What Hick Is Responsible For This Trick, Dick?

I'm in the mood for some Saturday Morning Toons, and it's been a while since we looked at anything from the great Basil Wolverton. Sounds like a fine intersection, so let's meet there.

"Flap" Flipflop, The Flying Flash was your typical deranged Wolvertoonian dwelling in a delightfully bent reality. (Fly Paper!) As usual, Flap's comics are visits to a unique and instantly recognizable unreality. One in which i often feel strangely at home.

Flap first appeared in Kid Komics #1 in 1943...

Despite the final blurb, Flipflop never appeared in another issue of Kid Komics (nor Kid Movie Komics, as it rebranded itself ten issues later).

His next appearance wasn't until just over three years later, in Gay Comics #23...

He appeared twice more in Gay Comics, in issues #25 & 26. I've never seen those two stories. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's rather difficult to find Gay from the '40s.

Flap had two more appearances; the first came from Wartwit a year after the tale above, appearing in Jack In The Box Comics #13...

His final appearance was his longest story, ten pages appearing in Krazy Komics v2 #2. We'll see what Freezerbeezer had for us later this weekend.

page art by Basil Wolverton for Kid Komics #1, Gay Comics #23, and Jack-In-The-Box Comics #13 (1943, 1946, 1947)

Sunday Morning Wolvertoons

Hey! I actually know what day of the week it is for a change, so i guess we should do some Sunday Morning Funnies, eh? I'm in the mood for some of Basil Wolverton's delightful oddities today, so it's all Wolverton this morning.

Most often we see his more famous creations like Spacehawk, Powerhouse Pepper, and Scoop Scuttle. Let's avoid them today and stick to the side-streets and back alleys of Wolvertown. His artwork appeared in all sorts of titles, sometimes making it easy to miss some of his work, even if one is a fan. Today's strips come from a variety of sources - Sub-Mariner (back when he was hyphenated), Human Torch (back when he wasn't Human), Tessie The Typist, Comic Comics, Joker Comics, Black Diamond Western, and Star Comics.

Some are one-shots, others, like Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot (with over a dozen tales) were ongoing series that are often forgotten or overlooked today -

Just to be extra odd, Leanbean Green is a one-shot, even though there are three episodes. They appeared as consecutive pages in Joker Comics #17 -

Bingbang Buster, however, was another ongoing series, with over a dozen appearances -

 

This one is earlier than the rest, from back in 1938, and is not signed. The style is simpler than later works, but all indications (including Jerry Bail's note that he was working for the publisher at this time) are that this is Basil Wolverton in early days -

Dr. Dimwit was just slightly more than a one-shot, with just 3 appearances -

Inspector Hector brings us a two-page mystery for you to solve along with him -

We pause for spoiler space while you contemplate the mystery with some Funny Boners -

Okay - now we continue with page two of Inspector Hector and the solution to the Cartoon Crime Mystery -

page art by Basil Wolverton for Tessie The Typist #6, Star Comics #16, Sub-Mariner Comics #9, Joker Comics #s 17 & 18, Comic Comics #9, Human Torch #8, and Black Diamond Western #22 (1938, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1950)

Whence Came Jehosephat?

Lots of fun happening around these parts as yesterday saw me move my medical coverage to a new, closer, location, dropping the number of hours a month that i'm required to wear shoes down into the single digits.
Huzzah!
Time for the Barefoot Happy Hermit Dance.

No, you don't get to watch.
Here's some other odd inanities for your amusement instead-

the works by Basil Wolverton for Weird Tales Of The Future #s 2 & 4 (1952)