Classic Comics Press: Connie Sunday Comic Strips by Frank Godwin

Frank Godwin (1889 - 1959) was an illustrator and a comic strip artist. His comic strip Connie, about an adventurous female reporter and detective, appeared in 1927 and ran until 1944. There have been a few collections of the dailies, but for the first time, Classic Comics Press is working on a series of books collecting his Sunday Connie comics. Here you can really see the painterly inking influence of James Montgomery Flagg. While no firm publication date has been announced, there are rumblings that it may be available before the end of the year. Here are a few cleaned up and colored strips just put up on their Classic Comics Press Facebook page. Gorgeous. 

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Magazine Gag Cartoons 1945 - 1966

It's time to catch up with Dick Buchanan. He's the man who has zillions of gag cartoons in his Cartoon Clip File located somewhere in beautiful Greenwich Village. Dick has, through these past years, been so kind to share his collection with us here. So, as the spring arrives, here is Dick to bring a little cartoony warmth to our lives. Thanks and take it away, Dick!

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MAGAZINE GAG CARTOONS
(1945- 1966)

Your friendly crackpot cartoon curator spent the summer rummaging through the countless magazines which we have been amassed over decades and decided to take took a second look to see if something was overlooked. By golly, it turns out quite a few gag cartoons slipped through the cracks. No surprise as there are plenty of cracks around here. Take a look. . .



1. ORLANDO BUSINO. True Magazine April, 1966.

 "I told him a dollar's worth wouldn't be enough."

 

2. MISCHA RICHTER. Look Magazine July 3, 1962.

 

3. A.E. BEARD. Punch May 12, 1954.

 

 

4. STANLEY STAMATY. Cartoon Humor November, 1949.

 

5. CRAWFORD YOUNG. American Magazine May, 1945,

 

6. JACK TYRELL. The Saturday Evening Post July 26, 1958.

 

7. BILL YATES. American Legion Magazine September, 1958.

 

8. EVAN D. DIAMOND. American Magazine June, 1955.

 

9. NORMAN BROCKBANK. Punch April 7, 1954.

 "Oh, yes -- and there's a Mr. Prendergast from Empyrean Aircraft waiting outside."

 

10. L. L. SIGGS. Punch February 5, 1958.

 

 

11. JOHN GALLAGHER. American Legion Magazine August, 1965.

 12. JOHN BAILEY. The Saturday Evening Post January 6, 1945.

13. BARBARA SHERMUND. The Saturday Evening Post September 28-August 4, 1962.

 

14. PHIL INTERLANDI. Look Magazine May 5, 1964.

 

15. JOHNNY HART. American Legion Magazine April, 1955.

16. MORT WALKER. This Week Magazine May 15, 1949.

 

17. JOHN DEMPSEY. Look Magazine March 1, 1960.

 

 

18. HARRY LYONS. True Magazine November, 1956.

 

19. HERMAN Argosy 1965 September 1

 

20. JAMES WORLEY. American Magazine October, 1949. 

 

 - Edited from a blog entry that originally appeared on November 2, 2023

 

The Customs Officer Illustrations by John Berry

 

I was going to show a FEW examples of John Berry's illustrations for this 1972 edition of "People at Work" The Customs Officer book, but I would up scanning ALL of his paintings, along with Max Dunstone's text. I really like these dramatic moments from the life of a customs officer in the United Kingdom. Some beautiful work by the prolific Mr. Berry, who was the go-to artist for a number of these People at Work series of books. 

 

John Berry (1920 - 2009) was an official war artist from 1941 to 1944. Perhaps most famously he came up with the Esso tiger in 1951. Berry began working for Ladybug Books in the late 1950s, illustrating 35 books. He was also a commercial artist for magazines, as well as a portrait painter.

The Garden As of Mid-March

 

The garden as of mid-March. This is the first time that the raised beds have not been all covered with snow since the end of 2025. Even though more snow is coming this weekend, spring is in the air.

Sick Days

I have some kind of bad sinus cold. It's going around. It's not the flu, it's not covid. My doctor's office said they had seen a lot of it. My hacking cough is so bad and big and consistent, that I could not sleep for about a week. There's congestion, headaches, palpitations, some laryngitis. I'm exhausted and hope this week is better. I'll continue to working on this blog when I get back.

1978: Could You Survive Without Modern Technology? | Connections | BBC Archive

I have a cold this week. I don't get sick often but when I do, it's a doozy. I am reading too much news and worrying about the state of the world, as so many have. I'll leave you with this 1978 BBC TV clip by historian James Burke about

" ... just how dependent 20th century humans are on technology, and how ill-equipped we are when it fails.

"The New York City blackouts of 1977 gave us a rare opportunity to witness what can happen when technology fails on a massive scale in a modern day city, and James uses this as a starting point for a thought experiment. If you lived in a modern, technologically advanced city, what would you do if techology suudenly failed? To what extent has the technology you rely on everyday become a trap? How far would you have to go to survive?


"Clip taken from Connections: The Trigger Effect, originally broadcast on BBC One, 17 October, 1978."

Happy Anniversary to This Blog

 

 

Just a note of thanks for reading this here blog. As of this month, I have been doing it for 19 years. Yeah, since February 2007. I can't believe it. I looked at the data today and there are just over 8,000 entries. (This is number 8,002.) Millions of people have clicked on it since 2007. Crazy!

In that time, I've enjoyed it and gotten a lot of help along the way from friends. Much thanks to them. I have moved from NYC (There I am at the subway stop (above), taking cartoons into the city back in the day.) to New England. I have had some good times and a couple of tragedies. I am happy that the cartooning community is still a friendly, welcoming group. 

My Dad, a daily reader until he passed away in January 2025, would email me some thoughts and correct typos that he had seen. A career college professor, he would advise "eternal vigilance" against those typos. Now I'm on my own. 

I will continue to post for now, but real life calls me away for a day or two now. I'll be back, and I hope you'll stop by again as well.

How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Developed the Amazing Spider Man

Back in the day, comic books were a small business. Little money, no real recognition or respect. And they were a throwaway medium. Valueless. Now, that's all changed. Spider-Man, for instance, is a multi-zillion dollar corporate brand. But back in the 1960s, he was a superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Here's a short video about those days and their impact on the creation of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man back when it was just a silly little comic book. Some interesting insights into the creation of the world of the character through old interviews with the these two creators. 

My thanks for Randy Michaels for sending me the video.