Gus and Gussie

It was a busy weekend so the Gus and Gussie samples I promised to post had to wait a while.
Here are three strips from August 1929, the last year of the strip. The strip ended in early 1930 and Paul Fung began working on Dumb Dora instead.
The mood in these dailies reminds me a little of Frank King's Gasoline Alley. Nice, eh?



Coming up next: some Barks stuff...

"Giga"-Havank by Danier

It's getting close to X-mas now so why not get yourself a gift that you know you want? Unless you wish for new underwear (or something equally boring) here's a big whopper of a book that will fit neatly beneath your x-mas tree.
Danier's new giant sized version of the second Havank album "De schaduw op de tast"!

I don't have the book myself yet but I got some snapshots that will give you a hint of what to expect. (Click on the images to enlarge.)









If you got the big Franquin QRN book or the Havank teaser from 2008 you're familar with the format.

It's available in two versions (with or without a sketch page) and is limited to only 200 copies. So don't expect that these will be available forever...
The price (for the regular edition) is €110 + postage.
You can get the book from Danier himself by mailing: lijnlust AT xs4all.nl

Super quiz

I know there are plenty of experts on old newspaper comics out there.
So here's challenge for you!
Let's see who can beat the rest.
From wich strip is this taken?


Who said it should be easy? ;)

OK! I know it's almost impossible. You deserve a hint:
It's from the 20's. And some nice samples will be posted here soon. :)

Edit: To give you a reasonable chance to figure this out here's an image. (With the main character's face deleted.)

Edit: Here are a few more hints. This artist later took over a strip created by a man who left that strip to create one of the most successful of all time. This artist also worked as an assistant on one of the funniest (at least in the 20's and 30's) and still running strips. In the end of his career he worked as an assistant to a comic strip artist known for his abstract images.

www.cbarks.dk

Wile on the Barks subject I can recommend a visit to Peter Kyllings great Carl Barks site www.cbarks.dk.
It's absolutely loaded with information about Barks. Even if you think you know everything about the man and his comics I bet you'll find things that will surprise you there! With several thousands of pages you can spend a weekend just browsing the pages. :)

Story germs and Gyro ideas

In an earlier post I mentioned the Carl Barks "Story Germs" folder I bought. I thought I should let you see what it looks like.

Notice the "A Few Choice Examples of Businessman's Bebop" newspaper clipping peeking out.

Here we see one of Peggys ideas on top, an "interoffice communication" message from Chase Craig, glimpses of story ideas and a Bob (Calgary Eye-Opener) Edwards letter head.

I also have a Gyro Gearloose folder with lots of ideas and plots.

Here we can see some ideas. Both used and unused. Including an abandoned storyline for Gyro #3. As Barks red notes in the margins shows he used bits and pieces for the mailman story.

Somewhere in this folder is Barks plot for the unfinished Pied Piper of Duckburg story. :)
Hope you enjoyed the photos. :)

Now, I wonder how many sheets were removed from these folders before I bought them...

Vasker Tvättbjörn

I'm currently working on the bonus sections to a book series called BAMSE-biblioteket. For vol 35 I have found some interesting stuff. At least if you are Swedish and a fan of Rune Andréasson and Bamse.
Vol 35 will feature lots of stuff from the mid 60's when Rune's earlier creation Teddy was transformed into Bamse. And some detours! Like this one, where Lille Skutt's best friend is Vasker Tvättbjörn instead of Bamse... From an early episode of "Nalle ritar och berättar".

I wonder if Rune would have had the same success with
"Vasker Tvättbjörn - världens renligaste tvättbjörn"...

PS. Volume 35 will be in stores February 2010.

Sorry for the "of Swedish interest only" post. :)

Covers of covers

Here's something cool!
Robert Goodin has started a blog devoted to covers of covers.
Follow this LINK to see what I mean. Well worth checking out!

Can you see wich cover this is a cover of? If not, just click HERE.

Modesty Blaise 992 needed!

[Edit: Thanks to Finnish Modesty Blaise fan Väinö Rinne we have now secured a far better version of this strip! Thanks Väinö!]

Here at Egmont in Sweden we are currently preparing the Modesty Blaise story "The Vikings" for publication, and have located a fair number of originals and other good sources that will assure that this version will be stunning.
However, we lack any acceptable proof of the final strip #992.
Does anyone have access to a better version than this?

If you do and would like to help us please mail johan dot kimrin at egmont dot se
Thanks!

Herriman in the 20's

Just have to share this one. From the collection of Ron Goulart.

It was just sold on eBay with the following description: An original glossy 8"x10" photo of GEORGE HERRIMAN, on the left with hat. Next to him is fellow cartoonist TOM McNAMARA. Then Herriman's two daughters. Unknown chap on right. Picture was taken at the Toluca Lake area of the San Fernando Valley, in the middle 1920s, when this area was opening up and being developed.

eBay oddities

Some people are just begging for the cops to knock on their doors.
Like The Gallery on Baum. They are continuing to sell forgeries on eBay for loads of cash. The Krazy Kat drawing I showed some time ago sold for $769.99! And the "Larson" cartoon went for $1035. They are really drawing their own money!
I wonder how much this "Caniff" will fetch...
[Edit: It went for $76. For a piece of worthless paper! Wooha! There are sooo many suckers out there!]

From the item description: "Any monetary refunds after initial 7 day return policy must include a signed letter by a noted authority stating item is not as described and what is wrong with item. We do not accept opinions." That pretty much says it all.

And while I'm on thew subject of odd eBay objects. What's this? "Carl Barks, Scrooge and Christmas".

The ISV "festival"...

I'm back from the so called ISV "festival". Well, what was supposed to be a big fair with lots of comics was a small room with a few publishers and fanzines.
The doors were wide open out to the street, so it was like standing outside all of the time with no heat turned on inside. We had to wear winter coats and were freezing most of the time. The light in the room was bright white (with white walls were we weren't allowed to place any posters or signs etc.) and there was no cosy feeling at all.
It felt that there were pretty few visitors. Most of them having no idea why there were people selling comics. (It took place on the first floor of a design store located in an old building.)
I checked the sign outside and it proclaimed this was a masqerade. (!) You'd think it would say there was an exhibition going on and comics for sale. But no. I told one of the persons in charge and the reply was that's the way it is and no new sign was needed. I decided to shut up... Can't argue with someone who thinks a comic festival is a masquerade.
I bet they were all warm and cosy on the second floor where the small, small comics exhibition was. And I won't even mention the programming wich was a mess and almost insulting when it came to the "Nils the Cat" signings etc we were supposed to do.

Groan... I'll stop griping here.
I just HAD to write something down to get rid of my frustration...
No more ISV for me.

Asterios Sneath

I just knew I had seen Asterios Polyp somewhere before... :)


(Yes, I know it's probably just a coincidence that he looks like someone in an old Captain Easy story, but...)

Jim Holdaway's Fashion Plate

Ever wanted to know wich board Jim Holdaway used when he drew his Modesty Blaise strips? Most of the original art has been ripped of the original board so that only the thin surface with the artwork remains. But a few unharmed board remains! And if you flip the artwork over you'll find this. Enjoy!

ISV

You've probably noticed the absence of posts here. We are gearing up for the comics festival ISV that is coming up this weekend. So much to do and so little time to blog. But next week!!! Then everything hopefully will be back to normal.
Now, back to printing home made comic books in the studio...

Carl Barks "lost" Uncle Scrooge adventure

As I've mentioned earlier I recently bought two folders filled with plot ideas etc by Carl Barks. One has Gyro Gearloose stuff and the other (labeled "Story Germs") is filled with papers dating from ca late 50's to the mid 60's.

I've only read half of the sheets so far and already found some interesting (and revealing) stuff! But that will have to wait a while, because the focus in this post will be on the Happi Happi island story.

It's an unfinished Uncle Scrooge adventure and I'll try to tell you a little bit about it without revealing too much. (I don't want to spoil the fun for you, since I hope these script pages can be published one way or another some day.)

Parts of the story structure and some of the elmements reminds me of both "A Spicy Tale" and "The Staus Seeker"(both written in 1962). Since the rest of the material in the folder is from that period, I think it's a safe bet to say this script is from late 1961 or early 1962.

What I have are the nine and a half first script pages, with dialouge and scene descriptions.
In addition to that I have five and a half pages with ideas and a pretty detailed synopsis of the full story. This would probably have been a 20 pager if it had been finished.

The introduction is structured similar to the "The Status Seeker", but instead of a posh party with rich people we have a Do-gooders club as a starting point. And instead of a giant jellyfish that likes peppermint candy, we have another animal of the sea that the nephews feeds with peanuts. (And like the jellyfish it saves the day.)
The business with Donald teaching natives what's "good" for them in "A Spicy Tale" is probably a refined version of the Do-gooders vs the natives in the Happi Happi story.
All three stories also features natives in a tropical climate. So you see why I draw parallells between the stories.

The script ends abruptly in the middle of page 10. I can see why, since the scenes following presents some storyteling problems to be solved.
And after making the Status Seeker-story and "A Spicy Tale" Barks probably felt no need to finish the Happi Happi-story.

Now, should this story be finished? Someone writing the remaining pages following Barks synopsis, and someone drawing it? Or should it be left as is? Maybe it shouldn't be published in any form since Barks never finished it?
Maybe I shall run it through the paper shredder? ;)

My opinion is that it should be left as is.
Like Hergé's "Tintin and the alphabet art" we have an unfinished story that should remain unfinished.
Someone with great skill could draw the part of the story that has been fully written. And then adding every word from the synopsis and the plot sheets. Or make a "fan publication" out of it reproducing the sixteen pages unaltered as they are?

And what to to with the other one hundred sheets I have...?

/Joakim.

PS. If any of you have unpublished Barks plots or stories in your drawers I'd like to make a trade. (I promise to not let anyone else see the stuff you copy for me if you promise the same.)