Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Comic Cavalcade was a super hero comic, featuring Golden Age stories about the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the Flash. By the late 1940s, however, the market for super heroes had crashed and burned (if you can believe it) and the anthology title became strictly a funny animals comic. This cover is by Jim Davis, artist for headliners, Fox and the Crow. Download THIS POST!
There is something of the train wreck in Jim Davis' often violent, often cruel Fox and the Crow stories. It's not right, I know, but I just can't turn away. The poor fox gets thumped and swindled every darn time. Well, at least Davis' art is easy on the eyes.
Sheldon Mayer was DC's big gun during this era, reigning supreme in the world of kids' comics. His stories always had such a ton of energy, all of it good. Mayer is certainly a hall-of-famer, being inducted into both the Jack Kirby and Will Eisner Halls of Fame (1996 and 2000 respectively). Both these next stories are pure Mayer: fun, alive, and warm.
What a gorgeous Daisy ad from the same issue. This is the model Ralphie wanted in Jean Shepard's A Christmas Story. Just don't shoot your eye out, kid.
You must have really big piles
ReplyDeleteof cool comics just laying around all over the place!
I do indeed!
ReplyDeleteI notice the cover price is 15 cents; what is the page-count of this comic ? Is Jim Davis related to Garfield's creator ? Great moral to that Fox & Crow story~! I will file it in my memory banks. The Sheldon Mayer energy is for real, Mykal~! I love all the colorful supporting characters he tosses in to this one~!
ReplyDeleteI wanna come jump in those piles like piles of leaves on a fall day!
ReplyDeleteHow nice a balance that there was once a talented cartoonist named Jim Davis long before the worthless pile of garfield we have now. The universe fixes itself.
Lysdexicuss: These were chunky comics coming in a hefty 68 pages. Nope, This Jim Davis is no relation to Garfield's Jim Davis.
ReplyDeleteFox and the Crow always had some brutal life lessons in every story, wherein the poor fox - due to his trusting, generous nature - always got screwed. I sort of hated them sometimes, but the art was always super. And, you bet! Mayer is the real deal!
Jeffie: I agree about the balance of the Universe. Ying and Yang, for sure. I tell you, this particular comic really felt like a pile of dried leaves. The pages practically crumbled in my hands while scanning. Thank heavens for digital archiving!
Two great artists! I too have watched a few comics disintergrate before my eyes will scanning them. Luckily, I found a load of digital copies before I was going to scan my New Funnies comics.
ReplyDeleteKevin: It got kind of scary. The pages were just so brown and brittle. I got the cream of the issue, though!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great comic! Thanks for the scan.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see National/DC got in on the funny animals trend. I think that's an unwritten era of comics history. I think it is also interesting to see the funny animal "look" was already established by this point: minimal lines and details and heavy brush work.
I think it's a comment on the times of late depression/post war that these characters didn't have grand motivations, just out for a quick buck or even a meal.
Thwacko: Well observed on all points.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked Jim Davis' art and you're right on the more than usual violence in Fox & Crow, but I think that's more in following how the animated cartoons of the 1940s were -- frying pans over the head and a swift boot to the rear-end. There are a few panels in which you almost swear the Fox is moving, the drawing is that good.
ReplyDeletePlus, for a while (I should look it up) some comics, including Comic Cavalcade, were squarebound and cost 15-cents. Had more pages. At some point, I think DC figured out that wasn't a selling point and came back to the tradition dime a book cost.
Gary: I am always at odds with Fox and Crow. I don't mind the violence, it's more the fact that Fox is punished, over and over, for his good nature while Crow is rewarded endlessly for being a lying, manipulative cheat. Boy that gets my goat. Yet, Davis' art is so great I can't stay away.
ReplyDeleteInteresting info about the DC pricing scheme. I didn't know that. Thanks!
These CC issues are always full of fun stories with cool art... and for the record I love that lying, manipulative cheat Crow, haha!
ReplyDeleteKarswell: Oh, you dog!
ReplyDeleteI love Sheldon Mayer's comics! The mouse in the Dizzy Dog comic looks like one of the Three Mouseketeers from one of Meyer's other comics(also, both he & Dizzy are adorable).
ReplyDeleteThe Bo Bunny comic is nifty, too; I thought it was funny how Bo keeps falling asleep while Skinny's talking to him. LOL!
I just love Sheldon Mayer's comics! Dizzy Dog is adorable; I couldn't help noticing, BTW, that the mouse in the comic bears a striking resemblance to one of the Three Mouseketeers in another of Mayer's comics. The Bo Bunny comic is nifty, too; I thought it was funny when Bo kept falling asleep when Skinny was trying to talk to him. LOL!
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