Today we have two stories from Dell's Four Color No 289, August 1950, featuring the art work of two Western Publishing stalwarts, both Warner Brothers animators who also did tons of comic book work: John Carey and Fred Abranz. This first story, "The Sagebrush Kid," is penciled and inked by John Carey in his typical smooth, uncluttered style.
"Flivver Foolery" displays the sweet touch of Fred Abranz.
More from Fred Abranz - These next two black and white pages are from the front and back inside covers. I wonder sometimes if the Four Color artists put a little something extra into their brushwork when they knew they were doing an inside cover. It sure seems so, looking at these two examples.
Being a bit of a WB cartoon buff and usually good at identifying who directed a particular Looney Tune without seeing the title card, I can't help but notice that these comics sure look a lot like Robert McKimson's versions of Bugs, Porky and Elmer. Did Western Publishing use McKimson's work as their standard model sheets for the WB comics?
ReplyDeleteDebbie: Nice to hear from you. The number of ex-animators who turned to comics once movie feature cartoons dried up are legion, so the McKimson storyboard assumption is logical - but I can't say for sure.
ReplyDeleteBob's brother Tom was art director for Dell comics, and then later his other brother Chuck took over.
ReplyDeleteMcKimson family style is all over those comics. That last comic page (Bugs as an artist) looks a lot like Tom McKimson's style.
John: Thanks for the information! Deb - good eye!
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