Doctor Who Timeline

Above: a small detail of the Doctor Who Timeline Infographic.

When a show that premiered in 1963, had eleven lead actors in succession, 223 adventures, 46 companions (which includes an android and a robot dog), it's hard to keep it all straight, eh? Here's a Doctor Who Timeline Infographic to help.

 

Via CableTV with a big tip of the hat to Ralf Zeigermann!

Bill Woodman: The Funniest Cartoon in the World

We've talked about magazine gag cartoon cliches before. The one and only Bill Woodman puts them all together in one image (above). Here are a few of the cliches that encompass The Funniest Cartoon in the World, from the May 1973 issue of National Lampoon.

• Psychiatrist's couch
• Man on bed of nails
• Flying carpet
• Mountain clmber thwarted by goat
• Elopement
• Patent office
• Stork w/baby
• Bum
• Counting sheep
• St. Bernard w/whiskey barrel
• 2 people wearing horse costume

• Cannibals
• Large fish eating medium sized fish eating small fish, etc.
• Prisoner
• Wife in bathrobe, curlers & holding rolling pin as weapon
• Man in desert
• Boxer
• Shackled pilgrim
• Mermaid
• Wishing well
• Guy painting himself into corner
• "End is Near" protest sign

• UFO
• Suicidal businessman ready to jump
• Bandaged-up guy in hospital bed
• Father throwing daughter and illegit infant into cold, cruel world
• Shark fins

And those cliche signs:

• "Eat at Joe's"
• "Out to Lunch"
• "Watch Your Hat and Coat"
• "Beware of Dog"
• "The World is Coming to an End"

And, while we're in 1973, here are a few more scans. First, the great cover by Warren Sattler of Ralph Nader as Dick Tracy:

And some great adverts:



 A big hat tip to Sam Henderson for telling me about The Funniest Cartoon in the World!!

EDIT: the next evening, December 20, 2011, I had the opportunity to have dinner in Portland, ME with Bill Woodman.

From left: me, Bill Woodman, Jeff Pert and David Jacobson.



Joe Simon RIP

Just getting word that Joe Simon died in a New York City hospital last night, December 14, 2011. He was 98 years old.

1973 Comic Book Ads

A trip to the past, at least for me.

“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”
“Long Past?” inquired Scrooge.
“No. Your past.”

This Holiday season, I am pulling out some some of my past and sharing it  -- grabbing old boxes of comics that I have moved many* times. There are a lot of memories. Today, I am sharing some of the seminal comic book ads from the first comic book I subscribed to, SHAZAM! Here are some of the ads from the first five issues:

First up: a 4-page gatefold Pirates of the Caribbean ad. This is for a series of MPC model kits. (Factoid from the Internet: Johnny Depp was 10 years old at this time. Heck, maybe he was buying and building these!)

A Daisy B-B Gun ad. I don't think there are ads for guns in comics any more.

A DC house ad for Kaluta's THE SHADOW. I still have my copies I bought at the Dillons Food Market in Lawrence, Kansas.

Do kids put models together nowadays?

Ubiquitous comic book ads: a Sea Monkeys advert -- along with one of those novelty shop ads.

Love these house ads.

By 1974, a lot of DC titles would switch to the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. It was 20 pages of new material, and the rest was reprints. I loved the reprints.Hey, it was "new to me."

I think I had one of the Passaic Comic Catalogs.

Cool 70s art.

I like the juxtaposition of the ad for drafting school and the Monster Size Monsters ad.

A serious message about drugs from Huskies Sport Shoes.

This is some bad fun art, huh?

A model kit series precursing the Transformers:

I like the cool art here, but it's a no-no to show kids without bike helmets today.

* These comics moved a lot since 1973. Here's the list of moves:

• Memphis
• Shaker Hts., OH
• Akron
• Cleveland
• The West Side of Cleveland
• Akron (again)
• Flatbush, Brooklyn
• Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
• New Hampshire

Don Martin & Frank Jacobs" "The Month Before Christmas"

From MAD #132, January 1970, Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents the entire "The Month Before Christmas"  (EDIT: Oops. That blog is now long gone. Try here.) by Frank Jacobs with art by Mad's Maddest artist Don Martin.

What with all the fretting about how stores being open on Thanksgiving Day now, this seems timeless. Sad to see that the spirit of the season is buy, buy, buy.

I remember ogling all of the great Don Martin art. The image of the linebacker-type ladies (complete with stubble on their thighs) has stuck in my mind since I was a wee lad.

I was too young to have bought MAD #132 when it came out. I lived in the great Midwest back then. In Lawrence, Kansas, there was, back in the mid-70s, a second-hand book & magazine shop called Buzzy's, conveniently next to the Granada movie theatre where I would be dropped off for matinees from time to time. Buzzy's had stacks of comics and old MAD Magazines. Some of these I still have. (I gave away my MAD's to friend's brother in 1984.) Checking Doug Gifford's MAD Cover Site, I do remember owning this one. I must have bought it at Buzzy's.

This is MAD at its peak: the best stories, the greatest gags, and its highest circulation. 

Hat tip to Tom Spurgeon!

1975: "BUCK ROBINSON IN THE 25TH CENTURY: The Cartoonist of the Future" by Jerry Robinson

Above: art by Jerry Robinson.

"The picture above shows how one cartoonist functions in the 25th century. He is seen creating his dally feature. Actually, he simply reads fro m a list of possible objects, such as fire hydrants, waste baskets, cannons, typewriters, bombs, hats, flags, etc. His lovely assistant is at the Cartoon Console. All 25th century cartoonists have computer experts instead of  inkers, pencillers, letterers, gag-men, ghosts, etc. They are usually stunning creatures as the cartoonist can assemble his own -- by computer of course."

From this 1975 issue of the National Cartoonists Society mag THE CARTOONIST:

Here's a  tongue in cheek look at how a cartoonist would be doing his or her job in the 25th century:

More Jerry Robinson:

Jerry Robinson 1922-2011
Jerry Robinson Photos from the NCS in the 1960s

THE AMERICAN CARTOONIST Volume 1 Number 1 September, 1977

Jerry Robinson Photos

Some National Cartoonists Society photos and articles featuring Jerry Robinson, cartoonist.

From 1965:

From 1967:

 The April 1968 NCS show:

"A great deal of preparation went in to the April Show this year ... under the watchful eyes of show director Lee Falk and NCS President Jerry Robinson." Photos by Jim Ruth.

The 1968 Reuben Awards, in which Rube Goldberg received the Award named after him: