Downsizing

Saturday Leftover Day.

Dutch former underground arstist turned Duck writer (among his many acomplishments) Evert Geradts once told he he was a huge fan of Blondie, mainly because when he was younger it was reprinted in his parents' tv guide, De VARA Gids. I understand, but as far as I am concerned they reprinted it in the wrong format. Like all strips that started before the war, Blondie used to have a full page of it's own, one third of which was filled with a second strip, Colonel Potterby and the Dutchess. It was a pantomime strip in a totally different style, somwhere between Chic Young's own Blondie and Otto Soglow's The Little King. I would have thought that this strip was the work of one of Young's assistants, but most online soures credit it to Young himself. Maybe he only used assistants on Blondie (such as Paul Fung Jr., who drew all those dogs in the fifties strips). Samples of Colonel Potterby can be seen if you follow the link.

Although Potterby started as a half page strip, sharing the page equally with Blondie and Dagwood, it shrank to one third of a page in the forties. That is also, when some papers started cutting the two apart, sometimes running either or if both were used, never together. The remaining four tier Blondie was the original format in which the strip was drawn, but it had a problem: it ran two thirds of a page and that was deemed too much by most papers. So a new three tier version was made that only filled half a page. That was achieved by lengthening all the panels. And although it seemed almost natural, if you see the two thirds version it somehow fits better. Here are a couple of samples from the fifties, including one rare two thirds page one. Unfortunately, the paper I found it in was badly folded and I couldn't repair it without damaging the art, but I hope you'll catch the drift.

Update: I uploaded another two thirds one.
Update: and two more from the same period.

THe Colonel and Mrs. Simpson

Saturday Leftover Day.

Officially the 'modern' more graphic style of cartooning started just at the end of the war when the future UPC artists found a way to make animated cartoons more graphic, cheaper and better suited to delivering messages rather than characters. But in magazine cartooning, it had ben around much longer of course. In the simple styling of Gardner Rea, for example. Or in the graphic genius of Otto Soglow. But by the sixties it would cmpletely take over all sorts of cartooning. Anyone attempting a more lush and and elaborte style was branded oldfashioned for many years.

One of the first to make the switch was Chic Young. Young had started out as a pretty conservative cartoonist. And althought that would become a quite graphicly influential strip in the forties (inspiring many of the new generation), it eems to me that the greates leap forward was mad in 1934, when he introduced a new 'topper' strip called Colonel Potterby and the Dutchess. In it, we see the adventures of a rich 'Colonel' and his Society Friend, the Duchess. It must have been inspired by the susses of Solgow's Little King, but I see obvious traces of a satire of the scandalous romance of King Edward and Mrs. Simpson - which would be very topical, because according to Wikipedia they only started their affair in 1934. I'd have to have a further look into the precise dates to say that with more confidence.

Although Young used many assistants on Blondie in later years (I still don't know when exactly Paul Fung Jr, who later took over the strip, started - Wikipeduia says 1949, but I see his or a similar style long before that) it seems he created this little gem on his own. And with Fung starting in 1949, maybe I should give him more credit for the amazing style of his strips in the forties. But I just an't seem to match the artist of the erly thirties with that later work. If he did that all by himself, what a stylistic growth he went through!

Anyway, I have shown some of the Pottersby strips here. Most (or possibly even all) of them in black and white. It is one of thse strips that survive the microfiche rocess pretty well, with it's bold lines and light colors. And many times, when a paper decided to run it's Sunday strips in black and white (and not in a seperate section), they ofteh used Blondie and Pottersby. So I have had a lot of good samples to choose from.

But here is one in color, I came across and just couldn't resist scanning.

Oh, by the way - although the strip graphicly is 'a little gem', the jokes itself were never very funny, sometimes even obscure. That is probably why it never went on to become such a succes as Blondie - or even The Little King. Still, it ran from 1934 to 1963. That should count for something.






































For more, follow the label.

The Lady and the Gent

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

In the thirties it became usual for Sunday strips to have 'toppers'. A seperate strip, usually running on top of the now slighty less than page filling main feature. Chic Young's Blondie started out without a topper, but added one in 1934, Colonel Potterby and the Duchess. This now forgotten oddity which seems to be in the manner of Otto Solow's more succesful (and funny) Little King, concerned the silent adventures of an elderly rich guy and his nobel girlfriend. Not an uncommon sight in the higher circles in those days. This charming strip always was better drawn than it was funny. The more I read of Blondie, the funnier I find. Colonel Potterby often leaves me cold. Sometimes I really have to force myself toread it. A good silent strip draws you in and lets you read it panel to panel. This strip sort of seems to invite you to skip over it. Still, it looks nice...

To show how little recpect this strip gets, I am adding three originals taken from the Heritage Auction site. The first one sold for $40 in 2009, the second one for $70 in 2010 and the third one was part of a whole page including Blondie which together sold for $100 (which isn't strange, as it is from 1963 and attribute dto The Chic Young Studio rather than Young himself or his main assistant for the forties and fifties Paul Fung Jr.). I don't know how much Fung had to do with the earlier samples, though.