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!”
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.
Here’s another great Billy DeBeck (of Barney Google fame) tutorial called “Cartoonists Wanted!” from Cartoons Magazine, courtesy of Kirk Taylor of the previously mentioned Taylor-Morse Collection website. Thanks again, Kirk!
Click the image to see a larger version.
Go here to view scans from the January 1916 Cartoons Magazine at the ASIFA Animation Archive.
Read examples of Billy DeBeck’s Barney Google at Barnacle Press.
Read STWALLSKULL’s previous posts on Billy DeBeck and Barney Google.
Check out the Yahoo GoogleGang group that sporadically posts Barney Google strips.
Here’s an example I scanned of Waggles in Wonderland from 1908 by Hi Coultaus.
Click the image to view the full strip.
Click here to read more examples of Waggles in Wonderland at Barnacle Press.
I’m participating in and co-curating the Lutefisk Sushi Volume C show, which opens tonight. It features the work of over 50 Minnesota cartoonists, including the previously mentioned Kevin Cannon, who is premiering the limited print edition of Far Arden. If you can’t make it tonight, it will be up all month, with special events during Art-A-Whirl May 16th-18th.
The box set includes a copy of the first collection of my Rogues’ Gallery strips. A number of other rare and obscure mini-comics I’ve made will be available for sale there as well.
Hope to see you all there!
Lutefisk Sushi Volume C Opening, Friday May 2nd, 7PM-10PM
Altered Esthetics (alteredesthetics.org)
1224 Quincy St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Kirk Taylor of the previously mentioned Taylor-Morse Collection website sent a couple of very interesting scans to share. First of all, here is an article from a 1915 issue of Cartoons Magazine, about a jam drawing made by a number of cartoonists including Carl Edward “Bunny” Schultze (Foxy Grandpa) and Claire Briggs (Mr. and Mrs.. I’m happy to report that I recently scored a stack of his wonderful work that I will scan and post here eventually. You can see a large sampling of his early work at Barnacle Press here.). Click here to read the article.
Second of all, Kirk sent a wonderful Billy DeBeck tutorial called “A Few Hints on Pen Handling.” Apparently, DeBeck did a regular series of tutorials in Cartoons Magazine… boy would these make a great book. If anyone has more of these to post, I would sure love to post them. I’m definitely going to harass Kirk for some more!
About these, Kirk says:
Cartoonists of the ’20s were a clubby bunch,
I’ve been surprised at the camaraderie among them,
guys like DeBeck serving as mentor to so many younger
unknowns. He’d even invite unpublished comikers from
across the country to write into him from his
instructional editorials in Cartoons Magazine,
encouraging them to submit samples.
Click the image to see a larger version.
Go here to view scans from the January 1916 Cartoons Magazine at the ASIFA Animation Archive.
Read examples of Billy DeBeck’s Barney Google at Barnacle Press.
Read STWALLSKULL’s previous posts on Billy DeBeck and Barney Google.
Check out the Yahoo GoogleGang group that sporadically posts Barney Google strips.
Here’s a primitive and twisted strip I scanned of what is presumably a one-shot strip titled The Awful Result of Having Too Much Curiosity by an unknown artist… I don’t know the year, but it is over 100 years old. If you think you know who drew it, please enlighten us in the comments.
Click the image to view the full strip.
Here’s a gorgeous example I scanned of Polly and Her Pals with a Sweethearts and Wives header strip from 1930 by Cliff Sterrett. Sterrett really hit his stride in the late 20’s.
Click the image to view the full strip.
Click here to read more examples of Polly and Her Pals at Barnacle Press.
See more examples of Polly and Her Pals from 1936 at the ASIFA Animation Archive.
See another beautiful example of Polly and Her Pals at Michael Sporn Animation, Inc.’s Splog.
One more example of Polly and Her Pals from Shorpy.
See some more Polly and Her Pals (and Dot and Dash, a header strip for Polly by Sterrett) at Coconino World.
Here are some examples of Polly and Her Pals translated to French, from a French collection of 1929-1930 Polly strips which appears to be in print.
Click here to read more about Cliff Sterrett at lambiek.net.
Click here to read more about Polly and Her Pals at Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.
Click here to read more about Cliff Sterrett at stevestiles.com.
I’m participating in and co-curating the Cartoonist Conspiracy‘s third Lutefisk Sushi event opening this Friday, May 2nd.
We have over 50 Minnesota cartoonists participating this time around. As with the two previous shows, the focus of the show will be on a huge box set of mini-comics. Around 50 mini-comics for $25, in a gorgeous, silkscreened box set, limited to an edition of 150.
Other features at the show will include a fantastic overview of the work of featured artist Kevin Cannon, a “Potty Humor” exhibit, and a working, hands-on zoetrope built by Volume B’s featured artist Ken Avidor.
Click the image above to visit the Lutefisk Sushi Volume C website, and learn more about the show. In addition to the opening, the show will be up all month, with special events happening during Art-A-Whirl. I hope to see you there!
Lutefisk Sushi Volume C Opening
Friday May 2nd, 7PM-10PM
Altered Esthetics (alteredesthetics.com)
1224 Quincy St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Here’s an example I scanned of Polly and Her Pals from 1914 by Cliff Sterrett.
Click the image to view the full strip.
Click here to read more examples of Polly and Her Pals at Barnacle Press.
See more examples of Polly and Her Pals from 1936 at the ASIFA Animation Archive.
See another beautiful example of Polly and Her Pals at Michael Sporn Animation, Inc.’s Splog.
One more example of Polly and Her Pals from Shorpy.
See some more Polly and Her Pals (and Dot and Dash, a header strip for Polly by Sterrett) at Coconino World.
Here are some examples of Polly and Her Pals translated to French, from a French collection of 1929-1930 Polly strips which appears to be in print.
Click here to read more about Cliff Sterrett at lambiek.net.
Click here to read more about Polly and Her Pals at Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.
Click here to read more about Cliff Sterrett at stevestiles.com.
