Before we view the concluding chapters of Buttons' UFO, let us pause a moment for a couple comments on our previous post.
I heard back from the Librarians at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. regarding those pencil notes in the margins of chapter 5. While they cannot absolutely confirm that those are Frank Borth's annotations, their archive does include his personal collection of issues from 1956-1970, so it is very likely to be the case.
And let me note how speedy and helpful the Librarians at CU are. Thank You!
Very cool info - and a tremendous pain. You may have noticed i sometimes get a bit obsessed with knowledge/information. Now that i know this, i'm going to have to read through 15 years of their collection to see if any more instances of Borth's personal notes are included. I will, of course, keep you appraised if i find more.
The second note is merely another odd synchronicity in my daily life. Recall in the margin notes yesterday that he made reference to Ashtabula being funnier that Jersey City. I'd never heard of Ashtabula before. But between yesterday and today, i read the latest issue of VFW magazine and it turns out there was a naval vessel named the Ashtabula upon which one of those profiled had served.
Certainly funnier than the Intrepid (no, i'm not going to go hunt and see if there was a ship named Jersey City)
Any way, it was just a barely amusing encounter and example of how things seem to cluster in reality. Let's move onward, shall we?
Here are the final chapters of Buttons' UFO -
Damn. Should have read that warning before i tore a hole in the wall...
I heard back from the Librarians at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. regarding those pencil notes in the margins of chapter 5. While they cannot absolutely confirm that those are Frank Borth's annotations, their archive does include his personal collection of issues from 1956-1970, so it is very likely to be the case.
And let me note how speedy and helpful the Librarians at CU are. Thank You!
Very cool info - and a tremendous pain. You may have noticed i sometimes get a bit obsessed with knowledge/information. Now that i know this, i'm going to have to read through 15 years of their collection to see if any more instances of Borth's personal notes are included. I will, of course, keep you appraised if i find more.
The second note is merely another odd synchronicity in my daily life. Recall in the margin notes yesterday that he made reference to Ashtabula being funnier that Jersey City. I'd never heard of Ashtabula before. But between yesterday and today, i read the latest issue of VFW magazine and it turns out there was a naval vessel named the Ashtabula upon which one of those profiled had served.
Certainly funnier than the Intrepid (no, i'm not going to go hunt and see if there was a ship named Jersey City)
Any way, it was just a barely amusing encounter and example of how things seem to cluster in reality. Let's move onward, shall we?
Here are the final chapters of Buttons' UFO -
Damn. Should have read that warning before i tore a hole in the wall...
page art by Frank Borth from Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact v25 #s 16-18 (1969)
Wow. I wasn't expecting any sort of explanation, I mean, seeing as the blessed thing just worked from the first with no questions asked.
ReplyDeleteNo matter. Great art & story-telling throughout. Thanks for the posting & thanks for going the extra mile with your extracurricular background research.
It caught me the same way. After Henrietta, the Enchanted Flivver, i was kind used to just accepting it. Do you think perhaps that lack of explanation bothered Borth, so he included one when he was the one doing the writing?
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure on the extra research. The Librarians at CUA have been great, like most librarians with whom i've interfaced over the years. Long before the internet made data so accessible, the inter-library network was out there, transferring materials from special collections all across the country. When i needed to reference English translations of Pu Song-Ling's Laio Zhai Zhi Yi, it might be sitting in a library 2500 miles away, but my local librarians can get it sent over to them for my usage.
Librarians are awesome.
I'm trying to take a break from excessive Borthing, but my mind keeps dragging back. We may start another series.
Not to mention a ton of other things from TCoF&F waiting to be tapped...
I don't know about the reason for the explanation... I was kinda imagining it was editorial, though the lack of explanation for the Enchanted Flivver might play against that idea... though if the lack of explanation could possibly bother the artist, who's to say it couldn't possibly bother the editor...
ReplyDeleteThe explanation is a bit of hokum itself, of course, but it does contain a religious angle about the power of faith & the necessity to become like a child... very New Testament/Jesus messages, that should come as no surprise considering the publisher.
By the way, I look forward to seeing more of the Treasure Chest stuff, but by all means vary, vary...