Monday Madness / Easter Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Great Three-Flavored Blizzard"

Wait!
"Santa Claus Funnies"?
Isn't it Almost Easter???

Yes it is..for us!

But, it seems the Easter Bunny has lost track of time!

And that's why this is our final Monday Madness entry for the Easter season...

Published in Dell's Four Color Comics/Santa Claus Funnies #175 (1947), Walt Kelly wrote and illustrated this tale of holiday confusion with what I believe is the first Santa Claus-Easter Bunny crossover comic story!

If I'm wrong, let me know, and I'll credit you on this blog when I run the story you cite!

Easter Egg-citement with Walt Kelly!

Easter is Next Sunday...

...but we don't believe in waiting , especially since getting real eggs has proven so difficult!

This centerfold from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) is, perhsps the closest some families will have to an actual hunt this year.

Can you find the bunnies, chicks, and eggs hidden in the art?

Friday Holiday Fun EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE

Here's a short story featuring a plethora of fairy tale characters...

...as presented by a (then) future superstar of the comic strip or, (if you want to be pretentious) graphic novel form!

The title story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.
Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Little Bunny"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly went into full-on "cute" mode with his holiday stories...

...including this never-reprinted one from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #185 (1948)!

Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard"

It's March!

Spring is, well, springing, and Easter is only a couple of weeks away!

So, here's a holiday goodie by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

This never-reprinted feature from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949) was typical of Kelly's holiday offerings.

He would either retell a fairy tale or nursery rhyme with added holiday elements, or craft a new tale based on the characters!

Monday Madness / Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Bunny and the Dwarf"

To be clear, "dwarf" is not politically incorrect...

...so just sit back and enjoy the never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947) without any guilt!

This story, written and illustrated by Walt (Pogo) Kelly features a number of nursery rhyme characters including Jack and Jill (who went up a hill), Little Jack Horner, and Mother Goose herself.

But, it is not, as was often the case with Kelly's holiday pieces, an adaptation of existing nursery rhymes, but a totally-new tale!
It's also a prequel to the book's main tale featuring an Easter party...which you'll see on Easter Sunday!

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Candy Egg"

Here's a (literally) sweet, never-reprinted Walt (Pogo) Kelly short...

...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1948)!

Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!

Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-3 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!

Would've kept a 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!
Good thing I was born after that era...

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE WAR "Blue Men of Bantro"

How Often Do You Read a Story Where a Writer or Artist of the Tale is the Space Hero?

Now's your chance, courtesy of writer Joe Gill and artist Steve Ditko...neither of whom look like the writer and artist in this story!

Yes, it's a little weird, and the idea that our sand would regenerate the metabolisms of aliens is, to say the least, highly-implausible!

But you can't deny the "meta" impact of the ending!

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Art of Ditko

...which reprints many Ditko short stories, including this one!
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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Chicken Little"

It's a classic tale with a holiday twist...

...as told by the legendary Walt (Pogo) Kelly in Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947)

"Fudgy-wudgy" indeed!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Inside an Easter Egg"

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly did single page shorts...

...sometimes he combined several unrelated short pieces into a theme, like what you might see inside an Easter Egg!

...as this never-reprinted piece from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) demonstrates!

Monday Holiday Madness EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hot Cross Buns"...TWO WAYS!

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly liked a nursery rhyme so much...he used it twice!

Such is the case with this one...first from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946), and then, with an extra rhyme, in Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)

You gotta admit, if there's anyone who can do a classic nursery rhyme and make it appear fresh both times, it's Walt!

Friday Holiday Fun EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Humpty Dumpty"

 An Easter-themed combination of a pair of classic nursery rhymes...

... courtesy of legendary writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly...who really knew how to freshen up an old concept!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose (1948) expands on the nursery rhyme with a new adventure of the accident-prone ovum!

Walt Kelly also used Humpty in other Mother Goose comic stories.

Oddly, the cover, also by Walt Kelly, features a radically-different version of Humpty...

Weird, eh?