Friday Fun FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Jabar in The Good Old Days"

From the premiere issue of Fitzgerald's Fast Willie Jackson...

...comes this never-reprinted two-pager by editor/writer Bertram Fitzgerald and artist "Gus LeMoine" that makes a serious point in a humorous way!.

Published by Black-owned company Fitzgerald Publications (who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history), Fast Willie was their entry into the mass market.
(There were no comic book stores at the time)

Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.

Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald briefly resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.

Written by publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald, illustrated by "Gus LeMoine".

Note: There's no record of Gus LeMoine outside of a brief comics career for Archie and Fitzgerald which coincidentally ends with superb Dan DeCarlo mimic Henry Scarpelli leaving his staff position at DC and becoming a full-time staff artist at Archie...at which point LeMoine's credits disappear!

Most artists in the comics field do other (fine or commercial art) work before and/or after their stint in comics.

There's no trace of Gus' work anywhere else!

If anybody can provide a link to his pre/post-comics work or some sort of biography I've missed, I'd be extremely grateful for the info!

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Visit Amazon and Order...

Black Comics

Politics of Race and Representation

Monday Madness FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Introduction" & "Jabar in The One and Only"

In the 1970s, there was an Archie-style comic aimed at Black audiences...

...and though it used artists who worked for Archie Comics, it wasn't published by Archie Comics!

Fast Willie Jackson was published  by Black-owned publisher Fitzgerald Publications who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history.

Fast Willie was their entry into the mass-market comics market.

Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.

Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald briefly resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.

Written by publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald, illustrated by "Gus LeMoine".

Note: There's no record of Gus LeMoine outside of a brief comics career for Archie and Fitzgerald which coincidentally ends with superb Dan DeCarlo mimic Henry Scarpelli leaving his staff position at DC and becoming a full-time staff artist at Archie...at which point Lemoine's credits disappear!

Most artists in the comics field do other (fine or commercial art) work before and/or after their stint in comics.

There's no trace of LeMoine's work anywhere else!

If anybody can provide a link to his pre/post-comics work or some sort of biography I've missed, I'd be extremely grateful for the info!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Black Comics

Politics of Race and Representation

Friday Fun FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Jabar in No Way Out"

In the 1970s, there was an Archie-style comic aimed at Black audiences...

...from the publishers of the Golden Legacy series which featured factual stories about Black historical figures!

Though it looks like it, Fast Willie Jackson was not published  by Archie Comics, but by Black-owned publisher Fitzgerald Publications who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history.

Fast Willie was their entry into the mass-market comics market.

Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.

Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald briefly resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.

Written by publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald, illustrated by "Gus Lemoine".

Note: There's no record of Gus Lemoine outside of a brief comics career for Archie and Fitzgerald which coincidentally ends with superb Dan DeCarlo mimic Henry Scarpelli leaving his staff position at DC and becoming a full-time staffer at Archie, at which point "Lemoine's" credits disappear.

Most artists in the comics field do other (fine or commercial art) work before and/or after their stint in comics.

There's no trace of Lemoine's work anywhere else.

If anybody can provide a link to his pre/post-comics work or some sort of biography I've missed, I'd be extremely grateful for the info!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Black Comics
Politics of Race and Representation