Some Buck Rogers Drawings by Dick Calkins

Here are some illustrations from some of the Big Little book series of Buck Rogers. The Buck Rogers comic strip began January 7, 1929 and ran until July 8, 1967. Dick Calkins was the initial artist on the strip from 1929 to 1932, with Russell Keaton doing the Sunday strip chores during those same years. Rick Yager drew it from 1932 to 1958, and then George Tuska illustrated the feature from 1959 until its demise. So, chances are it may or may not have been Dick Calkins who drew the work below. Buck Rogers spawned a lot of merchandise as well as movie and TV series, and kept a lot of people busy churning out product.

I would love to see a Buck Rogers movie that captures this "will be that was" kinda future. 

 

Meredith, NH Celebrates a Year of "Archie" Creator Bob Montana

 

Main Street artist Paul Moreau works on a life-size image of the character Betty from “Archie” comics as part of a multifaceted celebration of “The Year of Bob Montana” in Meredith. (Courtesy photo)

 

Via the Laconia Daily Sun:

Meredith celebrates a year of Bob Montana

MEREDITH – For no more reason than Veronica going on yet another spending spree or Jughead dodging another Miss Grundy homework assignment, the Meredith Historical Society is celebrating 2025 as “The Year of Bob Montana” in tribute to the local creator of the “Archie” comic franchise.

With cooperation from the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, the Winnipesaukee Flagship Corporation, several Meredith businesses and the local public at large, the society’s tribute includes: a museum display of Montana artifacts, life-size figures of Archie and his gang created by local artists, and staging a rediscovered play written and directed by Bob Montana in the ‘50s for the Meredith Village Players theater group.

MHS board member George Berman found Montana’s 70-year-old script among artifacts in storage at the Main Street Museum. He and Bonnie Edwards, vice president for preservation, dusted it off and brainstormed an ambitious project to bring the musical “Mutiny on the Mount” back to life.

Contacting the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, they quickly brought Cory Lawson, the theater’s community engagement director, on board. Together, they paid a visit to officials of the historic M/S Mount Washington cruise ship and proposed bringing the play right to the setting in which the play is set – on board The Mount. 

Originally slated for three showings during the sunset dinner cruises on Oct. 1-3, tickets sold out. Three additional performances were added on Oct. 8-10.

“We could not be happier for the success we’ve had putting this all together,” said Edwards.

She and her crew worked through the winter and early spring collecting and organizing a large selection of Montana artifacts into a new display at the museum.

“We are featuring our collection of items about Bob’s life from the time he was a teenager to his extensive involvement as an artist in the town of Meredith,” she said.

Among retailers participating is Galleries at 30 Main Street. Artists Vynnie Hale and Paul Moreau created life-size figures of Archie and the gang to be placed around Main Street, adding to the existing Archie statue at the Meredith Community Park.

For tickets to “Mutiny on the Mount,” visit cruisenh.com. For more information, visit meredithhistoricalsocietynh.org.

Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work!!

Happy birthday to comic book artist Wally Wood (1927 - 1981)

 Everyone needs to see this, and even if you have seen it all ready, it's always worth a revisit. Twenty two great solutions by Wally Wood to make a dialogue-heavy comic page work graphically.

Via Wikipedia:

"Panels That Always Work

"Wood struggled to be as efficient as possible in the often low-paying comics industry.^[47] Over time he created a series of layout techniques sketched on pieces of paper which he taped up near his drawing table. These 'visual notes,' collected on three pages,^[48] reminded Wood (and select assistants he showed the pages to)^[49] of various layouts and compositional techniques to keep his pages dynamic and interesting.^[47] (In the same vein, Wood also taped up another note to himself: 'Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.')^[48]

"In 1980, Wood's original, three-page, 24-panel (not 22) version of 'Panels' was published with the proper copyright notice in The Wallace Wood Sketchbook (Crouch/Wood 1980).^[50] Around 1981,^[48] Wood's ex-assistant Larry Hama, by then an editor at Marvel Comics, pasted up photocopies of Wood's copyrighted drawings on a single page, which Hama titled 'Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work!!' (It was subtitled, 'Or some interesting ways to get some variety into those boring panels where some dumb writer has a bunch of lame characters sitting around and talking for page after page!') Hama left out two of the original 24 panels as his photocopies were too faint to make out some of the lightest sketches.^[50] Hama distributed Wood's 'elegantly simple primer to basic storytelling'^[51] to artists in the Marvel bullpen, who in turn passed them on to their friends and associates.^[49] Eventually, '22 Panels' made the rounds of just about every cartoonist or aspiring comic book artist in the industry and achieved its own iconic status.^[51]

"Wood's 'Panels That Always Work' is copyright Wallace Wood Properties, LLC as listed by the United States Copyright Office which assigned the work Registration Number VA0001814764.^[52]

 

"Homages and tributes to '22 Panels'

"In 1986, Tom Christopher, who had been given a copy by Larry Hama at the DC office in 1978 light-boxed the pages, incorporating a non-linear dialogue, and asked Par Holman to ink it. Holman inked and lettered the piece, and the completed art was distributed through Clay Geerdes' Comics World Co-Op, whose members produced mini- and digest-sized comics. In 2006, writer/artist Joel Johnson bought the Larry Hama paste-up of photocopies at auction and made it available for wide distribution on the Internet.^[49] In 2010 Anne Lukeman of Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions produced a short film adapting the "22 Panels That Always Work" into a film noir-style experimental piece called 22 Frames That Always Work.^[53] Artist Rafael Kayanan created a revised version of '22 Panels' that used actual art from published Wood comics to illustrate each frame.^[54] In 2006, cartoonist and publisher Cheese Hasselberger created 'Cheese's 22 Panels That Never Work,' featuring bizarre situations and generally poor storytelling techniques.^[55] In 2012, Michael Avon Oeming created a Powers-themed update/homage to "22 Panels," making it available for distribution.^[56] In July 2012, Cerebus TV producer Max Southall brought together materials and released a documentary^[57] that featured Dave Sim's homage to Wallace Wood and a focus on his 22 Panels, including a tribute that features a creation using the motif of one of them, depicting Daredevil and Wood himself, in Wallace Wood style – and the Wallace Wood Estate's official print of the panels."

The Garden As of Mid-June 2025

 

The garden as of mid-June. The raised beds have new compost, the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and zinnias have been planted. The fence is up. This was the first weekend where we didn’t get torrents of rain. There are some process photos here of laying down a newspaper and straw barrier for the tomatoes. The same will be done for the squash when it gets bigger. Since it’s almost doubling in size every day, that’s gonna be soon.

 

 

Steve Brodner: Marching at the No Kings Events March 14, 2025

 

Steve Brodner writes:

Tomorrow let’s march for all friends and neighbors who are being targeted and persecuted now. Please find a rally and just show up. We need to peacefully clog the streets and overwhelm the gestapo. And FORCE the press to give us attention on Trump’s grotesque anti-American shitshow.

Here’s one more for the ABC’s of yesterday. [Above.]

And then an update form our friend Laura Conwesser.

Hello everyone,

This is a difficult time to be writing one of these emails, but they are more necessary than ever. Thank you in advance for reading.

As you all know by now, this Saturday June 14 is No Kings Day. At the time of this writing, there are more than 1600 events planned: in every Congressional district in the country, as well as many cities worldwide. The one in NYC is starting at 2pm at Bryant Park and marching down Fifth Avenue to Madison Square Park at 23rd St. If you are not in the NYC area, you can find an event near you here. Although there have been scattered incidents of violence at a few demonstrations, they are very rare and caused by a handful of people. Don't let the media coverage and MAGA rhetoric fool you. The No Kings Day events will be peaceful. Please come and bring your friends and family. Experience the joy of being in a community of people with the shared purpose of stopping Trump. It is estimated that 3-5 million people attended Hands Off events on April 5. Let's make this one much bigger. ... Our good friend and genius political cartoonist Steve Brodner has generously shared some of his images for you to print at home and use for protest signs. here and here

What is happening in L.A. is completely unacceptable. Trump's authoritarianism will not stop there. Please use this tool from the ACLU to contact your members of Congress and tell them to speak up now, loudly and clearly. You can call their offices, too. House and Senate As I am writing this, word has come out that Sen. Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed while trying to ask a question at Kristi Noem's press conference in L.A. He was not arrested and was released shortly afterwards. Tell your representatives to speak out about that, too.

Continuing with this topic, we need to stop the continued abuses by ICE in carrying out Trump's agenda. Although you might be justifiably skeptical about petitions, this one calling for an end to ICE and mass deportations feels important . Please sign here. Tell your Senators to eliminate the increases in the budget bill to fund these horrific ICE raids. Amnesty has a tool for that here.

In my last email, I talked about Dylan, a NYC high school student who was detained at his immigration hearing and is still being detained. We are being asked to write a letter on his behalf to Governor Hochul. I am sharing a template here.

For those of you in NY State, the legislative session is about to end. We need to get NY4All passed today. Please call State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins 518-455-2585 and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie 518-455-3791 right now. Tell them you want to see the bill passed ASAP.

Last month, Congress Member LaMonica McIver was arrested for trying to do her constitutionally mandated job of inspecting the Delaney Detention Center in Newark, NJ. She has now been indicted. Please sign this open letter calling for the charges to be dropped. here

On a related topic, Trump's travel ban will harm hundreds of millions of people. NILC (National Immigration Law Center) has a tool for asking your members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass the No Ban Act.

Although there are many more issues, like the budget bill that is currently being worked on in the Senate, I am going to limit this email to immigration related topics. You know that I will be back with more. It's just a little hard to think about anything other than the fascist moment that we are in right now.

Thank you all,

Laura

 

 

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Assorted Vintage Gag Cartoons 1945 - 1965

In the mid 20th century, all major national magazines had single panel cartoons.  They were commonplace and easy to find. They are all gone today -- most of those big national mags and all the gag cartoons they published -- except for a few places now (The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal's "Pepper ... and Salt" feature, The Saturday Evening Post, Bauer Publishing's Women's World magazine, The Funny Times newspaper -- and some UK markets). Dick Buchanan remedies this and takes us back to the Golden Age of Gag Cartoons once more. Thanks, and take it away, Dick:


---


ASSORTED VINTAGE GAG CARTOONS
(1945 – 1965)

Here is another assortment of vintage gag cartoons clipped from the great mid 20th century magazines. Some may remember a couple of these cartoons but most have been long forgotten. Here is a chance for young and old alike to take a look at the work of some cartoonists who were important contributors to the world of gag cartoons. Take a look . . .


1. CLYDE LAMB. Boys’ Life November, 1950.

 

2. CHON DAY. American Magazine January, 1945.

 

3. GEORGE WOLFE. This Week Magazine June 8, 1948.

 

4. ROWLAND WILSON. The Saturday Evening Post October 24, 1953

 

5. MARTHA BLANCHARD. For Laughing Out Loud. October – December, 1961.

 

6. A. JOHN KAUNUS. American Magazine April, 1945.

 

7. VIRGIL PARTCH. True Magazine October, 1948.

 

8. KATE OSANN. Collier’s June 10, 1950.

 

9. GARDNER REA. American Magazine May, 1945.

 

10. PERRY BARLOW. The Saturday Evening Post March 16, 1946.

 

11. WALT WETTERBERG. The Saturday Evening Post March 13, 1954.

 12. ED FISHER. The Saturday Review October 10, 1953.

 

13. DON TOBIN. American Magazine July, 1951.

 

14. HERB GREEN. Argosy Magazine September, 1955.

 

15. AL KAUFMAN. The Saturday Evening Post. June 1, 1957.

 

16. BRIAN SAVAGE. True Magazine February, 1964.

 

17. CHARLES RODRIGUES. 1000 Jokes Magazine Fall, 1953.

 

18. JOHN DEMSPEY. The Saturday Evening Post April 12, 1952.

 

19. DICK CAVALLI. The Saturday Evening Post September 26, 1953.

 

20. BRANDT PARKER. This Week Magazine February 2, 1958.

 -- This is a rerun of a blog entry from May 5, 2022.