From the Dick Buchanan Files: Color Gag Cartoons 1951 - 1955

Dick Buchanan has reached into his vast cartoon files and unearthed some vintage color gag cartoons for our enjoyment! He writes:

"Seems all's well with your garden and as it was so colorful I thought I send you some cartoons that are colorful as well."

Well, the garden is pretty much put to bed, but we do have some lovely fall colors in the trees about now. Thanks so much, Dick!

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1950’s COLOR GAG CARTOONS
1951 – 1955


Here are a few of color gag cartoons from the early 1950’s, drawn by some of the 1950’s leading cartoonists of the time. These cartoons have been extracted from Collier’s, one of the most popular national weekly magazines of the first half of the 20th century. During this period Collier’s published several cartoons in color in each issue. Here are a few we found recently . . .



1. KATE OSANN. Colliers November 24, 1951.

 

2. BOB BARNES. Collier’s April 18, 1953.

 

3. JOSEPH G. FARRIS. Collier’s March 13, 1954.

 

4. HARRY MACE. Collier’s April 5, 1952.

 

5. JAN & STAN BERENSTAIN. Collier’s August 7, 1953.

 

6. KIRK STILES. Collier’s July 11, 1953.

 

7. LARRY FRICK. Collier’s June 13. 1953.

8. GEORGE WOLFE. Collier’s April 5, 1952.

9. JERRY MARCUS. Collier’s November 12, 1951.

 

10. WILLIAM VON RIEGEN. Collier’s April 29, 1955.

 

11. WILLIAM O’BRIAN. Collier’s July 11, 1953.

12. DICK HESSER. Collier’s November 2, 1954.

 

13. STAN FINE. Collier’s October 30, 1953.

 

14. JACK MARKOW. Collier’s July 4, 1953.

15. CORKA (Jon Cronin). Collier’s July 11, 1953.

- Reprinted from an edited blog entry five years ago today.

Christopher Mills 1965 - 2025

Comic book writer and publisher Christopher Mills passed away on Monday. He was 60 years old. His wife, Brandi Smith Mills, writes this obituary:

"Christopher Eric Mills, age 60 of Belgrade, Maine passed away on October 13th, 2025 from renal failure. He died in his sleep, his wife by his side.

"Christopher was born July 9, 1965 in Waterville, Maine the son of David Mills and Nancy Mills, ne Nadeau. He grew up in Belgrade Maine and attended the Oak Grove-Coburn school in Vassalboro, Maine. He obtained his GED and attended the Joe Kubert School of Comic and Graphic Art. He worked various jobs in Maine until moving to Florida in the mid-1990s.

"Christopher married Brandi Smith on October 31, 2000 in Deerfield Beach, Florida with co-worker and friend Grant Balfour officiating. Chris and Brandi met online in August 1999 and continued their correspondence long-distance until finally meeting in person in December of that year. They became engaged in July of 2000 and married in October of the same year. After living in Florida for 5 years, they moved back to Chris’ hometown in Maine.

"They were together for 26 very happy years, married for 25. They decided to never have children but did love the pets they cared for together including four cats, Audrey (2000-2006), Zoe (2006-2022) Ziggy (2007-2025) and Mia (2023-present) and three dogs, China (2002-2011), Max (2012-2023) and Layla (2024-present.)

"Chris was a writer and editor and strived to make a name for himself in the comics field. He and good friend James Chambers published the Shadow House comic book line in the 90s and Chris ran his own label, Atomic Action Comics, publishing new stories of golden age characters such as The Black Owl, Spacehawk, Rex Dexter of Mars along with his own creations such as Femme Noir, Gravedigger and Perils on Planet X.

"Chris’ interests were wide and varied. He was a lover of Science Fiction and fantasy from a very young age. He discovered James Bond and the spy genre as a whole and crime fiction in his teens and early twenties. His favorite television series was Star Trek and he always claimed Captain Kirk as his captain. He preferred his entertainment on the vintage side but could appreciate new media, especially when respectful to its roots.

"Remaining to cherish Chris’ memory are spouse, Brandi Mills; parents David and Nancy Mills; sister Wendy Dyer; nephews Aaron Dyer and Matthew Dyer; and niece Alex Laddyer.

"According to Chris’ wishes there will be no Memorial service. He asked that if you wish to make a gesture in his memory to please consider donating to the Hero Initiative, a charitable organization that helps comics creators in need. More details can be found on their website at http://www.heroinitiative.org.

"His greatest wish was that people could care for and strive to understand each other. The current state of the world distressed him and he longed to see a day when human beings could treat each other with dignity and respect instead of hate and fear."

 

 

I met Chris a couple of times and, yes, those times were always at a comics convention. He had his table set up and there were all of his comics and Brandi there by his side, natch. I bought some of his comics when I saw him. We always chatted, as he autographed them for me, and I would joke that if he's looking for artists for his books, he should hire me. Chris knew I was not a realistic cartoonist by any means but told me that if he ever had a project where my style would be a good fit, he definitely would reach out. I laughed but Chris was serious and meant it. He was a passionate soul who loved the medium. When I first heard that he had passed away, I went to his Facebook page. This short one-sentence entry dated October 11th popped up. There he had posted a couple of comic book covers (Detective Comics #505 and Werewolf By Night #39) and he had just written, "God, I love comics."

 

 

 

 

Dick Hodgins' Unsold 1980 Comic Strip Proposal "Unk"

Via Matthew Hansel:

"The late, great cartoonist Dick Hodgins (who also was Hägar’s inker and letterer for decades) was part of a group of cartoonists who approached USA Today for a proposed comic strip section in the 1980s.

I" was fortunate enough to get Hodgins' entire submission package via eBay from an estate sale several years ago.

"Enjoy this strip that could have been …."

Help Cartoonist Clay Jones Recover from a Stroke

 

My friend, political cartoonist Clay Jones, has had a stroke, partially paralyzing his right side, and that mean that his drawing hand is affected. This was sudden and unexpected. I'm glad to see that a GoFundMe has been set up. Clay is one of the hardest working political cartoonists out there -- and a heckuva nice guy. Please click through to read more and please consider helping him out.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/clayjones

A Mike Lynch Cartoon: Information v. Innuendo

 

A cartoon of mine from the Chronicle of Higher Education. I think this may have been one of the first cartoons I sold to them. 

I'm speaking at the New Hampshire National Education Association convention today. I'll be talking about graphic novels and drawing sequential art to teachers and administrators. I was happy to be asked back, and these are fun talks with a great group of dedicated professionals. 

And it's good that when it comes to getting good information about cartooning, they ask a cartoonist. Besides, it gets the cartoonist out of the studio on a beautiful fall day.

Video: Dave Stevens: Drawn To Perfection

Via Samuel Goldwyn Films:

Dave Stevens created The Rocketeer and reintroduced the world to 50's pin-up model Bettie Page. While carving out his own unique corner of importance in comic book and illustration art, Dave showed the world what it's like to pursue the life of a creative individual.

 

Carl Barks Documentary: The Duck Man (1975)

 Via John Garvin:

One of the earliest and most important interviews of Carl Barks, conducted by Tom Andrae and Don Ault in 1975. Remastered in 2025 by John Garvin.