Monday, March 25, 2024

Two High-Action Stories from Milt Stein!

Good afternoon, Kids! So nice to visit with you all again!

Today we have two brief but excellent examples of the action-friendly work of Milt Stein, animator and comic-book artist best known for his drawing Supermouse and other characters for Standard Comics in the 1950s. Many legendary cartoonist drew Supie, (Al Hubbard and Jack Bradbury among others) but my favorite was Milt Stein. No one put the zap and zing into Supermouse action panels quite like Milt Stein. His work was always so full of vigorous motion and joy. Looking at these stories, one can see why animator, John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy), is a fan.

I consider the second story a real treasure (I love stumbling across comic book characters I’ve never heard of). Custer the Crocodile is completely forgotten today – so forgotten, in fact, I was not able to find out anything about him regarding creator. Still, I like him. Mr. Stein seems to have enjoyed him, too.

Both these stories come from Supermouse, The Big Cheese No. 24 April 1953.

Well, that's all for now, Kids! Coming up next something a little different. I'm going to dip into my Big Golden Book collection for a Huckleberry Hound story (with a ton of other Hanna-Barbrea characters) by Norman McGary and Hawley Pratt

I will see you all again very soon. Until then, I hope you are all warm, safe, and happy!

--Your friend, Mykal

Friday, March 1, 2024

Popeye Plays Golf! er . . "Gorf"

Good afternoon, Kids! So nice to visit with you all again!

Today we have the tried-and-true work of Mr. Bud Sagendorf, the assistant for Popeye creator E.C. Segar. Mr. Sagendorf went to work for Mr. Segar as a teenager, working for $50 a week on Thimble Theater and Sappo. Following Segar's death in 1938, Sagendorf moved to New York City and went to work for King Features developing marketing materials while also developing Popeye toys and games.

From 1948 until 1967, Mr. Sagendorf was the sole artist-writer of the ongoing Popeye comic book across three different publisher (Dell, Gold Key, and King Comics). In 1959, he assumed complete command of the Thimble Theater comic strip.

What I truly love about Bud Sagendorf is that, unlike nearly every other cartoonist I have highlighted on this blog, he (for all intents and purposes) spent his entire artistic life rendering a single cartoon world: Thimble Theater and all the wonderful characters that inhabited the Popeye universe.

Let’s enjoy some of Mr. Sagendorf's bouncy, kinetic work now. This comes from Popeye No. 11, February-March 1950. This is all Sagendorf, including the cover and the back-cover at the post's end.

Well, that's all for now, Kids! Coming up next, shall we try a little Super Mouse by the great Milt Stein? I think we shall!

I will see you all again very soon. Until then, I hope you are all warm, safe, and happy!

--Your friend, Mykal

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