Let this wonderful image speak (or "blot") for itself!
The entire seven-issue Gold Key series (1964-1966) by classic Mickey Mouse artist and Disney Master Paul Murry, with writers Del Connell, the tragically underrated Bob Ogle, and Vic Lockman! Even if the published credits therein are not quite as complete, as they could be! ...And even two one-page gags by Tony Strobl!
Speaking of those mostly-Murry one-page gags that inhabited the inside front and back covers of each issue...
They now appear IN COLOR for the first time in the USA! ...And I even got to create titles for some of them, including this one! (Titles, of course, appear only in the Table of Contents, and are not appended onto the original gags themselves - as it should be!)
As for what this gag looks like in color, and what I might have titled it, you'll have to buy the book and see for yourself... Whaddya think this is, kid, a LI-BERRY, or sumpthin'!
Another reason to... um, "do things BUY the book" is the included TEXT ARTICLE by one of THE PHANTOM BLOT TITLE'S biggest fans, during it's original run - and today... yours truly!
Editors David Gerstein and Mike Catron allowed me the privilege of recounting the (all-too-short, but very interesting) history of the single comic book title I most looked forward to during the glorious Silver Age of comics!
Here are ALL SEVEN Gold Key issues of THE PHANTOM BLOT - with my "unofficially added PHANTOM BLOT # 8", which I also had the privilege of "translating and dialoguing" for IDW, at bottom right! ...No, that last one's not in there, but a GAG I came up with in 1966, just after reading PHANTOM BLOT # 7, did make it's way into the story! ...Isn't it wonderful how all this stuff is somehow connected?
From THIS...
To THIS...
To THIS...
To THIS...
To THIS...
And finally... To THIS!
36 comments:
Hmm...that makes two Paul Murry Mickey Mouse volumes in a row for Disney Masters (a slow-moving row, thanks to COVID slowing things down worse than even The Phantom Blot, the Beagle Boys and Mad Madam Mim all working together could).
The Phantom Blot is one of those characters who has become almost legendary, despite the fact that his first story is really the best one out of all of them. The Blot just gets to be a bigger and bigger name, but each new story takes him further away from Gottfredson's original idea. For some odd reason, I can imagine Kelsey Grammer's Sideshow Bob voice for the Blot.
At least this one should break up the same-y quality that some of the Fallberg/Murry serials have since it didn't have to stick to the same formula those stories did. I like Murry's art, but Falberg's scripts don't reach the highs of Gottfredson's writers at their best, or the unpredictable randomness of Romano Scarpa or Bill Walsh. Judging from those covers, the Blot's series looks plenty random. I will have to pick this one up.
Deb:
Alas, COVID has made just about everything “slow-moving” these days.
Great – and groundbreaking – as it was, I have to disagree that Gottfredson’s original was actually “the best”. I’d put Murry’s “Return of the Phantom Blot” (1964) and Lee Nordling’s “Phantom Blot Bedtime Story” (1990) right alongside, if not above, it! Both merit such standing due to their completely unexpected twist endings! Indeed, such a twist by the standards of 1964 was far more of a greater accomplishment than per the standards of 1939 or 1990!
Then, there was the wonderful (yet harder to “define a place for”) “The Return of Phantom Bob”, a superbly humorous borrowing of Stephen King’s “Misery”, where Kelsey Garmmer’s voice would certainly be applicable!
I’ll also take some exception to The Blot’s being “almost legendary”. I’d say he’s made the cut since Scarpa’s “The Blot’s Double Mystery” back in the fifties – at least for the rest of the world, save us who had to wait until 1964!
Drawing parallels between Mickey and another great comic book hero, Batman, while Pete may be The Joker (most frequent and enduring foe), The Phantom Blot is Ra’s Al Ghul (the really special, mysterious, and foreboding one)!
Carl Fallberg did his job perfectly. He put Mickey and Goofy in the thick of mysteries, unexplained happenings, and perils throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s! He did not work under the same editorial structure that allowed Gottfredson and his writers far more leeway. And, perhaps merely by nature, he was not as “out-there” as Bill Walsh.
What he did was just right for his time, bringing readers back each and every month to see how Mickey and Goofy “get out of this one”! (I know because I WAS one of those readers!) If anything changed, it was “our tastes” and the pop-culture of the mid-1960s onward. To that the Mickey serials looked to Cecil Beard (beginning in 1966, just as his long stint of THE FOX AND THE CROW was coming to an end) to modernize things.
And so, he did... introducing more sci-fi, magic or fantasy-based, and even one super-heroically-based elements to Fallberg’s standard western, sea, or mystery-based serials. Including my “second-favorite” Mickey comic-book-serial of all time, the four-chapter “Trapped in Time” (1967). I REALLY hope the Disney Masters series runs long enough to reach Beard’s tenure, because I want to be able to write the text feature for that!
This is why I say (with an admitted amount of subjective pride) that WRITERS are so important! Murry did “what Murry did” – and did it so very well, as to become identifiably-iconic in style and design – but it was the writers that changed things up when such was needed!
That’s why, in this volume of stories written by Del Connell, Bob Ogle, and Vic Lockman, you will find (as you so perfectly put it) more “unpredictable randomness” than in the prior Murry volumes – yet with the comforting consistency of Murry’s singular artistic stylings!
Read this stuff and see why it was among my MOST FAVORITE comics material of the Silver Age… and remains so today!
Debbie said, "Hmm...that makes two Paul Murry Mickey Mouse volumes in a row for Disney Masters..."
I originally scheduled Mickey's two Ice Sword books as Disney Masters 9 and 13, and Murry's "Sunken City" interrupting them as 11.
Fanta management asked me to switch 13 and 11 so the two Ice Sword books came out closer together.
Thus two De Vita Mickey volumes in a row, followed by two Murrys in a row. But as of right now, nothing similar will happen for the foreseeable future...
Great news, Joe! Thanks for sharing! This is definitely one to look forward to. I have to go easy on the Disney Masters, due to price issues and space issues, but every now and then one comes along for which I have to find a place. It looks like "Return" is not included in this volume, which is unfortunate, as these stories all deserve to be collected together. But I was very pleased that "Return" was included in the recent Mickey Mouse 90th birthday anthology. And though not directly referenced in the first full-length "new" Blot adventure, Mickey does act on his resolve given on the last page of "Return" in the story of "The Mysterious Mr. X". And how else did Mickey know that Goofy was up to the task, unless he recalled the events of "Return" which in the end, only Mickey knew about? So "Mr. X" is a sequel of sorts to "Return" and it would be nice to see them together in one volume some day.
I am intrigued with your analogies of Batman villains to Mickey Mouse villains. It seems very apt to me. The Blot, especially in his darker earlier adventures, does bear a sort of spiritual resemblance to R'as al Ghul on several levels. While the correlation between Pete and the Joker is a little more of a reach, it can be established on the basis, as you have mentioned, of each one's being the most-recurring villain in their respective rogues galleries. But back to R'as and the Blot, they are both masterminds, both capable of recruiting others into their service when needed, both creatures of the night, and while the Blot heretofore has not been shown to have a Lazarus pool, he does exhibit signs of an extraordinarily long life. And, given the later developments in the Blot's backstory, each has a treasured daughter as well.
One more thing. You wrote: "Speaking of those mostly-Murry one-page gags that inhibited the inside front and back covers of each issue..." At first, the grammarian in me rose up once again to confront the error. I asked myself, "Shouldn't that be 'inhabited'?" Ah, but then I realized we are talking about a book of stories of the Phantom Blot! So of course "inhibited" is the right word! It amounts to a very clever play on words which I might not have caught if I had not noticed the apparent error. Well done, oh fabulous punster! Now the pun-loving side of me must draw attention to it so that such wordplay does not slip by unnoticed or unappreciated! What sort of gag would NOT be "inhibited" by the presence of the Blot?
On a more serious note, I am anxious to read your essay regarding the run of the Blot in Gold Key Comics. I know it will be well worth the price of the book--to say nothing of having the Blot stories contained in one volume and on quality paper. During such down times as we are experiencing, it's great to have cause to rejoice!
David says:
“Fanta management asked me to switch 13 and 11 so the two Ice Sword books came out closer together.”
I think that was a very good idea, given the specialized nature of the “Ice Sword” tales! Too long a gap would have diminished the impact of the second volume – and there was a LOT of great stuff going on in that one! ...Just ask Goofy and "his unusual friend!"
Scarecrow:
“The Return of The Phantom Blot” (one of my all-time favorite comic book stories, need I reiterate) might very well have been left out of this volume for its recent hardcover reprinting, but also certainly because the focus of this book was the actual PHANTOM BLOT Gold Key series, collected at last! Besides, if Disney Masters should someday reach the point of the 1964-era Paul Murry serials, I would want “The Return of The Phantom Blot” to be in its PROPER chronological place!
You make the great observation (need I also reiterate your penchant for making great observations) of the connection between “The Return of The Phantom Blot” and "The Phantom Blot Meets the Mysterious Mr. X" (issue #1 of the series) - something that readers (including myself, back in the day) might not have realized! It speaks tangentially to an observation I make in the text essay about the publishing proximity of the two stories, but not nearly as directly as you address it here.
And there couldn’t be a more delicious cherry-on-top of my parallels between The Phantom Blot and Ra’s Al Ghul than your noting that “… each has a treasured daughter as well.” As The Blot himself would say: “SUBLIME!” …Yeah, I just referenced my own Blot-work there… what of it!
While I do enjoy viewing myself as a “fabulous punster” - and I sure do “like me some good wordplay” – my use of “inhibited” is, alas, a typographical error! It’s been corrected, so don’t anyone go looking for it! Thank you, “oh fabulous grammarian” for bringing it to my attention!
The essay is not quite as long as I would have liked, but that’s because we had to squeeze-in SEVEN issues that were ALL comics and illustrations (with no advertising or other interruptive digressions), and that takes its share of – much deserved – space! Still, it says everything I had wanted to say, so enjoy!
“During such down times as we are experiencing, it's great to have cause to rejoice!”
The irony is not lost on me that, in these “darkest of times” (for a number of different reasons), relief – and even rejoicing – is delivered by a “dark-clad villain”!
Looking forward to seeing my copy, now on order from my local indie bookshop! As you know, Joe, I also have very fond memories of reading "Return of the Phantom Blot" in my childhood. One of *very* few Mickey stories I remember at all, and one of only two that I sought out copies of in adulthood...since the comics did not survive repeated readings by myself, my siblings and later my nephews. (The other sought was the 1960 Fallberg/Murry "Pineapple Poachers"...how many more DM Murry volumes would there have to be to reach that one?) I never saw the Phantom Blot series. When I read the Mr. X story for the very first time, I will keep Scarecrow's comment in mind and pay attention to the way it can be seen as building upon elements of "Return."
I usually wait to buy the Disney Masters when they bundle two volumes together as a holiday boxset however I might bite the bullet and purchase this one at release. One of the few pre Gladstone-era back issues I own is Phantom Blot #5. Since I’ve read that issue I’ve wanted the rest of the series and now Fantagraphics is collecting them all together... count me in! As Joe said we are all in need of some lighthearted Disney Comics relief rn so I ought to support the company that is providing QUALITY disney comics content.
I can relate to Debbie’s view on the phantom blot moving farther away from Gottfredson’s intent in his successors’ work. I don’t know if I agree with it, as other than Gottfredson’s original epic I’ve only read 2 Murry Blot stories and the modern Blot tales published by IDW, but I can relate to it. In a previous discussion I compared the Blot to Professor Moriairty from Sherlock Holmes. Both the Blot and the Professor only directly appeared in one story by their creators. Dispite this the characters became know as Mickey and Holmes’ arch rivals through their repeated appearances in successors’ works. No matter how good or bad those stories are they are different from their initial appearance so I understand if its not everyone’s cup of tea.
Joe where was “The Return of Phantom Bob” published? I’d like to check that one out. Joe since you mention it I’m also curious what you think of the Mickey Mouse Adventure series from the 90s. I recall hearing they are pretty dated but honestly I can’t remember.
Gonna have this as a separate comment in case you don’t wanna publish it. This will prob be my last comment under the user name “Clapton”. The real life Eric Clapton has made comments I disagree with and I don’t want readers of this blog to think I support them. Rn life is keeping me horrifically busy so I gotta find the time to figure out how to change my username. But when I do I’ll simply use my real name “Ryan”. Joe if this is to off topic feel free not to publish it
Couldn't resist this one: "Ready or BLOT, here he comes!"
The cover illustration seems to encourage that kind of caption. And you know my love of wordplay.
Can't wait to get this! (Ready or Blot!)
So much activity at this humble Blog lately, where to begin!
…Well, I never *could* resist a good pun, so let’s get to Scarecrow’s while it’s fresh!
"Ready or BLOT, here he comes!"
WONDERFUL! And simultaneously maddening because, in all the years I’ve been an unabashed Blot-booster, this one never occurred to me! "Believe it or BLOT!" (Yeah, I know… pathetic by comparison!) …Well done!
Elaine:
I think you’re going to enjoy the collected PHANTOM BLOT series, even if you’re not the biggest fan of the “traditional” Murry Mickey serials, as seen in the previous Disney Masters Paul Murry volumes.
Overall, they’re a little more (for lack of a better descriptive phrase) “jazzed-up” than the more prosaic Carl Fallberg stories, in that they’re laced with additional humor – but not quite as far as total farce (one key element of PHANTOM BLOT #3 notwithstanding – which you will KNOW when you see it). Though the scene where the Beagle Boys help the Blot escape from jail in #3 is a keeper for the ages, at least for the type of humor I enjoy.
This and other elements like it are the product of Bob Ogle, who wrote #3, 4, most likely 5, and definitely #6, despite what the published credits might say. That includes the wonderful encounter with Madam Mim – some of which you can see in THIS POST!
Contemporaneously, he also wrote the first three issues of SUPER GOOF and #2 and 3 top my list of the FIVE all-time best Super Goof stories. …And, given my love for, and long association with, Super Goof, I’d say that list is worth paying some heed.
Unlike many others, Bob Ogle didn’t have a long career with Western. I can identify his work as appearing between 1963 and 1966 – brief, but brilliant, in terms of combining humor with adventure. And, some of it is misidentified and misattributed to boot. That Western period would have fallen nicely between his writing the Dick Tracy and Mister Magoo TV cartoons for UPA, and later writing some Tom and Jerry for Chuck Jones – and becoming the sole credited writer for the first (and unquestionably best) season of the Filmation ARCHIE show (1968) – so it even makes sense on the timeline.
Finally, yes… I very much echo Scarecrow’s comment on the “Mr. X” story. …As you’ll see!
Thanks to David for clearing up something that I was wondering about. I hadn’t much thought about the two Ice Sword books, as it made sense to release them so close together.
Well… Good Bye “Clapton” and Hello “Ryan”!
I looked up some of the Eric Clapton comments, and let me be the first one to support you in the change of name (and, presumably, avatar as well)! I say that while maintaining that it *is* still possible to separate a person’s body of work from their personal views and comments – but, it’s not that easy these days, and becoming more and more difficult all the time.
I’ve said this before, but… It’s a funny thing, about openly "dedicating a part of yourself” to “celebrity admiration” of someone still living! They can always *become* someone you wouldn't want to know, or be associated with.
This is particularly common in the sports world… from Pete Rose, to Barry Bonds, and many in-between! As a New York Yankees fan, Alex Rodriguez was a particularly notable case. You loved Alex Rodriguez for the “star quality” he delivered, the great play on the field, and the 2009 World Series championship! Then you didn't, because he cheated with steroids... Then you did again, since he's more-or-less rehabilitated himself into a likeable TV analyst, and for the “celebrity-couple-magic” of his association with Jennifer Lopez. …But, whichever side, it’s a risky proposition.
There's actually some perverse comfort in knowing that my two "heroes" (to the extent a writer like me could have heroes), Carl Barks and Michael Maltese, are no longer with us... because their “no-longer-with-us-ness” precludes them from ever "turning to the dark side"!
But, enough of that, and back to the Blot!
“The Return of Phantom Bob” appeared in WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES #614 (Gladstone Series II, Cover Date: July, 1997). HERE is the GCD link for that issue! It’s a rather barebones index, but that’s only because I’ve not gotten around to revising it with the copious detail of all my GCD efforts! …And lucky you, Lone Star Comics has two copies of it – and you can get them at a small discount if you enter this Weekly Codeword “LOSTBOYS” between now and next Tuesday evening – HOW’S THAT FOR SERVICE!
As for MICKEY MOUSE ADVENTURES (1990-1991) you need only read the letter columns for that series to see how much I thought of it! Where did you hear “dated”? At the time it was one of the more ambitious attempts to “modernize Mickey” while still keeping him “recognizable”… you know, unlike “Duck Avenger”! The two-issue Phantom Blot story in # 7 and # 8 were a TRUE highlight! You must see these! …And guess what? Lone Star presently has one of each! No, I don’t own stock in Lone Star, just appreciate their service – and, as I often do, pay it forward.
In a rare (for me) instance of multitasking, I am (…if precariously at times) balancing the 75-page story I am currently “translating and dialoguing” for a future Disney Masters (probably can’t give more specifics on that yet) with logging THIS PHANTOM BLOT VOLUME of Disney Masters at GCD!
…Oh, and of course, pressing-on with “The Great Comics Organization and Storage Retirement Project”, maintaining this humble Blog, and other vital life functions probably makes that more like multi-multitasking, but I digress.
The GCD index is a work-in-progress but, if you’d care to watch it take shape, you can do so HERE!
The PHANTOM BLOT “Feature Object” at GCD was, shall we say… rather pathetic, and so I rewrote that as well. You can find that - in it’s completed form, with logos I also added - HERE
I remain amazed at the scope of the association I continue to have with a character I became “taken-with” as a young reader in 1964! ...Ain’t life grand sometimes!
Happy New Year, Joe! Looking forward to reading your info to the Phantom Blot! Torcivia... Gold Key...Murry...the Blot. Can't wait!
Thank you, Jim! …And a very happy new year to you too!
As I said, the article isn’t as long as I would have wished it to be… which would probably be seventeen times as long, if not more! But that’s because we have fully collected all seven issues of THE PHANTOM BLOT… and “that’s a lotta Blot”! The book is noticeably thicker than the other volumes adjoining it on my shelf, for that reason! A celebration of The Phantom Blot, Mickey Mouse, Paul Murry, a variety of writers, Gold Key Comics, and everyone and everything that made this series so great!
The article is a nice companion piece to that which I wrote for Fantagraphics Mickey Mouse Floyd Gottfredson Library Volume 5. I could never have imagined that I would get to discuss the history of The Blot, for both Gottfredson and Murry, in such beautifully packaged hardcover volumes! And on this humble Blog! And at the Grand Comics Database (GCD)! …Sometimes dreams *do* come true!
This is somewhat tangential to the material subject of this post (delightful as it is), but is similar in spirit: speaking of Blot media all being “interconnected”: I recently reread Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot itself in its Floyd Gottfredson Library edition, and made a somewhat striking rediscovery.
You recall that when I updated you as to what DuckTales 2017 was doing with their parallel Blot, you were somewhat skeptical of the notion of the Blot working for F.O.W.L., established in DuckTales Classic as the alternatingly Fiendish or Foreign Organisation for World Larceny. And at the time, although I defended the notion somewhat, I had to admit that it was a slight discrepancy with the Blot's usual characterisation as a solo operator.
But — here is the thing — in his final unmasked scene in Outwits the Phantom Blot, the Blot reveals that he had been seeking the secret chemical formula on behalf of "a certain syndicate abroad" which intended to use it for warlike purposes! Anachronistic as it is, isn't it fun to imagine a precedent to the 2017 variation of the Blot in that line, and suggest that all the way back in 1939, the Blot was occasionally doing freelance work for the "classic" version of F.O.W.L.?
Yeow! That is quite an observation, Achille! …And yeah, if F.O.W.L.’s underground existence goes back as far as that, if COULD very well be… since neither Gottfredson nor the Blot actually named the "certain syndicate abroad".
Of course, we can all infer that Gottfredson was actually referring to the Nazis – whether of not he had the inclination, or even the ability, to directly refer to them in 1939. …And, as later proof, Nazis did make themselves known in the initial continuities of the Bill Walsh years of the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip.
But, honestly, if I could replace Nazis with F.O.W.L. in the catalogue of world history, I’d do it in a second!
Just out of curiosity, Ryan, are you referring to recent comments by EC or the stuff he said when he was so drunk that he was merely a phantom (groan) of his actual self?
Anyway, onto the Blot, I happen to be a big fan, though more of the Italian interpretation (which stayed closer to Gottfredson's original, I think) than the somewhat clumsier Murry version. Sure, he's still the bigger threat compared to Pete or the Beagles, but not that intimidating anymore IMHO. Compared to that, some of (especially, but not only) Casty's stories portray him as the criminal genius that he is, not just some guy who doesn't want to show his face.
A nice reminder of your article in the Gottfredson Library since we're FINALLY getting that in German too - though the price is eye-watering, I intend to stick with it! So, you will probably soon be translated to German!
Spec-Spec:
In the event Ryan does not see your question, I will attempt to forward it to him for a possible response. If something comes back, you’ll see it here.
Obviously, I love the Murry-era Blot – but, of course, it was the first and ONLY version I saw between 1964 and 1978. But, Murry, Gottfredson, Scarpa, Casty, and others are all part of one great “Blot-tapestry”.
Do they translate the text pieces of the Gottfredson Library into German (or any other language), and not simply export the English version? Does that apply to the stories too?
I took German in grade school, high school, and college (though that was in the ‘60s and ‘70s) – and Esther reads and speaks it pretty fluently – so perhaps you can eventually send me a scan of my page, because I’d really like to see it in German.
“…are you referring to recent comments by EC or the stuff he said when he was so drunk that he was merely a phantom (groan) of his actual self?”
Hey, I just realized that would make Eric Clapton “…merely a phantom (groan) of his actual self?”… (wait for it) when he was… BLOTTO!
He was "blotto" indeed, well played! :D
Yes, literally *all* the text in the FGL was translated into German (I've got the first box set, which covers the first three volumes). That even includes a newspaper article! Can't say that they're doing things half-heartedly, which makes me forgive the steep prices a bit (soundwords, signs etc. are also done so skillfully that you wouldn't notice this was a translation). The only things that are in English are a few example panels illustrating the articles, which of course is interesting because you can look the translated version up and compare...
As for scanning, I'll think of it when I have the volume. Not sure I can manage to put that heavy thing on a scanner without breaking either the book or the scanner, though! ;-)
Thank you, Spec-Spec!
“Well played puns” (…and those not so well-played) are one of things we do best ‘round here!
Yeow! I guess all that translation work justifies the high price. Besides, I’d always prefer to have such a book in my own native language, even if I were fluent in another.
Please damage neither the book nor the scanner on my account. Though I would like your view of the German translation of my piece, if possible.
I confess; I nearly fainted when I saw the asking price of 150€ - and this is just for the first three volumes in one set, so the whole series will come out at over 600€ assuming they go the whole way and translate the Sunday strips as well. For comparison, the new adaptation of Fanta's Don Rosa Library costs 30€ per book (and you can buy individual volumes as well as 2-packs, which cost 70€ each).
For a while, I was seriously dabbling with ordering the Fantagraphics originals. It certainly would've been cheaper, it would be more authentic and the writing would be a bit easier to read (German takes up more space, and the lettering is done in a way that often even leaves space in boxes & bubbles, despite this not being the case in Gottfredson's originals...). Not to mention that I'm bilingual so if anything, I'd probably learn a bit about American slang of the era and otherwise understand pretty much everything.
But on the other hand I was one of those who had been clamoring for this stuff in German for years, so it would be a bit bigoted of me to chicken out! Also, the prospect of a new, streamlined translation (mostly from the hand of one person, Gerd Syllwasschy, who also did a lot of William van Horn stories, and IMO captured van Horn's odd humour well) intrigued me; what had been translated in earlier years was often done with odd names & other errors, not to mention the confusion that arises from the many (often Italian) sequels. Joe Piper has five or six different German names - a new one with every new story! I'm quite anxious to see which one will be chosen...
Spec-Spec:
That is rather a dilemma… Especially if both versions have their advantages.
If you cannot accommodate the purchase of both – and I can certainly see why not – determine which version would have the longer on-sale period, or which one might be more readily available via the secondary market for the longest period of time.
Then make your choice accordingly, and pick up the rest at some later and more advantageous time.
I’ve been there (a LOT) and feel your pain!
In case anyone wonders, I bit the bullet. The first set of the German version is very well done - I only disagree with the small lettering (but my eyesight is good enough to work with it). The amount of care that went into even translating small signs and the like is quite lovely and makes me feel a bit less annoyed about the high price.
The next set (which will include all things Blot) is still not available yet, but it should be next months.
Glad to hear it was worth both the wait AND the price! Again, if it were a binary choice, I’d prefer to have it (and just about anything) in my native language! Enjoy, and let us know more about the “Blot set” once you get it.
Being brought up bilingually makes things more complicated on that front, though... xD
But it makes so many other things easier. I wish we, in the USA, put more emphasis on languages.
Dear Joe, thank you very much for your Blog and all your work to let us enjoy Disney Comics. I have read your comments on Disney Stories since the times of Gladstone Comics (and of course also read your translations of some Italian stories). Now I am wondering who wrote "The Return of the Phantom Blot". It is a story which is really worth being remembered. Do you think Bob Ogle might be the author? You said that Beard started 1966, so this story would be too early for him. Another story I especially appreciated has been "The Golden Helmet". I guess that Beard is the author of this story but you have more experience so I would be really interested in your opinion. It´s really a shame that we know so little about the authors of Western Disney Comics, especially about important ones like Ogle and Beard.
Corrado:
Thank YOU so much for those very kind words! Circumstances have been such that the Blog has had to take a back seat for a while – but I’m always here for comments and questions, and expect to return to posting before long.
The Phantom Blot comics from Gold Key have been always been among my favorite things in all of comicdom and it was a great honor to be a part of the Fantagraphics Phantom Blot hardcover collection – writing the text piece, and especially getting to title some of those originally untitled one-page gags!
Writers for the Dell, Gold Key, and Whitman comics have always been a tricky thing, but I’ve read and studied enough of them for decades and have come to recognize certain patterns and “identifying factors” in the various stories to often be comfortable in naming a writer.
For instance, there were stories in the Fantagraphics book that I can definitely attribute to Bob Ogle and Vic Lockman based on style, content, and time-period published. More credits, alas, than actually got into the book for some silly communication breakdown on their side. But, the full credits, as best as I can supply them, can be found in the entry for the book that I created for Grand Comics Database (GCD) HERE!
Now, all that said, I have never been entirely comfortable in naming an author for "The Return of the Phantom Blot"… but I would venture to guess it was Bob Ogle! It could also be Del Connell, but I feel much stronger going with Ogle.
The timing is perfect… Cecil Beard would not come over until his regular work on THE FOX AND THE CROW began drying up.
Connell was more of an editor at that time, and, because of that, I have a nagging suspicion that (contrary to popular opinion – opinion, I might add, that *I* largely helped create back in the ‘80s) Bob Ogle may have also written PHANTOM BLOT #2, ("The Phantom Blot Meets Super Goof") under Connell’s editorial direction. Meaning that it might have been a case of confusing the universally-accepted idea that Del Connell “created” Super Goof – and his WRITING the actual story in which the character and concept first appeared. …Closer 2021 evidence has me thinking that Ogle wrote the actual story. …But, that’s just another one of those things we will just never know!
Finally, on timing, Ogle would have been between (presumably better-paying) animation-writing gigs, having completed his stint on the UPA Dick Tracy and Mister Magoo TV cartoons, and before writing theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoons for Chuck Jones and the original season of “The Archie Show” for Flimation. Ogle’s stories all seemed to appear during that compressed interim period of time.
The earliest story I can presume to be his would be MICKEY MOUSE # 91 (Cover Date: December, 1963) "Strange Cargo to Pingoola", and then in MICKEY MOUSE # 94 (Cover Date: June, 1964) "The Outlaw Trail"! I haven’t really looked at #92 or 93 in some years, so I won’t have a “read” on those until I do. But a December, 1963 cover date – making it an October, 1963 release – squares-up nicely with the end of his UPA writing.
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Cecil Beard, on the other hand is believed to have begun with the Mickey Mouse serial "The Treasure of Oomba-Loomba", a revised-remake of the Floyd Gottfredson classic "In Search of Jungle Treasure" (1937) from WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #313-316 (Cover Dates: October, 1966 – January, 1967), again coinciding with the end of his run on THE FOX AND THE CROW – which he wrote with his wife Alpine Harper. I’ve never been certain that Harper co-wrote the Mickey stuff (or the THREE STOOGES comic of the same vintage) with Beard, so I’ve tended to credit Beard alone.
Beard’s stories are easy to distinguish from Carl Fallberg’s (Paul Murry never wrote any of his stories), in that Fallberg’s are of a more classic and conventional nature – Seafaring stories, westerns, detective mysteries, while Beard’s largely tended to go in a more imaginative, science-fiction-y direction, or to some strange land with a brave princess or peasant girl to assist Mickey and Goofy. Not anywhere near as “out-there” as Bill Walsh was in the later Gottfredson continuity years, but with more of a ‘60s-‘70s vibe than Fallberg. Also using his own creations, Dangerous Dan McBoo and Idjit the Midget (as well as the Vic-Lockman-created Emil Eagle), over Pete.
So, yes, I would say "The Golden Helmet" was by Beard (and Harper?).
And, what a versatility in being able to write great stories for Mickey Mouse and The Fox and the Crow (two very different types of comics), as well as The Three Stooges – and, I feel, the new 6-page story in PORKY PIG #18 (1968), indexed at GCD by me HERE!
I remain fascinated by the work of both Ogle and Beard (and Harper), and so regret that more about them and their respective bodies of work is not known. I, personally, have tried to get as much out there as I can, and am pleased to know that you appreciate it.
C’mon back anytime! …After all, how many Blogs give ya this much, just for writing in!
Dear Joe, thank you for your kind answer which I didn´t see before because of the interruption. I am very happy about your work and your kindness. You help to identify authors which enriched our childhood with their art. I hope we can stay in contact. All the best, Kurt, Vienna, Austria
Corrado:
Sorry for the delay in replying to this. Too many events to juggle at once, as is often the case.
As for contact, it’s the same offer I make to everyone… Send me a comment with your e-mail address (which I will not publish) and I will respond. WARNING: I have become extremely bad with personal correspondence – same reason as the abovementioned delay!
But, give it a whirl anyway…
Dear Joe, thank you for your offer. My e-mail-adress is kurt.appel@univie.ac.at
I am really greatful of your work and your kind answers!
Best,
Kurt
P.S.: May I ask you another question: In my childhood I really liked The ski-ghost. I guess the author might be also Cecil Beard? Do you agree?
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