Steve Gerber, 1947-2008

I heard the news a few hours ago that comic book writer Steve Gerber died this past Sunday. Tom Spurgeon has a very good bio/appreciation up on his blog.

Steve Gerber was a huge part of my comics-obsessed childhood (I was born in 1967.) . There was real shit going down in his comics; I didn't get all of it, but it had a serious influence on me that a writer could take life inside the comics he was writing so seriously. I'm bad at describing a writer's work, so here are a few pages from his incredible run in Howard the Duck, published by Marvel.

From Howard the Duck, issue 2:


Gerber wasn't afraid to show pure negative rage on the part of a hero. I appreciated the honesty. That page is from the first appearance of Howard's nemesis, the Kidney Lady, who is pretty great, as nemeses go. (And much better than Dr. Bong, one of the series only missteps.)

From Howard the Duck, issue 5

Gerber's Howard the Duck series is often remembered for broad parody, social satire, and absurdist humor. But unlike, say, MAD or Nat Lamp, in Howard the Duck real human emotions are on display everywhere. It's a sentimental scene, but I love it. Howard is desperate for money, so he takes a job working for an appliance retailer. He goes to follow up on late payments for a TV and can't bear to repossess it when faced with the scene above. This is from one of my favorite issues. In it he also beats up a TV clown and protests against defamatory representations of ducks in comic books.

From Howard the Duck, issue 11

During a nervous breakdown, Howard is stuck on a bus with a bunch of crazies. This issue is really intense. The next few issues get even more intense (and supernatural). But this bus story is always what sticks in my mind.

From Howard the Duck, issue 19

Howard's human for an issue.

From Howard the Duck, issue 23

In a two-issue sort of parody of Star Wars, Howard is again allied with Korrek the Barbarian (who I think he met during his first appearance in Fear and Man-Thing). Howard also learns to use "the farce" which enables him to shoot deadly non-sequiturs out of a gun. At the time, it felt late to do a Star Wars riff (it was already 1978! Ancient history!) But I remember feeling relieved that this story wasn't quite as high-stakes as what had come before. By the way, the Chewbacca stand-in for the story is the Man-Thing.

I'm sad knowing that the man who created these stories isn't alive and died too young. But, cliche and all, his work is still an inspiration to me.

BHG courtesy of ACG

I missed Christmas on the internet--but here's a Belated Holiday Greeting courtesy of FUNNY FILMS #3, Jan-Feb 1950, published by American Comics Group. Is it by Dan Gordon? I think it is.

It's not often a comic cover includes a lip-reading sequence! I like that he goes for "X-mas" not Christmas. Makes it funnier somehow, though it may have been to simplify things. (He'd have to maybe use two panels/frames to get "christ" across.)

I was interested to learn on a well-annotated Wikipedia page that "X-mas" ain't no modern-day, commercial, secular-loving, Jesus-hating abbreviation of Christmas! It's actually a common European abbreviation dating back to at least the 1500s. So you can love Jesus AND write the word Christmas more quickly! EVERYBODY WINS!

And here's the full cover:


To see more work by Dan Gordon, go to:
John Kricfalusi's blog
The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
Sherm Cohen's blog, Cartoon Snap
MORE at Cartoon Snap

See you after New Year's!

from Milt Gross Funnies #2

Thanks to the internet, I have now read "a lot" of Milt Gross comics, instead of only "a few" (which is how many I read before the internet).

So--time to give back! Scans here from my beat-up copy of MGF #2, 1947. The b & w page is the inside front cover. The Patsy Pancake story hasn't been reprinted elsewhere. I think!










That last panel would make a good inspirational poster.

JUDY JUNIOR in "The Fairyland Buzz" by John Stanley

This 4-pager is from THIRTEEN "GOING ON EIGHTEEN" #13, November-January 1965

I'm assuming it's written AND drawn by John Stanley (because the style of the comic matches the cover art, which is signed by Stanley). This is a backup comic--presumably the adventures of THIRTEEN's costar Judy (who is a teen) as a pre-schooler. I do some blathering after the comics, if you have the patience.





There are a several reasons why I love this comic and felt compelled to share...

*It made me laugh several times throughout.

*I've never seen it reprinted before.

*"Deconstructing a famous character"--It's not really that, but there are enough parallels to Little Lulu comics (the comics Stanley was most associated with) that it has a fun "Little Lulu as a bullying little psycho" feeling.

*I love the WAYS she is crazy--the "iron elf," making Jimmy Fuzzy run away FOR her, calling Jimmy's mother rude...

*I identify with the suburban feeling--having to "play" outside in cold weather and being left to the mercy of whatever other kids live in your neighborhood.

*I can't shake the notion that if this comic had been a prose short story it'd be in 20th century short story collections alongside humorous "kids are bastards" stories by Thurber, O. Henry, Salinger, Shirley Jackson, etc. !

*Finally, there's that amazing, but easy-to-miss detail in this panel on page 3. (The arrow was added by me, in case you didn't guess.)

I mean, what the--?

On the pretentious end of analysis, that one detail moves the whole comic into magical realism--the world really does have elves. The story enters completely into the world of children. True!

A less excitble critic might point out that Stanley wrote at least dozens of stories where Tubby has adventures with tiny men from Mars. So little magic dudes are nothing extraordinary in kids comics. Also true!

But, it's the WAY Stanley pulls it off that's interesting. The struggling little elf is thrown into one panel, with no commentary, and it's colored so you almost miss it. And unlike Tubby and his tiny pals, Judy doesn't even see the little elf...and anyway, he doesn't really match her "iron elves" and "fairyland bus" ideas. So it comes off like: yeah, there are elves, there's magic, but it's not like this crazy girl and put-upon boy even notice.

I may be making too big a deal out of the one panel. So sue me. Stanley's comics always reward a closer look and that's why people are still blabbing about his comics 40 years later.

PS
If anyone else has read a lot of Judy Juniors (I've only read two or three) and wants to share their thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I'm funny like that.

Special message for vacationers: Don't be an idiot.

I lied.

No John Stanley this time, but a timely message from one of those Golden Age comics PSAs that gives you advice so obvious, you wonder if the real message is "our readers are cavemen." (One clue: The "advice" is given to humans from a dog.) This is from a coverless humor comic from the 40s from National Periodicals. (One of the funny animal titles, don't know which one.)

You have to feel for Terry. Maybe he could accidentally "go missing" at a rest stop and find a family that remembered to load film in their camera (and packed some kibble).

I also feel a little bit sorry for "Dad." He makes all the mistakes, but I don't see anybody in his family helping. Give your brain-damaged father/spouse some help, gang!

CRAZY QUILT by John Stanley

Here it is! Enjoy its creepy goodness.














I know the predictable "that was no dream" ending makes it seem childish, but that's kind of why I like it. So direct! And so stagey--not at all in the shadow of EC, which is refreshing in comics horror!

My favorite line: "She was the greatest quilter who ever lived, he said...Her work hangs n museums...around the world..." Just cuz it's kind of funny in combo with the image of the terrified Miss Birkley writhing on the couch. (Also, on the last page, the casual pose of the Quiltman is funny. So are Grandma's shoes.)

Next time: The story that I think puts Stanley in a league with Shirley Jackson and other mid-century short story writers! I will prove this to be a fact! Maybe!

John Stanley horror comics: GOBLIN'S BALL 1 of 1

So like I said, I'll be posting scans of comics that I feel are worth sharing and that are public domain (to my knowledge).

This first one is from Dell Comics TALES FROM THE TOMB, No. 1, 1962. A one page comic that's funny and creepy and written by John Stanley--Little Lulu writer/artist/mastermind, and unique comics stylist.



I'm taking Scott Shaw!'s word that this is written by John Stanley. Mr. Shaw! doesn't conjecture on its artist, and I sure can't guess. It's gotta be a Stanley script though. The book has many telltale Stanleyisms (breezy pacing, dialog that's never overwritten, willingness to have really big NO! word balloons, and a perverse inventiveness).

For Mr. Shaw!'s full take on this interesting bit of horror comics history, check out his article on TALES FROM THE TOMB No. 1 at his great "Oddball Comics" column. (And for that matter, read everything he's written. Mr. Shaw! knows his comics history!)


More Stanley horror to come. And in a few weeks, the Stanley comic that should be in "Best American Short Story" anthologies.