The cover of this issue by Kelly Freas showcases their parody of Shaft, but of the TV show, not the movie. Also on the cover are Ironside, Columbo, Barnaby Jones, McCloud, and Cannon
Parody of the Palmolive ad campaign of the time.Before the main feature is letters about the first issue and profiles of contributors that hadn't been in previous issues.
Len Wein and Mike Ploog's version of the TV show, which actually does compare it with the movie version.
From a recurring feature they had for a while called Poli-Tickles by Tony Isabella and Dick Wright.Pictured are Henry Kissinger, Moshe Dayan, and Anwar Sadat.
This was from another recurring feature they had at the beginning called Crazy's Crazies by John Stevens, gags about a different subject each issue. This was Crazy's Water Crazies
After that was a recurring feature by Steve Gerber and Robert Graysmith called Just Plain Folks that was mostly text and profiling a different person each month.
Then there's something called Classified Ads written by Kenneth Kaasen. There's no artist since it duplicates the newspaper format. Nothing special, but he's mentioned in the editorial:
We also have another new little name contributor at this time. He is an elevator shoes repairman during the day, and a secret member of President Nixon's cabinet by night!
This parody of TV Guide by Marv Wolfman was done when that magazine used to have articles about TV. It was made to cut out and fold so it would be the same size.
Celebrity Sportsman was written by Steve Skeates and Marv Wolfman, illustrated by Michael Sheeler, who only seems to have been in this issue. The editorial at the beginning says of him:
Firstly, say hello to MICHAEL SHEELER. Ask him how he's feeling. Engage him in chit chat. Now you can talk about sports. Doesn't that make you feel better, now that you've gotten to know Mike? He's a swell guy. About Mike now. Mike is a dictator of a small South American country, he believes in slave labor, torture, and giving hickies at parties. Mike is also a renowned nuclear scientist and the first one to realize sucking lemons puckers your lips. A graduate of Buckleknee University, Mike doesn't like to smoke, drink, or dance with gorillas he hasn't been properly introduced to.
I mentioned Kelly Freas' Kelly's Kockeyed Kanvas before, a feature which would show the other side of a famous painting, This time he uses Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. It takes place in Washington, DC but the painting is of France, as shown by the French flag. Either Freas (or more likely, the editors) didn't realize this or assumed readers wouldn't. C'est la vie.
This time I have a page from History of Moosekind by Bob Foster, who did the underground comic Myron Moose Funnies in the early 70s and later worked for Disney.
Here they save money not using art in this spoof of the Lights Out program back when most people who had listened to radio shows were alive.
Mad did the same thing where they would show how movies were in the past and compare it to how the same genre is done today.The Boob Rube Story was nominated for a Shazam! Award the year it came out.
Lastly, there's the editorial showing what's going on next issue.The back cover has another commercial parody of the Jolly Green Giant commercial drawn by Vic Martin
SH - I bet Kelly Freas had fun doing those reverse paintings based on masterpieces, that's a clever idea. I like the Vic Martin art. I admire the clarity of his drawing. It looks like a simple style but having tried stuff in the same ballpark as that look, I know it's difficult.
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions if you're game -
1. It's amazing how you post all this great stuff on a steady basis. Do you use it as some sort of complement to your time spent on (I assume) comic production itself? Sort of like a "day job" respite from your creative labors (if you'll excuse the goofy expression "creative labors")?
2. I really enjoyed the Yogi Bear comics you posted a while back (which you wrote.) How much of that sort of comics work have you done? Is there a large volume of SH-scripted Hanna Barbera (or other) material out there? I like your creator-owned work but it's kind of interesting to see how you handle licensed properties too.
3. How do you feel about working on Hanna Barbera type stuff? Were you a fan or at least viewer of the original shows, or never watched it but the assignment just fell in your lap?
4. I make xeroxed comics and distribute them locally, sometimes further afield (well, I have family out of state...) If you answer these, can I include them in my next issue and also have a blurb that says something like "Interview with Cartoonist Sam Henderson (writer on Spongebob Squarepants) in This Issue" (shamelessly milking Spongebob's vast fame to garner attention for my comic.) (Some sample pages from my last comic in case you want to see what kind of sub-Crazy level production you'd be associating with - http://timrockscomics.blogspot.com/2012/08/pete-moss-comics-1.html )
I understand if you'd rather not grant permission though. That was a side thought I had after it occurred to me to ask these questions.
1. It takes about half an hour to put a post together, choosing the stuff, writing, and making sure the HTML is correct. The main reason I put this stuff up is a lifetime of hoarding things nobody cares about in person, so I put it in cyberspace because people will like it there.
ReplyDelete2. I haven't done as much licensed work as I'd like to. The DC/H-B stuff was for about a year in 1997, I worked on SB for about a year in 2001. Currently I'm doing some writing for DC Nation.
3. I did like a lot of these cartoons as a kid but the assignment pretty much came to me.
4. By all means, you can post it, though any further correspondence not associated with a particular post can be addressed to me at mwhistle@aol.com