The Lasting Power Of Stupidity

So...  
Last week i stumbled across Moronica, Miss Nit-Wit Of 1948 (& 1949). I thought she was just an odd little blip on the cultural radar - a flash and gone.

Nope.

As noted, she debuted in 1948

...not to be confused with the other Moronica who first appeared in 1948 in Meet Corliss Archer...

Our Miss Nit-Wit lasted into 1949, as we knew...

...but she continued on into 1950...
 

...1951...
 

...1952...
 

...1953...
 

...1954...
 

I was so wrong about that "little blip". In fact, she even got together with her friends to form their own book -

Maybe this is what the evil clown sees when it looks back and spews make things Great again? (It was spawned right around this time)

page art mostly by Owen Fitzgerald from Starlet O'Hara In Hollywood #s 1, 3, & 4, The Kilroys #s 23-28, 30-32, & 37, Cookie #s 45 & 48, Dizzy Dames #s 1-6 and Al Feldstein for Meet Corliss Archer #1 (1948-1954)

Back Viewing Black Venus

Before i drift too far away and lose sight of the shore, let's gander back at Black Venus once again. Last time i mentioned that the next tale in the series was drawn by Nina Albright, and two more came from the brush of Harvey Kurtzman. 

Let's look at those today, eh? Nina's story followed directly after where we left off...

Nina was followed by Harvey Kurtzman in the next issue...

...and then Harvey returned for her final tale in Contact Comics #11 -
 

Black Venus may not have been around long, but she did get some fairly impressive talent working on the strip during her short run. And at least she made it back home before the end.

page art by Nina Albright and Harvey Kurtzman for Contact Comics #s 5, 6, & 11 (1945)

2020 Calendars - Week 10

10 weeks without missing post time. (Okay - by only 2 minutes once, but still) Definitely doing better than last year.

We've got a trio of returning artists for this week's selections, starting with another piece from Mike Ludlow on our Classic Pin-Ups Calendar -

Enoch Bolles returns (yet) again for our Covers Calendar with Redhead Mistress painted for the March 1924 issue of Snappy Stories -

For a bonus this week, we've got an unused, more risque variant painting for the cover -

 After our two non-nude nudes, we go to arguably the greatest pin-up calendar artist, Gil Elvgren, for a bit of actual nude with our Blue Monday Calendar -

Of course, since it does feature nudity, you'll have to visit our adult content back room to see if you think that was worth waiting for. Here's a direct link to the uncut version of this post.

As always, the calendars are sized to print 8"x10" at 150dpi, with 1" square spaces for notations. 

In The Days Before We Elected Them President

I pulled out some random books to find some comedy for today and bumped into one of those cringe-worthy characters of yesteryear. Who wrote or created the character is unknown, but artwork is from one of the Golden Age great cartoonists, Owen Fitzgerald. (If you don't believe me on that valuation, ask Los Bros)

In her debut appearance (unless she was derived from a Hatlo's They'll Do It Every Time cartoon from 3 years prior), meet ultimate 'Dumb Blonde' - Miss Nit-Wit Of 1948 (and '49), Moronica -

Nope. Not even going to get into all the messages in that comic. Let's just move along to later in that same issue...

Well...  that didn't get much better, did it? At least they took his clothes off instead of hers? 
I do love that dejected bear in the background of the final panel.

Just one more, for now...

So... sad mocking of a tired trope? Or brilliant warning against modern consumerism? (Don't strain - it can be both)

I thought that Moronica was just an odd little character that appeared as a back up in a few issues of Starlet O'Hara In Hollywood.

I appear to have been mistaken...

(Wait - wasn't she blonde?)

page art by Owen Fitzgerald and Milt Gross from Starlet O'Hara In Hollywood #s 1 & 2 and The Kilroys #8 (1948, 1949)

Wait Half A Mel...

I'm Up!

I know it's past noon, but i'm just waking - not crawling back into the cave. Obviously too late for Sunday Morning Funnies, but we'll have a post this afternoon - after i caffeinate.

Since i am here and planning to post, we won't be following the new Mel Tormé policy. Here's half a Mel instead to tide things over...

We'll be back in a few hours with even more stupid...