Showing posts with label beatniks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beatniks. Show all posts

Friday, July 25, 2025

Friday Fun COOL CAT "See You in the Funnies"

We Love it When Comics Go  (Sorta) "Meta"...

...in this case, characters being spied upon by a comics creative with his own ulterior motive!




This never-reprinted tale from Prize's Cool Cat V9N1 (1962), written and illustrated by Jack O'Brien may confuse many readers younger than Baby Boomers (1946-1966) who don't realize the extensive variety of subcultures that existed during the 1960s.
Cool Cat's parents are beatniks.
Cool Cat himself is a hipster/slacker.
The cartoonist, though a creative, is a square, supposedly not as "artistic" as a beatnik or hipster.
Note: there are no hippies at this point.
They didn't come along for another several years.
Trivia: Though this is V9N1, it's the second of only three Cool Cat issues, none of which have ever been reprinted in any form!
The numbering was continued from Black Magic, created by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon in 1950.
Writer/artist Jack O'Brien began his comics career in 1943, doing work for everyone from Charlton to Parents Magazine Press to Dell to Harvey to Timely (Marvel's predecessor).
His first work for Prize was in 1952, and he continued freelancing for them until 1965, switching over to their b/w MAD magazine clone SICK when the four-color comic line was cancelled in 1963.
His new last work appeared in 1976.

Friday, September 22, 2023

Friday Fun TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS "Hip Van Wrinkle"

There is nothing more frightening to a beatnik, hippie, or hipster...
...than to be considered "establishment" or "uncool"!
This tale from Archies's Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #5 (1962) demonstrates that "kool" is all a matter of perspective!
Best-known as the creator of Li'l Jinx, writer-artist Joe Edwards masterfully-adapted to the Dan DeCarlo-esque "house" style of Archie Comics to become one of their (almost-always anonymous) mainstays for decades, from the Golden Age (1940s) through the Modern Age (1980s).
Consider that when he wrote and illustrated this tale, he was already in his 40s (as were almot all comic creatives at that time), not a young adult and "with it", as they said back then!
Does it still read as "legit"?
Think about it...

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Friday, November 12, 2021

Friday Fun KOOKIE "Bongo & Bop...Cats in the Attic"

Before Slackers!
Before Hipsters!
Before even Hippies!
There were Beatniks!
Here's a tale about a pair of them that could easily be updated and re-told today!
This never-reprinted story from Dell's Kookie #2 (1962) by writer John Stanley and artist Bill Williams was part of an attempt to produce an on-going series featuring young adults in a (then) contemporary setting.
Bongo and Bop were the slackers of the ensemble, like Dobie Gillis' Maynard G Krebs amped up to 11!
Sadly the title only lasted two issues...which you'll be seeing here in the weeks to come!
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Monday, May 24, 2021

Monday Mars Madness UNUSUAL TALES "Way Out, Man"

You'd think Dr Strange's creator Steve Ditko would be a bit more sympathetic to the counter-culture...
...but when you consider he was already 34 in 1961 when he drew this story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #29, you might wonder which side of the Generation Gap he really was on!
Remember that, when Ditko was doing the Dr Strange series in Strange Tales, he was turning 40!
This article from England's The Telegraph delves into the fascinating dichotomy between the artist and what his work portrayed.
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...which reprints this tale and many other Ditko short stories!