Number 383


Pepe y Pepito


Paul Murry is one of my favorite funny animal artists, but I had trouble finding anything he drew that wasn't for Disney. Murry was best known for his Mickey Mouse comics done from the 1950s to the '70s. I avidly followed his serials in the back of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, enjoying them almost as much as the Barks Donald Duck strips. I don't scan and post Disney comics, so I was happy to find "Pepe and Pepito" as the closing strip for the giant comic, Woody Woodpecker's County Fair #2 from 1958.

Murry had a real animated, solid drawing style, and he had a great ink line. I read once that he criticized Barks — horrors! criticize Carl Barks??!! — for using too thin a pen line, because of the limitations of the comic book format. Barks' work seems to have survived the process just fine, and Murry's looked great, too. Murry wasn't the auteur that Barks was, so I took the criticism for what it was worth. Murry was one of the best of the Mickey Mouse artists. For me it's a toss-up between Floyd Gottfredson and his Mickey Mouse comic strip work of the '30s and '40s, and Murry with his comic book work in the '50s and '60s. They're both great, but I'll always lean a little toward Murry because his was the Mickey I grew up with.

Murry died in 1989.

Number 382

"I took eight bullets out of him and still he lives!"


Growing up I liked the Batman-type characters the best, the ones who used brains, skill and strength rather than super powers. The Black Hood has survived several incarnations since his origin in Top-Notch Comics #9, October 1940. All of those versions have been published by Archie Comics, which started in business as the rowdy publisher, MLJ Comics. Before being taken over by teenagers like Archie, the writers and artists at MLJ did some very entertaining comics full of ghastly characters, murders, horror...you know, the fun stuff.

Black Hood is policeman Kip Burland, who as you'll see in this origin story, gets shot full of holes by the henchmen of a villain called the Skull. Eight bullets. And only some old hermit — who doesn't give his name but confesses he was a "western sheriff" — to operate. In a cabin. In the woods.

Of course Kip comes back from his near death experience stronger and more able than ever once he's in his snappy Black Hood costume. But you can't keep a good villain down, and the folks who did Black Hood knew that they had a good one in the Skull.

The story was written by Cliff Campbell and drawn by Al Camy.

Number 381


Congo Bill and the Pirates


Another year gone by, and another Talk Like A Pirate Day upon us. Yo ho, mateys! Hope your roger is jolly, your plank is being walked and your poopdeck isn't pooped.

For a double dose of piracy and horror today visit The Horrors Of It All.

This Congo Bill story is by writer George Kashdan, and is drawn by the wonderful Fred (Tomahawk) Ray. It comes from Action Comics #106, March 1947. It's one of those "Was it a dream? Here's something that proves it wasn't!" stories. That ending worked over a hundred years ago, but we've seen it too many times since. At least the artwork by Ray lifts it out of the mundane. I've also included an in-house ad.

Number 380


Couples therapy


Here are a couple of stories about couples, by a couple of art teams.

Ross Andru and Mike Esposito spent most of their careers as partners, Andru penciling and Esposito inking. "One Man's Poison" is from Mysterious Adventures #17, 1953, and is about a married couple who just love visitors. Recently Hairy Green Eyeball showed a story from Andru and Esposito's Get Lost, a Mad imitation from 1954.

The second story is by another comics team, Edwin Goldfarb and Bob Baer, who had work all over the place during that time period. Their couple in "Paralyzed" is a standard married couple from the horror comics: one partner cheating and the other choosing murder instead of divorce.

Number 379


Babe and the fountain of youth and beauty


When I sat down to write about this Boody Rogers story from Babe Darling of the Hills #10, words failed me. Well, except for two: zany, screwball.

Guess you're just going to have to read it for yourself to see what I mean.