Comic Book Interlude: The Farmer's Daughter #1

Here's a real Spector oddity of cheesecake. The Farmer's Daughter ran for four issues, beginning with the February-March 1954 issue. What is it with the four-and-out titles from this era such as Muggy-Do, Boy Cat, Lucky Duck, and now this? You'll notice that the story is copyright Hal Seeger, although my dad drew and wrote all the stories in it (Muggy is also copyright Seeger). Anyway, I am personally taken with the rushed yet controlled abandon of its loosey-goosey style.

Yup, she was only the farmer's daughter's butt. I don't have my Overstreet guide at hand but I do recall there being a mention of a "lingerie panel", or "nudity panel" -- or something to that effect -- in this same issue. Here's a one-pager to which they must have been referring.

Thanks to Glenn Bray for inadvertantly mentioning this title to me, Bob Jaques for locating and sending me scans of issue #'s 1 and 2 from Golden Age Comics (UK) and of course the folks who uploaded them in the first place.

Comic Book Interlude: Little Lionel

We can thank Mr. Bob Jaques for this one. Bob was searching for moonlighting-comic-book-drawing animators and came up with this from a Wacky Duck titled reprint pubbed in 1958 (I.W. Enterprises). My dad had already exited from a decade-long comic book era at that point, and Little Lionel dates back to the post-war 1940s. Still, I like the sort of pre-war old-fashioned flavor of it all: the telephone, the firemen panel, et al.

Lucky Duck in "Mountain Madness"

As promised, here's another Lucky Duck story that appeared in a Supermouse. Once again, hats off to Bob Jaques for the scans. Splash original courtesy of Glenn Bray. Big thanks to both.

Lucky Us

Here's two Lucky Duck stories that are not included in the four eponymously titled LD issues (oddly, numbered as 5-8...Muggy-Doo, Boy Cat are 1-4); a 3-pager and a 1-page. Next post will be a longer Lucky Duck story. Let's thank Mr. Bob Jaques, who discovered them all in some Supermouses he purchased and sent scans our way.





You'll notice that this next one is under a Rocky Rabbit heading, rather than LD. The endgag is a pre-owned throwaway, but I know you people only look at the pictures :)

Comic Book Interlude: Stuffy Derma in "Shipped Ahoy"

I recently obtained a copy of Muggy-Doo, Boy Cat #2 (September, 1953), within which my father drew and wrote all the stories and the cover. But I'm not posting a Muggy story. Instead, I'm posting one where Stuffy Derma is the main character. Why? Well, when one comes across a character with a name like that -- that's what one does.






Is it just a coincidence that an advertisement like the one below precedes the story?

By the way, for those of you who don't frequent a certain kind of deli, Stuffy Derma is name after the delicacy Stuffed Derma:
Stuffed derma, also known as kishka (Slavic for “gut”), is traditionally a cow’s intestine stuffed with a mixture of grain, fat, and sometimes ground meat and vegetables. Nowadays, kishka is most commonly made with a synthetic casing, and when made at home, some people use chicken skin as a wrapping instead.
Typical filling recipes include flour, matza meal, salt, pepper, chicken or beef fat, grated carrots, and grated onions. It’s eaten plain, with sauce, or on top of the traditional Sabbath afternoon stew (called “cholent”).

Comic Book Interlude: Rocky Rabbit - "Out Of My Mine" (From Supermouse #31)

Rocky Rabbit was Lucky Duck's foil in all four of the Lucky Duck title issues, and it's interesting to me that Rocky got his own story in a Supermouse (#31, June 1954). The final Lucky Duck, #8, was published in 1953, so either this story sat on the publisher's shelf -- both Supermouse and Lucky were Literary Enterprise, Standard Comics -- or my father knocked it out close to a year later.

It's doubtful I would have come upon this story without Scott Shaw reviewing the issue in his old Oddball Comics column at Comic Book Resources. Thanks Scott!

Also, I plan on running into NYC for the NY Comic Con this Saturday, 2/7/09. My plan is to rummage through the used and abused golden age stacks for more of these sort of stories that appeared outside of the usual titles. Any readers of this blog who are also going and feel like hooking up, shoot me an email at the address in my profile.

Comic Book Interlude: Squeeks - TV Jitters

When it comes to comic books some people will read anything. Don't make me name names, but this post just might be for you. Squeeks the monkey and his foil Tiger Tom are the poor person's Lucky Duck and Rocky Rabbit, which I've posted previously. In fact Squeeks #5 published by Lev Gleason, from which this story hails, is from June 1954, written and drawn in the same era as Lucky. It shows a similar inking line and plot device, except less of each -- meaning a chase just for the sake of chasing, with a lot of scenery destroyed in the process. Nothing wrong with that really, and the pages tend to look better (to me) the larger I scan them. My father also did the covers for this issue and #4. Those human-hand looking feet on Squeeks kinda creep me out...or maybe I'm only jealous because I don't have opposing thumbs on my own feet.

I'm not certain who created Squeeks and Tom. The covers of the first three issues are by Charles Biro and the editor(s) are different. I'll know more when I can get my hands on some copies, hopefully if/when I make it to the NY Comic Con in a few weeks.

Speaking of editors, you might have noticed the name Harold Straubing as editor on this cover. Harold and his family became long-time friends of ours. In an upcoming post we'll revisit, well, a different kind of work my father did for him, almost ten years after this, when Harold led my dad down the garden path toward...

Comic Book Interlude: Lucky Duck, "From Bad To Voice"

That Lucky Duck! No matter how much that darn Rocky Rabbit tries to take advantage of him for his own greedy use, it eventually backfires, while Lucky's natural good fortune prevails. IMO, "From Bad To Voice" is a nice example of an animator-drawn comic story. At 12 pages it's lengthy enough to seem like a short cartoon, with some good scenes, plenty of gags and reckless action.

From Lucky Duck #7, (July 1953). In actuality there are only four Lucky Duck titles, #'s 5-8. I've always assumed it takes up, issue-wise, where Muggy-Doo Boy Cat, only issues #1-4 leaves off. They're all Standard Comic (Literary Enterprises) and my father did the cover on all eight, as well as drawing and writing this story. However, Lucky began it's run six months earlier. Based on that my guess is that they were all conceived far in advance. Although who knows? Any additional information is always welcome.