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Tentacle Tuesday: A Torrent of Teutonic Tentacles

February 19, 2019October 12, 2019redscraper5 Comments

When one thinks of tentacles, one generally thinks of Japan. Did you know that Germans appear to be equally obsessed with them? “Obsession” is the only way I can explain the following post, in which the same hero trips over tentacles with depressing regularity. And I thought Conan encountered tentacles too often for statistical probability (see here and here).

When Gespenster Geschichten (ghost stories), a major comic book series from the publishing house Bastei Verlag, proved to be an unqualified success, it was decided to bring a second horror child into the world in the shape of Spuk Geschichten (spooky stories). The latter, though not quite as long-lived as its sibling, still spanned an impressive 492 issues running between between 1978 and 1995. (For comparison, Gespenster Geschichten lasted from 1974 to 2006.)

SpukGeschichten-1

Both series are easy to recognize thanks to brightly coloured, if not to say garish, covers. The insides, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, were a mixed bag: some reprints (mostly of American material), some original stories by German artists and writers. I’m rather fond of the loud, red SPUK that’s part of the Spuk Geschichten logo. Rather than reminding me of the English “spook”, it seems like an onomatopoeia: “spuk!”, goes the tentacle slapping some yielding female flesh, “SPUK!”, as it smacks a young man across his chest and sends him flying, topsy-turvy, into the bushes.

Spuk-Geschichten-2

Onward to the gallery of Tentakel! We’ve got green, vaguely apelike monsters…

Spuk278

Spuk300

And a whole family of purple, tentacled atrocities….

Spuk64

Spuk362

Spuk372

Spuk482

And other assorted tentacular nonsense: gorillas, plants, lizards, female sailors with multiple grabby appendages…

Spuk-Geschichten 359

Spuk411

SPUK428

Spuk430

Spuk465

Through all this, why is the main character still surprised to see a monster with tentacles? One would think he would be profoundly blasé about the whole thing by now, elegantly fending off tentacled creatures while politely covering his yawn with a carefully manicured hand. You think I’ve exhausted the tentacle arsenal of Spuk Geschichten? Ha!

SpukGeschichten-3

And there’s more, but I’m running out of time, space, and, frankly, any interest. In terms of attaching tentacles to completely inappropriate creatures – and a lot of people have tried -, I think Spuk Geschichten reigns supreme in diversity and just, well, sheer numbers.

~ ds

*as usual, writing about comics written in a language I mostly do not understand is tricky. If I’ve committed any faux-pas, please correct me, dear readers!

The Unassuming Brilliance of William Van Horn

February 16, 2019November 11, 2020gasp652 Comments

« Sepulveda Von Lovely looks much better in a handlebar, if I do say so myself! » — ‘Bumps’ (2004)

Since the 1980s, when it came to carrying the torch of Good Duck Man supreme Carl Barks, there have been three clear contenders, namely Daan Jippes, Don Rosa and William Van Horn. All three are outstanding talents, and honestly, no single being can take the place of Barks. In the end, Van Horn is my pick, because he’s the most complete package*, possessing his own lively, economical style in both writing and drawing (and that includes his expressive lettering, a perennially underrated art form). His work is just a pure joy to read, while Jippes is arguably too close to the model and Rosa’s stories sometimes feel like continuity-saddled homework. Van Horn is a natural.

On the occasion of Mr. Van Horn’s eightieth birthday (he was born on February 15, 1939, and is thankfully still with us), here’s a modest Van Horn comics sampler, opening with his first comics series after decades of work in animation and children’s books, Nervous Rex, and continuing into his work for Danish Disney comics packager Egmont**.

NervousRex4A — From Don Markstein’s Toonpedia: « *Cartoonist William Van Horne* *created the series, which lasted ten bimonthly issues (September, 1985 through March, 1987). Like* *Russell Myers, creator of Broom Hilda, he used a style clearly inspired by* *George Herriman’s Krazy Kat*, without being a slavish imitation. Van Horn, who had made his living for decades in commercial art and children’s book illustration, had earlier come to the attention of the comics community with a couple of minor series in *Critters, a funny animal anthology published by Fantagraphics Books.* »

NervousRex7A

VanHornBumblingWDC&S651A — Here’s the opening of a twelve-pager, *Just a Humble, Bumbling Duck*, published in **Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Adventures no. 13** (June, 1991). Written, drawn and lettered by Van Horn and coloured by Susan Daigle-Leach. Read the issue right here.

VanHornDDA2A — **Donald Duck Adventures no. 2** (July 1990, Disney), illustrating Van Horn’s “Rootin’, Tootin’ Duck”. Read it here. You can tell when a soul’s worked in animation. Nary a hint of stiffness.

VanHornDDA18A — **Donald Duck Adventures no. 18** (Nov. 1991, Disney), illustrating Van Horn’s “That Ol’ Soft Soap”. read it here.

VanHornWDC&S616A — **Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories no. 616** (Sept. 1997, Gladstone), featuring Van Horn’s “Catch of the Day”. Read it here.

UncleScrooge322A — **Uncle Scrooge no. 322** (Oct. 2003, Gemstone), illustrating Van Horn’s “The Utter Limits”. Read the issue here.

VanHornWDC&S655A — **Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories no. 655** (Apr. 2005, Gemstone), featuring Van Horn’s “Full Circle”. Read it here.

VanHornWDC&S680A — **Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories no. 680** (May 2007, Gemstone), featuring Van Horn’s “In a Minor Key”. Read it here.

A most joyous 80th anniversary to you, Mr. Van Horn! Fittingly, I leave the last word to our humble birthday boy: « Let’s create our own classics if we can… but heaven help us if we think we’re doing that. We should follow Barks’ lead and regard these stories as something to pay the rent and buy the pot roast. »

– RG

*it’s pronounced Pah-kawje

**speaking of Egmont, this sobering note from Van Horn, from a brief interview conducted by John Iatrou in 2010: « Disney comic books in North America have been virtually a dead issue (no pun intended) for over a decade, possibly two. Sales here hover around 4000 copies a month! This on a continent of over 350 million people! Egmont has never tried to publish here. They thought about it years ago and decided it wasn’t worth the effort. » So there you have it. Van Horn and Don Rosa have been producing their ducks for the European market, to be then reprinted, with piddling print runs, in North America. Nul n’est prophète en son pays… On the other hand, if you’ll forgive me for saying so, most European Disney comics are utter garbage, and have been for decades. If you like endless arrays of Donald as a superhero, Donald as Michael Jackson or Indiana Jones, Rappin’ Donald… you’ll be in hog heaven. “Opera Mundi crap“, we used to call it.

Peter Tork, Man of Music… and of Comics

February 13, 2019February 21, 2019gasp651 Comment

« I know she’s having a fit, she doesn’t like me a bit, no bird of grace ever lit on Auntie Grizelda » — Diane Hildebrand / Jack Keller, 1966

Now’s the time to wish Peter Halsten Thorkelson, he of the open, Nordic look, a most joyous 77th birthday, regardless of what Your Auntie Grizelda may think!

Pete was born in Washington, D.C. on February 13, 1942, which makes him the doyen of the group. Like Mike “Wool Hat” Nesmith, he was a musician first, likely the group’s most instrumentally proficient. Peter wound up auditioning for the tv show after his name was suggested by Stephen Stills, who wasn’t quite right for the part… but definitely a good sport.

Peter and his fellow Monkees were featured in their own Dell comic book (is there any greater honour?), which lasted from March, 1967 to October, 1969, seventeen issues in all (with some reprinting.) That was one of Dell’s few savvy moves in their waning days, and one of their few readable titles outside John Stanley‘s output.

FawcetteMonkeesIdea2A — Peter the muse. From ‘Way-Out’ West, **The Monkees** (1966, Popular Library). See below!

FawcetteMonkeesCoverA — This cute lil’ volume contained a bunch of fun (what else) Monkees romps written by Howard Liss and ably illustrated by Eisner- Iger Studio veteran Gene Fawcette.

DelboMonkeesBeezleA — José Delbo‘s splash page from *Beezle, Beezle, Who’s Got the Beezle?*, **The Monkees no. 8** (Jan. 1968, Dell). Scripter unknown… but he’s pretty good.

Monkees3A — The issue in question: **The Monkees no. 8** (Jan. 1968, Dell)

Monkees4A — **The Monkees no. 4** (Sept. 1967, Dell)

Monkees14A — **The Monkees no. 14** (Oct. 1968, Dell)

ClowesGrizeldaA — Ah, but Dan Clowes has known it all along! From **Eightball no. 13** (Apr. 1994, Fantagraphics)

Update: Peter Tork passed away on Thursday, February 21, 2019, barely a week beyond his 77th birthday. Au revoir, Peter!

-RG

Tentacle Tuesday: a Day at the Beach

February 12, 2019April 27, 2020redscraper3 Comments

I am on vacation! (Or I will be, by the time this post is published.) I have no idea what sort of beaches I will have the pleasure to encounter, but I doubt it’s the kind that’s depicted below.

And now, everyone to the beach! Orrore sulla spiaggia!

LarsonNudeBeachA — Page from Rich Larson‘s **Haunted House of Lingerie, Vol. 2** (July 1999). I’m pleased to see that the octopus seems to have undressed the man as well.

Beach-Sukia89 — This is the original art for the cover of **Sukia no. 89**. Art by Emanuele Taglietti, whose specialty was sex and horror! Sukia, already part of one T.T. roster (see Tentacle Tuesday: Euro Tentacles Unto Horror), was an erotic Italian comic that ran from 1978 to 1986, published, as is often the case for such things, by Edifumetto. Sukia’s alluring form is based on that of actress Ornella Muti, though it’s probably somewhat less obvious from this cover.

I’m getting carried away here with sun-tanning and babe-centric pastures and whatnot. People also go fishing on vacation, right?

AddamsFishingTentacles — Cartoon by Charles Addams.

Or just walking along the beach…

SantaClausFunnies#2-1943 — A panel from “Lord Octopus Went to the Christmas Fair”, a poem by Stella Mead. Art by Walt Kelly; published in **Santa Claus Funnies n° 2**, 1943. Slightly unseasonal, sorry.

Or just flingin’ an octopus about… The local authorities might object, however.

WhizComics115 — **Whiz Comics n° 115** (November 1949), art by Kurt Schaffenberger.

A little knitting, perhaps? Don’t mind if I do!

Festival-tartine-n-54 — **Festival Tartine** **n° 54** (November 1971). Grand-mother Nonna Abelarda, created in 1953 by Italian Giulio Chierchini, came to France in 1956 and was renamed Tartine Mariol. This intrepid granny appeared in *Presto* and in *Arc en Ciel* until her popularity prompted the publishers to give her her own series in 1957.

~ ds

P.S. A little bonus, though only involving an off-screen sighting of an octopus:

beach-RobertCrumb-Aline — Cartoon by Robert Crumb, as if you needed to be told, featuring Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

Mal Eaton’s Peter Piltdown

February 9, 2019July 26, 2021redscraper6 Comments

Newspaper strip Peter Piltdown was created by Mal Eaton (1902-1974) and debuted as a Sunday page on August 4th, 1935. Featuring a mischievous boy getting into trouble in some sort of prehistoric world (with a lot of indispensable modern conveniences – like earmuffs!), the strip seems to have lasted for quite a while, until the late 1960s. The reason I say “seems” is because not much is known about Eaton *or* the strip. With some difficulty I managed to find out that Malcolm Eaton was based in New York.

It doesn’t help that the strip changed titles several times. Starting out as Peter Piltdown, syndicated by Miller Services (a small Canadian newspaper syndicate that has since then been renamed into Canadian Artists Syndicate), it appeared as Pookie (Peter’s younger brother, whose antics had taken over the strip) in 1947 and 1948, and then migrated to the pages of Boys’ Life magazine as Rocky Stoneaxe.

Some comics are buried by the collective memory through sheer bad luck, some are rightly forgotten because they weren’t that good. It’s always exciting to unearth something obscure, but one has to ask if this excitement is justified, or whether whatever artifact of the past one has dug up is thrilling only because of a “I know what you don’t!” kind of show-off-manship. I do think Peter Piltdown is genuinely good. The art is manic – and dynamic – in a way that’s spontaneous and appealing. Eaton clearly liked to draw animals; they’re often a big part of the punch line, and they’re drawn lovingly, with great attention to detail and body language. Anyway, you be the judge!

From the small sample that’s findable online, I’d say that the period around the 1940s is the best; the art gets simpler later on. Here’s a selection of strips that I’ve succeeded in finding (and cleaned up somewhat) – they are in chronological order starting from 1943 and going up to 1959. Most of these are original art: three images are from the collection of gallery owner Rob Stolzer (the first two, as well as the Sunday strip in colour); the rest have been found on Heritage Auctions. The last three are scans from a newspaper.

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-1

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-2

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-3

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-4

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-5

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown-6

MalEaton-PeterPiltdown7

MalEaton-PeterPiltdow-8

MalEaton-RockyStoneaxe

~ ds

Abner Dean’s Universe: Before…

February 7, 2019May 23, 2026gasp653 Comments

« No other state of confusion is as interesting as yours. »

By the mid-1930s, Abner Dean (1910–1982), né Abner Epstein in New York City, had reached the pinnacle of his profession, and begun to make rewarding inroads into other pursuits and endeavours. Fruitfully and prolifically published in most of the top magazines of the era (and top era for magazines), such as The New Yorker, Life, Esquire, Coronet, Time, Newsweek, Collier’s, Look, Ladies’ Home Journal and so forth, he’d also scored in the advertising field (most notably through a fifteen-year association with Aetna Insurance).

Yet he was restless; he bristled at the limitations, conventions and formulae of the era’s gag cartooning world and had something grander in mind and up his sleeve. We’ll get to that.

But first, here’s a sampling of what Abner accomplished as a commercial illustrator and cartoonist early in his career.

AbnerCheckInA — The following four cartoons appeared in the pages of Esquire, for which Dean produced in excess of forty colour cartoons, and scads more in good old black and white (frequently with spot colour adornment) between 1934 and 1955.

DeanCinemaA — Spot the influence? The girl is a dead ringer for one of Jack Cole‘s celebrated beauties.

DeanCountingDreamerA DeanSherbetA

DeanNewYorker1933A — As Abner created five covers for **The New Yorker** (1933-35), it seemed absurd to leave any of them out, especially given their high calibre. Here they are, in order of their appearance.

DeanNewYorkerNov33A DeanNewYorker1934A DeanNewYorkerApr34A DeanNewYorker1935A

AbnerDean46AetnaAd01 — Two examples of Dean’s illustrations for **Aetna Insurance**‘s long-running advertising and prevention campaign, for which Dean produced a whopping one hundred and ten drawings between 1940 and 1955. This one hails from 1946.

AbnerDean53AetnaAd02 — To better convey the tone and tenor of the campaign, I’ve transcribed some of its text. This entry is from 1955.

AbnerDeanPortrait — Our boy, wearing an appropriately skeptical expression, from the back cover of his **Come As You Are** (1955, Simon & Schuster).

Incidentally, what little remains publicly known about this once-famous man is the fruit of diligent research conducted by the eclectically erudite Ken Parille. As usual, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Thank you!

-RG

Tentacle Tuesday: EC’s Weird Tentacles

February 5, 2019January 25, 2020redscraper3 Comments

Today’s Tentacle Tuesday delves into William Gaines’ EC and the glorious 50s (well, glorious for *some* things, at any rate). “Weird”, you say? Why, weird simply must include tentacles!

It’s a mixed bag: those of you who dislike Al Feldstein (and I know my co-admin RG would raise his hand readily) may be terribly annoyed by this post, but patience, my friends! there’s a lot of Wally Wood (a Tentacle Tuesday master, by the way!) in here, too, and who in their right mind would admit to detesting Wally Wood?

(As for myself, in case somebody is wondering, I like Feldstein’s artwork just fine.)

WeirdScience#6 — **Weird Science no. 6** (March-April 1951). Cover by Al Feldstein.

« EC’s flaws are pretty obvious: even when the artists were striving for greater seriousness than the ironic gore of the horror stories or the outrageous early sci-fi plots or even the clever but predictable crime and suspense stories, the writing was often overwrought, prolix, and ham-fisted, and the artists were straightjacketed by EC’s rigid visual grid. They were Entertaining Comics first and foremost, but they also seemed compelled to break out of their commercial formulas, however finely realized, and publish stories that were fiercely honest, politically adversarial, visually masterful, and occasionally formally innovative…» (source: Gary Groth’s Entertaining Comics)

WeirdScience#10 — **Weird Science no. 10** (November-December 1951), art by Wally Wood.

WeirdFantasy#15 — **Weird Fantasy no. 15** (Sept-Oct 1952). Cover by Al Feldstein. The best cover that Feldstein has ever drawn? *Quizás, quizás, quizás*! The monster is doing a traditional Slavic dance, I think.

« While [Feldstein was] freer than most writers of his era to indulge his fantasies, he was also more punitive toward the characters who acted them out. John Updike tormented adulterers with depression and guilt. Feldstein lopped off their heads or burnt them alive. If they received a scarlet letter, it was branded on their flesh. In real life, sexual misbehavior might have cost one alimony. Feldstein made Shahira law seem like Thomas Jefferson had drafted it. Feldstein reflected a society which, while fascinated by sex, was terrified or ashamed of this fascination. » (source: Bob Levin in Let Us Now Praise Al Feldstein)

WeirdScienceFantasyAnnual#1 — **Weird Science-Fantasy Annual no. 1** (1952), art by Al Feldstein.

Weird Fantasy #21-detail

WeirdScience#22 — **Weird Science no. 22** (November-December 1953), cover by Wally Wood.

WeirdScience22detail — Detail from the title story, “My World”, scripted by Al Feldstein and drawn by Wally Wood. You can read the story over at Mars Will Send No More.

WeirdScienceFantasy#27 — **Weird Science-Fantasy no. 27** (January-February 1955), art by Wally Wood.

~ ds

Nick Cardy’s Romantic Side

January 31, 2019June 7, 2021gasp657 Comments

« In YOUNG LOVE, how can people talk when they kiss? My mom can’t talk when she’s kissing. Can you? I am nine years old. » — Mary K, an astute young reader

It’s recently occurred to me that, in a year-and-a-half of posting, I’ve utterly neglected to feature one of my favourite artists, Nick Cardy (1920-2013); I suppose he’s been easy to take for granted, as he was DC’s main cover artist during most of Carmine Infantino‘s management years (1967-1976).

Much has been made, in various forums, of Cardy’s covers for Aquaman, the Superman titles, The Teen Titans, the Mystery books, and so on. I figured I’d have to dig a bit deeper. Cardy, ex aequo with the even more underappreciated Bob Oksner, was arguably DC’s primo portrayer of feminine pulchritude, and what I’d seen of his artwork for DC’s romance line was pretty stunning. It just turned out that there was far less of it than I had assumed.

DC’s romance books were sadly treated as the proverbial Siberia of the company’s roster. How else might one explain calling upon top illustrative talent, the likes of Jay Scott Pike, John Rosenberger, Ric Estrada, Werner Roth … then taking these fine men’s work and slathering it with wall-to-wall Vince Colletta… finishes. We’ll return to this topic, naturally. This time around, we’ll showcase the sentimental side of Mr. Cardy. He seems to have produced fewer than thirty covers for the romance line (not counting a handful of gothics he did), of which I’ve retained an even dozen. I’m reserving a handful for an eventual thematic post, plus one that Colletta “fixed” (in the criminal, rather than useful, sense.)

fallinginlove113a — **Falling in Love** **no. 115** (Feb. 1970), edited by Murray Boltinoff.

fallinginlove119a — **Falling in Love** **no. 119** (Nov. 1970), edited by Murray Boltinoff. Something tells me Mr. Older Generation is holding a pipe off-panel.

girls27romance144a — « *Goodbye, and as my sister once said, good riddance!* » This great Nick Cardy cover puts an attractive spin on an issue unfortunately marred by the omnipresent and indigestible Vinnie Colletta sauce over half the stories. Poor Ric Estrada and Werner Roth! **Girls’ Romances** enjoyed a healthy 160-issue run from 1950 and 1971. This is number 144 (Oct. 1969).

girlslove139a — « *Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools and accepted by idiots.* » – Unknown purveyor of sage quips – This is **Girls’ Love Stories no. 139** (Nov. 1968) Edited by Jack Miller. Inside: *The Only Man for Me*, illustrated by Ric Estrada, *How Could He Stop Loving Me?*, by Tony Abruzzo, a *Mad Mad Modes for Moderns* from Jay Scott Pike, a reprint from 1963, *Kiss Me If You Dare*, by John Romita, Sr. and Bernard Sachs, and our cover story, *She’s Young, Beautiful–and Alone! … Why?*, illustrated by John Rosenberger.

girlslove143a — **Girls’ Love Stories no. 143** (May 1969), edited by Joe Orlando, who couldn’t be less suited to the genre. Cover wise, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I suppose, but I adore Cardy’s expressive, roughly organic inks. Still totally in control!

girlslove148a — **Girls’ Love Stories no. 148** (Jan. 1970), edited by Joe Orlando.

girlslove151a — **Girls’ Love Stories no. 151** (May, 1971), edited by Joe Orlando.

girlsromances147a — Interesting, given that these were the prime days of women’s lib, how little actual *sisterhood* was in evidence in these comics. Too many *male* cooks, surely. Girls’ Romances no. 147 (Mar. 1970), edited by Murray Boltinoff. Carmine Infantino‘s fingerprints are all over this particular layout… which is more than fine: he’s a master.

love1970a — This is **Super DC Giant no. S-17** (Sept.-Oct. 1970), “edited” by Dick Giordano. Despite comprising nothing but crappy reprints, the scarce item will cost you a pretty penny if you can find it in decent condition. Here’s its only worthy selling point, Mr. Cardy’s cover, of course.

young-love74a — Talk about a question that provides its own answer… this is **Young Love no. 74** (May-June, 1969). Edited by Dick Giordano (who lost the bet that month). Cardy’s Alex Toth-ish side rises to the surface.

youngromance157a — **Young Romance no. 157** (Dec. 1968 – Jan. 1969), edited by Joe Orlando. Never was the “Have a Fling With…” tag more appropriate… and more disturbing. « *Oh, Ann-Margret‘s your mom?* »

youngromance163a — **Young Romance no. 163** (Dec. 1969 – Jan. 1970), edited by Joe Orlando. YR, as you may know, was the original romance comic book, created way back in 1947 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Things improved near the end of the series’ run, when Simon briefly returned to ride it into the sunset.

-RG

Tentacle Tuesday: Conan-o-rama

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019redscraper5 Comments

There’s some sort of Conan-mania around these parts. I’ve never understood the fascination with the Barbarian Hero (associated terms, in case you go barbarian-spotting: loin cloths or Pelts of the Barbarian, taut rippling muscles, oiled back, impressive weapons, the beard of a grizzly bear – or inexplicably clean-shaven at all times – and glorious manly manes), but clearly others go for sword-and-sorcery stuff in a big way. Conan sure puts the ‘sword’ in… err… well, he puts the sword into *everything*, slashing, hacking and dismembering his way through tedious comic after tedious comic.

He also runs into tentacled monsters, like, every 5 seconds. It seems that whatever tentacles existed in the Hyborian Age, they all made a point of appearing in concentrated clusters in whatever geographical area Conan was passing through. I understand, it’s difficult to come up with a decent monster for an Epic Fight Scene every month. Tentacles were clearly Plan B for days when nothing more exciting came to mind.

I’ve actually skipped some Tentacle Tuesday-relevant covers of this Conan the Barbarian series (275 issues published between October 1970 and December 1993) because they were just too ugly… or too boring. Can you imagine a cover with tentacles on it that’s boring?! Well, I can, now.

conan-the-barbarian25a — **Conan the Barbarian** **#25** (April 1973), penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Ralph Reese. I actually sort-of like this cover. Nice totems!

conan-the-barbarian32a — **Conan the Barbarian #32** (November 1973), penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Ernie Chan. “*Give the woman tentacles, but make sure she has huge boobs, too. And make them flesh-coloured, otherwise it’s too weird. And give her fangs because she’s also a vampire.*“

conan-the-barbarian41a — **Conan the Barbarian #41** (August 1974), penciled by Gil Kane and John Romita (?), inked by Ernie Chan and John Romita.

conan-the-barbarian45a — **Conan the Barbarian #45** (December 1974), penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Neal Adams. What a cutie! I bet he was just minding his own business in a cave when he was rudely interrupted by Conan and his blondie.

conan-the-barbarian86a — **Conan the Barbarian #86** (May 1978), art by John Buscema.

conan-the-barbarian116a — **Conan the Barbarian #116** (November 1980), penciled by John Buscema and inked by Klaus Janson; the latter information has been suggested by co-admin RG, whose artistic eye I unreservedly trust. To quote him directly: «another misattribution from the GDC. They think it’s Neal Adams inking, toss in Dick Giordano’s name to try and explain away the too-thick-for-Adams lines, and still get it wrong. Giordano’s inking is sloppy and random, never ‘organic’. This, despite clearly being a rush job, isn’t botched. The main inker: Klaus Janson, then-member of Adams’ Crusty Bunkers, and an inker with a very distinctive style. Dead giveaway, if you need just one: Conan’s left boot, bottom right corner. It’s likely a group effort, but there’s no trace of Adams nor Giordano on this page. Adams does pop up later, mostly inking Conan faces and some figures.» See how hard we work to bring you not only entertainment, but also edification?

conan-the-barbarian117a — « *Is that you, Conan?* » **Conan the Barbarian #117** (December 1980), art by John Buscema. Why is Spidey’s face in the bottom left corner?* Everyone looks half-hearted on this cover – the tentacles are only making a half-assed attempt at grabbery, Conan’s in the middle of some sort of intricate ballet footwork, and the girl seems a little bored. It’s not a good sign when I start reminiscing about the good old Gil Kane covers… I don’t even like Gil Kane (although I’m gradually warming up to him, I admit).

conan-the-barbarian136a — Conan the Barbarian #136 (July 1982), art by John Buscema. I’m fascinated by the sword’s arc: what direction is it going in? From the bubbles, it’s a swing backwards, but why is the tentacle in the path of that art unaffected? And why is Conan swinging backwards? That child’s face is enough to give one nightmares.

In the mood for more Conan? Visit another Tentacle Tuesday entry, the Savagery of Conan’s Savage Sword, for a gallery of painted Conan covers, replete with mostly nude cuties and of course a great heaping helping of tentacles.

~ ds

*because it’s a direct sales edition, as opposed to a newsstand edition, which would bear a barcode.

Donald McGill, King of Saucy Postcards

January 27, 2019March 26, 2026redscraper3 Comments

« Won’t you have a little rest when they turn out the lights
A nice cup of tea and you’ll be feeling alright
Don’t fret, you’ll recover yet you’ll see
So keep on sending dirty postcards back to me
Back to me, back to me » — James Warren/The Korgis (1980)

London-born Donald McGill (Donald Fraser Gould McGill, to be more precise, 1875-1962), was known for his risqué seaside postcards, sold mostly in souvenir shops in British coastal towns.

He painted the usual figures of fun in the noble tradition of British titillating humour: attractive young ladies, obese men, respectable drunks in the throes of a midlife crisis, cantankerous old ladies, religious personnel, courting couples (a lot of courting couples!), and so on. He painted well, he was prodigiously prolific… and he was not afraid of making jokes so off-colour they could possibly make a sailor blush. (I only have a vague idea of what sailors were like back then, you see.)

McGill ranked his own work according to its vulgarity, classifying it into “mild, medium and strong”. It goes without saying that the “strong” category sold in far greater numbers! Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), McGill’s postcards got him into trouble with upholders of the Moral Good (spoilsports!), culminating with McGill being dragged into court in 1954, when he was almost 80, for breaking the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. The result of this hearing was a hefty fine for McGill, and disaster for the companies producing saucy postcards, with several smaller companies going bankrupt as sales plummeted, cards were destroyed and retailers cancelled orders.

McGill very much died in the saddle: he continued to work until his death in 1962 (and with cartoons for 1963 already prepared). He certainly recycled some jokes, but I think it’s safe to say that he was not about to run out of material. The “king of the saucy postcard” is estimated to have produced around 12 thousand (!) paintings during his career, resulting in the sale of around 200 million postcards… and no royalties for McGill, mind, just his earnings of three guineas per design.

These days, he’s credited with an astute power of social observation and impressive artistic skill. He’s worthy of that praise, but what touches me most is that McGill gave people who surely needed some cheer in their lives a reason to smile, giggle and perhaps even daydream. Hell, some of these postcards made *me* daydream.

Okay, enough theoretical discussion! On to the indecency. I’ve roughly sorted these out by degree of (increasing) “vulgarity”. I honestly didn’t think the jokes would go beyond the “not indecent, but suggestive as hell” category, as per a definition my college best friend coined for something else altogether, yet some of them make surprisingly direct references. Isn’t it lovely to know that our great-grandmothers had their minds in the gutter, too?

donaldmcgill-postcard-lightsout — In the category of “social commentary”.

donaldmcgill-postcard-dog

donaldmcgill-postcard-kitties — I can’t decide whether this is just sweet and innocent or makes a reference to something far more lewd.

donaldmcgill-postcard-burglars

donaldmcgill-postcard-nightdress

donaldmcgill-postcard-stationary

donaldmcgill-postcard-kipling — This particular postcard holds the world record for selling the most copies (a little over 6 million).

donaldmcgill-postcard-dressed

donaldmcgill-postcard-jelly

donaldmcgill-postcard-sporran

donaldmcgill-postcard-nicegirl

For further, ahem, study, view (or even purchase!) 24 banned (sauciest!) postcards right here, or visit the Saucy Seaside Postcards resort.

You can also take a gander at some sketches, which were unearthed in someone’s attic in 2015. As the article explains, « drawings feature fat old ladies, big busted women and lusty men. » While you’re at it, brush up on your Brit slang for the bedroom (entirely unnecessary for the current post, but fun!)

~ ds

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« Sepulveda Von Lovely looks much better in a handlebar, if I do say so myself! » — ‘Bumps’ (2004)

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« I know she’s having a fit, she doesn’t like me a bit, no bird of grace ever lit on Auntie Grizelda » — Diane Hildebrand / Jack Keller, 1966

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« No other state of confusion is as interesting as yours. »

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« In YOUNG LOVE, how can people talk when they kiss? My mom can’t talk when she’s kissing. Can you? I am nine years old. » — Mary K, an astute young reader

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« Won’t you have a little rest when they turn out the lights A nice cup of tea and you’ll be feeling alright Don’t fret, you’ll recover yet you’ll see So keep on sending dirty postcards back to me Back to me, back to me » — James Warren/The Korgis (1980)

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« Won’t you have a little rest when they turn out the lights
A nice cup of tea and you’ll be feeling alright
Don’t fret, you’ll recover yet you’ll see
So keep on sending dirty postcards back to me
Back to me, back to me » — James Warren/The Korgis (1980)