"Frankenstein's Family" by Dick Briefer

 

 

 

Dick Briefer's stories could be a little odd at times, but they sure are fun to look at. Between his humorous Frankenstein stories, and his later horror stories, his is easily the best version of the Monster in comic book form (in my opinion). I do prefer these funny Frankenstein stories, though, and I love the character design of the Monster himself. Pushing that nose up above the eyes was genius.

This is the first of four stories in this issue.

Here is "Frankenstein's Family" from Frankenstein #3 (July-August 1946):

 

 

 

Donald's Big Imagination by Carl Barks

This story is a special favorite of mine. It is the first story I can remember reading as a boy (in a Gold Key reprint) where I had my moment of recognition of "the Good Artist". Specifically, it is Barks' depictions of ordinary objects in ever increasing scale that made me realize "hey, this guy's good!" I didn't know his name until much later, but from that point on I sought out the Donald Duck reprints that had the recognizable Barks touch.

Also worth mentioning, Gyro Gearloose apparently invented virtual reality in 1957!

This story originally appeared in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #199 (April, 1957):

 

Albert & Pogo's Christmas by Walt Kelly

I apologize for the inconsistent quality of these scans, some of the pages in my copy of this comic are a bit faded...

This story is from Santa Claus Funnies, so it's possibly the one story missing from many people's collections of Pogo comics. It's a very funny story highlighted by some great dialog, and features one of Kelly's running gags, Albert's belief that he has become a cannibal by accidentally eating a child he was supposed to be watching.

Here is "Albert and Pogo's Christmas" from Santa Claus Funnies (Four Color) #254 (1949):

    2 comments:


Pappy said...

Bless you for running this story; it's a Pogo story I've never seen before.

Love the great work you do on your blog.

March 30, 2009 11:38 AM


Doug said...

Thanks, Pappy! Like you, I'm also a big Pogo fan, but hadn't seen this story until a few years ago myself. I figured there were lots of folks who'd never seen it either.

March 30, 2009 1:04 PM

Frankenstein by Dick Briefer

I've been reading a lot of these great old comics on other blogs, and I figure I should contribute something to the online Dick Briefer archive.

I have copies of issues #3 and #4, and I will be uploading both issues in their entirety (but probably one story at a time). But first I have some Walt Kelly and maybe some more Barks coming up.

In the meantime, why not check out the stories that are already available? At Pappy's Golden Age Blog, you can find an awful lot of Frankenstein, look for the stories here. He also has the "origin" story from Frankenstein #1. Over at Joyville, Gabriel has posted one of the later horror stories, "Entranced". Enjoy!

Barney Bear by Barks

Carl Barks had nice run in Our Gang Comics, writing and drawing a couple of "Happy Hound" (Droopy) stories, then a series of Barney Bear and Benny Burro stories. The Barney & Benny stories are good fun, reading like an old radio comedy team (Barney is much funnier in these comics than he ever was in his MGM cartoons) and of course highlighted by Barks' great cartooning. Barks was one of the few Golden Age cartoonists who could really get a sense of animated cartoons onto a static page.

Here is Barney Bear & Benny Burro from Our Gang Comics #16 (March-April 1945); art & story by Carl Barks:
 

 

  2 comments:


tummelumsen said...

You publish some really valuable info. I got som 27 Barney Bear stories -written in danish- and it was just super see some of the stories in the original language (publish some more:-) I also try to find out how many Happy Hound stories Barks did make. You imply two stories (a couple)and that is what I have found in danish comic books. Were it really two stories only? I would like to see some text/stories, if you got some please let us see them
Best regards

Henrik

March 7, 2010 7:29 AM


Doug said...

I've only got a couple of the actual comic books; I posted them here because it's nice to see them in color. If you want the non-Disney Barks comics, look for a book called the "Barks Bear Book", which was published in the 1990s. It has black and white reprints of all the "our Gang" comics: Happy Hound (2 stories), Benny Burro and Barney Bear (there were some solo stories of each character before he teamed them up). There is also Andy Panda and "Porky Pig of the Mounties" included. It's out of print so a copy might run at least $30, but it's well worth it!

March 7, 2010 11:52 AM