We don't usually do "repeats" around here, mostly because I feel it's cheating. I have a considerable backlog of posts to keep this Blog fresh during those (...all together now) "horrifically busy" times that so often crop up!
Before the backlog, I simply let it "go dark" (something I don't see happening again), with a warning of said "darkness", rather than repost old stuff. If there isn't a "Blogger's Code of Honor"... well, there SHOULD BE one!
But, as tomorrow is Election Day 2020, I'm making an exception with THIS RECENT POST!
Our usual "Happy Stuff" will resume next post! ...Whether WE'RE "happy" or not!
4 comments:
As Pogo would say, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
Yeah, Deb… Funny how that’s so much more true today, than when Walt Kelly came up with it!
Would you believe Felix the Cat's Magic Midgets—later called the "Merry Midgets" and reduced to the trio of Tic, Tac and Toe—remained ongoing characters all through the Dell/Toby/Harvey years of the comic book? See HERE and HERE for examples of how Messmer and Oriolo drew them later on.
It always struck me as odd that they were described as "midgets" when they're quite clearly fairytale dwarfs or elves; the words don't seem to be as interchangeable as Messmer and Oriolo thought they were.
David:
I believe your comment here to actually be in response to THIS POST, so everyone take the link and re-read it for proper context!
I was counting on “my resident Felix expert” to offer some perspective on this wonderful issue!
I did not expect “The Magical Midgets” to have become recurring characters, as they fit right in with the “Haunted Castle” strip continuity, but I managed to not (yet) see them elsewhere. Forgive me if you mentioned this in your wonderful book on Felix – but I read it so long ago, that I might not remember a reference to what I would have regarded as minor, one-shot characters. I notice that even “Little Betty Blue” turns up! …One of my favorite things about this Blog is that, sometimes *I* teach others about comic book history – and sometimes *others* teach me!
Check David’s links above… they work!
“Midgets” just may have made the best alliteration with “Magic” and/or “Merry”. Or “Dwarfs” might have been a bit too associated with a competitor. Perhaps both – or neither, who will ever know!
I also like that the Midgets work “opposite” to future-character Superman’s “Mr. Mxyzptlk”, in that Felix can SUMMON (as opposed to BANISH) them by speaking their names FORWARD (as opposed to Mxy himself having to speak his own name BACKWARDS)!
There are also two gags in the book featuring a pesky mouse that I’ll presume to be “Skidoo”!
To go “bigger picture” beyond this FOUR COLOR issue of Felix, it’s FAR from news to me, but recent reading has only served to reinforce my view of the EXTREMELY HIGH QUALITY of those 1940s Dell Comics! An amazing level of craftsmanship is evident on every page!
Since then, I’ve also read FOUR COLOR #19 “Thumper Meets the Seven Dwarfs” and FOUR COLOR #30 “Bambi’s Children” (both 1943), and remain in awe of the work artists Carl Buettner and Ken Hultgren (respectively) did on those books!
I sure can’t say this about most comics but, I had an actual “chill of anticipation” every time I turned a page – over what I would see next!
Buettner’s larger panels in particular, including a “two-page centerfold spread” that would make Jack Kirby proud! Yes, I first saw the Thumper story back in 1970 in a WALT DISNEY COMICS DIGEST reprint, but that pales so very much vs. seeing the original!
Nothing like this will ever be produced today! Save your money on new comics, and spend it on the old stuff! You won’t be sorry!
HERE and HERE are the GCD links for the issues! I contributed to the “Bambi’s Children” index just yesterday.
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