Today we have three stories by three masters of kids' comics. For a start, the wonderful cover was done by Otto Feuer, who was a 1930s Fleischer animator who turned to comics when work got scarce. He was one of the main men for DCs bigfoot comic line (Funny Stuff, Funny Folks, etc.).
This first story is the work of cover artist, Feuer. Feuer always did The Raccoon Kids, who were the franchise players for the title. Feuer's work is always limber and, like any great cartoonist, never needs words to be funny.
This next story stars Dizzy Dog, and Dizzy Dog is Sheldon Mayer (or perhaps Sheldon Mayer is Dizzy Dog). Mayer’s stuff always seems so alive, his universe so real; because his drawing is so fine and subtle. Page 2 – panel 4: Is that not a perfect drawing of a round dog wearing a small hat, walking along a country road in brooding irritation?
This last story is my favorite of the bunch. I love Rube Grossman’s heavy, sure brush; and each panel has just the exactly correct amount of background information. My favorite character here is the mustachioed boss of the Zilch Boiler Works. The script is just fine as well: “isn’t science wonderful?” says Biggety, “I went to lunch an hour ago and I haven’t lost a minute!” Put that line with Grossman’s cartoon bear, and you got funny of the first order.
This ad came from the same issue. What a pretty page.
1st story: figure 8 the hard way. HA!
ReplyDelete2nd story: Love the way the toads are so organized, all to make a living. I also like the way Mayer makes a special word balloon to convey the mood of 'Now my day is ruined' !
3rd story: Classic comedy of errors. Did you notice the name of the Bowling Alley ? BLOGG'S !
Lysdexicuss: That Mayer story, I loved the way the toads supported one another, but Dizzy's secret was that he was crazier than the crazies!
ReplyDeleteI did notice the name of that bowling alley. I wish I could work that into a graphic somehow. -- Myial
wow, these are so nice. i need to come back to this post when i can look longer. thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletewow these are just great! i love biggity bear, what an awesome name!
ReplyDeleteKW and Brad: Thanks for stopping by, guys! And, yeah, Biggity Bear is a world class comic character name! So good, I bet it kept Grossman honest. -- Mykal
ReplyDeletePretty much a big-foot cartoonist's dream here and all good stuff. I had forgotten about the Animal Antics run of comics from DC. In fact, first it was Animal Antics, then Movietown's Animal Antics and finally morphed into The Raccoon Kids. Well, they got 54 issues out of it. Not up to Dell's standard, but decent enough. Love the Mayer work.
ReplyDeleteGary: DC had a few morphing titles. I know Funny Folks became Hollywood Funny Folks. I wonder what the reasoning was behind that? Anyway, it's hard to fight Dell in this arena, for sure. I got this comic for the Mayer but came away really liking the Grossman. -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteI'll always stop by when there's some Sheldon Mayer comics to read! I'm really loving his funny animal work, I never read much of it until relatively recently. Love the gag with the toad family...it's pure Tex Avery style fun ("we do this sort of thing to him all through the picture, folks!") but few people could translate that into comics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Grossman's story...fine work!
I also liked the Otto Feuer's work; you can always tell when a good cartoonist is saddled with someone else's poor character design. Just compare the secondary characters in that story to the Raccoon Kids. They look much better constructed and more lively, don't they?
Thanks again for some fun reading, Mykal!
Doug: Excellent point about the secondary characters in the Feuer stuff. A real "now that you mention it" moment! That even holds true for the cover. Thanks for stopping by! -- Mykal
ReplyDeletei think i remember that sheldon mayer name on a comic my dad gave me from when he was a kid. it's a DC funny animal comic, and i want to say the title was Fox and Crow but I think it had a turtle as one of the 2 main characters.
ReplyDeleteI like the panels with rounded corners in the 1st story. panel frames seem to be a point of interest for me.
KW: The only reoccuring turtle character I can think of in DC funny animal books was McSnurtle the Turtle, who was like a superhero and appeared in Funny Stuff. DC had dozens of funny animal characters, teams, and heroes - all of them forgotten now.
ReplyDeleteI liked those cloud/memory panels in that first story, when the mole is thinking about his ancestor - a panel within a panel that dominates the panel. Very interesting. -- Mykal
This bugged me all night. I woke up today and remembered. it wasn't a turtle, it was a frog. it was a dodo and a frog and when you said Funny Stuff, that sounded familiar too. I have these comics packed away somewhere. I haven't seen them for 20 years. I have a rough idea of where they might be but it would be an adventure trying to get at them.
ReplyDeleteKW: That's great! You know, that's funny, because I was wondering about Dodo, as he had a very turtle-ish look for a bird. Whew! -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteHi Mykal...that Biggety Bear is a fantastic comic...pure comedy storytelling condensed into such a pure package! It's truly a wonder of a clean concise comedy that actually got me involved in wwhat's going on. THANK you so much for all your wonderful funny animal posts!
ReplyDeleteSherm: Thanks and back at ya! I am going to do some more Grossman soon, as I agree with you wholeheartedly about Biggety! -- Mykal
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