I’m Not an Artist (...or Colorist), But… WHAT Massive Fist?!

I am not an artist, nor am I a colorist.  If I WERE a colorist, I would be a worse colorist than I would be as an artist.  

It's not just a matter of specific skills of art and coloring that I have never possessed, it's also my admitted lack of creative imagination in those two areas!  

Oh, I have an almost limitless creative imagination in the area of WRITING!  This Blog, my many APA and fanzine writings of yore, and my professional comics work bear testament to that.  But, even if I had sufficient skills in the areas of art and coloring, my work would at best rank as pedestrian, as I have scant (all together now) creative imagination to apply to said work. 

Art is, of course, a matter of subjective taste.  Meaning that while I (and, presumably, most of you) really like things like THIS...

 ...Or THIS...

 ...Or THIS...

...I do allow for the possibility, remote as it may be, that there COULD BE some folks who actually like THIS...

...Even if it's only the artist himself, and possibly his editor!  

But, when COLORING fails, it's pretty much universal!  For instance, take the cover of HAWKMAN #6 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February-March, 1965) and its titanic struggle between Hawkman and a great winged-gorilla. 

Hawkman says: "Got to bring my mace UP -- before that massive fist comes crashing DOWN!" 

MASSIVE FIST?!  WHAT MASSIVE FIST?!  Without squint-staring really hard, do you see any massive fist?  

Quick aside: It has nothing to do with the quality of the digital image used above.  I have the actual comic here beside me as I write this, and the "real thing" looks exactly the same!  

It would seem to be a matter of too much dark brown concentrated in what should be a critical area of the illustration!  

Let's assume there was insufficient room for artist [The Great] Murphy Anderson to position the gorilla's arm and fist elsewhere on the cover, as the dramatic focus of the piece is the gorilla about to smash Hawkman into a fine Hawk-puree! (Sorry, but my keyboard doesn't allow for the accent mark, and spell-checker isn't offering it either!) 

But, perhaps just the slightest bit of gradation in the dark brown might have made a difference, or maybe a better-defined outline of the gorilla's arm and fist to separate it in depth relative to the  gorilla's wing! 

Then again, the coloring techniques of the Silver Age were far more limited than they would be beginning in the 1980s, so I don't have a definitive solution to offer.  

But, that's why I’m Not an Artist (...or Colorist), But… I'm still left to ask "Massive fist? WHAT massive fist?!"

Oh, and for a "massive fist" that you actually CAN see clearly, try this on for massive-size!  

Oh, THAT massive fist! Got it!  

No, actually Superman got it... right in the super-breadbasket! 

There's Just Something About a Pink Bow...

A universal shorthand technique in creating a female counterpart to a male character - in animation and in comics - is to give that counterpart a HAIR BOW... usually pink!  

But, how would that play out in real life?  Well, Cici's here to show you!  

...And doesn't she look CUTE?  With or without the bow!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: I Wanna BE This Guy!

Man!  Not only does he have ALL THAT going for him, but he even gets to be featured on the the back cover of REAL SCREEN COMICS # 15 (Published by DC Comics, Cover Date: December 1947 / January 1948)!  
 

Why, just reading his list of accomplishments and future aspirations is enough to give an average student an inferiority complex!  (Click to Enlarge for ease of reading!) 

You were OVER SIX FEET TALL... IN HIGH SCHOOL!?  ...In 1947, yet?  

I've been out of high school for over fifty years, and I haven't reached that yet!  And I'm not very... er, "high" on my future chances... 

As this is 1947, he even got to hear President Dwight D. Eisenhower BEFORE he was president!  

...And, while most of the nation "liked Ike", Ike probably "liked HIM!"  

Contrary to the request made above by "The Box in Pink", I cannot "...watch this space for the high school champ of [my] locality", because my high school wasn't built until 1956!  

Yeah, I know... That's exactly the kind of excuse-laden, non-positive thinking that never won me any class honors beyond "Most Likely to Collect a Lot of Comic Books".  

In addition to our esteemed Mr. Friedman, REAL SCREEN COMICS # 15 featured a number of other role-model types for "what passed for the comic book nerds and geeks of 1947" to aspire to.  

On the INSIDE BACK COVER (the REVERSE of Tommy's page) was this...

Then again, if there was anyone I would have wanted to be, had I existed in 1947, it would most likely be the guy in THIS INTERIOR AD! 

Seriously, "Tommy" (or Mr. Friedman), if you're really out there, please accept my kidding in the spirit of kindly humor with which it is intended!  

Hope it all worked out exactly as you planned!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Comics DIGESTS?

 Wrong CAPTION, or wrong PHOTO... You decide...

If they're COMICS, I don't recognize any of the characters!  But the ART seems to be good, even if a tad small!  And wouldn't those POSTMARKS devalue the comic's condition from a FINE/NEAR MINT to a GOOD MINUS?  

But the worst thing about them is that they look VERY DIFFICULT TO READ! ...Kinda skimpy on PAGE COUNT, too!  

...Maybe they're COMICS DIGESTS?  ...But VERY SLIM comics digests!

Unlike this one...

Yeah, that's more like it!

Now, let's just try to keep it safe from those nasty, grade-devaluing postmarks!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Disney Mini (not Minnie) Giveaway Comics!

From the pages of BLONDIE #32 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date (July, 1951), we find this interesting promotion for Wheaties breakfast cereal... 

Now I wasn't an athlete by any stretch of the imagination, but even *I* would "eat my Wheaties" to get my hands on these!

...Alas, not being alive in 1951, I had to do it the hard way! 

BTW, that's Paul Murry doing the cover for "Mickey Mouse and the Magic Mountain", as well as the interior art for "Donald Duck and the Inca Idol" the latter of which I wrote of an amazing fact about my particular copy HERE!

Harvey Eisenberg also did the interior for "Mickey Mouse and the Stagecoach Bandits", so there are lots of unexpected pleasures to be found among these little gems. 

And there were FOUR SETS of these (with eight mini-comics per set) released between 1950 and 1951. A worthy pursuit for any Disney comics completist!  

EXTRA ADDED ILLUSTRATION:

In my response to our great friend Sergio's comments, I added the following illustration! ...To see why, go to the Comments Section and and soak-up some '60's cereal pop (...with no "snap" or "crackle") culture! 

Just for the record: I hung all of those Pooh toys on the rim of my cereal bowl, as pictured on the box front!  I did not, however, attach them to my pencils, as pictured on the box side!  ...That just seemed too painful a thing to do to a beloved Bear of Little Brain!

Happy Mother's Day 2025!

Happy Mother's Day 2025 - from Joe and all the lights of his life, Esther, Averi, Logan, and Cici! 

Who could ask for more?  I sure couldn't! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm... Pebbles and Splish-Splash!

Here's a comic book that featured "PEBBLES and BAMM-BAMM"! 

Here's a comic book that featured "PEBBLES and SPLISH-SPLASH"! 

Gotta love this gag from MUTT AND JEFF # 103 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June, 1958), with individual panels enlarged for your reading pleasure. 

So, while in this comic, Pebbles watches Bamm-Bamm go "BAM! BAM!"

We learn that another "Pebbles" went SPLISH-SPLASH"!

Johnny Cash once sang: "Life ain't easy for a Boy Named Sue"!  

Neither, it would seem, for a boy named "Pebbles"! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Our Changing Language: Unfunny Then, Funny Now!

The English language is (as modern languages tend to be) a living and evolving tongue!  We see examples of it every day.  Older comics often provide inadvertent examples of this, as seen on the cover of SPOOKY SPOOKTOWN #65 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: October, 1976)! 

In 1976, and up until more recent years of "real-time", this would have been just another unfunny gag cover, that relies on the presence of a needless dialogue balloon to pull off what little of a gag there might be. Such was all too typical of Harvey in its later years!   

That's not to say that the gag, as such, could not be somewhat funnier with no dialogue and different staging!  Leaving it as-is, but silent, would be a slight - but immediate - improvement.  

Or restage it in such a way that still has the guy looking aghast into his fridge at the chicken bones - but angle it from his back... and, in the foreground, have Spooky walking away from the fridge... still carrying the largely-bitten drumstick!  You could even have Spooky drawn in those "outlining-dotted-lines" that were used as visual shorthand for him being invisible. Have a look of satisfaction on his face, and maybe even a "burp!" for added effect!   

To be fair, I'll even present an example of when a similar gag worked!  From SPOOKY #45 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: (July, 1960)... 

... With a SILENT COVER GAG that also worked, I might add! 

"GHOST TOASTIES" works because (A) it rhymes, and (B) Post Toasties was an actual breakfast cereal of the time! 

But, back in the American Bicentennial Year, this superfluous spook-said sentence was simply not funny.    

However, let's jump ahead to the 21st Century to find that "GHOSTED" carries an additional - and altogether different - meaning:

"In slang, "ghosted" means someone has suddenly and abruptly ended all communication with you without explanation, typically in the context of a relationship or dating. They stop responding to texts, calls, or other forms of communication, effectively disappearing from your life."

Indeed, Spooky has, quite literally, made the roast chicken "disappear" from the unfortunate midnight-snacker's life!  

It would seem that all has gone well for our "Tuff Little Ghost"... at least until he "washes down his ill-gotten foodstuff" with a few too many strawberry sodas! 

And you can bet that Spooky wishes this bad karma would GHOST HIM!  

Now on Sale: Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1!

 It's HERE and ready to "THRILL" you!

The long-awaited Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1 from Gold Key Entertainment "thrillingly" takes its proud place alongside the previously released Boris Karloff Gold Key Mysteries #1 and #2! 

Even if you never read the original Boris Karloff comics - or their recent versions - THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO START! ...No experience necessary, just enjoy the goosepimples! 

What makes this book different from the others is that, while the "Gold Key Mysteries" issues were all new and original material, Gold Key Select: Boris Karloff Thriller #1 is a collection of classic-era stories culled from the earliest days of Western Publishing's Gold Key Brand's Boris Karloff Thriller #1-2... down to the "Early Gold Key Look" of rectangular dialogue balloons with wide, perfectly aligned page-bisecting panel gutters - often in various colors! 

[Click to Enlarge]

Another unique facet of this issue is that, despite the excellent cover choice, it is not merely a reprint of Boris Karloff Thriller #1 (1962)...

 [Back-to-back - or side-by-side - THRILLS!] 

...But, as mentioned, select "Tales of Mystery" from original issues #1-2, resulting in a book that is more than a mere "replica edition" as has become so common these days!  

Finally, there is one more feature that you won't find in the original Boris Karloff comics -- and pretty much NOT ANYWHERE in modern comic books...

...The GOLD KEY CLUB READER'S PAGE!  A place where YOU can become involved with this and any of the upcoming titles from Gold Key Entertainment!  Letters of Comment, questions, likes and "likes-not-so-much", suggestions, and all things Gold Key!  

A modern version of the original Gold Key Comics Club pages instituted by Western Publishing in 1967...

 [Join the Club - 2025 or 1967!] 

...This Gold Key Reader's Page, while steeped in its original incarnation at its core - right down to its retro logo design, takes less of a juvenile focus and is written for more of a general comics-consuming audience!  

And ALL OF YOU can join in the fun by sending in those "Letters of Comment, questions, likes and 'likes-not-so-much', suggestions, and all things Gold Key" to this address: 

So, how do I know that the Gold Key Reader's Page will be "fun"?  ...Simple, because I am writing/preparing the page and, if you're familiar with this humble Blog (...if you're reading this, you probably are) you know how I handle contributions and comments to it.  I look forward to bringing that manner to a wider scale with Gold Key Comics!  

I thank Gold Key Entertainment CEO Lance Linderman and all of the Gold Key Team for their faith in me to allow this undertaking and, as you all know from everything else I do in comics, I will make this new Gold Key Reader's Page the very best it can be!  

You're all invited to kick things off by reading the book and participating in the experience! 

Let's turn out a big response, and make it a regular ongoing thing across the Gold Key line!  

See you there...