Krazy Little Thing Called Comics

We're back with our little weirdies from this morning's post.

Before looking inside these odd little comics, let's look outside and find out what we're dealing with:

Back in '67 Topps decided bubble gum cards weren't enough - bubble gum comics were needed! Who are we to gainsay such wisdom? And only a nickel for gum and comics - joy!

Admittedly, very short comics - 8 pages including front & back covers, and each page a single panel. But they had both Marvel and DC comics, so that puts them over on the shelf with Captain Action. The Krazy Little Comics didn't last long, only the one series of which i'm aware.

Let's go inside 3 of the comics (we saw their covers last time) to see what they were like.

BadMan-

The Amusing Spider-Guy -

Jester's League of America -

Hmm...
Now i'm getting cravings for old Wacky Packages.

images from Topps' Krazy Little Comics (1967)

Fuzzy Memories

One thing i enjoy perusing during my Comic Archeology digs is the old advertising. We've taken a peek or two, and we'll certainly go diving into old adverts in the future.
Today, let's look at a narrow group - some comic book back covers from  50  51 years ago in 1967 -

Hmm...

Perhaps those are not quite how my fellow geezers remember them? Let me offer a bit of aid in remembery with the front covers to those same comic books -

Surely that helps, right?
If not, then join us later today when take a look inside - and outside - of these little '60s oddities.

indicia to follow (1967)

Did You Mean The Elaborate Melody Or The Mythic Nymph?

It's been nearly 2 weeks since debuting our Dibellan feature, even if we're still working on what to call it. Seems like another is due if we're going to make it a regular part of the blog, no?

As last time, we're going to someone who has been a muse for my artwork - in this case, the subject of several paintings, and surely more to follow.

May i present the compelling beauty of Aria Giovanni -

Distracting, too.

Yes, My Child, It Was A Galla Event...

One of the many great things that came out of the '80s comic expansion was Matt Wagner and his two big concept books - Grendel and Mage. I was one of them geeks buying everything published in those days, and Comico Primer #2 had this odd little strip from this new kid that somehow managed to convey the polish and subtle craftsmanship that would come with time and experience in those first raw, but confident, pages of his moody comic. His artwork on Grendel was so well suited to the black and white that it didn't seem like a limitation as it did in so many books. and the writing conveyed a sense of a greater world waiting to be revealed from the very beginning.

While Mage was a very personal title that only Matt could create, Grendel was a concept that he allowed to grow beyond him, to terrific effect at times. The ever changing creative teams suited the nature of the ever evolving character/concept, and they often pushed both expectations and limits. When Matt chose to follow his elegantly clean work with artists like the Pander Brothers and Bernie Mireault, the change was jarring - to great effect. The dramatic shift in visuals reflected the story, and made it almost brutally obvious that things had indeed changed, and were going to continue to do so. Each time, the shift was drastic enough to make the viewer unsure if this was a good thing, then won us over after every forced change to our expectations.

I have to admit, i've fallen behind and have yet to view the more recent incarnations of Grendel. While dwelling upon the need to catch up, i thought i'd mention a fabulous book on the subject from ten eleven years ago:

If you've tragically missed this intermittent title over the last 35 years, this is a fine way to get a feel of the many excellent artists who have contributed to the mythos. Old fan or new discoverer, the book is a beautiful collection, with text covering the evolution of Grendel  while offering artwork showing both behind the scenes production work and full page reproductions of gorgeous finished works.

The book runs over 200 pages, but we're only going to tease 13 of them here.
Eddie would have wanted it that way.

pages from The Art Of Matt Wagner's Grendel (2007)

Blue Monday Calendar is GO!

As indicated, i was rather dissatisfied with the calendar used in the previous post. So much so, that i've started rebuilding a calendar that wouldn't be re-usable until 2040:

NOTE: This lovely painting by Gil Elvgren contains nudity

and has been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

I'm much more pleased to proceed with a year of Gil Elvgren's marvelous pin-up girls from the middle of the last century. All paintings in this series originate from between 1944 - 1968. This week's painting is Gay Nymph, from 1946.

I feel better now.

Blue Monday Calendar is Go?

I had previously alluded to a new calendar feature to begin this year - a year which oh, so conveniently begins on a Monday. In my Cultural Archeology digs, i had encountered several weekly desktop calendars, including date matches for the next 3 years. So i decided to start running each week's calendar as a regular Blue Monday feature since they were all image appropriate.

Damnedest thing, though. The calendar intended for this year seems to have gone walkabout. I've hunted here, there, and beyond the bush, and still no sign of the critter. Alas.

At the last minute, a replacement dropped into my hands -a G-Taste manga calendar with one girl for each week, and one for each weekend. It's an odd little thing, not at all what i had intended. But it will give us a start at the start, and i'm not afraid of changing horses midstream.

Presentation kind of sucks on this calendar. I'm not fond of this design for a few reasons. A full third of every page is wasted white space for the logo. I don't mind, can even appreciate, breaking the week and the weekend apart, but with all that empty space they've left the actual calendar of the calendar too small. The date circles could easily be doubled or trebled in size making it more usable, and perhaps more visually balanced, too.

Still - it was very nice of the girls to show up when they did.

So, we'll go ahead and start off with this one, but it's likely to either get modified in layout, or acquire a companion calendar to join it. Even i have to create a new calendar from old artwork.
If things warm up into double digit Fahrenheit around here, i'll be back with an actual Blue Monday post. Otherwise, i'm off to slaughter a Tauntaun.

When Is We, New Year Edition

A new year means a new selection of calendars for the first day of the month, starting with our favorite keeper of Time-

NOTE: The Playboy calendar page has nudity, of course,
and has been moved to our back room for adult content.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive
of the original post to view the picture.

There you have it - a half dozen options for mapping the immediate future.

Coming up, a new Blue Monday Calendar feature hinted at in previous posts.

Congratulations! You Survived

With the system troubles still plaguing new work, we turn once again to the old web comic for our holiday greeting-

NOTE: This holiday greeting, in addition to myself,

Mr. Floppy, and Groucho, includes 8 naked women and so

has been moved to our back room for adult content.

It's just a black & white line drawing.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

 of the original post to view the artwork.