Oddities

I'm off to the Gothenburg bookfair tomorrow and there's no time to blog really. But, try to stop me...

Today we have three oddities. Strips that never saw print. First out is a rather small photo of a strip called "Shadow at beaver creek". Saw this on eBay a while ago and was almost tempted to buy it. Not that it looks good or anything but someone must have believed in his idea. ("His idea", by the way, it looks more like a Spirit rip-off...) You see, this is strip 757 and 758 (!!!) dated 2/15/54 and 2/18/54.
Just imagine doing over 700 strips and not having them published. Or maybe I'm wrong? They could have been published in some local paper.

The second example is a half finished 1942 sunday of "Duke and the Major" by Garnersmith and Burroghs. It doesn't look that bad. Anyone who knows what happened to them?


And last we have some samples of an unfinished Bus Sawyer page. Anyone who knows who did this? Bill Wright?
It was for sale a while ago and I regret not buying it. If the owner reads this, please let me know if it's still available.




Now I gotta run. Have to pack my bags and eat something. Off I go!

Rube Goldberg stuff

[Edit: Artwork and text removed.]

And here's a pic of Rube himself from 1964.

And just because I can post whatever I want on my blog:
A photo from 1929 when he and his family visited the president.

I'm off for the bookfair soon, but hopefully I'll manage to post something interesting tomorrow too. That is, if you find old stuff like this interesting. And I bet you do. I now have over 900 different visitors every month! I'm glad that you enjoy the stuff I post! :) There's more to come. Not to mention that mysterious Terry and the pirates page I...
Oooops I mentioned it. Better log out now. :)

Jens Lekman

Just back from the Jens Lekman gig! He finished playing at Inkonst (right below our Studio) a few minutes ago.
I just have to tell you all how great, great, great it was. A mix between Elvis and Dexy's Midnight Runners with both a horn section and a string section. If you just heard the record I can promise you that seeing him live is a totally different experience. An amazing mix of soul music and pop all whipped upp with swedish sadness and frantic joy!
If Jens plays in a town near you don't miss him!
Now, my head is full of rum and coke and I'm gonna head back into the Malmo night.
See ya tomorraw! OKMNX!

Baaa!


PS.
Today I found a 1941 Terry and the Pirates sunday that no one of you has ever seen before.
Now, some of you have all the different collections that has been printed over the years, but... this one isn't in any of those.
I've been hunting this for YEARS! And you know what? It's coming to a blog near you soon! isn't life grand? :)

OK Ham and Eggs!

Here's the follow up to the last post!
79 year old newspaper ads for our favorite strip: Barney Google! :)
Back in 1928 he was elected The Mysterious and Secret Brotherhood of Billy Goats president candidate and ran for it. And there was coverage in the newspapers, like Barney was a real person! In addition to the last posts membership card (wich I won on eBay a few days ago) here are some of the ads and two (rather blurry) strips from the beginning that year. Just to show some of the newspaper coverage.

First off is an ad from January 21, 1928.


Then some strips and ads from February 18-26 the same year.





All of this makes me want to read more of the dailies. But the microfilm I've found is too blurry to make it an enjoyable experience. If anyone has a good scource for runs of DeBecks Google feel free to mail me.
I'm also looking for Kitchen Sinks collection of the strip. Anyone with an extra copy?

Okmnx!

I'm happy to report that I'm now a member of the Secret and Mysterious Brotherhood of Billy Goats!!!
Woooha! Am I cool or what?


Now, whatsthis? you might wonder. Click on the pics to enlarge, and if you're still as confused as I was when I first saw this I can ease your mind telling you that it will all be explained with some historically Googlealicious documents in a day or two.
Now, I'll just have to learn how to write shorter sentences...

Baaa!

Sparrow

A question for those of you who has Shane Glines book "S curves" and his new "Sparrow": Are the drawings in these overlapping or are the contents all different?
I'm tempted to buy "Sparrow", but if it's only stuff I already have in "S curves" then...

Mickey Mouse uncut!

Back in 1942 KFS began to make the daily Mickey Mouse strip available in two different formats.
One was a longer strip and the other one shorter, but with more artwork on the bottom of the strip.
The originals were drawn like the shorter strips and to make them longer they simply cut off the bottom and enlarged them, thus creating two different versions from the same original. Get it?

The earliest Mickey daily I've found two versions of is this one dated September 7, 1942. (Anyone seen an earlier example?) As you can see it was designed so that it easily could be cut off. No important details in the bottom of the strip.

The rest of the week followed in the same manner, as you can see below. First we have some uncut versions and then two cut ones for you to compare. (Unfortunately the full sized all comes from baaad microfilm.) Notice that Mickey has been moved up a bit, to not be cut off in the second of these two dailies.




But... the week that followed some odd strips appeared. Someone must have forgotten that the strips should be made in two versions. An what appeared in most papers was a cut version that looks terrible. The strip dated 9-14 even has the cut made inside the strip, resulting in the worst cut I've ever seen in a daily. Check out the samples below for the cut week.
(You can see how the dates has been cut from the bottoms of the strips and placed higher. Obviously a job done fast, and it shows.)


A while ago I was lucky to find really bad microfilm versions of these strips in their full version. (Only one paper of all I found that had MM ran the full version...) It appears that nor Disney or any other publisher still has the full version proofs anymore, so for now this is as good as it gets.
I really hope Gemstone will find full versions of these to print if the Gottfredson Library will be a reality. Meanwhile, you can enjoy and compare these strips. Even though they are a bit muddy... to say the least...
After this week the strips were made in two versions that looked equally good again.







While doing this research I noticed that these strips must have been available in a third (!!!) version. One without zip-a-tone.
Look at the sample below. Does anyone know when they started this habit? Seems again that the only surviving stats are the ones with zip.
Any comments, additions or further info on this subject is welcome!

Update 2008-12-25:
Western apparently got uncut stats for the publication in WDS&S. But since they cut the strips themselves that version is also incomplete. But in a different way...

More Graff! :)

Won this one on eBay last night. :)
My third (!!!) original daily from Mel Graffs 1942 Agent X-9 story "Lady diplomat".
Just can't get enough of them! I love how he handled the brush back in the 40's.


If I manage to finish my next Emma & Sara page this evening I'll post some uncut Floyd Gottfredson artwork that hasn't seen print since the mid 40's tonight. Stay tuned!

Weekends

This weekend has been just about relaxing, having a hangover and just enjoying life.
Yesterday I went to the library around noon, sat down in a sofa reading Milligans and Allreds "X-Statix".
Just some plain superhero fun that I usually don't read, and I fell asleep there with my mp3-player in my ears.
Today we took a long walk along the beach, smelled the sea and strolled around in the newly built area Bo01.
Ahhh... weekends. :)

Right now I'm in the studio scanning two nice panels from old sunday pages. I've scanned them high res. and will make large prints of them for my walls at home. (The goal is to make them look like two Lichtenstein paintings, but with better artwork...)
The panels I've chosen are by my two favourite Bobs. Namely Lubbers and Oksner!
My friend Andrew Pepoy (See link to the right under Artists - International) sold me a big stack of Long Sam and Cairo Jones a few years ago, and it's from two of those these panels are taken.
Back then I thought that they were really expensive but I have since realized that I'm lucky to have them at all. Hard to find and I've really enjoyed them over the years. Definitely worth whatever I paid for them. (Not to mention they are excellent as swipefiles when you run out of inspiration...)

And here are the panels in case you wonder what they look like.
Long Sam by Bob Lubbers.

Cairo Jones by Bob Oksner.Just imagine those giant size on the wall...
Ah, those beautiful screen tone colors. ;)

Donald Duck cell

This cell is for sale on eBay right now. But... isn't there something odd about it?
Donald is dressed like he's working as a blacksmith. But what is he doing in a winterlandscape with two penguins that looks like they've escaped from Mary Poppins?
Strange indeed...

Edit: Donald is taken from "Steel and America" from 1966. Had never heard about that one before Didier posted a sample over at his Disney History blog. See link to the right.

Another Wunder

Remember those Terry and the Pirates try-outs by George Wunder that I posted on May 20?
Well, one more has turned up!
I hope that this one also will be included in the last of the Terry volumes as bonus material.
Enjoy!




Seems that I forgot to download the large size pic of the first photo from eBay last week. Anyone else who grabbed it and wants to share it? Have searched eBays completed items but the strip seems to have vanished!?? Maybe the seller removed the listing?

Google this!

Since Fortunato gave the answer to yesterdays question so fast, here are some odd and rare Barney Google stuff for you to enjoy.

First out is a beauty that went unsold on eBay a few days ago. A beautiful 1930's drawing by DeBeck. If I had some $600 left in a drawer I would have picked up this one...


A postcard from 1942.

An irresistable and cute Spark Plug doll. Me want, me want...

And finally, two masks from the 60's. To be worn at cool parties when you want to show the in crowd that you know wich comic characters that are hip. (Too cool to be true!)

Name that cartoonist! pt. II

Yup! It's time for another installment of Name that Cartoonist!
This time it's a well known guy that was a superstar in the 20's and the 30's. Here he's seen with Rudy Vallee to the left and his wife in the middle. Buuuut... who is he?
Anyone who dares to guess?
Answer later this week, along with a rare sample of his art or two.

And just to make things really easy: Here's of the man that took over "Mr. X"s strip in the 40's .

the Duckburg strip

Did you know that there's still a Donald Duck newspaper strip produced?
I thought it was long gone but apparently it's still produced in Italy and available in at least Europe, since I found here it in a small local paper. Anyone who has seen it in a US paper? It's actually called Duckburg (Ankeborg) so I guess it also features the rest of the Disney cast. (This is the only example I've seen.)


Update Sept. 11:
According to Bulls Press they get the material for the dailies straight from Disney in Italy, where it's called Topolino.
Someone in Italy who wants to pick up this lead to see if we can find out more?

Run, Emma! Run!

Havn't been that much in the studio this past week for various reasons, so therefore not much blogging has been done. But I have at least finished a new Emma & Sara page. :)
Here's a pose that I enjoyed doing. This is from the final panel of the page and I had to have Emma & Sara running away. Trouble was that the panel wasn't that high and I needed to squeeze them in, showing their full bodies.
So I just didn't give a damn about proportions and just drew instead. Then inked with thick and heavy lines and added some thin Walt Kelly shading. I think I pulled it off.

My sweeties

Well, that's me.
At least the way I look to Hedvig, who drew this for me. :)

For those of you who are new here: I collect original comic art, and I think this might be a hint that I'm cuddling too much with my originals and not enough with her... ;)

Havank by Jippes

It's always a thrill to see new artwork by mater artist Daan Jippes! Until today I had no idea that he had made this album.

Havank is what I understand a series of detective stories that Daan, using the name Danier, now has begun doing adaptations of. (Or is it all new stories?) The art reminds me of Franquin at his peak. I haven't got the album myself yet but after finding some sneak peaks on the net I'll sure get it as soon as possible. It's available at www.nl.bol.com along with some more samples.