Showing posts with label Jack Cole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Cole. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2020
Saturday Leftover Day.
This used to be credited to Jack Cole on the Grand Comics Database, but the credit has been changed to Paul Gustavson because it was identified as his father's by him. I am not sure. I have seen a lot of Gustavson's work and a lot of Jack Cole and I see a lot of the latter and nothing of the former (though both are great in ther own way).
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Genius At Work
Monday Cartoon Day.
Just a single cartoon today, Jack Cole in the Jack Mendelsohn edited The Most #2. Previously unknown.
Just a single cartoon today, Jack Cole in the Jack Mendelsohn edited The Most #2. Previously unknown.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Say It Ain't Cole
Friday Comic Book Day.
In the mid to late forties Plastic Man creator reinvested his commitment to his publisher Quality comics. Before that he had given more and more parts of the creation of his strips to other hand, possibly in an effort to produce as many stories as possible. But at a certain point, you can see him returning to Plastic Man, introducing new characters and helping out others to do the same.
Here are two stories I sent to Jack Cole expert Paul Tumey with the question if I was right to see Cole hand in these two stories. Paul replied that he saw why I would say that, but he feels it might just as well have been the work of Cole previous collaborators and style imitators, like Alex Kotzky. Main thing I see it that neither of these stories is by their regular creator. Her Highness, about an old lady running a group of gangsters, was usually done by Gill Fox. here the style is to wild and to lively to be by Fox. The characters expressions, the look of the ladies and the use of oddly shaped panels all remind me of Cole. The second story, Bob and Swab (named for a navy slang expression for a certain sexual combo delivered by some of the ladies they met on their travels) usually is by Klaus Nordling, although Cole is known to do a couple as well. Here we are left inbetween. The figures have Nordling's touches, but the layout and the action is more Cole style.
Either way they are fun stories.
In the mid to late forties Plastic Man creator reinvested his commitment to his publisher Quality comics. Before that he had given more and more parts of the creation of his strips to other hand, possibly in an effort to produce as many stories as possible. But at a certain point, you can see him returning to Plastic Man, introducing new characters and helping out others to do the same.
Here are two stories I sent to Jack Cole expert Paul Tumey with the question if I was right to see Cole hand in these two stories. Paul replied that he saw why I would say that, but he feels it might just as well have been the work of Cole previous collaborators and style imitators, like Alex Kotzky. Main thing I see it that neither of these stories is by their regular creator. Her Highness, about an old lady running a group of gangsters, was usually done by Gill Fox. here the style is to wild and to lively to be by Fox. The characters expressions, the look of the ladies and the use of oddly shaped panels all remind me of Cole. The second story, Bob and Swab (named for a navy slang expression for a certain sexual combo delivered by some of the ladies they met on their travels) usually is by Klaus Nordling, although Cole is known to do a couple as well. Here we are left inbetween. The figures have Nordling's touches, but the layout and the action is more Cole style.
Either way they are fun stories.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Police Collection
Friday Comic Book Day.
So who is finally going to frigging collect these?
I am about to sell my own Police comics. Do I have sit down and scan every Jack Cole page first?
So who is finally going to frigging collect these?
I am about to sell my own Police comics. Do I have sit down and scan every Jack Cole page first?
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
One Sunday At The Time
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
Over the years I have tried to bring you all of Jack Cole's Betsy and Me strip. Some of it has been reprinted in Fantagraphics 'complete' collection, but as I have shown in previous posts, this book does not include all of Dwight Parks' strip from the beginnen of NOvember 1958 to the third week of December. I have found most of these strips in black and white and quite a lot of them in color. One day soon, I will put all them together, but there are still a couple of holes in my collection.
One question mark is regarding the starting date of the Sundays. The first Sunday in the Fantagraphics collection is dated 07-06-1958, but my own first Sunday was twee weeks before that and be the looks of it not really the first one. I suggest there may have been one or two before that. Well, this week I recieved a newspaper section that unexpectedly ha another Betsy and Me in it (the seller hadn't bothered to specify it), dated one week before that and it does read as if it ould be an introductory one. Which leaves only the June 29 Sunday undiscovered at the front end. The other one missing is from July 20 (with only two tier versions available from July 6 and July 27 as well as the one I am sharing here. Although I have many of Dwght Parks's Sunday in color, I am missing a couple there as well. But we are getiing there.
Over the years I have tried to bring you all of Jack Cole's Betsy and Me strip. Some of it has been reprinted in Fantagraphics 'complete' collection, but as I have shown in previous posts, this book does not include all of Dwight Parks' strip from the beginnen of NOvember 1958 to the third week of December. I have found most of these strips in black and white and quite a lot of them in color. One day soon, I will put all them together, but there are still a couple of holes in my collection.
One question mark is regarding the starting date of the Sundays. The first Sunday in the Fantagraphics collection is dated 07-06-1958, but my own first Sunday was twee weeks before that and be the looks of it not really the first one. I suggest there may have been one or two before that. Well, this week I recieved a newspaper section that unexpectedly ha another Betsy and Me in it (the seller hadn't bothered to specify it), dated one week before that and it does read as if it ould be an introductory one. Which leaves only the June 29 Sunday undiscovered at the front end. The other one missing is from July 20 (with only two tier versions available from July 6 and July 27 as well as the one I am sharing here. Although I have many of Dwght Parks's Sunday in color, I am missing a couple there as well. But we are getiing there.
Monday, June 08, 2015
Cole Saw
Monday cartoon Day.
I don't know who was first in his admiration for the cartoon work, if it was Paul Tumey or me. I think in fact, that I beat him to it, at least on the internet. My interest in the cartoon work of the famous Plastic Man creator came through my exposure to the Humorama line of cartoon magazines from Timely-Atlas owner Martin Goodman. These saucy cartoon series with names such as Joker, Laugh, Gee-Whiz, Comedy, Breezy, Romp and Stare appeared all through the fifties and contained work by the greats of that genre: Bill Ward, Al Wenzel and Dan DeCarlo. They also had hidden in them gags by free-lancing comic book artists such as Jim Mooney, Dave Berg, Jo Albistur and Basil Wolverton.
Jack Cole did a whole series of wash cartoons for them in the mid fifties, after the collapse of Plastic Man publisher Quality and before he joined Playboy as their premiere full color artist (before his untimely death in 1958). These cartoons were used again and again and you see them appearing in the pocket sized magazines until 1961 and ever after that in the full sized Popular Jokes magazine series all through the eighties. Alex Chun did a collection of the cartoons (always signed Jake) but unfortunately even he could not provide a list of all of them. Every now and then a new one pops up in Popular Jokes which make the fans discuss where it was first published and if it even was first published or just part of some unpublished treasure trove. Alex Chun also did a couple of digest sized book collections of cartoons by Dan DeCarlo, Al Wenzel and Bill Ward and even a miscellaneous collection called Humorama cartoons. All books I highly recommend, although I am still sad no one has started a website where collectors could add lists of the cartoons inside and their makers.
Anyway, these books appeared slightly after I got interested in the Humorama digests and got a few myself. Around the same time Paul Tumey started his Jack Cole website (see the sidebar). It seems to me he came from Cole's comic book work primarily, describing all of Cole wonderful comic book series from the forties, his origins in the thirties and finding many new 'undiscovered' Cole stories along the way in series that were not by him but from the same Quality stabel of artosts that sometimes assisted him on Plastic Man. I was immediately attracted by the quality of Paul's essays and read them all. They are still up and highly recommended, as well as his two annotated collections of Jack Cole's Mr. Midnight stories, a sort of semi-serious parody of Will Eisner's the Spirit.
Paul also started digging into Jack Cole's career and found a lot of previously unknown cartoon work from the thirties and forties. I assisted him every once in a while with a find of my own. One of the biggest and weirdest finds was a large wash cartoon that Jack Cole had done for the comical Judge magazine in the mid forties. This was done at a time that Cole was still working for Quality, although many of his series were now ghosted by others. He had just finished a run of assisting Lou Fine and others in producing the weekly Spirit section while creator Will Eisner was away during the war. The cartoon was a sign Cole may have been reluctant to return to the comic book grind and would like to pursue a new career as a cartoonist. The normal way to do that would be to try and sell to the top selling magazines such as The New Yorker, but there has never been any sign of that. The cartoon done for Judge was done especially for that magazine, since it featured a Judge character that had been hanging around the magazine (and sometimes added to the cover) in little vignette drawings that were just as lively as Cole's own work, but probably not done by him.
Recently I bought a complete set of 1944-1946 Judge magazines to see if there were any more Cole cartoons around the same period. And there were. I found four single cartoons in late 1944, ending in a first wash drawn full page Judge gag with a Christmas theme in December. Three more full page cartoons featuring the Judge character followed in the second half of 1945. I feel that these cartoon 'prove' that the Judge vignettes were not drawn by Cole and the character itself probably not designed by him - even though it first appeared around the same time as his version. All all, they seem the result of to visits, the reason for which is not know at this moment.
I don't know who was first in his admiration for the cartoon work, if it was Paul Tumey or me. I think in fact, that I beat him to it, at least on the internet. My interest in the cartoon work of the famous Plastic Man creator came through my exposure to the Humorama line of cartoon magazines from Timely-Atlas owner Martin Goodman. These saucy cartoon series with names such as Joker, Laugh, Gee-Whiz, Comedy, Breezy, Romp and Stare appeared all through the fifties and contained work by the greats of that genre: Bill Ward, Al Wenzel and Dan DeCarlo. They also had hidden in them gags by free-lancing comic book artists such as Jim Mooney, Dave Berg, Jo Albistur and Basil Wolverton.
Jack Cole did a whole series of wash cartoons for them in the mid fifties, after the collapse of Plastic Man publisher Quality and before he joined Playboy as their premiere full color artist (before his untimely death in 1958). These cartoons were used again and again and you see them appearing in the pocket sized magazines until 1961 and ever after that in the full sized Popular Jokes magazine series all through the eighties. Alex Chun did a collection of the cartoons (always signed Jake) but unfortunately even he could not provide a list of all of them. Every now and then a new one pops up in Popular Jokes which make the fans discuss where it was first published and if it even was first published or just part of some unpublished treasure trove. Alex Chun also did a couple of digest sized book collections of cartoons by Dan DeCarlo, Al Wenzel and Bill Ward and even a miscellaneous collection called Humorama cartoons. All books I highly recommend, although I am still sad no one has started a website where collectors could add lists of the cartoons inside and their makers.
Anyway, these books appeared slightly after I got interested in the Humorama digests and got a few myself. Around the same time Paul Tumey started his Jack Cole website (see the sidebar). It seems to me he came from Cole's comic book work primarily, describing all of Cole wonderful comic book series from the forties, his origins in the thirties and finding many new 'undiscovered' Cole stories along the way in series that were not by him but from the same Quality stabel of artosts that sometimes assisted him on Plastic Man. I was immediately attracted by the quality of Paul's essays and read them all. They are still up and highly recommended, as well as his two annotated collections of Jack Cole's Mr. Midnight stories, a sort of semi-serious parody of Will Eisner's the Spirit.
Paul also started digging into Jack Cole's career and found a lot of previously unknown cartoon work from the thirties and forties. I assisted him every once in a while with a find of my own. One of the biggest and weirdest finds was a large wash cartoon that Jack Cole had done for the comical Judge magazine in the mid forties. This was done at a time that Cole was still working for Quality, although many of his series were now ghosted by others. He had just finished a run of assisting Lou Fine and others in producing the weekly Spirit section while creator Will Eisner was away during the war. The cartoon was a sign Cole may have been reluctant to return to the comic book grind and would like to pursue a new career as a cartoonist. The normal way to do that would be to try and sell to the top selling magazines such as The New Yorker, but there has never been any sign of that. The cartoon done for Judge was done especially for that magazine, since it featured a Judge character that had been hanging around the magazine (and sometimes added to the cover) in little vignette drawings that were just as lively as Cole's own work, but probably not done by him.
Recently I bought a complete set of 1944-1946 Judge magazines to see if there were any more Cole cartoons around the same period. And there were. I found four single cartoons in late 1944, ending in a first wash drawn full page Judge gag with a Christmas theme in December. Three more full page cartoons featuring the Judge character followed in the second half of 1945. I feel that these cartoon 'prove' that the Judge vignettes were not drawn by Cole and the character itself probably not designed by him - even though it first appeared around the same time as his version. All all, they seem the result of to visits, the reason for which is not know at this moment.
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Cole In The Rough
Friday Comic Book Day.
Paul Tumey has done a lot of good work finding stray Jack Cole stories from Quality series he did not create or regularely draw. You should go to his Jack Cole blog to have a look. Apparently, in the Quality bullpen assignments got thrown around if needed. The comic series Her Highness (about a little old lady running a gangster outfit) which ran in Hit Comics was not drawn by Jack Cole. She was created as a villian for the lead feature, Kid Eternity in Hit Comics #27/28 and immediately spun off in her own series from #28. The first few stories may have bee drawn by Alex Kotzky, who also inked jack Cole and proably drew some of the stories in Plastic Man. After that, the series was taken over by Janice Valleau. According to the Grand Comicbook Database the first story her could have been drawn by her as well, but there are a couple of Jack Cole touches that I have never seen in her (more realistic) work, like the open mouthed guy on the splash page and the ladies in the last two pages. Additionally, this is one of a few stories shedidn't sign (with the nome de plume Ginger). After ten issues Alex Kotzky returns, according to the GCD. They also have the second story here as possibly by Kotzky, but is seems like Cole's work to me, especially the staging. It could be that Kotzky was then so much influenced by his work on Plastic Man that a difference is hard to make. Anyway, the next issue the GCD agrees with my ambivalence about these stories, because they give it to Cole as well. With a questionmark, as would I do. The next story is not credited, but unfortunately I can't show it to you as I have not got that book. As to why Jack Cole would have help on Plastic Man and then be asked to assist others on their strips, I don't know.
Paul Tumey has done a lot of good work finding stray Jack Cole stories from Quality series he did not create or regularely draw. You should go to his Jack Cole blog to have a look. Apparently, in the Quality bullpen assignments got thrown around if needed. The comic series Her Highness (about a little old lady running a gangster outfit) which ran in Hit Comics was not drawn by Jack Cole. She was created as a villian for the lead feature, Kid Eternity in Hit Comics #27/28 and immediately spun off in her own series from #28. The first few stories may have bee drawn by Alex Kotzky, who also inked jack Cole and proably drew some of the stories in Plastic Man. After that, the series was taken over by Janice Valleau. According to the Grand Comicbook Database the first story her could have been drawn by her as well, but there are a couple of Jack Cole touches that I have never seen in her (more realistic) work, like the open mouthed guy on the splash page and the ladies in the last two pages. Additionally, this is one of a few stories shedidn't sign (with the nome de plume Ginger). After ten issues Alex Kotzky returns, according to the GCD. They also have the second story here as possibly by Kotzky, but is seems like Cole's work to me, especially the staging. It could be that Kotzky was then so much influenced by his work on Plastic Man that a difference is hard to make. Anyway, the next issue the GCD agrees with my ambivalence about these stories, because they give it to Cole as well. With a questionmark, as would I do. The next story is not credited, but unfortunately I can't show it to you as I have not got that book. As to why Jack Cole would have help on Plastic Man and then be asked to assist others on their strips, I don't know.
Thursday, January 02, 2014
Farley For President
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
Regulars of this blog will know I am trying to find the end date of the 1958 strip Betsy and Me, which was strted by Jack Cole and taken over by Chicago commercial cartoonist Dwight Parks after his suicide in the summer of that year. From an interview with his son David I know that Dwight Parks was only hired by the synidcate to fill out the year, but to what date the strip actually ran is still unclear. Last Christmas I shared the last Sunday I could find, from December the 21st (with no new episode in the week after that). I had also found a source for the dailies that took me further than I had ever had, to November the 29th. Last month I found a new source, that had strips for december as well, but unfortunately around the second week the whole thing fell apart. The daily for December the 9th is misshot and only has the first panel and a half and the one after that, the December the 10th one is the last - after that the microfiche roll jumps to the ast couple of days of the month wit no Betsy and Me. So the searchis still on. Possibly for better copies as well, because these are overlit as well. So I am showing them here more as proof of existance than anything else.
Regulars of this blog will know I am trying to find the end date of the 1958 strip Betsy and Me, which was strted by Jack Cole and taken over by Chicago commercial cartoonist Dwight Parks after his suicide in the summer of that year. From an interview with his son David I know that Dwight Parks was only hired by the synidcate to fill out the year, but to what date the strip actually ran is still unclear. Last Christmas I shared the last Sunday I could find, from December the 21st (with no new episode in the week after that). I had also found a source for the dailies that took me further than I had ever had, to November the 29th. Last month I found a new source, that had strips for december as well, but unfortunately around the second week the whole thing fell apart. The daily for December the 9th is misshot and only has the first panel and a half and the one after that, the December the 10th one is the last - after that the microfiche roll jumps to the ast couple of days of the month wit no Betsy and Me. So the searchis still on. Possibly for better copies as well, because these are overlit as well. So I am showing them here more as proof of existance than anything else.
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