Number 1197: Jess Jodloman — you axed for it!

I'm showing this five-pager from DC's Unexpected #176 (1976), because of the artwork of Jess Jodloman. Jodloman was one of the artists who were part of the Filipino invasion of the early '70s. Because they were already fully formed as artists when their work appeared in the States they stepped right in as total comics professionals. I visited a table at an early '80s San Diego Comicon with stacks of art by Filipino artists, all for the bargain price of $15 a page! I chose some of the best I could find, and page two of "What Haunted Herbert" was one of them.

Jodloman's busy brush inking style wasn't especially well served by DC's printing in the '70s. I saw a lower quality of printing at the time, where fine lines got broken up and details got muddy. I wish I could have afforded to buy more of the fantastic original Filipino artwork by Jodloman and the others I thought were also excellent artists. In retrospect, even at the time $15.00 wasn't much to pay for pages like this, but I was on a budget. Ah, to be rich, a one-percenter loose at a comic convention!

Number 664


"Dear Senator..."


Sheldon Mayer was with DC Comics from the days before Superman and Batman. He was an editor for Max Gaines' All-American Comics branch of the company known collectively as DC. He quit his editor job so he could draw Scribbly, a very funny, somewhat autobiographical view of himself as a boy cartoonist. In 1956 he created Sugar and Spike, for which he's mainly —and justifiably — known. Late in life Shelly Mayer did try other genres, including science fiction and horror. He wrote and drew "Dear Senator" for Unexpected #217 in 1981.

It's hard to tell if he was trying for a more serious style, because some of his cartoony side shows up, like the robot which looks more like something from the 1930s or '40s. But I like this fish-out-of-water story, anyway. Who can resist a story about Abraham Lincoln brought to the future?

I took the original art from Heritage Auctions. I love looking at original art, but if you don't you can scroll down to the printed version.