Marty Taras and his Rags Rabbit!

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

Today we have an older Harvey title, Rags Rabbit, a character introduced to compete with the Sheldon Mayer's Bo Bunny and (of course) the most famous bunny of them all, Bugs!

Rags was created by Marty Taras, whose classic, happy Harvey work we see here.

Marty Taras was (like so many artists in comics in the 40s and 50s) both a cartoonist and animator. He worked for Paramount's Famous Studios in the late 1930s, animating Popeye and Little Lulu shorts. For Harvey he animated many Casper and Baby Huey cartoons (Mr. Taras is also usually credited with creating Baby Huey). Mr. Taras went on to draw for such titles as Casper, the Friendly Ghost, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, Wendy, the Good Little Witch, and others throughout the 40s and 50s.

Let's enjoy these Rags Rabbit stories (and a Jesty and Pesty story - Rags' two little twin brothers) as well as the beautiful, lush-brush art of Mr. Taras!

Everything here, including the cover, is from Rags Rabbit No. 17 (January 1954).

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Lets wrap things up with a couple of beautiful advertisements from Daisy Air Rifles and Scwhinn Bycicles. I so adore the graphic design in the commic books full-page ads I see from this era!

The final ad for Fleer Bubblegum is illustrated by Ray Thompson, who always illustrated these Fleer Dubble Bubble Kids! I love his round, bouncy style and would love to see it collected in a hardcover release. I have a lot of his work posted in this blog. Just click his name below in the labels!

Well, that's all for now, Kids! Coming up next, shall we try a little Popeye by the legendary Bud Sagendorf? 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