Number 1147: Ron Santi's Three Mouseketeers, from the beginning

This strip, the initial offering from the first issue of Funny Stuff, published by DC Comics in 1944, is by Ron Santi. I've never been able to get much information on Santi, except for this note I got from a relative of Santi's, Blaise Picchi, in 2009. It's in response to a Santi strip, "Bulldog Drumhead," I showed in Pappy's #557.

I am not sure what this website is about. I was googling the name of my deceased Uncle, Ron Santi, and I hit your website. My uncle Ron was an animator in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. He has been forgotten. No one seems to know him although he worked for Looney Tunes, Terrytunes, Disney. He animated Heckle & Jeckle, invented Frosty the Snowman. I don't know about Bulldog Drummond and I cannot recognize his artwork, he kept so little of it. His real name was Romolo A. Santi, known as Ronnie. If you think we are talking about the same man, contact me. I don't want to put my email address down here. Contact me through Facebook: Blaise Picchi

Ms. Picchi, if you come across this blog, I hope by now you have found out more about your uncle. We'd all be interested in learning anything we can of him. If anyone out there worked with Santi in animation or the comics maybe they could tell us what they know.

As you can see by the artwork on this feature, Santi was a superb funny animal illustrator. The details and effort he poured into every panel is awe-inspiring. He probably could not have been paid enough for the work he put into "The Three Mouseketeers." I have more early issues of Funny Stuff, and in the future will be featuring more of this artist's work. As a caution, knowing how I am, and my scheduling, no one should hold their breath while waiting.

Number 1146: Just a heart throb named Bill

Poor little rich girl, Mona, lusts after hardworking hunky young pretty-boy seaman, Bill. After a rough trip through a bad launch and stormy weather, they end up adrift on the much calmer Sea of Love. I'm sure when Heart Throbs #1 was published in 1949 it set many a young girl's heart all-at-sea with the soggy saga of Mona and Bill. And maybe more than a few young guys, too. At one time love comics were the best selling comic books, published by the boat load. Few were as well drawn as this seaborne soap opera, done by a master of pin-up pulchritude, Bill Ward. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had pioneered the genre, and every other publisher jumped into the pool. They could not have sold as well as they did unless they were read by both men and women. So the soap opera is for the gals, and the sexy stuff is for the guys. Or maybe the other way around...or even a mix of both. Everyone likes a good fantasy, and there were no fantasies like love comics.

At this stage of my life when I'm retired not only from my job but relationships, I can understand the fantasy, but always find it tempered by the reality. I often thought that stories of superheroes were more realistic than the love stories I read in these comics. At the end Bill says he and Mona will have to live on a seaman's pay, and she says, "With you, darling, I'd gladly live on bread and water." Ah, that's where these comics get real phony, because she won't. I give Mona and Bill about six months; she's at home and he's at sea and she misses the privileged life of a One Percenter. Back she goes to mom and dad at their mansion, leaving poor Bill with a shipwrecked marriage.

Heart Throbs had smooth sailing from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the first 46 issues. DC bought the Quality line and kept it afloat for 100 issues more.

Number 1145: The Astonishing Marvel Boy

Marvel Boy—this incarnation, anyway (there had been two before him, both short-lived)—was born in Marvel Boy #1 (1950), written by Stan Lee and drawn by Russ Heath. If you're interested at all in the character you can read more about him at Don Markstein's Toonopedia website. After two issues the title of the comic was changed to Astonishing, which later became one of Atlas Comics' horror/science fiction titles, and a few issues later Marvel Boy was gone. Super heroes of the early '50s just didn't have the staying power they needed to keep themselves in business.

This story, which is the lead to Astonishing #3, is astonishing in that it's not only religiously intolerant, it's religiously ignorant. It's not going to help relationships with Muslims, that's for sure. The religion in the story is described as a cult, which invokes the names of Allah and Mohammed, so figure out for yourself where it's coming from.

A good thing is it's drawn by Bill Everett, who did his usual wonderful job. He also did the cover.

Number 1144: “I must've given him an overdose!” Smokey Stover and Spooky

Dell's Super Comics #118 (1949) published 24 pages of 1945 Smokey Stover and Spooky Sunday strips by the inimitable Bill Holman. I'm passing along the favor by re-presenting them to you.

Holman came up with wordplay and puns for practically every Smokey Stover panel he drew, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Holman's Spooky strips are more dependent on sight gags than words. They were originally published as the bottom tier of the Sunday Smokey Stover pages, expendable if the subscribing newspaper decided to drop them in favor of advertising.

Paul Tumey's new blog, Screwball Comics, is a celebration of the zaniness from the comics of a lifetime ago, including those of Bill Holman. I strongly recommend you check it out.

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Craig Yoe's latest book in his series of affordable yet high quality appreciations of comic art and artists is Frazetta Funny Stuff. It's a long overdue compilation of the work Frank Frazetta did in his earliest days as an artist, spot illustrations and strips for comic books featuring funny animals and even funny humans. According to Yoe's biographical information on Frazetta, Graham Ingels was an editor at Standard Comics in the late forties and put Frazetta to work in his books. The result is a run of some of the most charming and for sure the funniest artwork to come from Frazetta. For years the comic books featuring Frazetta's drawings for the obligatory Post Office-mandated text stories have been major collectibles in the Golden Age comics market. But finding all of them is a major task, not to mention expensive...not to mention many of the comics have been slabbed in plastic, so the drawings can't even be seen.

Craig Yoe has solved those problems with this volume. Frazetta fans get funny animals like Hucky Duck and Bruno Bear, dozens of the aforementioned single illustrations, the hillbilly strip, "Looie Lazybones," and Frazetta's collaboration with artist Ralph Mayo, "Kathy," among others. It's 256 pages of great comic art.

My guess is that most Frazetta fans will welcome it for what it is, early, talented work in a different genre from that which Frazetta's name is usually attached. Some will dismiss it as kids' stuff. No dark fantasy, no "Death Dealer" or Conan the Barbarian in this book! But for those willing to look past preconceived notions there will be a rich reward. In Frazetta's Funny Stuff we see a major artist in his early days, learning to draw human anatomy (at the request of Ralph Mayo, told in a humorous story recounted by Frazetta), showing his early skill at drawing figures in action, both animal and human.

The book is beautifully produced. Reproduction from old comic books—as I'm here to attest—can be frustrating, but I love the over-sized pages, and especially the enlarged spot illustrations. As always, Craig's books are impeccably designed and printed. Permanent binding, thick quality paper to ensure the best reproduction possible. You will never go wrong buying a book with the Yoe imprint.

Frazetta Funny Stuff is available from Amazon.com, Yoe Books, and your other favorite booksellers.