Hero Of The Dark Days

I'm still dragging and feeling a mite down and dark. So let's do something light and bouncy - Bouncy Bunny. He's good in Dark Days.

This story originally ran in Animated Comics (no number) in 1946. However, i wasn't paying attention while working, and this comes from the 1957 reprint in Full Of Fun Comics. A minor oops.
For either printing, we have no indication of who wrote or drew the strip -

Now we can all go back to bed.

page art by unknown for Full Of Fun Comics #1 (1957)

Drawing Inkie

I've mentioned in the past my fondness for seeing artists putting themselves into the comics. There's one old character who made that gimmick a staple of the series - Inkie.

Let's take a look at a couple of his stories - one from Milt Stein and one from Jack Cole. Both names should be familiar to many readers. Jack Cole, of course, created Plastic Man - among his many works over the years. Milt Stein is perhaps more familiar to visitors of The 1940s Funny Animalphabet for his work on titles like Supermouse, though general audiences may know him better from his animation work - most prominently his work with Terrytoons.

Here they're working with someone else's creation (we'll get to that) and, as you'll see, the artist is by design a part of the strip. Here's Jack Cole's tale from #34 of Crack Comics -

Well - that could have been gruesome. Good thing Judge Doom hadn't introduced Dip yet, eh? But getting into trouble was one of Inkie's talents as we can see in Milt Stein's story from the following issue -

Inkie was indeed an odd little character. Even more-so in the beginning. The original conceit was that he wrote and drew his own tales. We'll get to that, and to his creator, next time.

page art by Jack Cole and Milt Stein for Crack Comics #s 34 & 35 (1944)

It Yet Lives. (sorry)

I'm alive - no panic. Most unfortunate timing after posting about Snell, but it was the system that died (once again) and took me offline for the past couple weeks or so. (Hardware just fine this time - was a software issue that could be repaired in half an hour with internet access. Of course, internet system wouldn't boot, so no internet. But all good now - and extra resources on-hand to prevent repeat of similar problems)

I did manage a few good days in there, and prepped several score images for upcoming posts while trapped offline. For a quickie post while i'm getting the system back in shape, let's look a little something from Al Stahl. We'll be looking at an odd feature he did back in the '40s soon. For today, here's a fun little bit he did for Gold Medal Comics around the same time. Yes, i know it says by Bruce Baker. It's by Al and the byline is one of those corporate lies you hear about from time to time.

Okay - I gotta go.
Now that the computer's working, the refrigerator just started screaming.

I need one of them crowns...

page art by Al Stahl for Gold Medal Comics #1 (1945)

Loving Lily or Reading Renée (Choose Your Own Title)

So...

I actually stuck my head outside of the cave for a bit yesterday, and over at and everything else... that Steve ran one of Lily Renée's The Werewolf Hunter stories from yesterday's splash gallery a couple weeks back. (The Living Mermaids tale - he's got it here) I guess i won't be running that today as i had planned. (Good thing i peeked outside when i did.)

Not only that, if you jumped straight over to read the post, you'll have noted that he's been running a series of her work on The Werewolf Hunter over at The Horror Of It All. Four more tales are linked in the above post, so you can enjoy more of them without me running more here.

That being the case, let's look a bit at some of Lily's other works. While she may have saved the Werewolf Hunter from cancellation*, the strip she was most well known for was Señorita Rio -

And, as previously mentioned, she drew a score of tales for one of our Fly Girls - Jane Martin, War Nurse...

...though by the time Renée came aboard the strip, Jane had left nursing for more dangerous work - but still flying.

Lily also drew a couple dozen tales from The Lost World...

...and a handful of Norge Benson stories...

You may have noted that, unlike all the other images presented, the splash above does not include her signature to verify who drew it. The signature is on page 6 of the story. It can be rough confirming things sometimes. Especially if the artist is working in a different style, as with Lucy, The Real Gone Gal -

There is no signature anywhere in this story. Nonetheless, we can be quite certain the work is hers. Lucy was a retitled reprint of Kitty, and Renée signed the original -

If you go hunting for her work, be aware that sometimes she signed with a simple L.R., as with Fifi On The Farm -

And, to keep things extra odd and interesting, you can also find her name as part of a joint signature, notably on much of her Abbott & Costello work -

What makes that odd & interesting is that Eric Peters was her husband - another refugee from the War who found a new life as an artist in the USA.

One more odd (and wonderful) thing about Lily - unlike many of those we talk about here, Lily is still with us. She'll be turning 98 this May. She's even attended some comic conventions in this decade, so you might even be able to meet her. Probably should read more of her stories, just in case you get the opportunity, eh? Let's go with a couple of the odd ones from above: Fifi On The Farm and Kitty, complete with cover -

Well - that should be different enough from the other Lily Renée posts happening, eh? But, no worries - we'll return to look at some of her more famous works -

See?
Now it would be cruel if i didn't show you what happened "when..."

And, of course, we have to come back and look at more of Jane Martin - she's a Fly Girl!

See you when.

page art by Lily Renée for Fight Comics #s 36 & 41, Wings Comics #s 35 & 48, Planet Comics #s 29 & 33, Lucy The Real Gone Gal #1, Kitty #1, Toyland #3, and Abbot & Costello #2 (1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1953)

===

*(When nobody else wanted to touch the strip, it was Lily who talked the writer and editor into dropping the werewolf angle and opening it up to other magickal creatures. Combined with her artwork, she turned it into a hit)