Secrets Of Spudo

I survived another foraging run down the hill and made it back up through the snow. Finally, we can have a post.

We spoke of Spudo in two previous posts, and in both we mentioned that his first story was not his first story. And then my mind wandered off and left things hanging.

So, let's go back to before Spudo's first adventure in The Barker #1 to National Comics #43, in which we find Spudo is a supporting character in The Barker's tale before he got his own series. This first story is written by Joe Millard and drawn by one of the classic Greats, Jack Cole -

Now if i can just figure out what i meant when i said that Spudo's final story wasn't his final story...

page art by Jack Cole for National Comics #43 (1944)

Getting To Know Spudo

Last time we looked at Spudo, i mentioned that his first story in the first issue of The Barker was not actually his first story. We'll get back to that in a bit, but first let's look a little more at our four-armed oddball and his ongoing adventures. Our first story here is written, once again, by Gwen Hansen, with art, as always, by Klaus Nordling -

This time, Klaus takes on the writing chores as well as the artwork -

For our final tale, which was also Spudo's final tale from the last issue of The Barker, the writer is unknown. Best guesses indicate Klaus Nordling was handling it all himself again, but that's unconfirmed...

And so ended the adventures of Spudo.

However - just as Spudo's first story was not his first story, this final tale was not his final tale...

page art by Klaus Nordling from The Barker #s 8, 11, & 15 (1948, 1949)

Do You Know Spudo?

When it comes to Odd, Spudo's got it handled -

No matter the situation, he's always got a grip on it...

...a master of arms...

...ever willing to lend a hand when he can...

...skilled in hand to hand to hand to hand combat...

...capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously...

...when times are hard, he'll sully his hands with dirty work...

...while he may not be an old hand at the task, he's at least willing to try to grab the bull by the horns...

...and, of course, with the girls he's handy. Some might say they're putty in his hands...

 ...but a girl in trouble is in safe hands with Spudo...

Show of hands -How many want to stop me from ever writing again after reading through those intro remarks?

Okay. I'll stop now.

To give you a glimpse of the character, let's take a look at his first tale, written by Gwen Hansen with art, as always, by Klaus Nordling -

The thing is - that may be his first story, but that's not his first story...

page art by Klaus Nordling for The Barker #s 1-15 (1946-1948)