Insider histories of cartooning : rediscovering forgotten famous comics and their creators /
Robert C. Harvey.
- Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, (c)2014.
- 1 online resource (192 pages)
Includes bibliographies and index.
Cover; Contents; A Word to the Fore: Insider Histories of Cartooning; 1. Preambling by the Milestones: Comics Acquire Their Distinctive Lineaments; 2. Defining and Describing Comics: Separating the Canines from the Equuses; 3. Why Call Them "Comics"?: An Impotent Act of Philosophical Rigor; 4. The Longest-Running Comics: With an Unexpected Winner; 5. Opper's Happy and the First Dean of American Cartooning: The Reputed First Definitive Comic Strip; 6. The Countryboy Cartoonist of National Fame: Abe Martin and Kin Hubbard Explained; 7. AWOL Wally: The Most Famous Doughboy You Never Heard About. 8. Withdrawing the Color Line: The First Famous African American Cartoonist9. Wild 'n' Woolly American Mythology: A Ramblin' Rundown in Search of Authentic Cowboyin' in Strips; 10. Slaphappy Heroicism: A Last Duo Act for Superman's Creators; 11. Magazine Cartooning with Playboy's First Cartoonist: And Some Others of the Same Lovelorn Ilk; 12. Swords' Point Skewers Sexist Stereotyping: A Woman Cartoonist Pioneering Feminism; 13. Bill Hume and Babysan: Fame in the Far East, Unknown in the West; 14. The Old Soldier Fades Away: After Half-a-Century of Unstuffing Shirts; Bibliography; Index; A; B. CD; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z.
"Many fans and insiders alike have never heard of Bill Hume, Bailin' Wire Bill, Abe Martin, AWOL Wally, the Texas History Movies, or the Weatherbird at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And many insiders do not know why we call comic books "comics" even though lots of them are not at all funny. Robert C. Harvey, cartoonist and a veteran comics critic, author of several histories of comics and biographies of cartoonists, tells forgotten stories of a dozen now obscure but once famous cartoonists and their creations. He also includes accounts of the cartooning careers of a ground-breaking African American and a woman who broke into an industry once dominated by white men. Many of the better known stories in some of the book's fourteen chapters are wrapped around fugitive scraps of information that are almost unknown. Which of Bill Mauldin's famous duo is Willie? Which is Joe? What was the big secret about E. Simms Campbell? Who was Funnyman? And why? And some of the pictures are rare, too. Hugh Hefner's cartoons, Kin Hubbard's illustrations for Short Furrows, Betty Swords' pictures for the Male Chauvinist Pig Calendar of 1974, the Far East pin-up cartoon character Babysan, illustrations for Popo and Fifina, and Red Ryder's last bow"--