This week Roy Thomas published Alter Ego #150, a tribute to Stan Lee at his 95th birthday later this month. As the cover piece he used my 32 page article about Stan Lee's efforts to get out of comics between 1956 and 1962. Using the correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez, I managed to track down all of his projects in that period - from the slightly unknown (like his newspaper strips Mrs. Lyons' Cubs and Willie Lumpkin) to the almost unknow (like his selfpublished books Blushing Blurbs and Golfer's Anonymous to some that were downtight unknown (like his two efforts with Vince Colletta and a third selfpublished book from 1962. Every project has some new facts and often some new and rarely seen illustrations. But since roy had to cram everything into an already crowded issue, he could only show bits and pieces of everything. Like these three samples of Barney's Beat, a precursor to Willie Lumpkin he did with Dan DeCarlo. I knew Bill Morisson had already shown two of these gags in his book on Dan DeCarlo (still available on Ebay) so I asked him if he had any more and he send me these three, complete with commentary by DeCarlo on the third one. This is the first time they are shown to the world. Come back in the next few days to see more of the unused goodies. The issue of Alter Ego can be bought on the website of publisher Twomorrows. They also do digital single issues and subscriptions, so there is no excuse not to get it.
Showing posts with label Willie Lumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willie Lumpkin. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Stan Lee Told You To Get this
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
This week Roy Thomas published Alter Ego #150, a tribute to Stan Lee at his 95th birthday later this month. As the cover piece he used my 32 page article about Stan Lee's efforts to get out of comics between 1956 and 1962. Using the correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez, I managed to track down all of his projects in that period - from the slightly unknown (like his newspaper strips Mrs. Lyons' Cubs and Willie Lumpkin) to the almost unknow (like his selfpublished books Blushing Blurbs and Golfer's Anonymous to some that were downtight unknown (like his two efforts with Vince Colletta and a third selfpublished book from 1962. Every project has some new facts and often some new and rarely seen illustrations. But since roy had to cram everything into an already crowded issue, he could only show bits and pieces of everything. Like these three samples of Barney's Beat, a precursor to Willie Lumpkin he did with Dan DeCarlo. I knew Bill Morisson had already shown two of these gags in his book on Dan DeCarlo (still available on Ebay) so I asked him if he had any more and he send me these three, complete with commentary by DeCarlo on the third one. This is the first time they are shown to the world. Come back in the next few days to see more of the unused goodies. The issue of Alter Ego can be bought on the website of publisher Twomorrows. They also do digital single issues and subscriptions, so there is no excuse not to get it.
This week Roy Thomas published Alter Ego #150, a tribute to Stan Lee at his 95th birthday later this month. As the cover piece he used my 32 page article about Stan Lee's efforts to get out of comics between 1956 and 1962. Using the correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez, I managed to track down all of his projects in that period - from the slightly unknown (like his newspaper strips Mrs. Lyons' Cubs and Willie Lumpkin) to the almost unknow (like his selfpublished books Blushing Blurbs and Golfer's Anonymous to some that were downtight unknown (like his two efforts with Vince Colletta and a third selfpublished book from 1962. Every project has some new facts and often some new and rarely seen illustrations. But since roy had to cram everything into an already crowded issue, he could only show bits and pieces of everything. Like these three samples of Barney's Beat, a precursor to Willie Lumpkin he did with Dan DeCarlo. I knew Bill Morisson had already shown two of these gags in his book on Dan DeCarlo (still available on Ebay) so I asked him if he had any more and he send me these three, complete with commentary by DeCarlo on the third one. This is the first time they are shown to the world. Come back in the next few days to see more of the unused goodies. The issue of Alter Ego can be bought on the website of publisher Twomorrows. They also do digital single issues and subscriptions, so there is no excuse not to get it.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Man Oh Man
Friday Comic Book Day.
In the second week of December Alter Ego #150 will be available in shops and as a download from the website of it's publisher Twomorrows. It's a special issue celebrating the 95th birthday of Stan Lee. Not only does it have a new and rare interview with The Man himself, there is also a huge article by me about Stan's efforts to get out of comics between 1956 and 1962. It is based in part on his correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez, which has been at Ohio State University for about thirty years. I could not use any actual quotes from many of the correspondence, but I paraphrased averything that was important. And Stan himself gave us permission to use his own letters, as well as a report hij wife Joan did for his newspaper strip Mrs. Lyons' Cubs. The history of that strip, as well as Willie Lumpkin is described in the article, with many new art samples from various different sources. There are also samples of newspaper strips that did not make it, including the synopsis of a soap opera strip Stan tried to do with Vince Colletta. And to top it all, I found an unknown selfpublished book at yet another university.
Stan's partner in Mrs. Lyons' Cubs was Joe Maneely, who like Stan was trying to find new jobs when all around them the comic industry seemed to collapse. Here is one of the few stories Joe Maneely did for DC, not long before he accidentally fell of a commuter train between New York and Philadelphia and died far to young. Stan tried to continue Mrs. Lyons with Al Hartley, but that never really got off the ground.
In the second week of December Alter Ego #150 will be available in shops and as a download from the website of it's publisher Twomorrows. It's a special issue celebrating the 95th birthday of Stan Lee. Not only does it have a new and rare interview with The Man himself, there is also a huge article by me about Stan's efforts to get out of comics between 1956 and 1962. It is based in part on his correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez, which has been at Ohio State University for about thirty years. I could not use any actual quotes from many of the correspondence, but I paraphrased averything that was important. And Stan himself gave us permission to use his own letters, as well as a report hij wife Joan did for his newspaper strip Mrs. Lyons' Cubs. The history of that strip, as well as Willie Lumpkin is described in the article, with many new art samples from various different sources. There are also samples of newspaper strips that did not make it, including the synopsis of a soap opera strip Stan tried to do with Vince Colletta. And to top it all, I found an unknown selfpublished book at yet another university.
Stan's partner in Mrs. Lyons' Cubs was Joe Maneely, who like Stan was trying to find new jobs when all around them the comic industry seemed to collapse. Here is one of the few stories Joe Maneely did for DC, not long before he accidentally fell of a commuter train between New York and Philadelphia and died far to young. Stan tried to continue Mrs. Lyons with Al Hartley, but that never really got off the ground.
Tuesday, August 08, 2017
Post Haste
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
Four more samples of Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's Willie Lumpkin I photographed at Ohio State University and sort of corrected in the computer. Good enough for my site, but not for reprinting. Oh, what I wouldn;t give for a complete collection. At least you can see some more here, if you follow the link.
Four more samples of Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's Willie Lumpkin I photographed at Ohio State University and sort of corrected in the computer. Good enough for my site, but not for reprinting. Oh, what I wouldn;t give for a complete collection. At least you can see some more here, if you follow the link.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Lump Dump
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
I think I feel Willie Lumpkin is the best collaboration between Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo. As you can see here (as well in my many other posts about this strip) that it started out as a one panel strip and morphed into a more 'normal' gag set-up after a couple of months.
I think I feel Willie Lumpkin is the best collaboration between Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo. As you can see here (as well in my many other posts about this strip) that it started out as a one panel strip and morphed into a more 'normal' gag set-up after a couple of months.
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