Showing posts with label teen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teen. Show all posts

Friday, July 7, 2023

Friday Fun DUNC AND LOO "Loo and Strongboy Stoop in 'Muscle Bound' "

Let's return to an unusually-urban humor comic series...

...with this never-reprinted short from Dell's Dunc and Loo #8 (1963)!

Trivia: The book was originally-titled Around the Block with Dunc and Loo, but was shortened to just Dunc and Loo as of #4.
(Apparently suburban and rural readers use "corner" or "street" instead of "block" when referring to addresses, so the original title confused them!)
You'll note two major differences from most teen humor tales we present here...
1) the art doesn't mimic the Archie Comics "house" art style, which became synonymous with "teen humor" in the late 1950s!
2) the series is set in a big city with apartment houses and other urban elements.
(Most "teen humor" series are set in suburbs/small towns!)
Written by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams (the series' co-creators).
It was one of three "teen humor" series created for Dell by Stanley, including Kookie and Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) for Dell.
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Friday, May 26, 2023

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Jet-Heeled Prom" and "Zingbats"

Like most comics of the era, Jetta of the 21st Century had text stories...
...to qualify for second-class (magazine) mailing rates!
The text stories featured other characters from the "Jetta-verse"!
Written by "Dixon Wells" (a pen-name used only for Jetta text stories), this never-reprinted piece from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) would've made a pretty good comic story.
Perhaps it was scripted by Dan DeCarlo?
Also included in this final issue of the series was this one-pager totally-unrelated to the "Jetta-verse"...
No credits are available for this short, which probably was meant for one of Standard's sci-fi comics, Lost Worlds or Fantastic Worlds!
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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday, March 24, 2023

Friday Fun AROUND THE BLOCK WITH DUNC AND LOO "Loo in 'TV or Not TV' "

Those under 40, used to today's high-tech communications won't relate to this situation...
...which was all-too common in the pre-internet/wi-fi/cable/satellite dish days!
You'll note two major differences from most teen humor tales we present here...
1) the art doesn't mimic the Archie Comics "house" art style, which became synonymous with "teen humor" in the late 1950s!
2) the series is set in a big city with apartment houses and other urban elements.
(Most "teen humor" series are set in suburbs/small towns!)
This never-reprinted story from Dell's Around the Block with Dunc and Loo #1 (1961) was written by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams (the series' co-creators).
It was one of three "teen humor" series created for Dell by Stanley, including Kookie and Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) for Dell.
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Friday, August 12, 2022

Friday Fun HARVEY "Beauty and the Beach"

When summer vacation comes, comic book teens run for, where else...
...the beach!
This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Harvey #5 (1972) was the penultimate issue of their last attempt at "teen" humor.
Written and penciled by Stu Schwartzberg and inked by Henry Scarpelli (clearly imitating Dan DeCarlo's art style which became the "look" of Archie Comics), this book and Millie the Model ended in 1972-73, leaving Archie and his spawn standing alone (except for occasional one-shots) in the teen humor genre to this day.

Friday, July 30, 2021

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics PATSY WALKER "Great Idea!"

Due to the return of Covid-19 and the Dreaded Deadline Doom...

There used to be lots more to teen humor comics than just Archie and his friends with every comics publisher from the late 1940s through the early 1970s doing them! 
Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Timely's Miss America Magazine #2 (1944).
Redheaded Patsy Walker, parents Stanley and Betty, boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and rich, raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1944 through 1967 in various teen humor anthologies as well as several self-titled comics.
Trivia: Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt: Outlaw) were the only titles published continuously by Marvel from Timely in the Golden Age, through Atlas in the 1950s, to Marvel in the  Silver Age!
Patsy, Buzz and Hedy are all part of the Marvel Universe from Marvel's Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) when Patsy and Hedy attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!
Patsy later became the superheroine HellCat, and Buzz was revealed to be the supervillain Mad-Dog!
Patsy (and HellCat) appeared on the NetFlix series Jessica JonesLuke Cage, and Defenders, making her part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Written and illustrated by the versatile Al Jaffee (before he moved over to MAD Magazine) , this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Patsy Walker #36 (1951) promoted contributing to the charity created in 1946 by newsman Walter Winchell (best known today as the narrator of the 1960s TV show Untouchables) to honor his friend, writer Damon Runyon, who died of cancer!
The charity, now called Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, still exists!

Friday, May 28, 2021

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "What a Specimen"

To celebrate the long (and well-deserved) holiday, it's futuristic fun with Dan DeCarlo's Jetta!
The 21st Century ain't what they thought it would be in 1953...
"Leaping Electrodes!"
"Now we're cookin' with uranium!"
"Go atomize yourself!"
"This is simply electronic!"
Why aren't we all talking like this?
This tale from Jetta #6 (which was actually the second issue) was written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo, but it may not have been inked by him.

Friday, April 23, 2021

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics WALLY "Give 'Em the Acts"

Not all "teen humor" comics looked like Archie (though most of them did)!
This never-reprinted story from Gold Key's Wally #4 (1963) demonstrates what a different "look" (but similar plotting/scripting) could be like....
Apparently the "different from Archie" approach by writer Herb Rogoff and illustrator Paul Robinson, didn't sell since the next issue was the final one, and the characters haven't been seen anywhere since!
BTW, you'll note the "contagious disease" subplot with measles that warrants our "CoronaVirus Comics" label...which we had hoped we'd be able to retire by now!
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Friday, February 26, 2021

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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Monday, February 15, 2021

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...