Number 1536: Talon of Terror

This won’t be the last story I’ll be mining from a fine issue of Ibis the Invincible, #5, published in 1946. The stories, written by Bill Woolfolk, are entertaining and the artwork, done by a diverse crew of comic book journeymen, is uniformly good.

The Grand Comics Database credits the artwork on “Talon of Terror” to Kurt Schaffenberger, inked by Pete Costanza.

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More Ibis. Just click the thumbnails.

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Number 1408: Loch Ness...dragon?

It’s the fourth and last entry for our “What pours out of a Fawcett” theme week, and begins with a question from me: was the Loch Ness monster ever called the Loch Ness dragon? That’s how it’s referred to in this story from Ibis the Invincible #5 (1946). I don’t remember ever hearing it called that.

The story has Ibis involved in a contest between two men who are fighting over a woman, which he intends to see is conducted fair and square. Yet earlier Ibis didn’t feel a bit bad about abruptly ending an afternoon of fishing with his squeeze, Princess Taia, by using his magical powers to have a fish bite on Taia’s hook. I guess fair play in macho doings is one thing, boredom in the middle of a lake with your girlfriend is another.

The art on the story is credited to Gus Ricca. It’s the first story I’ve ever shown by Ricca, who had some famous covers, including the one above, which was used for Craig Yoe’s great book, Comics About Cartoonists. As far as I know it’s still available, and you don’t need Ibis’ famous Ibistick to get it. Just wiggle your fingers over your keyboard and type in www.yoebooks.com, which will magically take you to a wonderful place where you get it the old-fashioned way, by buying it.

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It’s been fun since Number One!

Today is the seventh anniversary of Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine. I usually don’t make anything of this anniversary because every year I usually forget.

You can find old Number One, the first posting from this date in 2006 by clicking on the picture of the stairway corpse above.

I began this blog with the notion that if I could find enough of interest to scan and write about I might do 300 postings. As you can see I’ve done more than 1400, and #1500 will be January 2, 2014, unless, of course, I’m hit by a meteor or otherwise incapacitated.

I want to say how much I’ve appreciated the readers who have stuck with this blog over the years, who have even used it for inspiration to do their own blogs. This is more than a hobby to me. Since 2009 I have had the luxury of retirement from the daily toil of 45 years at various jobs. Now I consider Pappy’s to be my job...and it’s a lot more fun than I’ve had on any other job.

Will I make it another seven years? We’ll take it one post at a time, and hopefully I’ll see you next July 26 on the eighth anniversary.

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Number 1331: The Devil’s Ibistick

If you’re into demons and dieties, you’ve got a treat with the lead story from Fawcett’s Ibis the Invincible #5 (1946). You’ve got Azaroth and Beelzebub doing Lucifer’s business, and you’ve got a real off-the-mark version of ancient Egyptian god Thoth.

Thoth and Not-Thoth.

How hard could it have been for someone to crack a book on Egypt and see that Thoth had a bird’s head (an ibis), and what they are representing as Thoth looks more like the Hindu god, Shiva? It doesn’t seem that hard. But then, as I’ve mentioned before, any gods represented by cultures other than American were just sort of lumped into one big pile of “other” gods. If the artist or editor or writer or whomever thought a multi-armed god looked better than a bird-headed god, then they might have thought who was going to notice, eh? (They didn’t reckon on a cranky comic book blogger bringing up the subject 67 years in the future.)

Oh well, I like the cartoony demons. Art is credited to Charlie Tomsey with a question mark by Grand Comics Database, which means they aren’t sure. Script credit goes to Bill Woolfolk.

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The origin of Ibis. Click on the picture:

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Number 1297: Basil’s boys, Mystic Moot and Powerhouse Pepper

What? Another theme week so soon, right on the heels of of the Furry Foes and Fiends week? Yep, this one will be our Funky Funnies week, featuring some oddball, yet funny postings. We start the week with the one and only comic art genius of funky and funny, Basil Wolverton!

I had so much fun with my Wolverton posting in Pappy's #1263 and it drew so many visitors to this blog, thanks to a plug by www.comicsreporter.com, that I decided to further exploit entertain you (and myself) with more Wolverton.

From Ibis the Invincible #5 (1946):

From Marvel Comics of the 1940s, Basil's own title, Powerhouse Pepper #2 (1948):

Some of us still have clunky old desktop computers and old-style laptops that make it difficult to read upside down comics panels, so for those of us still mired in the past, here is the final panel rightside up.

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Golden Age comics fans will want this book!

Recently I got an e-mail from goodguy Craig Yoe:

"Comics About Cartoonists: Stories About the World's Oddest Profession" was supposed to be available for the holidays but got F'd--flummoxed--by the L.A. dock workers strike and the distributor closing over the holidays for two weeks and the usual end of the year drunkenness and debauchery by people in our industry.

It's my fave book i'll ever do because of the subject matter--I do so love cartoonists! "Comics About Cartoonists" got some very enthusiastic initial pre-press promo which I am so very glad of. But with all the hoopla of the above and subsequent lateness of the book I and IDW are quite worried about the word having timely gotten out to people that will share my passion for these kind of awesome comics. I know you understand "timing is everything" ;) I'd DEEPLY appreciate any kind consideration to remind your readers of this ("Mind-blowing!"--MTV Greek) book now.

Humbly and in gratitude, 

Craig

P.S. Here's a fun little video we did about the book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYqQGMcIIoU and a cover is attached, too. Thanks again for any and all help!"

Craig used my copy of Weird Science #22 to scan the story, “My World” by Wallace Wood, perhaps one of the greatest and most famous “comics about cartoonists.” I want you to visualize a high quality book like Yoe and IDW are well known — nay, famous —  for. Besides the Wood story there are over 200 pages of self-referential cartoons, comic strips, comic book stories, as well as original art from Craig's own collection. I give it my highest recommendation, not just because Craig is a pal, a fellow collector, comics historian and because he has to sell his books in order to publish new ones  — and we all want more books, don’t we? — but because this book is one helluva good read, and the best thing of all is it's not expensive. Remember, your Pappy has never steered you wrong! Use that leftover Christmas money burning a hole in your jeans, why don't you?  www.yoebooks.com

While you're at it, check out Yoe's other books, including his collaborative horror comic, now in its third issue, Haunted Horrors, which he edits with the help of Steve “Karswell” Banes of The Horrors Of It All.

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