Number 2292: Spunky, Junior Cowboy, and Stanley the horse in the ghost cave

Jack Bradbury’s cartoon drawing style is a favorite of mine. I find the characters he both created and drew, Spunky, Junior Cowboy, and his horse, Stanley, irresistible. I am a great admirer of the moonlighting animators who worked in comic books during the forties and fifties; they were gifted in the main, but even among his fellow funnymen, Bradbury stands out for me.

This story, from the first issue of Spunky, shows his solid craft and professionalism. It is also funny; a funny ghost story, no less.

From Spunky #1 (1949):

Number 2113: The short tall tale

I hold animator/cartoonist Jack Bradbury in high regard. I think he was one of the top artists of funny animal comics in the late forties-early fifties. I love Bradbury’s art for the same reason I love Walt Kelly...their background in animation helped them give life to the characters, movement and action, even in the non-moving panels of the comics.

Jack died in 2004, but one of his sons has kept his spirit alive with a website devoted to his comic book work. Spunky, Junior Cowboy #3 (1949), the comic book from which today’s story was published, was created, written and drawn by Bradbury.

I showed this hilarious tall tale back in 2007. These are brand new, much superior scans, from my personal copy.

You can see more of Jack Bradbury’s funny animals in his Hepcats. Just click on the thumbnail:

Number 1960: The impolite Spencer Spook

It is day three of our ACG Week.

Spencer Spook appeared in ACG’s Giggle Comics. The character was created by writer Hubie Karp and artist Ken Champin for Giggle #21, and carried through to the end of the Giggle run in 1955, when the title of the comic book was changed to Spencer Spook for the last two issues. Unlike another ghostly character, Casper, Spencer was part of a group hired to haunt houses.

My favorite Spencer stories were drawn by Jack Bradbury, like the one I’m showing today. Bradbury was an animator, as were most of the funny animal artists who drew for ACG’s humor comics. He had begun his career in the mid-1930s working for Disney, and ended his career at Western Publishing drawing stories featuring the Disney characters. According to a wonderful website created by his son, Jack Bradbury did over 6600 pages for Disney. Due to copyright none of those pages can be shown. I don’t want to rile Disney lawyers.

In this hilarious tale Spencer is pitted against an angry housewife. In the story we find out Spencer is “the spook of Spencer Plotz.” I don’t think that information is included in Don Markstein’s Toonopedia entry on Spencer..

Bradbury, born in 1914, died in 2004. The story is from Giggle Comics #66 (1949).

Number 1348: Jack Bradbury’s hip Hepcats

Jack Bradbury did the artwork for the Hepcats, a cute 1940s series about a bunch of jitterbugging funny animals. The stories are a cultural artifact of the era, post-War America when teenagers were becoming a force in society. It was reflected by the number of comic books (Archie and imitations) about teenagers and their interest in cars, dating and music.

The Hepcats was a series inspired by the pop culture of the day. Jack Bradbury was an animator and it showed, with beautifully designed characters and comic exaggeration in every panel. Bradbury later drew the famous Disney characters for comic books,* but my personal fondness is for what he did with characters like the Hepcats.

From Hi-Jinx #3 (1947):

 *He also drew Beany and Cecil, a Bob Clampett creation.

Number 1319: Beany and Cecil and the big blue brute

Jack Bradbury, the cartoonist-animator, drew this story of Beany and Cecil. The characters were originally hand puppets created by Bob Clampett, starring in their own early television show.

You can view a web site devoted to Bradbury’s comic book works at jbrad.org. There's another story from the issue in which today’s tale appears in Pappy’s #1113.

From Dell Four Color comic #414, Beany and Cecil (1952):