George Scarbo was an interesting artist. He made his name as a caricaturist in the thirties and did many panels using that skill. I have wrtten about him a couple of times and shown some of his stuff, all pretty remarkable. In the forties, he created a Sunday feture with animals for the NEA syndicate and continued doing it for many years. I have come across a lot of them in the various microfiches files I go through to get strips like Scorchy Smith and Patsy in Hollywood, but I rarely clip them because it usually is to dark. Apparently, the secondary color scheme Scaro used doesn't really survive the microfiche process all that well. On the back of a longer run of another strip I came across a lot of color samples of The Comic Zoo. So many that it took me wuite a while to scan them and prepare them to be put here. I considered doing it in two posts, but frankly, I do not think the strip is special enough to warrent double attention. Scarbo seemed to treat his animals as caricatures rather than portraits or cute depections. And there wil be some that will find his distinct non-Disney approach interesting. But he does cover the same terrain as Walt Kelly would do only a few years later and he is no Walt Kelly. Then again, almost no one was. So here is the largest run of The Comic Zoo you will ever see anywhere - including here.
Showing posts with label The Comic Zoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Comic Zoo. Show all posts
Saturday, October 18, 2014
The Comic Boo
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
George Scarbo was an interesting artist. He made his name as a caricaturist in the thirties and did many panels using that skill. I have wrtten about him a couple of times and shown some of his stuff, all pretty remarkable. In the forties, he created a Sunday feture with animals for the NEA syndicate and continued doing it for many years. I have come across a lot of them in the various microfiches files I go through to get strips like Scorchy Smith and Patsy in Hollywood, but I rarely clip them because it usually is to dark. Apparently, the secondary color scheme Scaro used doesn't really survive the microfiche process all that well. On the back of a longer run of another strip I came across a lot of color samples of The Comic Zoo. So many that it took me wuite a while to scan them and prepare them to be put here. I considered doing it in two posts, but frankly, I do not think the strip is special enough to warrent double attention. Scarbo seemed to treat his animals as caricatures rather than portraits or cute depections. And there wil be some that will find his distinct non-Disney approach interesting. But he does cover the same terrain as Walt Kelly would do only a few years later and he is no Walt Kelly. Then again, almost no one was. So here is the largest run of The Comic Zoo you will ever see anywhere - including here.
George Scarbo was an interesting artist. He made his name as a caricaturist in the thirties and did many panels using that skill. I have wrtten about him a couple of times and shown some of his stuff, all pretty remarkable. In the forties, he created a Sunday feture with animals for the NEA syndicate and continued doing it for many years. I have come across a lot of them in the various microfiches files I go through to get strips like Scorchy Smith and Patsy in Hollywood, but I rarely clip them because it usually is to dark. Apparently, the secondary color scheme Scaro used doesn't really survive the microfiche process all that well. On the back of a longer run of another strip I came across a lot of color samples of The Comic Zoo. So many that it took me wuite a while to scan them and prepare them to be put here. I considered doing it in two posts, but frankly, I do not think the strip is special enough to warrent double attention. Scarbo seemed to treat his animals as caricatures rather than portraits or cute depections. And there wil be some that will find his distinct non-Disney approach interesting. But he does cover the same terrain as Walt Kelly would do only a few years later and he is no Walt Kelly. Then again, almost no one was. So here is the largest run of The Comic Zoo you will ever see anywhere - including here.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Nature Boy George
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
These days Facebook seems to be the best way to reach a fresh new audience. It's habit of randomly sending messges to friends or your friends works very well for something like this blog - there will always be someone who has bever sen this stuff before and will be surprised by it. On the other hand, Facebook is fleeting and this blog has tunred into a nice archive over the years. In fact, if there is anyone out there conected to a university that wants to host a permanent archive from my posts (and keep them safe for future generations) I am up for it. It is my numer one goal (apart from getting a special mention at one of the comic awards, of course. A Harvey, an Eisner, a Kirby... I am not picky.
Every once in a while I create a Facebook item to generate some new attention to my blog. Without that I would never have known that Bill Wray was a fan of Dutch artist Daan Jippes. Last wek, that same Bill Wray (three of whose paintings have pride of place in my house) mentioned he likes the work of 30's-50's artist George Scarbo. And it just happens that I have ben collecting some of his most famous work, the Sunday only newspaper strip The Comic Zoo for a special post. Of course Scarbo did more. Follow the label to see some of his caricature work. But this is what he is best known for in comic strip circles. Nice to see that there are other ways to caricature nature without it turning into some sort of Disney derivate.
These days Facebook seems to be the best way to reach a fresh new audience. It's habit of randomly sending messges to friends or your friends works very well for something like this blog - there will always be someone who has bever sen this stuff before and will be surprised by it. On the other hand, Facebook is fleeting and this blog has tunred into a nice archive over the years. In fact, if there is anyone out there conected to a university that wants to host a permanent archive from my posts (and keep them safe for future generations) I am up for it. It is my numer one goal (apart from getting a special mention at one of the comic awards, of course. A Harvey, an Eisner, a Kirby... I am not picky.
Every once in a while I create a Facebook item to generate some new attention to my blog. Without that I would never have known that Bill Wray was a fan of Dutch artist Daan Jippes. Last wek, that same Bill Wray (three of whose paintings have pride of place in my house) mentioned he likes the work of 30's-50's artist George Scarbo. And it just happens that I have ben collecting some of his most famous work, the Sunday only newspaper strip The Comic Zoo for a special post. Of course Scarbo did more. Follow the label to see some of his caricature work. But this is what he is best known for in comic strip circles. Nice to see that there are other ways to caricature nature without it turning into some sort of Disney derivate.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Off To Work We Go
Monday Cartoon Day.
Alan Holtz of The Stripper's Guide call George Scarbo a 'true workhorse of the NEA Features Syndicate'. Every syndicate worth it's money had a subscription service, where you could get a whole package of stuff to fill your newspaper with: articls, columns, photo services, comics and little illustrated features. To provide allt his, these syndicates employed staffs of talented young artists. The AP syndicate was known for having All Capp, Milton Caniff, Noel Sickles and Mel Graff. I have also shown work of one of their lesser known workers, Hank Barrow. Another artist associated with them was Morris, who even did the AP strip Scorchy Smith for a short while in the early sixties. George Scarbo worked for NEA and specilized in caricatures and funny animals. He later became best know for his Sunday only comic strip The Comic Zoo and was the first artist to illustrate NEA's later famous Christmas strips. He also did lots and lots of specialty art and panels, which I am showing here.
Monday Cartoon Day.
Alan Holtz of The Stripper's Guide call George Scarbo a 'true workhorse of the NEA Features Syndicate'. Every syndicate worth it's money had a subscription service, where you could get a whole package of stuff to fill your newspaper with: articls, columns, photo services, comics and little illustrated features. To provide allt his, these syndicates employed staffs of talented young artists. The AP syndicate was known for having All Capp, Milton Caniff, Noel Sickles and Mel Graff. I have also shown work of one of their lesser known workers, Hank Barrow. Another artist associated with them was Morris, who even did the AP strip Scorchy Smith for a short while in the early sixties. George Scarbo worked for NEA and specilized in caricatures and funny animals. He later became best know for his Sunday only comic strip The Comic Zoo and was the first artist to illustrate NEA's later famous Christmas strips. He also did lots and lots of specialty art and panels, which I am showing here.
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