All Trains Lead to Toonerville

Fontaine Fox’s Toonerville Trolley was a very popular panel cartoon in its day. It spawned movie serials, board games, toys and train enthusiasts who still represent a loyal following. Here are some images of the train station with the some of the characters of this very charming title:

Like Sand Through My Fingertips

Several years ago, an auction was posted on ebay for what looked like something of a theatrical poster, perhaps a film, of Happy Hooligan. I absolutely loved the image and watched the auction closely. It didn’t seem like it was of a cartoonist’s hand, and had a more realistic touch than Opper’s comic strips. For some reason, the auction was pulled before completion. I contacted the seller but never received a response, and have never seen the image again. I still have the auction image, which is a very distant second – better than nothing. One of the ones that got away…

- Jonathan Barli

Your Bird’s-Eye-View of the Day

Courtesy of Tony Sarg. From a promotional booklet for Conoco Oil, 1934

Some Soglow

Here are several coasters that Otto Soglow did for Rheingold beer. So beer companies, listen up: hire cartoonists to make new ones! It’s sure to boost sales.

Wherefore art though Peanuts?

I see there was a bit of attention paid to the Peanuts ad sheet I posted earlier this week, so ask and ye shall receive. Here’s another one for you all. Sadly, some scoundrel cut out an image towards the bottom. Anyway, enjoy!

The Mighty Scrapbook

 

There is something endearing about a comics scrapbook that lies beyond its function. The thought that someone would care enough about a title, sometimes a theme, to snip it from a paper and paste it into the scrapbook day in and day out evokes a warm smile.

They come in all forms, shapes, and sizes. Occasionally, you’ll find them pasted in an actual book, over the text:

Sometimes these careful souls went to great lengths in their preservation of these titles:

The layouts generally take on a straight-forward approach…

… but sometimes you’ll encounter some rather clever methods to maximize space:

Out Our Way, by J.R. Williams was, by far, the most collected title, perhaps for obvious reasons. I have at least a dozen such books myself.

Scrapbooks can sometimes fill holes in a collection, sometimes collect work that otherwise would be hard to come by, but always show care and attention beyond the pages of the work they collect. I grew even fonder of them after my failed attempt to collect Maakies back during my school days. These nameless heroes of archiving – the founding mothers and fathers of reprint –  have served history, and our collective efforts, to a greater extent than they perhaps could have ever intended, when all they may have wanted was simply to read their favorite comics again… like we all do, after all.

- Jonathan Barli

From So Humble a Beginning…

Introductions: they can be unaffecting. I wonder how people viewed this preamble to friendship, if you will, with mid-century eyes. I also wonder who kicked themselves for overlooking this motley cast of characters. Here is the whole promotional flyer:

Your Bird’s Eye View of the Day

Courtesy of Harrison Cady, from Life magazine – 1910

Seperated at Birth

Here is Little Lulu from Dell’s Four Color #165, 1947 by John Stanley. A relative of Bushmiller’s Nancy? An inspiration to Warhol?

 Now what could have caused such ocular perturbations? Well, um…

In Profile

While scouring the many stunning pages of the great French magazine L’Assiette au Beurre, I began to notice a particular style and composition that interested me. They were caricature portraits by Leal de Camara of, largely, obscure figures in turn-of-the-century France, which Rosebud will collect in a single volume called Camara Obscura later this year. There were a few issues of the magazine that contained similar portraits by different artists, one of which was devoted entirely to musicians, each drawn by Aroun Al Rascid. Amongst all of the portraits contained within the pages of a 593 issue, 11 year run, one from 1902 stands out stylistically, even among Al Rascid’s own musical issue, with everything but the subject’s face in stark, colored silhouette. I love this image. Enjoy!

- Jonathan Barli