26 April 2020

Cosmo Cat's Secret Power

In our past perusals of Cosmo Cat, we seem to have skirted around the first issue of his own title. So, let's go there this morning.

Perhaps is was the unconfirmed nature of the artwork that pushed this back. It is suspected that Ellis Chambers may be responsible for these stories, but that seems purely speculation. And then there's the possibility that Pat Parrish was Ellis Chambers. But, again, we operate with no means of confirmation.

So, let's be like History and forget that for now. 

As the subject line says, Cosmo Cat had a secret power - this story reveals a power greater than his strength, flight, crime & suicide detectors, and et cetera -


That could certainly be an Ellis Chambers ending to the tale. And how about that secret power?
 
Not a bad little hidden ace, eh...?
 

Of course, these days every comic book character seems to have that ability.

Cosmo had a second story in that first issue, so let's continue onward -


And here's the cover for that first issue -
 

page art maybe by Ellis Chambers? from Cosmo Cat #1 (1940)

25 April 2020

Been Doing Alyce

I've made mention a few times of work i've been doing this past week. Allow me to elaborate a smidge.

Every now and again i like to make myself a new "Alice" for some paintings in various 'Wonderlands'. And that urge seems to be upon me once more, as you may have already deduced. So this week i've been building Alyce and working out some initial tests for the current Glass Wonderland to explore. 

Most of the last 18 or so hours has been spent cramping my hand with the first test painting in the series (with a few breaks to eat and put together this morning's post). I may go back and make some small changes after sleeping and looking upon it fresh, but for now i'm willing to proclaim it as 'Finished'

As noted, this is the first in a series, so please pardon that the focus of the piece is as yet unseen. This is, of course, greatly reduced from the original 20"x30" version -




art by -3- (2020)

Thirsty ADventures

Last time we looked at some ADventures, it was for "R.C." and Quickie. As i mentioned then, back when i drank soda my preference was for RC or Pepsi. So, i guess this time we should look at "Pepsi" the Pepsi-Cola Cop, eh?

I was actually surprised when i went gathering strips for this feature. Out of well over 100 appearances, there seem to be only 5 actual strips being repeated over and over. On the plus side, that makes them rather easy to collect and display -






Where it gets oddly interesting is back at the beginning. There were three more adverts that ran only once each and were seemingly never repeated. As a purely guesswork answer as to why, i'd suspect it has something to do with the artist on that first trio of ads - the legendary Rube Goldberg! He was already a popular media presence, and his contract may have granted him more remuneration that Pepsi wanted to spend?

No real clue, but here are those first three from 1942 -




Now i'm thirsty...

page art by Rube Goldberg and Graham Hunter for many titles (1942-1947)

24 April 2020

Spacing With Hank(s)

A few weeks ago we finally took a first look at the Golden Age God Of ODD - Fletcher Hanks - and his best known creation, Stardust, the Super Wizard.

Not only was Stardust not his only character, it wasn't even his only character in that comic book. Stardust premiered in Fantastic Comics #1, and so did this guy -



Space Smith sported a byline from Hank Christy, but Hank Christy was Fletcher Hanks. And, as you can see, it was just as gloriously strange as Stardust. Check out Space and Dianna's first adventure for a taste...



The Wolvertonesque creature creations suit the book quite well, don't you think? There are few artists whom i envision meshing well with Basil Wolverton, but Hanks is one of them. (Stylistically, that is. On a personal level, Hanks wouldn't likely mix well with anybody)

I need to get back to working on that painting i've got in progress, so we'll talk more about Fletcher later. For now, enjoy the next three episodes of Space Smith -




Run Away! Still a working tactic.


page art by Fletcher Hanks for Fantastic Comics #s 1-4 (1939, 1940)