Buck O'Rue article

Todays post over at Stripper's Guide is a must for Paul Murry fans!
"News of Yore: Buck O'Rue Launched"
Go check it out!

BTW: Stripper's Guide is one of the few sites/blogs I visit almost daily. Soooo much good stuff there! It's easy to just spend an hour or two there reading the archived posts.

Murry in Hollywood

What's a Monday without some rare Paul Murry art?
Last week there was a break due to my neck pains (It hurts I can tell you. Still taking those painkillers everyday...) but this week we are back with five gags from "Hollywood". Enjoy!





Five more from the same publication to follow next week.

Rare Caniff

Like yesterdays post this was found on the rarities CD I made a few years ago.
It's signed by Milton Caniff, but the question is what this was made for? Was it for an unpublished project? Any hardcore Caniff fans out there with more knowledge?





To end this Caniff post: Here is a scan of a nice original owned by my neighbour Germund von Wowern. Me like... It's faaaar more impressive than the one I got.


PS. Check out the new post at Arf lovers blog, if you havn't already. There's a scan of the very, very, very first Pogo strip that Craig Yoe owns.

Three gems

After yesterdays horrible pics I have some better ones from the rarities CD I mentioned in an earlier post.
First a Frank Robbins Hit Kit of popular songs cover:
Not that easy to find I guess...

A drawing by Milt' Caniff from 1937:


And to round off this post a Burma panel from 1938, for no other reason than I like it. Ahh, that use of blue wash on the original art. Just love it!

Hey look!

While browsing eBay I've come across some really wonderful pieces. Not because they are beautiful but because they make me laugh hard. One seller is a particular favorite: rvm1952. He always has loads of original drawings. And they sell!
For hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Most examples here has been sold or are up for sale now. The one with Snoopy as the red baron went for over $800!
At the same time as it's funny it's extremely sad. I guess that all of you who are visiting this blog understands why. If not: Don't get into the hobby of collecting original art...

Please enjoy:












Ahh, amusing, eh?

Wunders Terry try-outs

When Milton Caniff decided to leave "Terry and the Pirates" his sucessor George Wunder drew some sample strips to land the job. Wunders run on the strip began in January 1947, but the sample strips he made was to my knowledge never used. His style in these try-outs were much closer to Caniff's style than anything he ever did later.
I'd say that this was the best job he ever did on the strip.

So far I've only seen four.
One in the Street Enterprises portfolio, two in a catalouge with original art for sale and the original art for another in my drawers(!). The strip I got is marked #13 in the upper left corner.
Anyone who has seen more? Wouldn't it be great to have a set of these collected and used as bonus material in last volume of the upcoming Terry books?

Well , here are the four I'm aware of:



Also: I believe that "Adventures of Patsy"-artist Charles Raab did try-out strips for "Terry and the Pirates" at the same time. Anyone who has seen any of those and can confirm?

Just released - Big Fun #5

Hot off the presses: Big Fun Comics #5!



PRESS RELEASE:

American Comic Archive announces the publication of Big Fun Comics
Magazine #5 featuring Lance by Warren Tufts. Coming in at almost 200
pages, there are over 2 full years of strips, with Sundays in full color.

Regarded as one of the finest western strips ever produced. Tufts excellent writing and well crafted dialogue was equally matched by his artwork. Filled with isolated settlements, wagon trains, Indian wars, desert vistas, mountain ranges, blizzards, saints and sinners, the brilliant artwork, always historically accurate was unequaled by any strip in the 1950's save perhaps, at times Jose Salinas' artwork on Cisco Kid and Hal Foster's continuing work on Prince Valiant. For color treatment,
no strip surpasses Tufts mastery on Lance.

Big Fun Comics 5 is distributed through www.lulu.com
For more information visit www.americancomicarchive.com
------------

Basically, issue 5 is on sale. It's a Lance only issue. All Sundays are in
color. It covers almost 2 years of the strip, starting at the very
beginning. The daily strip begins on Jan. 14, 1957. As it is integrated
with the Sunday, from this point on the pages alternate between dailies
and Sundays.

Noel Sickles - Bull artist

I love the artwork of Noel Sickles. (One of the artists behind the aviation strip "Scorchy Smith" in the 30's, for those of you who are unfamilar with his name.) Even when he draws a cute bull. :)
So here's one + a trademark Sickles woman.
The scource of these are unknown. Just found them on a CD with old scans and thought I might share them with other Sickles fans.

Walt Disney? +Murry pt. V

Found this newspaper clipping dated 1936 in the files of comic book artist Rune Andréasson.
The text reads: "The father of Mickey Mouse doesn't have time to draw!" " Walt Disney surrounded by a part of his numerous family."
What I wonder is; from wich publication is this taken? The back of the clipping doesn't give away any information.
And, is it really Walt Disney in the photo?

And since Germund has bugged me about the lack of nudes here (As if the two dirty pigs in yesterdays post weren't enough nudity for you...) well, here you are: Two nudes by no one else than Paul Murry. These comes from the collection of Don Ault. Probably from the early 70's or 1960's.

The Three little pigs...

By popular demand (Hi, mom!) here's a picture of yours truly, taken this morning while reading a 1940's KFS Famous Artists and Writers book. So, that's what I look like. Now you all know.

For todays second picture I had the choice between one with myself wearing pony socks on my ears and one taken this afternoon in the park. Nothing much to do with either comics, illustration or my own artwork but you know, Pigs is pigs... Gotta get some indian food now. I'm hungry. Oink!

Popeye 2007

There's a new grill in the neighbourhood.
(Close to Folkets Park in Malmo, Sweden.)
And what an eyepopping sign they have!
I doubt that the "artist" behind the Popeye image really understand why Popeye is called Popeye...

And speaking of Popeye: The second volume of the complete Popeye will be out in november from Fantagraphics Books!

Walt & Skeezix

Here's a rare gem for fans of Gasoline Alley.
A drawing by Frank King from circa 1930.
Have forgotten from where I got the scan, but if my memory serves me right it comes from a guestbook.
If you still havn't bought the first two collections of this wonderful comic strip I urge you to do that right away.
Amazon.com is just a mouse click away.

Book three will be out next month!

The most annoying song on earth!

Straight from hell, the Peking amusement park girls proudly presents: The world's most annoying song! Now to be found on Youtube:
Hahahahahaha song

David Gerstein posted a comment about it over at Cartoon Brew, wich I hope he don't mind me posting here. (David is THE expert when it comes to old songs in cartoons and early comics.)
"Holy cow. That’s “Johnny Verbeck” (or Rebeck or Dunderbeck), the turn-of-the-century drinking song about the cat- and dog-meat butcher with his marvelous sausage machine. I’d know the melody anywhere, though the meter has been altered somewhat.
(Comparison: it’s also in the Oswald Rabbit cartoon COLLEGE, where you can hear it during the sports sequence.) “She gave the crank a heck of a yank— and Johnny Verbeck was meat!”

Now, I wonder if that song is on one of those compilations of old rag time songs David has given me. It sure sounds familar. Gotta check it out.

Update May 11: I found another song that sounds just like this chinese Hahahaha song: "The Laughing Policeman" sung by Charles Penrose from 1926. It's just as annoying as the song linked above and worth tracking down. It's on a compilation called "Music hall Memories" with songs from 1906 to 1938.

Popeye 1936

For years I thought Popeye was just a fictional character made up by EC Segar. But thanks to the modern marvel of eBay I now know that he is for real. Here he is in his very own flesh and blood, visiting a KFS exhibition in 1936! Blow me down, and give the photograper a segar for capturing this historic moment.

Hedvigs sketchbook!

Hedvigs sketchbook is now available! (See previous posts.)
The price is 25 skr, 36 skr including postage for shipping within Sweden.
European orders: 5 euro incl. postage.
Everywhere outside Europe: $7.50 incl. postage.
Please send Hedvig a mail at
hedvighs (at) gmail.com
to check if there are any left.
(She only has 19 left at the moment of the 50 she printed...)

Murry monday Pt. IV

To make up for last mondays lack of Murry art here's a set of gags from the 60's. Don't know where they were published. (Maybe Germund can help out here?)
But first: A fuzzy photo of the original Murry gag cartoon I have on the wall in my apartment. I just show it here because I'd like to know if anyone know where it was published? The only clue I have is that it has the number 30 written on the back, wich btw probably only is Murrys own numbering of his gag and has nothing to do with were it was published.








(And for those of you who wonder: I DID finish the Emma & Sara page yesterday! Woooho!)