Pinups: Jack O'Brien and Milo Kinn's Girlie Cartoons

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Sometimes I think I must have the best job in the world...

Today some nice folks who had Googled up this website stopped by to offer us some material to digitize that they had rescued from a relative's garage. They had a laundry basket full of 1940s magazines and a big stack of original inks from a 1947 girlie cartoon magazine, colorfully titled Booby Traps and Nuggets. My jaw hit the floor when I started going through the artwork. Here is a part of cartooning history that has been largely overlooked- especially by me. But not any more!

The artwork is quickly executed and sometimes a bit funky... and for good reason. On the back of each ink is the amount the cartoonist was paid for his work. The prices range from $3 to $5. You would have to work pretty doggone fast to make a living at that rate! I have to admit, I don't know much about these artists. So I'm going to present them a couple at a time with the little I do know and see if any of you readers out there can help fill in the blanks about their careers.

JACK O'BRIEN

Jack O'Brien lived in Los Angeles, and if this photograph is any indication, he was an alumni of UCLA and had a cute little daughter. In the 1960s, O'Brien drew the Sad Sack comic books, he came up with a beatnik character named "Cool Cat", and he created the G.I. Juniors line of comics for Harvey. If you know anything else about O'Brien, please post to the comments below.











MILO KINN

All I know about Milo Kinn is that he lived in Seattle, Washington. I'm guessing he was married, (based on the pretty dingle ball curtains!) and it's clear that he didn't mind drawing the exact same pretty girl profile over and over. In fact, he seems to have a lot more fun with the "broads" than he does with the "babes". Anyone have any more details on him?





Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of these.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Eldon Dedini Part One, Part Two (video interview!) and Part Three, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Jack Cole Valentine, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Biography: Jack Davis, Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, and More Sokol, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Comics: Jack Kirby Presents Forbush Man

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


Many thanks to Archive supporter Kevin O'Neil for the loan of these great Marvel parody comics, Not Brand Echh. You might remember our first post featured Jack Kirby parodying his own Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics, and our second post was Marie Severin's take on Spidey-Man vs Gnatman and Rotten. Today, we bring you another great team-up of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, "The Origin of Forbush Man".


Mark Evanier has a new book out titled, Kirby: KIng of Comics. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it yet, but I'm sure it's great. Click through the link to find out about it at Amazon. If anyone out there would like to contribute a copy to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive's library, we would greatly appreciate it!


Here we have a story from the fifth issue of Not Brand Echh titled, "The Origin of Forbush Man". It was written by Stan Lee, laid out by Jack Kirby, drawn by Tom Sutton, with lettering by Artie Simek.










If you'd like to see more, let me know in the comments.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is looking for collectors of gold and silver age comic books, 50s and 60s Mad magazines, 50s Playboys, National Lampoon, etc. who would be willing to lend us their books to digitize. If you'd like to help out, contact me at... sworth@animationarchive.org.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Jack Kirby in Not Brand Echh Number One, Marie Severn in Not Brand Echh Number Two, Parody: Whack Comics Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton On Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Boodie Rogers' Babe Comics Part One, Part Two, and Part Three; Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4; Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women; Here We Go Again and Man The Beast; George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; and Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Comics: The Animation Business in Boy Comics 1942

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


Today, we have another treasure from the collection of Archive supporter, Marc Schirmeister. Here's the oddly titled Boy Comics Number 39 from April, 1942. This comic book isn't as interesting for its art, (check out the wonky perspective on that cover!) but rather for its subject matter...


Yes, this noir style comic written by cartoonist Charles Biro and drawn by Norman Maurer deals with the animation business! And check out the names of the incidental characters...


Sound familiar? And the design of "B.S.", the head of NDN Studios, it a pretty clear caricature of Walt Disney!

It seems that Biro had some sort of connection to the East coast animation scene. Does anyone out there reading have more info on this unique comic book? If so, please let us know in the comments. UPDATE: Mark Mayerson points out the Charles Biro was an animator and director at the Fleischer Studios from 1930-1936. Thanks, Mark!













Thanks to Marc Schirmeister for bringing this rare comic to our attention!

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is looking for collectors of gold and silver age comic books, 50s and 60s Mad magazines, 50s Playboys, National Lampoon, etc. who would be willing to lend us their books to digitize. If you'd like to help out, contact me at... sworth@animationarchive.org.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Jack Kirby in Not Brand Echh Number One, Marie Severin in Not Brand Echh Number Two, Parody: Whack Comics Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton On Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Boodie Rogers' Babe Comics Part One, Part Two, and Part Three; Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4; Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women; Here We Go Again and Man The Beast; George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; and Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Comics: Marie Severin In Not Brand Echh Number 2

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


A little while back, we posted a story from the premiere issue of Not Brand Echh. Lent to us by Archive supporter Kevin O'Neil, this series of comics produced in the late sixties made fun of superheros in general, and Marvel superheros in particular. Our first post featured Jack Kirby parodying his own Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics. Today, we present a parody that mingles the superhero universes of both Marvel and DC. Other stories in this issue lampoon Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter and Tower's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.


Marie Severin is one of the underrated geniuses behind Marvel comics. She started as a colorist for EC Comics in the 1950s, where she established a reputation for creating sophisticated color schemes that raised the level of quality above the arbitrary primary and secondary colors that filled other comics at the time. She transitioned to working as an artist on the Doctor Strange and Sub-Mariner lines, but really made her mark doing parodies in Not Brand Echh and Crazy.


One of those unanswerable questions that never seems to go away (at least at gatherings of comic book nerds) is "Who would win in a battle between Batman and Superman?" Fanboys have expended many hours debating the fine points of this and other match-ups with no clear answer. But now we finally get to see the decisive outcome of a battle royale between the "Caped Crusader" and the "Web Slinger"!

Here we have a story from the second issue of Not Brand Echh titled, "Peter Pooper vs Gnatman And Rotten". It was written by Stan Lee and drawn by the Marie Severin. (Inking by Frank Giacoia and lettering by Al Kurzrok.)









If you'd like to see more, let me know in the comments.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is looking for collectors of gold and silver age comic books, 50s and 60s Mad magazines, 50s Playboys, National Lampoon, etc. who would be willing to lend us their books to digitize. If you'd like to help out, contact me at... sworth@animationarchive.org.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Jack Kirby in Not Brand Echh Number One, Parody: Whack Comics Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton On Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Boodie Rogers' Babe Comics Part One, Part Two, and Part Three; Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4; Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women; Here We Go Again and Man The Beast; George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; and Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Comics: Jack Kirby In Not Brand Echh Number 1

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


Archive supporter, Kevin O'Neil spotted our feature on Jack Davis' work for Mad magazine earlier this week. It reminded him of some treasures in his own stash of comics. So he came down to the archive and lent us his collection to digitize. Thanks, Kevin!

Current superhero comics (now referred to self-importantly as "graphic novels") take themselves VERY seriously. It's rare for a publisher to allow a parody of its own characters... and unheard of for the creator himself to get the opportunity to make fun of his own creation. But back in the silver age of comics, cartoonists didn't take themselves quite so seriously. Here we have the unthinkable... Jack Kirby and Stan Lee doing a parody of their own Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics for Marvel's Not Brand Echh!


Not Brand Echh was a short-lived humor comic line from Marvel that parodied superhero comics. The title was derived from the term of derision used in the letters section of Marvel comics to describe competing comic book companies... "Brand Echh" was a riff on TV commercials that compared products to their competitor, "Brand X". The series ran for 13 issues from August of 1967 to May of 1969, and featured art by Bill Everett (see our recent post on Bob's Big Boy), Roy Thomas and John and Marie Severin.

Here we have a story from the premiere issue of Not Brand Echh titled, "The Silver Burper". The plot was loosely based on the story of Fantastic Four #57 through #60... It was written by Stan Lee and drawn by the great Jack Kirby. (Inking by Frank Giacoia and lettering by Artie Simek.)









If you'd like to see more, click on the splash page below. I'd be happy to introduce you to an underrated artist, Marie Severin and her classic battle royale... "Spidey-Man vs. Gnat Man and Rotten"!


The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is looking for collectors of gold and silver age comic books, 50s and 60s Mad magazines, 50s Playboys, National Lampoon, etc. who would be willing to lend us their books to digitize. If you'd like to help out, contact me at... sworth@animationarchive.org.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Parody: Whack Comics Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton On Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Boodie Rogers' Babe Comics Part One, Part Two, and Part Three; Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4; Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women; Here We Go Again and Man The Beast; George Lichty's Grin and Bear It; Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; and Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Comics: Big Boy And The Power Of Licensing

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


In 1936, entrepeneur Bob Wian opened a small lunch stand. He had a brilliant, yet slightly devious idea for a hamburger. If he took a standard hamburger bun and sliced it down the middle twice, instead of once... and if he took a standard hamburger patty and divided it into two small patties... he could create a double-decker hamburger that appeared to be larger than the average without costing him any more to make. He named it the "Big Boy".


Wian hired pretty high school girls as car-hops and dressed them in short skirts and cowboy hats. But something was still missing...

One day, animator Benny Washam was lunching at Wian's stand, doodling on placemats. Wian saw that he was a cartoonist and asked him to draw a caricature of Richard Woodruff, a chubby, apple cheeked boy who helped out at the stand sweeping up after school. Washam obliged, depicting the lad in oversized checkered overalls munching on a burger. He gave it to Wian to use as a mascot for the stand and didn't think any more of it for many years...




Wian turned the caricature into an empire, branding not only his hamburger stand, but a line of sauces and spices and a franchised chain of family restaurants that eventually covered the entire country. A cutened version of Washam's doodle was plastered all over the menus, signage and television advertising.



Wian knew who in the family made the decisions about where to eat... It wasn't mom and dad, it was the kids. Outside each restaurant in the chain, he placed a huge fiberglass statue of Big Boy as a beacon to attract children...


And cartoonists, like assistant archivist, JoJo Baptista!

At the restaurants, Wian gave away free comic books featuring the character. Here is an extremely rare example... Big Boy comics number one from 1956. These comics were produced by Timely Comics, which later became Marvel. They were written by Stan Lee and drawn by Bill Everett. Later issues featured the work of Archie comics artist, Dan DeCarlo. Adventures of the Big Boy is one of the longest continuously running comic book lines. It's still being produced fifty years later.










Years later, when Big Boy had become a familiar figure to the entire country, Washam admitted to his fellow artists at Warner Bros that he was the cartoonist who had created the character. They laughed and teased him, saying, "Benny, you should have been heir to a hamburger fortune, but no! Your lot in life is to toil day and night making animated cartoons!" They were joking, but there's an element of truth in it. Never underestimate the power of a doodle. The Big Boy sketch that Washam traded away for a free meal in 1936 ended up selling millions and millions of dollars worth of hamburgers.

If you would like to see more Big Boy comics, let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Jim Tyer Funny Animal Comics; Harvey Kurtzman Comics; Harvey Eisenberg's Foxy Fagan; Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics Part One and Part Two; Virgil Partch's Here We Go Again, The Wild Wild Women and Man The Beast. Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper; Basil Wolverton On Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two; and Milton Knight's Great Brown Pericord Motor.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

2007 Review: 6 Milton Caniff

As the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive completes its second year in operation, it's time to review the accomplishments of the past year. Here's a countdown of the ten most important subjects we've covered in 2007. See if your list matches mine. (View the complete list.) Click on the links to read more on this topic.


From Milton Caniff And Norman Rockwell In Coronet Magazine September 11th, 2007
NUMBER 6: MILTON CANIFF

This year, we were very fortunate to be able to digitize and share artwork from the estate of comic legend, Milton Caniff. Archive supporter, John Ellis is producing a series of DVDs of the classic TV series, Steve Canyon, and generously agreed to share his research on Caniff and Steve Canyon with the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.


Milton Caniff in his studio ca. 1947
(click for a larger view)
Ellis shared his thoughts about Caniff with us in our first post on the subject, Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon Dalies...

Milton Caniff has been referred to as "The Rembrandt of the Comic Strip", and oft by himself as "an Armchair Marco Polo", but in fact this whirlwind of a comic strip innovator and writer was essentially a sincerely nice man who loved to draw. Yes this gentleman born in Hillsboro Ohio in 1907 created and drew Terry and The Pirates from 1934 to 1946, which absolutely set the standard for the adventure comic strip. True, he raised the bar with Steve Canyon, which unlike Terry, he owned lock stock and barrel from the first daily strip in January 1947 through to June 1988, the final installment published shortly after his death. Absolutely he worked rain or shine, seven days/strips a week for 54 years, even from his hospital bed, the deadlines never ended.

From Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon Dalies March 28th, 2007
In his article, "Detour Guide For An Armchair Marco Polo" from Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Caniff writes...

There has been a tendency recently for artists to automatically assume they cannot write their own stories because they see so many double by-lines. I contend that any man who can invent pictures can invent situations and dialogue. In fact, it should be easier for the artist to pilot his own action because he is not likely to write himself into one of those undrawable dilemmas in manuscripts about which illustrators have complained for years.

Milton Caniff with Jack Benny from
Milton Caniff- A Remembrance May 30th, 2007
Caniff's nephew, Harry Grant Guyton shared some of his memories of his "Uncle Milt"...

Of course Milton Caniff was a stickler for accuracy, but his fans were eagle-eyed. I was with him at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. He climbed into the cockpit of a fighter plane (an F-104 I believe), and spent maybe five minutes in it. That evening, he used it in Steve Canyon. He had committed the control panel in that cockpit to memory, and months later when the strip was published, he received numerous letters saying that had Steve been flying as high as Milt implied in the strip, one of the gauge readings was wrong.

From Milton Caniff And Norman Rockwell
In Coronet Magazine September 11th, 2007
MORE CANIFF ARTICLES

• Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One March 6th, 2007


• More Steve Canyon Dalies May 30th, 2007


• Parody- Steve Crevace in Whack! Comics May 8th, 2007


• Comic Artists At Work: People On Paper (MGM/1945) April 19th, 2007

John Ellis promises more great material on Milton Caniff in the coming year. You can find out information about the Steve Canyon TV series at his blog...

Steve Canyon on DVD

Go To Number 5 on the list of Top Ten Subjects of 2007

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

2007 Review: 10 Milt Gross

As the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive completes its second year in operation, it's time to review the accomplishments of the past year. Here's a countdown of the ten most important subjects we've covered in 2007. See if your list matches mine. (View the complete list.) Click on the pictures to see lots more on this topic.


From "Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part Four" May 18th, 2007
NUMBER 10: MILT GROSS

Thanks to Archive supporters Mark Kausler, Marc Deckter, Kent Butterworth and Marc Crisafulli, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has a fantastic collection of comics by Milt Gross.


From "Fulfilling The Milt Gross Challenge" October 17th, 2007

Milt Gross is one of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived, but most of his work has been out of print for many years. He was a master of both words and images. His books Nize Baby, Dunt Esk De Night In De Front From Chreesmas are classics of ethnic New York dialect humor. His masterpiece, He Done Her Wrong, which Gross described as "The great American novel- and not a word in it- no music too", tells a story entirely in funny pictures.


From "Banana Oil!" August 21st, 2007
Milt Gross began his career as an animator in New York, and his comics reflect the same sort of baggy pants humor and keenly observed exaggeration that one might find in a Fleischer cartoon. His style appears loose and free on first glance. Every frame bursts with new and interesting ideas. But behind the energy and fun are carefully thought out compositions and expressive posing. Like Chaplin and Keaton, Gross was a master at making hard work and concentration look easy and natural. Students of animation can learn a lot from studying these techniques.


From "Dave's Delicatessen" July 24th, 2007
Currently, the only book by Gross that remains in print is He Done Her Wrong. This is a shame, because as great as this book is, there's a lot more to Milt Gross. The humor in Gross' comics is timeless. Thanks to Mark, Marc, Marc and Kent, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has become one of the best places to study his work. Stop by and view the Sunday pages and daily strips in our archive database sometime soon.

Go To Number 9 on the list of Top Ten Subjects of 2007

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Cartooning: Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part Seven

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of cartooning told through the careers of great artists.

Magazine Illustration by Jan Balet (See Lief Peng's Flickr set for more images by Jan Balet.)

We continue our series of posts on Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning with the second part of the section dealing with Magazine Cartooning... I'm afraid I don't have much information on these artists. If you can contribute a fact or two, please post them to the comments below.

MICHAEL BERRY
Michael Berry contributed pretty girl cartoons to Pictorial Review, Esquire, Liberty and The New Yorker.






JOHN RUGE
John Ruge's elegant girl drawings appeared in Colliers in the late 40s and Playboy in the early 50s. His comic about an Irish Setter named Clancy was also popular.




RALPH STEIN & STAN HUNT
Ralph Stein was the author of a collection of pinup girl art titled The Pinup From 1852 to Now. He wrote the Popeye newspaper comic in the 1950s, and was an avid classic car enthuiast. Stan Hunt was a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He attended the New York School of Art and apprenticed under Willard Mullin. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 77.




RICHARD SARGENT
Richard Sargent contributed images to Pictorial Review and The Saturday Evening Post.




JAN BELET
Jan Belet was a childrens book illustrator who also did artwork for several women's magazines.




RICHARD TAYLOR & FRANK OWEN
Richard Taylor was a cartoonist for The New Yorker and Playboy. Frank Owen was a cartoonist for The Saturday Evening Post He was the one who came up with the original story idea for the Disney's cartoon, Morris, the Midget Moose.



THE IMPORTANCE OF CARTOONS IN ADVERTISING
By Don Herold


A STUDY IN LAUGHS



ROY DOTY

Over the past half century, Roy Doty has been a cartoonist and illustrator with over 60 children's books to his credit. He was awarded a Reuben by the National Cartoonist Society in 2006. See RoyDoty.com to see what he's up to lately.




Many thanks to Marc Crisafulli and David King for sharing this great book with us.

If you found this post to be interesting, see... Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips and Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons & Comic Books, Part Five: Sketching, and Part Six: Magazine Illustration

Also see... Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate. Also, see... Willard Mullin on Animals.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Comics: Fulfilling The Milt Gross Challenge

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.


Here's the conclusion of the Marc Deckter Challenge Sunday pages. This gluttonous orgy of Milt Gross goodness comes to you courtesy of Amir Avni, Dragan Kovacevic, Michael Webb, Anonymous, Charlie Judkins, Alexander McCarron, James Middleton, Enrique May, J. Todd Constantine, and Greg Checketts. These folks stepped up to the plate and supported the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive so we can continue bringing great material like this to you for the rest of the year. We all owe them our thanks. The Archive is only as good as you make it. We appreciate your support.

And as I always say... if you're one of those folks who don't click on the images because you don't think it's worth the time it takes to read... YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING!

Count Screwloose & Babbling Brooks Sunday Pages (1930-31)