Another Man's Hell

Monday Cartoon Day.

As the editor of the Dutch Mad I am, as you can imagine, a huge fan of the new comic book series Sergio Aragonès is doing for Bongo. If you haven't yet picked it up, I can recommend it highly. Some comic you want to wait until they are combined into a paperback, but this is just one book you want to have in your mailbox eery month. The gags are fresh as ever, but what makes it extra special is the fact that Sergio is including anecdotes from his own life. My guess is, these are anacdotes he has been telling all his lifem so they are often very sharp and very wlel told. As well as adding a little bit of pathos, which doesn't hurt Mr. Aragonès style at all.

In one of the last issues (I think it was nr. 3, he recalls how he created a news newspaper series, about people getting their just deserts in hell. Just like in Dantes Inferno, everyone would get the punishment he derserves after his or her death. He would call it Aragonès Inferno and readers could send in their pet peeves, etc etc. He was all set to go, with lots of samples, when [SPOILER ALERT] Mark Evanier told him it had already been done by Jimmy Hatlo. Hatlo was fanous for his They'll Do It Everytime, which ran on the basis of reader's suggestions as well. During some time in the fifties he introduced Hatlo's Inferno, where he would devise punishments for annoying types the readers could pick. Well, basicly the same idea Sergio had.

So in honor of this great idea, here are two of Hatlo's samples I came across. And may I give my vote for a Sunday only new version by Aragonès. i am sure he could fit it into his schedule.

Yabba Dabba Bear

Saturday extra.

My attendance figure spiked today when Mark Evanier linked to my Flintstone scans. I met Mark many years ago in San Diego when I attended a round table discussion about international comics journalism (which included another of my heroes, Ron Goulart) and admire his dedication to his various hobbies. His book on Jack Kirby set a new standard on production values and I eagerly await his official biography of Jack Kirby. But I hope it won't be published for another year or so, so I can try and get my play about Jack Kirby and Stan Lee published before that, so there won't be anyone thinking I stole his ideas.

He has this to say about my post:

The blog of Ger Apeldoorn offers up some nice examples of the Flintstones newspaper strip of the sixties. By way of clarity, it should be noted that while Gene Hazelton was the primary artist and supervisor of this and the Yogi Bear strip, they weren't all drawn by Gene. Just about everyone good who worked at Hanna-Barbera at the time worked from time to time on them, including Pete Alvarado, Willie Ito, Bob Singer and Harvey Eisenberg. Several of the samples Ger offers were drawn by Eisenberg. Also, for much of their runs, both strips were lettered and inked by Lee Hooper.

I thank him for the information. Since putting up these strips I have read interviews wth Dick Moores and Roger Armstrong in the excellent Walt's People series of books, which I will talk about when I get back from my holiday) and found te same information (plus the fact that Richard Bickenback probably was involved as well). It is hard to identify different artists, but there are differences. Look this first Yogi Bear Sunday from a couple of months before that. It looks as if it is done by a completely different artist than later, when the Flinstones were added.

Feb 3 1961 Announcement:


Feb 4 1961 Announcement:


Feb 5 1961 first Sunday:


Sunday for March 5 1961 (bad quality, but good sample of the 'later' style):