You know, there are times when i'm actually glad that the Big Guys stopped publishing comics for Readers (instead focusing on Collectors and FanBoys - with at times predictably horrific results) along with embracing the notion that they could never do as well as what came before, so might as well just trash all that and mine it for recycled goods. (Hmm... gonna shut up before this paragraph becomes the entire post)
It's because the pushed me away from modern comics that i've spent most of the last couple decades reading back into the past instead. With most of a century's worth of comics piled up, there're more than i can read in the time left to me on this plane.
Yes, i'm rambling semi-aimlessly here. I don't have some amazing treasure from the hidden past to present to you today. Just some odd fun. We're going to stick with a single issue of one title and flip through the stories contained within. Most of them.
Let's start with one from the middle, just because it's a different kind of Odd, right from the start. You see - despite the title, his name is actually Groucho Gremlin. They couldn't even spell the protagonist's name correctly in the header. That is Odd -
The gremlins have changed a lot since arriving on our shores in WW2. (My fave is still the Cast A Deadly Spell version).
Meanwhile(?), eons earlier...
Forget Prairie Dog - the name that tickles me here is Senorita Swoona. That one amuses me enough that i'm not even going to ask "What is Super Cow-Punching?" -
While i tend to avoid too-clever name mash-ups these days (they've too often in recent times been the only thing the creators seemed to think needed inspiration and have become a sign of low quality for me - sorry Batman Who Laughs. You came with LOSER tattooed on your forehead, just like Leto's Joker*, even if we can't see it under the mask)
That said, i do like the name Cock Robinhood...
We skipped Grease Monkey. It was just too cringe-worthy for my mood today. We're living in times that will be mocked and referred to with disgust in future days. It's just a little too close to home to be on the other side just now.
So - where did these folks appear? It's in the title, of course. It was the second issue (of 3) of this guy's book - Cryin' Lion -
Yeah.
I could do some popcorn...
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*(He may have used the letters b-r-o-k-e-n or whatever to spell it, but unless Batman held him down and tattooed it on his forehead, it said "LOSER" - as it would say about anyone who felt the emo need to advertise like that on his face)
It's because the pushed me away from modern comics that i've spent most of the last couple decades reading back into the past instead. With most of a century's worth of comics piled up, there're more than i can read in the time left to me on this plane.
Yes, i'm rambling semi-aimlessly here. I don't have some amazing treasure from the hidden past to present to you today. Just some odd fun. We're going to stick with a single issue of one title and flip through the stories contained within. Most of them.
Let's start with one from the middle, just because it's a different kind of Odd, right from the start. You see - despite the title, his name is actually Groucho Gremlin. They couldn't even spell the protagonist's name correctly in the header. That is Odd -
The gremlins have changed a lot since arriving on our shores in WW2. (My fave is still the Cast A Deadly Spell version).
Meanwhile(?), eons earlier...
Forget Prairie Dog - the name that tickles me here is Senorita Swoona. That one amuses me enough that i'm not even going to ask "What is Super Cow-Punching?" -
While i tend to avoid too-clever name mash-ups these days (they've too often in recent times been the only thing the creators seemed to think needed inspiration and have become a sign of low quality for me - sorry Batman Who Laughs. You came with LOSER tattooed on your forehead, just like Leto's Joker*, even if we can't see it under the mask)
That said, i do like the name Cock Robinhood...
We skipped Grease Monkey. It was just too cringe-worthy for my mood today. We're living in times that will be mocked and referred to with disgust in future days. It's just a little too close to home to be on the other side just now.
So - where did these folks appear? It's in the title, of course. It was the second issue (of 3) of this guy's book - Cryin' Lion -
Yeah.
I could do some popcorn...
page art by Art Moore, Rojo, and ??? from Cryin' Lion #2 (1944)
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*(He may have used the letters b-r-o-k-e-n or whatever to spell it, but unless Batman held him down and tattooed it on his forehead, it said "LOSER" - as it would say about anyone who felt the emo need to advertise like that on his face)
Got to be honest and say I didn't read the strips because I don't really enjoy reading 'digital' comics stuff, which is a bit of a cheek as I sometimes publish strips on my own blog. However, like you, I do seem to enjoy reading older stuff, far more (with occasional exceptions) than most of the modern comics on sale today. That's why I buy reprint books, True Believers, and Facsimile Editions. They're just so much better - even the ones that were only considered 'okay' at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd, given the amount of pages i run here, but i agree - i Vastly prefer reading on paper, and mostly only read for information on screen.
DeleteThat said - i'm not going to start inviting herds into the cave, so we'll stick with digital pages.
On the facsimile editions - do they include the original ads and text pages, etc.,?
I don't mind looking at images from comics on screen, in order to appreciate the art, but I don't look at them to read - unless I really have to in order to respond to something the blogger has asked in connection with it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the ads are usually mostly untouched - though occasionally there's a wee bit of tinkering done to avoid offending modern readers. Or to be more specific, what the PC Brigade thinks will offend modern readers. If you take a look at some of the Facsimile Editions I've featured on the blog, you'll see what I mean.