CRUMBLING PAPER: Gasoline Alley (strip #1)

NOTE TO NEW READERS: The Crumbling Paper Index is a repository of old comics I’ve scanned, many of which are over 100 years old. You can see the full index here.

Here’s a typically beautiful example I scanned of a Gasoline Alley Sunday from 1933 by Frank King, with Unca Walt pulling a Calvin’s Dad. A Halloween strip to get you in the mood for next month.

In this wonderful new world of comics reprint books we live in, there are currently a lot of wonderful Gasoline Alley books in print… three Walt and Skeezix books from Drawn and Quarterly collecting the dailies, and one amazing book of Sundays from Sunday Press Books, Sundays With Walt and Skeezix. The strips in the Sunday Press book are printed full size and are eye-bleedingly gorgeous.

There are also some books of earlier, pre-Skeezix, Gasoline Alley strips I haven’t seen yet available at the Spec Productions website.

Click the image to view the full strip.

Click here to read some other strips by Frank King at Barnacle Press.

Here is a Frank King strip at The Stripper’s Guide.

And another one.

Here are some Frank King strips from The Balloonist.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Gasoline Alley.

Here is the Toonopedia entry on Gasoline Alley.

Here is a video of Frank King at his drawing board.

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

Update: Gabriel Corbera at the Headsonboard Joyville Blog points us to a bunch of gorgeous large scans of Gasoline Alley strips online that I missed.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : David Chelsea’s Website : September 12th, 2008

STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

Note to new readers: The Hey! Kids! Comics! feature on this site is a regular list of interesting links to mostly old free comics around the web.

TODAY’S FEATURED ITEM: Tom Spurgeon at the indispensible Comics Reporter blog points us to David Chelsea’s lovely website. Note that Chelsea’s brilliant autobiographical graphic novel David Chelsea in Love is currently shamefully out of print, but there are some cheap copies on Amazon.

Mr. Chelsea is also responsible for the best book on perspective that has ever been written, and probably that ever will be written, Perspective! For Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in Your Artwork.

He has a couple of his numerous 24 hour comics available for free on his site, among other things.

CRUMBLING PAPER: Thimble Theatre (strip #1)

Here’s a badly damaged example I scanned of a Thimble Theatre Sunday strip with a Sappo and Popeye’s Cartoon Club header from March 31, 1935 by Elzie Segar. Segar’s Thimble Theatre is simultaneously one of the best humor and best adventure strips of all time… and Segar also had the best header strips! I love the Popeye’s Cartoon Club strips… someone should do a book of just those strips for kids.

Don’t miss the fantastic Fantagraphics Popeye books. The Popeye the Sailor DVD sets that have been coming out recently look very cool too… I hope to get the Fleischer ones when I have the money to spare someday. Good time to be a Popeye fan.

Click the image to view the full strip.

Click here to read about E.C. Segar at lambiek.net.

Click here to read more about E.C. Segar at Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.

Click here to read more about Popeye at Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.

Click here to read more about Elzie Segar at Wikipedia.

View a bunch of Fleischer Popeye cartoons here.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Hard Luck Bill at The Stripper’s Guide : September 11th, 2008

STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

TODAY’S FEATURED ITEM: Today Allan Holtz at the Stripper’s Guide blog brings us two examples of Hard Luck Bill, a Happy Hooligan clone by Harold Knerr… one of which features Knerr’s rip off of the Katzenjammer Kids, the Fineheimer Twins. Click the above image to see and read about the strips.

CRUMBLING PAPER: The Outbursts of Everett True (strip #54)

STWALLSKULL'S CRUMBLING PAPER INDEX

Here is an Everett True strip I scanned from November 11, 1924. Go here to see more Outbursts of Everett True on this site.

If you have a desire to draw your own interpretation of an Everett True strip and send it to me, I’d love to put it up for the internet for all to see with a link to your website or what have you. Send it to me at:

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Everett True strips by A.D. Condo

Click here to read about the lesser-known works of A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Mr. Skygack, From Mars by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Diana Dillpickles by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Duke Murphy by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on Everett True

Click here to read about A.D. Condo at lambiek.net.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS: Gross, Messmer and more at the ASIFA Animation Archive, Golden Age Comics Galore!!! and Other Great Things : September 10th, 2008

STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

The wonderful ASIFA Animation Archive is offering a great deal for donations…

One of our most steadfast supporters is Marc Deckter. Marc is allowing us to digitize hundreds and hundreds of rare 1930s Sunday pages from his extensive collection. Last year, Marc issued a challenge to readers of this blog. Today, he is challenging you to help again.

Contribute $20 to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive through the PayPal link below, and Marc will provide us with a vintage Sunday page to publish here on the website. Donate $50 and he will share three of them… donate $100 and he will allow us to post eight pages. Purchase one of these hard drives and have it shipped to the Archive, and Marc will post FORTY rare Sunday pages! Marc has classic Otto Messmer Felix the Cat, Chic Young’s Blondie, Cliff Sterrett’s Polly and Her Pals, Milt Gross Sunday and other great pages ready to go. All you have to do to see them is contribute. As the total rises, Marc is prepared to throw in some extra treats, like he did last year. When you contribute, everyone benefits.

They have already posted a huge number of great strips from this promotion… please do give them money! Click the above image to go see some great comics!

Tom Spurgeon points us to this amazing golden age comics download site at goldenagecomics.co.uk Im pretty sure I’ve linked there before, but this is the first time I have explored it in detail… they have a ton of amazing public domain golden age books for free. What a resource!

Note that you can find links to software for viewing the comics here (they are .cbr files).

Click the cover of Animal Comics #23 featuring Walt Kelly’s Pogo above (one of the many, many comics available there) to go to the site. Here’s a link to the Animal Comics they have available.

Note that you will need to create and account to download the comics. Note also that they take down comics if they come to believe they are not in the public domain… many of the Dell comics listed are no longer available for this reason… there is no EC or DC, among other notable omissions.

No matter, they have an utter overload of amazing stuff… don’t miss this site!

Among his usual heap of great stuff he is posting daily on his blogs, John Adcock brings us the full version of the previously truncated Frederick Opper Katzenjammer strip I linked to the other day. Click the above image to see it.

Finally, two more great lists from our friends at another overwhelming site full of old comics, Barnacle Press:

Ten Final Hearty Recommendations From Your Other Pal, Holmes! and Ten More Must-See Strips from your pal, Thrillmer

CRUMBLING PAPER: The Outbursts of Everett True (strip #53)

STWALLSKULL'S CRUMBLING PAPER INDEX

Here is an Everett True strip I scanned from November 10, 1924. Go here to see more Outbursts of Everett True on this site.

If you have a desire to draw your own interpretation of an Everett True strip and send it to me, I’d love to put it up for the internet for all to see with a link to your website or what have you. Send it to me at:

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Everett True strips by A.D. Condo

Click here to read about the lesser-known works of A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Mr. Skygack, From Mars by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Diana Dillpickles by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Duke Murphy by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on Everett True

Click here to read about A.D. Condo at lambiek.net.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : The Shenanigan Kids, Flip the Frog, Particularly Odd Comic Strips, War with Ants and More : September 8th, 2008

STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

John Adcock continues to post great stuff on his Yesterday’s Papers and Yesterday’s Papers Archive blogs, and brings us more strange ghosted daily Katzenjammer strips… these ones are utterly free of character, style or artistry, and ran under the title The Shenanigan Twins (apparently due to WWI anti-German sentiments… the old title returned soon after the war), still under Rudolph Dirks credit. The “gags” were presumably just lifted out of some old joke book… backgrounds are nowhere to be seen… hardly any violence either. Even the German ach-cents are gone! These strips are bland before their time, and would be right at home on a modern comics page.

He also posts a Katzenjammer strip he suspects is pencilled (not inked) by Frederick Opper, which seems very likely…

That’s not all! Here is a well done Mutt & Jeff clone called Hitt & Runn… apparently four-letter names ending in double letters is a crucial part of the ingredients to making a successful clone, even if the names are totally improbable.

And some rare, crude, very early E.C. Segar…

And more! Just go to his blogs and check them out.

Barnacle Press brings us another great list of greatest hits… Ten Particularly Odd Comic Strips from Barnacle Press. The Handy Man From Timbuctoo makes the list, naturally. Click on the below image from the bizarre Goops to go there.

Get out your crayons! Comicrazys manages to dig up ANOTHER Flip the Frog coloring book! Where do they find this stuff? I gotta print these for my daughter…

And, finally, Karswell at The Horrors of it All brings us World War III With the Ants from Captain Science #6… this story has some great, inventive layouts. The artist is apparently unknown… can anyone identify the artist (in their comments?):

CRUMBLING PAPER: The Outbursts of Everett True (strip #52)

STWALLSKULL'S CRUMBLING PAPER INDEX

Here is an Everett True strip I scanned from November 9, 1924. This is how Everett leaves a tip. Go here to see more Outbursts of Everett True on this site.

If you have a desire to draw your own interpretation of an Everett True strip and send it to me, I’d love to put it up for the internet for all to see with a link to your website or what have you. Send it to me at:

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Everett True strips by A.D. Condo

Click here to read about the lesser-known works of A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Mr. Skygack, From Mars by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Diana Dillpickles by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to read some samples of Duke Murphy by A.D. Condo at Barnacle Press.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on Everett True

Click here to read about A.D. Condo at lambiek.net.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Doo Dads, Katzies, Beanworld and so much more! : September 4th, 2008

STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

TODAY’S FEATURED ITEMS:

John Adcock is on a roll! Today his Punch in Canada blog gives us two more posts of extremely rare and beautiful Arch Dale’s Doo Dads Sundays…

And his Yesterday’s Papers blog brings us some crude and bizarre ghosted Katzenjammer Kids dailies…

and A.D. Condo’s Everett True Vs. the Kaiser!

Meanwhile our friends at Barnacle Press give us three great overviews of some of the best strips in their enormous archives:

Ten Must-Read Classics from Barnacle Press
Ten Lesser-Known Works by Major Creators from Barnacle Press
Ten Features for Kids from Barnacle Press

Next we have the first new Beanworld comic by Larry Marder in I can’t remember how long. Apparently, there is a lot more to come, as Larry Marder has made a return to drawing comics after a decade or so absence. Don’t miss this stuff! Marder has always done utterly unique and wonderful work, and I’m thrilled that he is back at the drawing board… he is one of my favorite cartoonists. His plans also include reprinting all of his old work, so you’ll be able to easily start at the beginning.

And as long as I am going totally overboard with the featured links, here is another Wolverton Culture Corner strip (at the bottom of the Lance O’Casey story) courtesy of Pappy’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine: