About STWALLSKULL

I had a previous employer utter the nonsensical phrase at one point and vaguely explain its origins, and my Grandmother still occasionally will refer to my Uncle’s fondness for his Froggy doll.

However, what really captured my imagination for this bizarre show was Kim Deitch‘s excellent The Search for Smilin’ Ed comics, serialized in the Fantagraphics anthology Zero Zero. Most of those back issues can still be purchased on the Fantagraphics website here. Unfortunately, I don’t believe it has been reprinted as a book yet.

Froggy the Gremlin is much more twisted than I imagined.

See an excerpt from an issue of Buster Brown Comics featuring Smilin Ed’s Gang aka Andy’s Gang courtesy of Stupid Comics here.

Visit froggythegremlin.com.

Visit the grave of W.H. "Major" Ray aka Buster Brown here.

Brother Theodore Wednesdays #13

Posted on May 14, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Crumbling Paper: Buster Brown’s New Airship (strip #2)

Posted on May 13, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Here’s an example I scanned of Buster Brown from 1910 by Richard F. Outcault, seven years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight (whose authenticity was not widely believed for many years after that).

Click the image to view the full strip.

Click here to read more examples of Buster Brown at Barnacle Press.

See the last Buster Brown strip at the Stripper’s Guide.

Click here to read about Richard F. Outcault at lambiek.net.

See a Buster Brown original (with the Yellow Kid) at the Library of Congress website.

See examples of Outcault’s Yellow Kid at Ohio State University’s website.

Click here to read more about Buster Brown at Toonopedia.

Hear a radio program on the history of Buster Brown at npr.org.

Visit the website of the R.F. Outcault Society.

Read the Wikipedia entry on Buster Brown.

Read the Wikipedia entry on R.F. Outcault..

Read the Wikipedia entry on The Yellow Kid.

See the copyright application for the Yellow Kid at the Library of Congress website.

Read Outcault’s obituary from a 1928 Time Magazine.

Froggy the Gremlin (clip #0): Andy Devine for Buster Brown Shoes

Posted on May 13, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

I’m much too young to have ever seen Andy’s Gang when it was on the air, but thanks to this wonderful internet, I’ve now experienced some of it. Oh, the horror! Let me share it with you. Meet our creepy host Andy Devine, here giving the blatant hard sell for Buster Brown shoes to some impressionable young minds.

Just wait until I introduce you to his Gremlin.

Watch this to the end to see the also creepy little person, W.H. "Major" Ray, that they have impersonating Buster Brown.

Andy took over the show, formerly called Smilin’ Ed’s Gang, from Smilin’ Ed McConnell in 1954, in a switchblade fight. Smilin’ Ed, it seems, had outgrown his usefulness to the sinister Gremlin. As far as I can tell no footage of Smilin’ Ed’s Gang exists on the internet. Shortly after Smilin’ Ed’s disappearance, Andy destroyed all recordings, burning them with siphoned gasoline in an abandoned drive-in theatre parking lot… covering up any evidence of his predecessor in an attempt to seamlessly replace him in the minds of the children of yesteryear. However, some of the comic books have survived.

I may have made this all up, but it rings true, don’t you think? Someone, please, update Wikipedia and adjust reality appropriately.

Above: covers from the Buster Brown comic book before and after Andy’s hostile takeover of the Gang.

It should be noted that I do not believe the Buster Brown comic book ever contained any comics featuring the character Buster Brown (other than as an icon on the cover).

See an excerpt from an issue of Buster Brown Comics featuring Smilin Ed’s Gang courtesy of Stupid Comics here.

Visit froggythegremlin.com.

Read about Smilin’ Ed McConnell on Wikipedia.

Visit the grave of W.H. "Major" Ray aka Buster Brown here.

Interesting Links: May 13th, 2008

Posted on May 13, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Crumbling Paper: Buster Brown Smokes a Cigar (strip #1)

Posted on May 12, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Here’s an example I scanned of Buster Brown from 1910 by R.F. Outcault (who also created the Yellow Kid). Just say NO to cigars!

Click the image to view the full strip.

Click here to read more examples of Buster Brown at Barnacle Press.

See the last Buster Brown strip at the Stripper’s Guide.

Click here to read about Richard F. Outcault at lambiek.net.

See a Buster Brown original (with the Yellow Kid) at the Library of Congress website.

See examples of Outcault’s Yellow Kid at Ohio State University’s website.

Click here to read more about Buster Brown at Toonopedia.

Hear a radio program on the history of Buster Brown at npr.org.

Visit the website of the R.F. Outcault Society.

Read the Wikipedia entry on Buster Brown.

Read the Wikipedia entry on R.F. Outcault..

Read the Wikipedia entry on The Yellow Kid.

See the copyright application for the Yellow Kid at the Library of Congress website.

Read Outcault’s obituary from a 1928 Time Magazine.

Buster Brown Shoes Ad

Posted on May 12, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Buster Brown the character was already long dead in the 1950’s… but he was quite a character before they sucked his soul and made him and his dog Tige as innocuous as Hello Kitty. We’ll be focusing on Buster both in his original form as a mischievous imp on the comics page, and also take a look at his bizarre television bedfellows here for the next couple weeks.

“He’s really just a picture… but it’s fun 2 play pretend!”

Interesting Links: May 12th, 2008

Posted on May 12, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Crumbling Paper: As Usual, Willie Spoils the Thanksgiving Dinner

Posted on May 9, 2008 by STWALLSKULL

Here’s a Thanksgiving example I scanned of Willie Westinghouse Edison Smith, The Boy Inventor by Frank Crane from November 25, 1906. You know how sometimes when you tell someone something you saw that was funny, but it isn’t funny at all when you describe it? Well, this is a strip apparently devoted to that phenomenon.

There is also a lovely Howdy Doody-like illustration in the middle of the page by “Walker” or “Halker”… if you can identify this cartoonist, please let me know and I’ll update the post. Bonus points if you can identify any of the characters in the illustration.

To top it off (or bottom it out, as the case may be) we have The Almost Family- They Have Nothing to Be Thankful For by W.R. Bradford. It appears to be a Little Jimmy clone from this example, right down to the corporal punishment in the last panel.

Click the image to view the full strip.

Please be advised that like many of the comic strips of the era, it contains offensive racial overtones. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.

Click here to read about W.R. Bradford at lambiek.net.

Click here to read about Frank Crane at lambiek.net.

STWALLSKULL

Amusements, diversions, whirligigs, geegaws, humbugs and comics, comics, comics.

Author Archives: STWALLSKULL

About STWALLSKULL

Crumbling Paper: Buster Brown (strip #3)

Froggy the Gremlin (clip #1): Plunk Your Magic Twanger, Froggy!

Brother Theodore Wednesdays #13

Crumbling Paper: Buster Brown’s New Airship (strip #2)

Froggy the Gremlin (clip #0): Andy Devine for Buster Brown Shoes

Interesting Links: May 13th, 2008

Crumbling Paper: Buster Brown Smokes a Cigar (strip #1)

Buster Brown Shoes Ad

Interesting Links: May 12th, 2008

Crumbling Paper: As Usual, Willie Spoils the Thanksgiving Dinner