1977: Another QUINCY Comic Book Part One

 

Here's QUINCY R-14, copyright 1977 by King Features, an educational comic book featuring Ted Shearer's QUINCY syndicated newspaper comic strip in comic book form. There is also a supporting story about Hamlet, HAGAR THE HORRIBLE's son (which looks like it was not drawn by creator Dik Browne). 

Like my previous posts on the QUINCY comic book series (part one, part two), this rare comic book was produced as part of something called the "Supplementary Reading Program developed and editor by Richard Guttenberg, Dr. Anne Mueser and Sherman H. Saiger." 

Right off the bat, you know that this book is educational since you get 16 vocabulary words to look out for right there on the inside cover. Hoo boy. Education and comic books = oil and water. 

In the first story, which uses what looks like some poor quality photostats from the comic strip to layout a comic book story, Quincy and his pals are on a trip to Washington DC. Quincy obsesses over food, especially ribs and fried chicken. Little of DC is shown (nor learned about by stomach-centered Quincy), except for the steps outside the Supreme Court. 

 

More education stuff. Answers will be up in the next QUINCY post. 

 

Quincy's Uncle Cecil invites his nephew to go on a sales trip with him. As you can see, this is cobbled together from the strip. You get a set up, the joke; set up, joke, and so on. 

 

There are some beautiful sequences. Pages 10 and 11, below, show how a great cartoonist works with words and images. Shearer's characters are always in action. Even if they're sitting down, the angles are always dynamic. 

 

In the final 2 pages, you see the paste up nature of the book, with certain panels devoid of backgrounds. Or, in the case of the last panel below, a missing torso. 

 

More tomorrow, including the Hamlet story, as well as page 32 upside down so you may check answers. Related: the QUINCY comic strip (part one, part two) Related: the QUINCY comic book R-05 (part one, part two)

 

-- Edited from a blog entry originally published on April 27, 2011.