Number 795

Comical Comics Week: "Ah is de craziest 'gator in de world!"

This is day two of Pappy's Comical Comics Week.

The genius of Walt Kelly doesn't hide in the Pappy archives for long. I try to show one of his stories when I think I've been away from him for a while. "Internal Intern" starring Pogo, is from Albert the Alligator and Pogo Possum, Four Color Comics #105, from 1946.

This is the older version of Pogo, which, if you're a Pogo fan and not familiar with it, takes getting used to. Pogo had a nose job and over time got cuter. Albert pretty much stayed the same as he looks here. This strip has Pogo's name in the title, although Albert is given top billing on the cover. Albert was the early star of the strip, his look established sooner. But he would soon give way to Pogo, who was moving up fast, eventually overtaking "de craziest 'gator in de world" for superstar status.

Number 794

Comical Comics Week: Cosmo the Merry Martian

This is the first day of Pappy's last August theme week. In recognition of school starting next week we're presenting some kids' comics, funny stuff from my collection.

Cosmo the Merry Martian, published by Archie ("Archie Comics Are COMICAL Comics!"), and drawn by Bob White, came out in late 1958. There were a lot of space stories in that time, reflecting the interest because of the Russian satellite, Sputnik, launched into orbit in the fall of '57. I bought Cosmo, and thought it was pretty clever. The title only lasted six issues, and I'm not sure why. People who remember it recall it with fondness, but maybe there just weren't enough of us to keep it going.

Sherm Cohen showed this first issue on his Cartoon Snap blog in April, 2009, but I think it's been enough time to give it another viewing. According to Scott Shaw! and his Oddball Comics website, Bob White was a regular Archie artist until he got caught moonlighting, drawing for Tower Comics in the mid '60s. He was blackballed by Archie, and left comics to go into another line of work. Another source online said White died a few years ago. I'm sorry about that, but a positive is that over 50 years later we can still look at Cosmo and enjoy what Bob White did for the kids of that time.

That year I bought all of the Archie Annuals but Katy Keene. That's the one I'd want now.

This is the back cover of Cosmo the Merry Martian #1. I never ordered anything from the ads in comic books. My mom would never have given me $2.98 to buy it, and even then I figured the rocket couldn't be more than some printed cardboard. If anyone has ever seen one of these for real let me know if I missed out.

Go ahead to Cosmo the Merry Martian #2. Just click on the thumbnail:

Number 793

Un-Super Heroes Week: After Midnight comes the Marksman

This is the final posting for Pappy's Un-Super Heroes Week:

Midnight was created by Jack Cole at the behest of Quality Comics publisher, Everett "Busy" Arnold, just in case Will Eisner was killed in World War II. Because Eisner owned his own creation, The Spirit, Arnold ordered up a visual copy with Midnight. Eisner might have ground his teeth down in frustration over this blatant infringement, but those were extraordinary times. Coming out of the Depression, Eisner probably thought discretion over Arnold's actions trumped litigation. As it worked out, Midnight became a cover feature of Smash Comics, but was gone before the end of the 1940s. The Spirit earned money for Eisner over several decades. This story is well drawn by another of Eisner and Cole's contemporaries, Paul Gustavson.

Read more about Midnight here.

I've shown a Marksman story before, in Pappy's #342. The Marksman is a character who should probably have been killed on his first mission, standing out as he does in his white t-shirt and red cape. But he is of the comics, and during the war comic characters had their gimmicks that made them impervious to the enemy, because the writer wrote it that way!

I like the precise Fred Guardineer artwork, though, and especially his caricatures of the Axis gangstas. The splash panel is classic.

Both of these stories are from Smash Comics #43, 1943.