Category: Comic Books

Jonny Questioning

Previously on Dog Rat, I featured a Marvel Super Heroes cartoon with Captain America. The low-budget cartoons in this series went into production thanks in large part to the relatively successful and ambitious Jonny Quest, a half-hour primetime cartoon from two years earlier.

Jonny Quest was developed by cartoonist-animator-comic book artist Doug Wildey, who had worked for Alex Toth on an earlier cartoon called Space Angel, which shouldn’t be confused with Toth’s Space Ghost. We’ll be seeing some of both those spacey guys later.

The premiere episode of Jonny Quest, “Mystery of the Lizard Men”, originally aired on ABC-TV at 7:30 pm, Friday, September 18, 1964. I had just turned nine, and I thought this was one very cool cartoon — except for Bandit!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/JonnyQuest.flv 400 300]© H-B

… And That Ain’t “Peanuts”

The availability and value of so-called collectibles has changed greatly since the rise of eBay. Prices for certain items plummeted when it became apparent that they were, in fact, not particularly rare, while others skyrocketed in value. One area that has seen incredible inflation is comic book and comic strip originals by particular artists.

Philip Weiss Auctions is hyping the winning bids for original comic strip art by Charles Schulz, including “Li’l Folks” originals. The name “Peanuts” is, of course, another (equally-outdated) way of saying Li’l Folks.

(Oceanside, N.Y.) – Seven original comic strips by the renowned cartoonist Charles Schulz sold for a combined $152,550 at a three-session, weekend multi-estate sale held March 24-25 by Philip Weiss Auctions. The strips included a Sunday “Peanuts” page from 1963 that alone realized $37,000; three “Li’l Folks” strips; and four “Peanuts” dailies. Prices quoted include a 13% buyer’s premium.

Spider-Man #43The money that the Schulz originals fetched at auction doesn’t surprise me. What stunned me, however, was the $101,700 for the cover art to Spider-Man #43.

Drawn by John Romita Sr., this is a particularly favorite issue of mine, although it’s not one of his best covers. How much was Romita paid for drawing this cover in 1966? Probably not even $100.

I’m pleased that a Romita original can command this much money, and I would like to believe that Jazzy Johnny will get a cut of the bucks transacted at this auction. It’s the right thing to do. (It’s possible that Romita was selling it himself, but given what I know about the history of such peak period Marvel Comics art, I doubt it.)

The Horror of Scanning

Here are two scans of the same thing. Pretty picture, huh? Well, one of them is prettier than the other. See the difference? One image I scanned using the Windows Scanner Wizard, the other I did with the software that came with the scanner. The latter is the better-looking one. The difference is from setting the de-screening feature.

Captain America vs. The Red Skull

Previously on DogRat I posted this old TV cartoon…
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/MAR07/CapAM.flv 400 300]

I promised to scan and post the story from the Silver Age of comic books that the cartoon was based on. Click the picture below or here to see it in the gallery.

Captain America in Action

Compare and contrast the comic with the cartoon. Extra credit if you can name the original comic book issues.

Captain America and the Cosmic Cube!

In honor of Stephen Colbert inheriting the shield once held proudly by the late Captain America, I present a video of Cap in pitched battle against his evil Nazi nemesis, the Red Skull! The red, white and blue warrior must wrest the awesome power of the Cosmic Cube from the Skull’s grasp and prevent the enslavement of all mankind!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/MAR07/CapAM.flv 400 300]

The animation in this 17-minute cartoon is next to non-existent, and except for the drawings that were lifted directly from the comic book stories, the art is downright awful. But the music and voices add a lot to the atmosphere of these old Marvel Super Heroes cartoons.

I’m in the process of scanning the original comic book stories that were the basis for this cartoon. I’ll post them in the gallery later for comparison.

Note: This video by itself is over 100 MB — bigger than all of the storage provided by the first hosting service I used five years ago.