Gus Arriola and Gordo

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

I never got to read Gordo when it was syndicated - it never ran in any papers in my area when I was a kid. It was always a strip that I read about, instead of actually reading. That changed as I got older and got to read longer runs of of it. It deserves all the praise it gets for its gentle humor and its brilliant design. You can read comics on the iPhone all day long, but it’s one panel at a time. To appreciate the craftsmanship of a Gordo strip, you need to take in the whole thing. The guy was just great, and he deserved a much wider audience and he deserves to be read and experienced still today. With comics in this Golden Age period of archival reprint heaven - c’mon, even Gasoline Alley is getting collected - Gordo should be right there with everyone else. (I’m looking at you, Dean Mullaney)!

Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Gus wrote about himself and his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette.

Here’s Gus on Gus and Gordo:

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Fred Toole: Dennis The Menace

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,

I have an ugly confession to make. My favorite Dennis the Menace comics aren’t the individual panels from the newspapers. They’re the stories that appeared in Fawcett’s Dennis the Menace comic books, and they weren’t done by Dennis’ creator Hank Ketcham. Oh, sure, his work on the newspaper comic is great, but I like the comic books better. It was only later that I found out these favorites of mine were done by writer Fred Toole and artist Al Wiseman.

Back in 1964, a company named Allied Publications put out an oversized, saddle-stitched magazine with the very unwieldy title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette.

39 cartoonists were profiled, one per page, and it appears that the cartoonists themselves were responsible for their own write-up. This is the one Fred Toole wrote about Ketcham and Dennis. Toole is identified as being “in charge of Public Relations for Hank Ketcham.”

Writes Fred:

“Henry King Ketcham was born in Seattle, Washington, March 14, 1920. His interest in drawing goes back to the time he was seven years old and used to watch a family friend make cartoon doodles. Hank proceeded to make cartoons himself all during his school years. After a year at the University of Washington, where he was an art major, Hank went to Hollywood to work as an animator in the Walt Lantz studios. Later, at the Walt Disney studios, he worked on several major Disney productions.

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BRITISH COMICS: The Beano & Dennis The Menace & Bash Street

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Reviews,

I’m only mildly familiar with the British tradition known as The Beano. I know there’s a British version of Dennis the Menace who bears no resemblance to Hank Ketcham’s creation beyond the idea that they’re both right little stinkers. And I know that the weekly Beano has been published for decades. So I was really looking forward to grabbing a couple of issues.

First of all, it was hard to find a copy. On the newsstand, especially the independent corner ones that are just outside the Tube stops, I couldn’t find a copy and the vendors just shook their heads when I asked. It took a trip to Border’s, yes that Border’s, to grab them. I picked up The Beano #3490 (July 4, 2009) and The Beano #3491 (July 11, 2009). Both issues have all the regular features. Dennis is there (along with an effeminate gang of rivals called The Softies), Minnie The Minx (the world’s wildest Tomboy), Bea & Ivy (a sort of Muppet Babies version of Dennis and his friends), The Bash Street Kids (the perennial favorite created long ago by the great Leo Baxendale), Ball Boy (he’s football crazy), Rasher (Dennis’ pet pig), The Numskulls, Freddie Fear (the son of a witch), Billy The Whiz (the fastest boy in the world) and several others.

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