Cole and written by Joe Millard, appeared in National Comics # 42 (1944), and moved the former cover feature, Uncle Sam, to the back of the book. Uncle Sam would soon be gone, but Carnie and his group would go until the last issue of National, #75 in 1949. Not only that, he would have 15 issues of his own comic book. The reason is probably because artist Jack Cole left the Barker after a couple of issues, to be replaced by another of Quality Comics’ fantastic art talents, Klaus Nordling. Readers had no reason to feel they had been led into the tent by Jack Cole, and then once they had paid, bamboozled by an inferior product.

No need to take my word for it, either. You can link to a story by Nordling posted here nearly six years ago, after you finish reading today’s offering.

Enter the tent here, for a story from The Barker #5. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1813: “The Pen is...” nearly as mighty as the policewoman

Both Sally O’Neil, Policewoman, and Pen Miller, cartoonist-detective, debuted in National Comics #1. They were both back-up features, yet both lasted much longer than the lead feature for National, Uncle Sam, who didn’t last through the end of World War II.

Sally is smart, Sally is beautiful, Sally is tenacious, Sally can handle a gun, Sally can handle men. Now that is a great character. According to the website, Public Domain Superheroes, Sally was created by Frank Kearn, Toni Blum, and Chuck Mazoujian.

Pen Miller is a successful cartoonist who lives in a penthouse with a man servant. As Don Markstein remarked on his Toonopedia web page, Pen was the “cartoonist’s ideal self-image.” Indeed. Since cartooning for a living is a full-time job, one would think Pen would not have time to do a successful comic strip and still solve murder mysteries. But that would be part of the “ideal,” or at least a stereotype among non-cartoonists that all cartoonists do is sit around, knock out a few funny pictures, then haul in the big bucks.

Pen also has a name that leads to my speculation that it may be a private dirty joke. The second caption of the story says “‘Pen’ is busy . . .” The letterer must be careful of letter-spacing in a sentence like that. The talented Klaus Nordling, who also did Lady Luck, is the artist.

These are their first stories, from National Comics #1 (1940).

Number 1708: Origin(s) of Uncle Sam

In retrospect it seems only a natural. It appears Will Eisner stole a march on his fellow comic book creators by grabbing an American icon, Uncle Sam, to be the star of a new comic book. War was going on in Europe, and the threat of involvement was reaching across the Atlantic to America. National Comics #1 (1940) presented Eisner’s version of an origin. Uncle Sam is a symbol so Eisner chose to make Uncle Sam a supernatural being, paired up with a human youngster. They fight enemies of America, internal and external. It is a tall order. This Uncle Sam did not even last out the end of World War II. My feeling is Eisner should have put him in cape and domino mask, which would have made him look more like a comic book hero. But, no. That would be blasphemy to some, wouldn’t it?

Life had a 2 1/2 page article, shown below, in its July 2, 1956 issue that shows us a different origin of Sam. According to Life, Sam had once been a “country bumpkin,” Brother Jonathan. Not a bad secret identity! Maybe Eisner could have used it.

Life, July 2, 1956: