Classic/retro comic strips thread

[Nick Danger]

I work with a French engineer. We were discussing comics last week, and he told me that he had left thousands of albums back in France when he moved to the US. He told me about this wonderful artist from the 1970s who I just had to read. He was surprised and pleased when I found his books had recently been published in English for the first time.

Jean-Claude Mezieres was the guy who created the flying taxi sequences in The Fifth Element. Supposedly, a lot of the look of the Star Wars original trilogy was based on his art. So I blind bought the first two volumes of the Valerian and Laurentine stories, published in English by Cinebook: The City of Shifting Waters and The Empire of a Thousand Planets.

To fill out the order, I got Volume 1 of Blake and Mortimer from the same publisher. The creator, Edgar Jacobs, came from Herge's studio and he worked the same terrain. According to online reviews, Cinebook is publishing them out of order, but they get it right after volume 4. I ordered volume 1 anyway, on the assumption that they did it for a reason and this was a good introduction to the series.





I'll review the books once I read them. They should arrive in a week or two. I'm excited.

[davidh777]

Nice! I've often seen those Valerian books and wondered about them so will look forward to hearing what you think.

The Blake and Mortimer series was briefly discussed in the What would you say are the most special comic book series from different countries? thread. I've read a few of them and basically

Spoiler:

they're no Tintin, but I do like them. Oddly enough, I wasn't really a fan of The Yellow M and liked some of the others better (not sure why that one was picked to be vol. 1 but whatever--I think I read that one of the villains in it had been in earlier stories or something). Logically I probably should have stopped after that first one, but I guess I liked enough in it to try some others. I also bought a couple more that I haven't read yet.

[Paul_SD]

Love the Valerian books. Picked up a few in the late 80s/early 90's and found a newer reprint a few years ago for sale at Half Price Books. Looked like closeout stock then, but there still may be some floating around.
Haven't read either of those two above, but if I ever saw them on the shelf, I'm sure I'd snap em up.

[davidh777]

Originally Posted by davidh777

Pogo: Bona Fide Balderdash (Vol. 2)
List Price: $39.99
Price: $23.47
You Save: $16.52 (41%)
Hardcover: 344 pages
Publisher: Fantagraphics; 1 edition (September 19, 2012)

Adding the cover:

[Nick Danger]

Blake and Mortimer: The Yellow M was a flop. Although it looks like an comic album, it's really a heavily illustrated short story. Nothing would be lost if you removed the pictures. There is a narration box for every single panel. It doesn't just set the scene, it gives a complete description. My favorite was --

Narration box: Blake is surprised at the sudden stop. He puts down the window, leans outside and says:
Speech balloon: "Well that's strange. We're out in the middle of the country."
Picture: Blake is leaning out of the window, talking.

You see? The text tells the whole story.

It's drawn in the classic Belgian style of cartoony people in front of formal, realistic backgrounds. The contrast is even greater here than in Herge, because the backgrounds are even more realistic. The outdoor London scenes look like they were traced from photographs.

When I read it in bed by lamplight, I had trouble making out a lot of panels that take place at night. They're really dim, covered with a gray wash. I'm doing better today, rereading them by sunlight. So be aware that you need strong light to read this book.

The story itself is straightforward. A mysterious villain is in London. It turns out that he's using superior technology to revenge himself on those who mocked him. There are lots and lots of drawings of men with set jaws and determined frowns. It's good pulpy stuff, and I would enjoy it if the presentation were better. But the presentation is really weak.

I'm not sure which problems are from the original, and which can be attributed to the new publisher. Maybe the colors are printed too dark. Maybe the translation is wordy. But there is still a narration box in every panel, which makes me think the excessive descriptions are from the original.

I don't recommend it.

[Paul_SD]

The farther I get into Little Orphan Annie, the more I'm impressed with it.
Gray's political philosophy is not one I'm fully in accord with, but that doesn't prevent me from appreciating how well he integrates it into his storytelling. I'm absolutely enchanted with this strip now and plan to be on board for at least the next few volumes.

I have a huge backlog, like most people here I'm sure, but this has been a real treat to dip into.

[Nick Danger]

It's a lot easier to write a negative review than a positive one, so I've kept putting off the review of Valarian and Laureline. Here goes.

The plots are straightforward space opera from 1950s science fiction. I can see why the Star Wars people liked these books. The two main characters are 28th century government agents of time and space. They use a superior knowledge of technology, their agent skills, and cunning to complete their missions. They aren't particularly good guys.

In the first book, The City of Shifting Waters, our heroes travel in time to the distant past of New York 1986. It's just at the beginning of catastrophic global warming (the comic was written in 1968, before global warming became a common notion). The streets are under water, and tropical plants climb up the skyscrapers. It's quite eerie. Our agents are in pursuit of a criminal who stole a time machine and wants to set himself up as king of the world of 1986. The agents have no compunction about allying themselves with a local gangster if it helps them get their man. It's a good thing, because they need a smart and ruthless native guide. The drawings of the minor characters are a bit too influenced by Jack Davis, and they look kind of cartoony.

The second book, The Empire of a Thousand Suns, is about the spatio-temporal agents investigating an interstellar empire located far from Earth. This is the kind of thing that you may remember from Heavy Metal magazine. Strange architecture, plots and counterplots, a crowded bazaar, and decadent palaces towering over dire poverty. A mysterious new class of priests have taken hold of the social order, and the prince would rather let them have it if they don't interrupt his parties. Valarian and Laureline blow their cover right off the bat, and they have to flee for their lives. A member of a conspiracy contacts them, and helps them on their mission, provided that they learn the secret of the priesthood. The secret turns out to be much bigger and more dangerous than they expected. The art is much improved, the people match the landscape better, and Mezieres has developed his personal vision of high tech equipment -- dented stuff that is no longer so shiny. It's a completely different style than the glittering chrome of Flash Gordon.

I recommend them both. From the reviews I've seen online, the series just keeps getting better from here. I hope Cinebook keeps publishing them.

[davidh777]

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.p...tml&Itemid=113

A few panels short on Pogo Volume 2!

Written by Kim Thompson

We're coming down the home stretch on the second volume of Walt Kelly's Complete Pogo, and the good news is that we've got literally 99% of the never-beforere-reprinted, full-color Sundays from the two years covered in this collection. The bad news is that we're missing a half dozen panels still.

How can we be missing panels and not strips, you ask? Simple: the Pogo Sunday was put together in an odd configuration in which of the three possible formats -- full page, half page, and third page -- only one, the third page, contained the complete strip. The third page was missing the full top tier, and the full page was missing one square panel in the middle of the strip that was designed to be removable so that the strip could be assembled in this format.

So if we've got the half-page we're fine. If we've got both the full and the third page we're also fine because the two "complete each other" (to be romantic about it).

However, in the case of the following four strips:

July 8, 1951
December 9, 1951
September 14, 1952
October 12, 1952

We have only the full page, which means we're missing that little square. (We actually have a black-and-white version of all except December 9, 1951 hanks to a book reprint, so if push comes to shove we can colorize them and insert them -- but December 9, 1951 is the tricky one, we've only got a bad microfilm version of that panel.)

There is also August 19, 1951, for which we have only the third (meaning we're missing the entire top third of it) -- here again we have access to a black and white version (which seems to have been edited for the book version, another problem) but nothing else.

So we're sending out a call to collectors: If you know of or can find or can put us on the track of HALF or THIRD page versions of the first four strips, and FULL or HALF page versions of that final one... do let us know!

[davidh777]

The Complete Funky Winkerbean: Volume 1 (1972-1974)

Tom Batiuk was a junior high school art teacher in Elyria, Ohio, when he created a comic panel aimed at teens for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. That panel was the precursor to what became Batiuk's award-winning comic strip Funky Winkerbean.

Since its debut on March 27, 1972, Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. This volume, which presents the strip's first three years, introduces the strip's title character, Funky, and his friends Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Bull Bushka, Livinia Swenson, Les Moore, Holly Budd, and Roland Mathews. Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood, and band director Harry L. Dinkle also make their first appearances.

Funky fans will relive Le's misadventures in gym class and his unintentional attendance at the homecoming dance as he remains stuck on a climbing rope high above the gymnasium floor. They will remember Crazy Harry's ability to play pizzas like records and his air guitar virtuosity, and majorette Holly who never removed her costume. They will recall the school's winless football team, and Harry Dinkle's attempts to win the Battle of the Bands despite the contest always coinciding with a natural disaster.

Volume 1 contains a charming autobiographical introduction by Tom Batiuk that shares his early attempts at cartooning, discusses his teaching career, and explains the genesis of Funky. Subsequent volumes will each contain three years of Funky comic strips and will be published annually. Batiuk has been recognized for his humorous and entertaining portrayals of the students and staff at Westview and acclaimed for his sensitive treatment of social and educational issues.

The Wizard of Id: The Dailies and Sundays 1972

[brayzie]

I got the the 1940s Superman and Batman daily comic strip collections some years back at Barnes and Noble for $5 each. The Superman strip is much better than the comic book at the time. I haven't read all the way through but it's pretty cool, and sometimes much more enjoyable than the DC Archives books.

I got the Taschen Little Nemo collection. I don't like that it doesn't contain the additional Nemo paintings McKay did over the years, it's otherwise a nice collection. Little Nemo is probably my favorite comic strip of all time.

Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers are on my list.

[Bronkster]

Originally Posted by brayzie

I got the the 1940s Superman and Batman daily comic strip collections some years back at Barnes and Noble for $5 each. The Superman strip is much better than the comic book at the time. I haven't read all the way through but it's pretty cool, and sometimes much more enjoyable than the DC Archives books.

I'm glad you mentioned this as I have been curious for some time. I (try to) collect golden age Superman/Action comics, and have seen Ebay auctions for the old daily/Sunday strips. Having read a few, they do seem to be a bit more intriguing than many of the comic book stories.
I think I need to begin a search for these books now.

[Nick Danger]

According to Maurice Horn's Comics Encyclopedia, Funky Winkerbean was the first comic where high school students were chiefly interested in getting laid, just like real-life teenagers. They also got high, which was a first for newspaper comics.

As for the Wizard of Id, I'm not interested at all. I looked at some vintage paperbacks of the strip a couple of years ago, and comic strips that might have been edgy and funny in the mid-60s are pretty lifeless today.

[davidh777]

Fantagraphics posted in their blog or somewhere that buyers of the first two volumes of Pogo can get the box free. Pretty sure that was the deal but don't quote me to their CS.

[Nick Danger]

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.p...mart&Itemid=62

Free slipcover while supplies last.

But the book is $3.45 more than from Amazon, and shipping is extra.

[kodave]

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

I work with a French engineer. We were discussing comics last week, and he told me that he had left thousands of albums back in France when he moved to the US. He told me about this wonderful artist from the 1970s who I just had to read. He was surprised and pleased when I found his books had recently been published in English for the first time.

Jean-Claude Mezieres was the guy who created the flying taxi sequences in The Fifth Element. Supposedly, a lot of the look of the Star Wars original trilogy was based on his art. So I blind bought the first two volumes of the Valerian and Laurentine stories, published in English by Cinebook: The City of Shifting Waters and The Empire of a Thousand Planets.

To fill out the order, I got Volume 1 of Blake and Mortimer from the same publisher. The creator, Edgar Jacobs, came from Herge's studio and he worked the same terrain. According to online reviews, Cinebook is publishing them out of order, but they get it right after volume 4. I ordered volume 1 anyway, on the assumption that they did it for a reason and this was a good introduction to the series.





I'll review the books once I read them. They should arrive in a week or two. I'm excited.

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

It's a lot easier to write a negative review than a positive one, so I've kept putting off the review of Valarian and Laureline. Here goes.

The plots are straightforward space opera from 1950s science fiction. I can see why the Star Wars people liked these books. The two main characters are 28th century government agents of time and space. They use a superior knowledge of technology, their agent skills, and cunning to complete their missions. They aren't particularly good guys.

In the first book, The City of Shifting Waters, our heroes travel in time to the distant past of New York 1986. It's just at the beginning of catastrophic global warming (the comic was written in 1968, before global warming became a common notion). The streets are under water, and tropical plants climb up the skyscrapers. It's quite eerie. Our agents are in pursuit of a criminal who stole a time machine and wants to set himself up as king of the world of 1986. The agents have no compunction about allying themselves with a local gangster if it helps them get their man. It's a good thing, because they need a smart and ruthless native guide. The drawings of the minor characters are a bit too influenced by Jack Davis, and they look kind of cartoony.

The second book, The Empire of a Thousand Suns, is about the spatio-temporal agents investigating an interstellar empire located far from Earth. This is the kind of thing that you may remember from Heavy Metal magazine. Strange architecture, plots and counterplots, a crowded bazaar, and decadent palaces towering over dire poverty. A mysterious new class of priests have taken hold of the social order, and the prince would rather let them have it if they don't interrupt his parties. Valarian and Laureline blow their cover right off the bat, and they have to flee for their lives. A member of a conspiracy contacts them, and helps them on their mission, provided that they learn the secret of the priesthood. The secret turns out to be much bigger and more dangerous than they expected. The art is much improved, the people match the landscape better, and Mezieres has developed his personal vision of high tech equipment -- dented stuff that is no longer so shiny. It's a completely different style than the glittering chrome of Flash Gordon.

I recommend them both. From the reviews I've seen online, the series just keeps getting better from here. I hope Cinebook keeps publishing them.

I just read The City of Shifting Waters. I agree with the "cartoony" nature of the other characters, particularly the gangsters. I think I just might be from the wrong generation to perhaps fully appreciate this. I didn't find the visuals quite spectacular but they were fine for the story. Being written decades ago, this story has many now-outdated comic writing methods and mechanics which aren't often employed anymore. Also, a lot of "talking" instead of "showing," which I feel is a detriment in this medium and what it's capable of. Overall I thought it was a decent Silver/Bronze Age style comic book. Not bad but also not amazing, at least in this volume.

I'm tempted to buy the other volumes because as a Star Wars fan, I'd love to see and own the material that obviously inspired many designs of those movies, even if Lucas won't admit to it.

But I don't know how long it will take in the republications to get to those particular stories. Does The Empire of a Thousand Suns have any of the reference points Star Wars used? The same question applies to The Land Without Stars, Welcome to Alflolol, and Birds of the Master. I've tried Google-ing for the answers but kept coming up short on the specifics. Any help would be appreciated.

[Nick Danger]

Originally Posted by kodave

I just read The City of Shifting Waters. I agree with the "cartoony" nature of the other characters, particularly the gangsters. I think I just might be from the wrong generation to perhaps fully appreciate this. I didn't find the visuals quite spectacular but they were fine for the story. Being written decades ago, this story has many now-outdated comic writing methods and mechanics which aren't often employed anymore. Also, a lot of "talking" instead of "showing," which I feel is a detriment in this medium and what it's capable of. Overall I thought it was a decent Silver/Bronze Age style comic book. Not bad but also not amazing, at least in this volume.

I'm tempted to buy the other volumes because as a Star Wars fan, I'd love to see and own the material that obviously inspired many designs of those movies, even if Lucas won't admit to it.

But I don't know how long it will take in the republications to get to those particular stories. Does The Empire of a Thousand Suns have any of the reference points Star Wars used? The same question applies to The Land Without Stars, Welcome to Alflolol, and Birds of the Master. I've tried Google-ing for the answers but kept coming up short on the specifics. Any help would be appreciated.

The last page of Empire of a Thousand Suns shows examples of visuals in the movies are like those in the comics. I'm not convinced. It's not that flagrant. Some of the examples are not very alike, and some of them are alike but on the order of 'both works put the girl in a bronze bikini.'

There is definitely a similarity in the "look and feel" between the Star Wars universe and Empire of a Thousand Suns. Mezieres's ideas informed the production design of Star Wars. But I haven't seen anything so far that could win a plagiarism suit.

[kodave]

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

The last page of Empire of a Thousand Suns shows examples of visuals in the movies are like those in the comics. I'm not convinced. It's not that flagrant. Some of the examples are not very alike, and some of them are alike but on the order of 'both works put the girl in a bronze bikini.'

There is definitely a similarity in the "look and feel" between the Star Wars universe and Empire of a Thousand Suns. Mezieres's ideas informed the production design of Star Wars. But I haven't seen anything so far that could win a plagiarism suit.

Thanks for replying. I guess the main thing for me right now is Amazon says they only have a few copies left of these books, and I feel like these books are the kind they're not likely to get more copies of. And when Amazon goes OOS, everyone else starts price gouging. So if I decide to try and pick up the other volumes a bit down the road, they might not be there.

But on the other hand, if the books aren't written much better than that first volume's Silver/Bronze age tone and mechanics, I don't know that I'm going to enjoy them at all, especially since my main interest is to see how it may have influenced Star Wars.

I'm guessing the British company translating and publishing these in English aren't a big powerhouse or have super deep pockets, but this would be a lot easier purchasing decision if they bundled several collections together in larger volumes. $9-$11 is a lot for 48 pages.

[Nick Danger]

I just ordered The Land without Stars, and pre-ordered Welcome to Alflolol. I'll post more reviews.

It's a little unfair to complain because a book written in 1968 has silver/bronze age characteristics. This is the classic comic thread. Besides, it's the first thing he drew, and he probably took a while to find his own vision.

[kodave]

Originally Posted by Nick Danger

I just ordered The Land without Stars, and pre-ordered Welcome to Alflolol. I'll post more reviews.

It's a little unfair to complain because a book written in 1968 has silver/bronze age characteristics. This is the classic comic thread. Besides, it's the first thing he drew, and he probably took a while to find his own vision.

Well, I'm not complaining about it. I'm just stating my personal preference isn't for that style of writing. Like I said before, I'm of a different generation where I don't carry a fondness or nostalgia for that style. I do think a valid criticism of that style is that we're experiencing a visual medium here - showing, not telling, is preferred. But that criticism can apply to decades worth of comics where things were just done differently, so I don't begrudgingly hold it against such books - it's again, just my personal preference.

And I do realize this is a "classic comics" thread, but that shouldn't mean its a given that all of the books that might be recommended or discussed here conform to all of those dated styles and techniques. There can be classic comics that buck old trends and are ahead of their time in really utilizing the medium to its fullest. After all, if there weren't books like that, the medium never would have evolved. Or even if the books have writing techniques and methods that are no longer in use or preferred in the industry, the books could potentially still have such good stories that it's worth overlooking those things. "The City of Shifting Waters" certainly wasn't of that kind of quality. And again, I was interested in how Star Wars was apparently directly influenced or even copied from these books given how that has been thrown around here and on other websites I've found via searching. If the inspirations are light or tenuous at best given all of the early science fiction that could have played a role in influencing and crafting Star Wars, then even the visual enticement of reading this series goes out the window for me.

[davidh777]

Classic Popeye Volume 1
Hardcover: 212 pages
Publisher: IDW Publishing (February 26, 2013)

Re-presenting the classic Popeye comic book series that debuted in 1948 by Bud Sagendorf, the long-time assistant to creator E.C. Segar! Carefully reproduced from the original comic books and lovingly restored, Volume 1 contains issues #1-4, with stories such as "That's What I Yam," "Ghost Island," and "Dead Valley." Also includes all of Sagendorf's gloriously funny one-pagers.

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Color Sundays Vol. 1 "Call Of The Wild"
Hardcover: 280 pages
Publisher: Fantagraphics; 1 edition (May 20, 2013)

Our first full-color Mickey Mouse comic strip collection guest stars Donald Duck and features many never-before-reprinted strips.

We’re jumping from black and white to classic color—as Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse series makes its 1932-35 Sunday strip debut! Bright hues highlight our hero as he enjoys four years’ worth of wild weekend epics... taking him from Uncle Mortimer’s Wild West ranch to the icy peak of frigid Mount Fishflake! And in this volume, Mickey is joined by a famous co-star: Donald Duck! Floyd Gottfredson, artist of the Sunday Mickey Mouse from 1932-38, created the most famous Mickey tales ever told in print. These Sunday specials—many never before reprinted—also feature the work of later Donald Duck master Al Taliaferro. Collectively, they form a collection that fans have been seeking for a lifetime! Highlights include “Mickey’s Nephews,” introducing Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, and “Dr. Oofgay’s Secret Serum,” which turns Horace Horsecollar into a brainwashed wild mustang! Classic gag stories round out the book, offering manic Mouse mischief at a fever pitch. Restored from Disney’s art sources and enhanced with a meticulous recreation of the strips’ original color, Call of the Wild also brings you more than 30 pages of chromatic supplementary features! You’ll enjoy rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and fascinating commentary by a prismatic pack of Disney scholars.

NOTE: Mickey Mouse Color Sundays: Call of the Wild contains cartoon violence and historically dated content presented in context.
Full color illustrations throughout

Johnny Hazard the Newspaper Sundays Volume 1 (1944-1946)
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Hermes Press (May 7, 2013)

One of the truly great Sunday action/adventure newspaper strips of the 1940s is finally being reprinted in a deluxe archival edition. Frank Robbins' masterpiece, Johnny Hazard, set the standard for action and adventure, and remains unequaled. Comics historian Ron Goulart observed that with Johnny Hazard, Robbins, "... staged his action like the movies. He had a lushly inked style, rich in black." The Sunday version of the strip which ran different story lines from the dailies (also being offered by Hermes Press) features non-stop, wartime action with stories which are exciting today as they were when they were created.

Skippy Volume 2: Complete Dailies 1928-1930
Hardcover: 328 pages
Publisher: IDW Publishing (April 9, 2013)

THE COMPLETE SKIPPY continues the first-ever series to reprint the legendary Skippy comic strips by Percy Crosby. Volume two contains all daily comics from 1928 through 1930. The introduction details Crosby's life during Skippy's transition from Life magazine to the newspaper page and those first years of the strip's wild success. "Percy Crosby's Skippy might well be the great forgotten comic strip of the 20th century."-Chris Mautner, CBR "Cartoonist Percy Crosby has long been acknowledged as one of the great early cartoonists, both for his precision draftsmanship and as the first cartoonist to place philosophical ideas into the mouths of children."-The Comics Journal Co-edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney, designed by Lorraine Turner, and illustrated with many photographs and rare artwork from the collection of the cartoonist's daughter, Joan Crosby Tibbetts, and Skippy, Inc.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Gray Morrow Years Volume 1 (1979-1981)
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Hermes Press (April 30, 2013)

With the success of the Buck Rogers TV show the New York Times Syndicate decided to revive the classic Buck Rogers newspaper feature and to give it a contemporary sci-fi treatment. The feature, which was unrelated to the television show, offered the artwork of Gray Morrow with scripts by Jim Lawrence. Volume One offers a full two years of the strip with the black and white dailies and full-color Sundays. This material has never before been offered in its original version.

[bluetoast]

david! Just wanted to let you know that the Cheers club first thread will be up tomorrow (couldn't send you a PM).

[davidh777]

I posted this in the deals thread but thought it would be of interest here as well:

Fantagraphics Memorial Day Mega-Blowout SALE!

Over 250 titles, 75% OFF now through Monday, May 27, 2013!

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.p...=769&Itemid=62

I grabbed these (already have the Gottfredson Mickey 1&2 or would have gotten that as well):

Qty Name SKU Price
1 Buz Sawyer Vol. 1: The War in the Pacific buzsa1 $8.75
1 Fire & Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner and the Birth of Marvel Comics firwat $10.00
1 Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert mrock $5.00
1 Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff milbio $8.74
1 Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954 setsta $10.00
1 Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko ssdtk $10.00 $10.00
1 The Arctic Marauder arcmar $4.25
1 Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics yourom $7.50