FOUR COLOR No. 481, July 1953

These lovely pages are from Phil Evans (story) and Nat Edson (art). I love how Edson sprinkles his beautiful panels with perfect, telling details which anchor the story in time and place. My favorite touch is that small dog in the last panel of page 10. Can’t you just feel his tension over the approaching riders? Easy, boy. It’s okay.

Nat Edson, bless him, appears never to have been an animator (as were so very many of the Western artists throughout the 1950s). His resume, as best as I can discover, includes only comic book work; first for Pines/Standard through the 40s, then Western Publishing from the 50s into the 70s. The great, painted cover goes un-accredited.

This black and white page is from the inside front cover. The artist is August Lenex. Wow, that’s some pretty pen work.

THE LITTLE MONSTERS No. 25, June 1974

I was introduced to Gold Key’s The Little Monsters via my good pal Prof. Grewbeard and his excellent Magic Carpet Burn. The Prof. has exquisite taste in all things, particularly comics. The following stories are from The Little Monsters No. 25, June 1974. First: The wonderful cover, which well prepares the reader for cool contents.

The Little Monsters (‘Orrible Orvie and Awful Annie) were born during the monster craze of the 1960s, making their first appearance in 1964, a year before The Munsters and The Adams Family appeared on television. In comics, they appeared before the John Stanley penned, Melvin Monster, and the Milton Monster cartoon on ABC. The Little Monsters proved far more popular than all the competition, regardless of format, lasting a very solid 44 issues and 14 years.

The reason for the title’s longevity is the typical recipe for success in comics: It had superior art and writing as well as excellent character design. I prefer this title to any of its more temporal brethren. I can't find art or script credits and that’s a darn shame.

May I suggest a visit to the aforementioned Magic Carpet Burn for a feast of this wonderful title? Just click HERE!

Heckle and Jeckle & Dinky the Duck

Let’s polish off this issue of Terry-Toons Comics No. 65, February 1948 with a story featuring those irascible magpies, Heckle and Jeckle; as well as a story featuring a Dinky – a one-time star but all but forgotten today.

I always thought Heckle and Jeckle a bit dark – even threatening somehow. When young, I read somewhere their names were meant as a play on the R.L. Stevenson story, The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As a boy, this bit of trivia no doubt shaded my view of the grinning pair. Together, they seemed capable of anything.

The name Dinky Duck is fairly lost to the ages, but this story is made worthy being the work of Connie Rasinski (signed), a principal director and animator with Terrytoons.

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