Mike's eBay Sale Preview

More comics at my big eBay sale. There's a lot more than these up on the site now. The ones here all start at 99 cents. No reserve. 

Archie's Mad House #28, September 1963: Sabrina the Teenage Witch "Tennis Menace" by Dan DeCarlo

Here's a great little story from Archie's Mad House #28, September 1963. It's a very early appearance of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, drawn by the man himself, Dan DeCarlo. Archie's Mad House #28 is currently up for sale in my eBay auction -- starting bid 99 cents.

 

 You can really see the influence on Jaime Hernandez here.

Portland, Maine September 24th 7pm: Rick Parker DRAFTED Graphic Novel Launch at PRINT Bookstore

Rick Parker (Marvel Comics, the Beavis and Butthead comic books, adjunct professor at the Maine College of Art and Design, and much more) will be talking about his new graphic memoir DRAFTED and signing copies of it on Tuesday, September 24th at 7pm at PRINT Bookstore in Portland, ME. Here's Rick:

"My graphic novel, DRAFTED, about my military experience (1966-69) is out and will be hitting stores in one week.

"The Official Book Launch takes place in Portland, Maine at PRINT Bookstore, 273 Congress Street, at 7-8 p.m. I’ll be reading from the book, showing blow-ups of some of the pages, talking about my process and there will be a Q/A session followed by a book signing.

"Hope to see many of my friends there."

The Garden As of Mid-September

 

The garden as of mid-September. Lots of zinnias in the raised beds, as well as the rose bush’s final blooms and some waning coneflowers.

 

Cheddar the cat hard at "work."

 

The tomato plants were grown in large pots on the side porch. I thin the yield was about 2 small tomatoes for each plant, which was pretty anemic. Next year, I'll move the tomatoes back to the raised beds.

 

Monday eBay Sale

More comic books listed on eBay this morning. 99 cents. No reserve. https://www.ebay.com/usr/opigus

 

From 100 Years Ago

 Billy DeBeck for The Cartoon School of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

Will There Be a Blog?

Internet issues today. I have had them for months. I'm only able to post this through the Bluetooth on my phone. This is not good, and, yes, everything has been redone here: new wiring, new router, brought in new lines to the house. I feel like giving up. I was on the phone with my local internet company for a half hour this morning after an hour of outages; on, off, on, off, etc. The rep said that that had not happened according to what he could see and everything was fine. And so I told him that if what he is seeing is the opposite of what I am seeing, then we are at an impasse. 

Good weekend, regardless.

"Belvedere" by George Crenshaw

 

George Crenshaw (1917 - 2007) was a Disney and Hanna Barbera animator, a ghost for Hank Ketcham, a comic book artist, as well as a gag cartoonist. He drew a number of syndicated features, including: Nubbins, Nerdley and Simpkins -- but his long-running claim to fame is the newspaper comic panel about a dog named Belvedere.

Here are a few cartoons from this great "big foot" cartoonist from a Belvedere collection published by Tor Books in 1982. It's copyright 1974-1981, 1982 by Field Enterprises, Inc. 

 

This is a chunky ""2 Books In One Turn Over" book that's the width of two ordinary paperbacks together. Half the book is printed one way, and then you turn it over and there's a second cover (above) with the then-new, then-giant ISBN code.

Belvedere is a know-it-all dog, inspired (so the story goes) by Crenshaw's own little pet. That may be so. But don't expect this to be any kinda reality-based feature. The gags are the thing here. Some tend to be gags inspired by everyday life with a dog. Others are just gags for gags' sake. I mean, there's a cruise ship cartoon, with Belvedere and his owner accidentally in the ocean. Will they get saved? Well, there is no continuity here -- only gags.

Belvedere ran from 1962 to 1995. It is a gag-a-day panel that's mostly about a spoiled dog outsmarting his owners (Orville and Emma). There are a couple of other pets in the house: a cat, Jezebel, and a parrot, Chi-Chi. Belvedere does not speak, and does not have thought balloons ala Snoopy. He is silent, but he gets his point across. 

Mr. Crenshaw sometimes signed his name as "Nat," which you can see on some of these panels. Oh - and when I use the term "big foot cartoonist," I mean just that: the style of drawing big feet, big noses accompanied by big and outlandish gags all fit the standard big foot cartoon mold. And take a look at the clean, sweeping ink line. This is some great cartooning, even if some of the gags are groaners.

-- Edited from an original blog entry of December 8, 2021.