So THAT'S Where They're All Coming From!

Sometimes i dwell deeper in the cave than at others. If i'd noticed when we were a couple days ago, this might have made a nice image, no?

Not the type of cover one might be expecting for the comic from which The Bear strips at which we've been looking originated?

That's kind of the point of today's post - to offer an expanded idea of what appeared in Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact. Or rather, what appeared on it.

Here's one of my old favorites. I think even those who don't know of Frank Borth will appreciate it...

I went to gather up a variety of cover types from over the years to give an idea of what the title contained. I may have gotten carried away...

 

Yeah. Definitely got carried away. And there are still two types of covers which were not included in the sampling above.

The first, of course, is Bear covers. They do like 'em...

The other cover type might surprise you - simply because they don't operate with the typical in-your-face sledgehammer attitude of most religious comics, but rather focus on being entertaining and enlightening while adhering to their beliefs -

Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact was published bi-weekly during the school year and distributed to parochial schools, so non-Catholic comic fans likely never saw an issue. Some names familiar to comics fans appeared in the book, like Murphy Anderson, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Jim Mooney, Joe Sinnott, and more.
They also issued Teaching Guides for classroom use of the comics. We'll take a look later.

And we'll certainly be looking more at the comics.

covers from Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact (1947-1970)

I Smell The Sweet Smell Of Freedom!

Rough day, so real quick one.

A Confession:
Yesterday i used the truth like a politician. I made a statement that, while completely factual, created a false impression to sell a lie. Kids, they do this all the time and you've got to watch and listen and question what they say at every turn. Especially when you agree with them, because that's when they can sell you other lies most easily. And when they're apologizing - beware of overly specific statements. (Weasel Words we used to call 'em)

I said that Justice And The Bear was a one-shot story, not a series. That's completely true, in and of itself.

But, it's also a lie. Eric St. Clair and Bob Eisman did ongoing strips for Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact featuring The Bear, or - in this case - The Timid Bear...

As you can see, it is the same series, and it isn't. Time and reality are servant to the stories, but The Bear goes on...

page art by Bob Eismann for Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact #s 417-419 (1967)

Two Thousand Years Ago...

As we saw this morning, Grower-Of-Large-Turnips (Latin names, y'know?) and his beloved Bear have been seized by corrupt government officials and their futures look bleak.

But, how did this sad state of affairs come to pass?

Let us check in with Eric St. Clair and Bob Eismann to see...

As noted above, the to-be-continued ran this morning. Here's a quick link if you didn't already read it, or wish to look again.

Now on to the exciting conclusion!

Justice And The Bear was a self contained story, not an ongoing series. So, as they say in the wallow - that's all, folks.

He did, however, managed to snag the cover of Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact for his second chapter -

That may be all for this odd little bit of fun, but there's plenty more stashed away in the Treasure Chest with almost 500 issues published from the mid-40s to early '70s.

page art by Bob Eismann for Treasure Chest Of Fun & Fact #s 407 - 409 (1966)

A Lusty Specimen! And Ripe For My Purpose!

The mind continues to wander on its own. After Monday's post on Birbal we were supposed to follow with a post on Akbar The Great. You all saw how that worked out. I kind of thought we'd get there today.

Meanwhile, the mind wanders off into weird territory...

...and we're all left wondering what's going on. Guess we'll have to come back and find out, huh?

page art by Bob Eismann from Treasure Chest Of Fun And Fact v22 #2 (1966)