This is the first part of the Overview of Funny Animals in comic books I do in English
- If there are demands, others may follow
- the rest of the overview exists in French (9 articles published to this day)
- That Overview isn't done Chronologically
What part did Stan Lee play in the Funny Animals Comic Books craze ?
In his Afterwords, in the recent (2019) Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal Special, Dugan Trodglen talks about the importance of Anthropomorphics / Funny Animals market in the 40's and he then explains that Vince Fago (EIC of Timely comics at the time) was responsible for the launch of the Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal comic book, but that's not really what happened.
Ziggy Pig Silly Seal issue 1 is cover dated September 1944 (most surely shipped in June of that year) but both of theses charaters have been around for some time.
They're first appearance is in Krazy Komics issue 1, cover dated July 1942 (shipped in April - that makes Krazy Komics older than Dell's Animal Comics, wich is cover dated October 1942)
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| First appearances of Silly and Ziggy |
In those days, Timely comics (and all of the Martin Goodman's comics brands) had a summary on the 2nd page cover.
This one reads: Martin Goodman Presents: Stan Lee Managing Editor, Mel Barry Associate Editor, Original Scripts by Stan Lee & William Clayton, Guy Blythe, E.Huntley, Animation by Chad and Moss Worth, Dave Berg, George D. Klein, Bill King, Michael Sekowski, Win, A. Allen Jaffee, Ernest Hart, Special Effects by Stanley Martin and C.M. Grothkopf, Gary Kay, Zoltan Szenicks
let's have an educated look at those credits.
Stan Lee and Stanley Martin is one and the same.
E. Huntley and Ernest Hart is one person (Ernest Huntley Hart)
Chad and C.M. Grothkopf is one person
Win is Ed Winiarski
Gary Kay is Gary Keller
Moss Worth is Moe Worthman
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| First commune adventure of Silly and Ziggy (Krazy Komics 2) and one from Silly Tuines 1 |
And some quick bios on those authors
- Stan Lee ... I am pretty sure, you all know the man ...
- William Clayton had some credits as writer of Captain America (1940-1943) He was born in London in 1884, and died in New York in 1946.
- Guy Blythe did some work for timely at the time, mostly remembered for the Dippy Diplomat strip that ran in Captain America Comics and Joker Comics.
- Ernest Huntley Hart was a prolific writer and artist of that period, he did create Super Rabbit, was the main artist on Mighty Mouse, and he may be the creator of the Whizzer and the Black Marvel under the alias Howard James (his later works involve Nick Fury) He died in 1985.
- Charles (Chad) M. Grothkopf was a prolific comic artist in the early 40's (DC's Detective Comics, Adventure Comics ...) he is the creator of Hoppy the Bunny Marvel, he would continue his carrer in animation (wich he already did before WWII) for Hanna Barbera, Fritz Freleng, Chuck Jones studios (he worked on Alvin & the Chipmunks, Bugs Bunny, tiny toons ..) he did come back to the comics industry in the 80's , helping/inking Scott Shaw on Captain Carrot. he Died in 2005.
- Dave Berg worked for all the publishers between 1940 and 1957 (and he was the main author on the Combat Kelly series that began in 1951) in 1957 he will become one of the House Signature for MAD Magazine. He Died in 2002.
- George Klein is foundly remembered as one of the inkers of Curt Swan (on Superboy and later on on Superman), and of John Buscema (on Avengers), previously he had a long tenure as penciller and/or inker on many Timely titles (the Whizzer, Miss America, Young Allies...) He died in 1969.
- Bill King, seems to be the same William King that did the Navy Bob Steele Strip between 1944 and 1945, under the alias Wilson Starbuck.
- Mike Sekowski has had a long carrer in comics that began in the 40's, he his most remembered as the co-creator of the Justice League of America, and for his long tenure on Wonder Woman, He Died in 1989.
- Ed Winiarski was a prolific artist from the late 30's to the late 50's, He mostly worked on Anthropomorphic and Horror comics, With Stan Lee he did create Buck Duck (I'll get back to that point later on) He died in 1975.
- Al Jaffee began his carreer in the early 40's as an assistant to Chad Grothkopf, before going solo with Krazy Komics, by 1955 he would become a mainstay at Mad Magazine.
- Gary Keller was a staff member of timely comics, doing colors and lettering.
- Zoltan Szenicks was an artists that mostly did colors and letterings for Timely and Archie Comics.
- Moe Worthman was a golden Artists, he did work mostly for Quality Comics and DC Comics (All Flash, Inks over Lee Elias)
- Stan Lee ... I am pretty sure, you all know the man ...
- William Clayton had some credits as writer of Captain America (1940-1943) He was born in London in 1884, and died in New York in 1946.
- Guy Blythe did some work for timely at the time, mostly remembered for the Dippy Diplomat strip that ran in Captain America Comics and Joker Comics.
- Ernest Huntley Hart was a prolific writer and artist of that period, he did create Super Rabbit, was the main artist on Mighty Mouse, and he may be the creator of the Whizzer and the Black Marvel under the alias Howard James (his later works involve Nick Fury) He died in 1985.
- Charles (Chad) M. Grothkopf was a prolific comic artist in the early 40's (DC's Detective Comics, Adventure Comics ...) he is the creator of Hoppy the Bunny Marvel, he would continue his carrer in animation (wich he already did before WWII) for Hanna Barbera, Fritz Freleng, Chuck Jones studios (he worked on Alvin & the Chipmunks, Bugs Bunny, tiny toons ..) he did come back to the comics industry in the 80's , helping/inking Scott Shaw on Captain Carrot. he Died in 2005.
- Dave Berg worked for all the publishers between 1940 and 1957 (and he was the main author on the Combat Kelly series that began in 1951) in 1957 he will become one of the House Signature for MAD Magazine. He Died in 2002.
- George Klein is foundly remembered as one of the inkers of Curt Swan (on Superboy and later on on Superman), and of John Buscema (on Avengers), previously he had a long tenure as penciller and/or inker on many Timely titles (the Whizzer, Miss America, Young Allies...) He died in 1969.
- Bill King, seems to be the same William King that did the Navy Bob Steele Strip between 1944 and 1945, under the alias Wilson Starbuck.
- Mike Sekowski has had a long carrer in comics that began in the 40's, he his most remembered as the co-creator of the Justice League of America, and for his long tenure on Wonder Woman, He Died in 1989.
- Ed Winiarski was a prolific artist from the late 30's to the late 50's, He mostly worked on Anthropomorphic and Horror comics, With Stan Lee he did create Buck Duck (I'll get back to that point later on) He died in 1975.
- Al Jaffee began his carreer in the early 40's as an assistant to Chad Grothkopf, before going solo with Krazy Komics, by 1955 he would become a mainstay at Mad Magazine.
- Gary Keller was a staff member of timely comics, doing colors and lettering.
- Zoltan Szenicks was an artists that mostly did colors and letterings for Timely and Archie Comics.
- Moe Worthman was a golden Artists, he did work mostly for Quality Comics and DC Comics (All Flash, Inks over Lee Elias)
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| Baldy the Eagle the most political comics of the bunch |
Let's see what we could find in that comics.
The comics opens with the first appearance of Silly Seal, on his first adventure.
Silly goes to school but nobody does like him, because he is white, and they are brown, during the school picnic, Silly does create an ice boat and stumbles on a submarine full of bears. Silly will get home late, and be spanked by his mother .
the following story is the first appearance of Ziggy pig, who lives on the farm, his mother asks him to milk the cows, but he prefers the read the arabian nights and falls asleep. He will dream he is Aladin on a quest to save a princess... before being waken by his mother with a bucket full of water, and a promise of a good spanking. Both stories are credited to Al Jaffee. Both strips will become one with issue 2 of Krazy Komics, when they both meet and become friends in a circus story.
Then we get to meet Snappy the grumpy old turtle and the 3 mischievous hares (Cinnamon, Crumb and Stumble), that will help her against Croaky, because only them have the right to torment Snappy ... the art is credited to Mike Sekowski.
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| Snappy |
And we continue with Chester Chipmunk and Toughy Tomcat, Toughy deroutes Chester from going to school, and the both go to the city, meeting many people along the way, and soon they finish in a speakeasy, playing poker and roulette.
The games are rigged, and they flee with the money... arriving late at school and vowing to never be late again. the art for the story is credited to Worthman (taht doesnt resemble his inking technique).
Sammy's Surprise is a text with some illustrations by Chad Grothkopf.
And then we meet Pookey the poetical pup, who meets a mouse who wants to play a prank to her 'friend' the cat. Pup, Mouse and cat all play pranks, and at the end, the cat loses. And we ecounter Ding-a-ling the bellboy, from the land of reason, that is sent by his benevolent king to the land of power, where he meets the dictator of that land. Using the mist of reason Ding-a-ling tranforms all the people of the land of power to benevolent persons. these stories are credited to E. Huntley. Ding-a-ling is not an Anthropomorphic strip.
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| Pookey and Posty |
Continuing to read we then encounter Baldy and his Eaglets. The strip is the most political of the magazine, Baldy and his eaglets fights the terrible Japanese beetles.
The strip is credited to Dave Berg, but , for me, it doesn't ressemble what Berg does. The feature disapears when Mike Sekowski leaves the publication, and the inking styles is similar to the inks Worthman did over Elias.
Then Little Pan enters the scene, and he will come to the aid of a young damsel in distress... with the help of his forest friends, Pan will get rid of the bandits. Some site credits the art to Mike Sekowski, but Pan and Ding-a-ling are 2 lookalike , and the art style is similar (Huntley ?)
And as we approch the end of the book comes Posty the Pelican Postman, who will try to give Miss Grumblepan some well being, writing anonymous love letters . But things get out of hand...
Although some sites credit the art to Vince Fago, he isn't listed on the 2nd page, most assuredly the art is by Chad Grothkopf. Most of those Characters are ripoff of Terry Toons and Disney .
With issue 2, will see the debut of Skinny Bones, Homer Rabbit and Ossie Ostrich and later on we will have Billy and Buggy Bear, Super Baby, Sharpy Fox, Krazy Krow (Some will have their beginnings in Comedy Comics). Ding-a-ling and Little Pan only have one adventure. By Issue 3 Vince Fago and Kin Platt are part of the authors, and by issue 6 a new author, Michael (??) arrives.
Soon after Krazy Komics came out, Timely launched Terry-Toons (october 1942), licensing the famous characters from the theatre (whom they rip-off in that other comics ^^) and Stan Lee refurbishes Comedy Comics as an Anthropomorphic magazine with issue 12 (December 1942).
The series published in Comedy Comics are copies of the series in Krazy Komics, wich are copies of Terry Toons, and Disney (mostly), nothing bad, some good reads, but it's the kind of story that once you have finished reading, it's already forgotten.
The Year is now 1943 and Stan Lee is a conscript. The change is apparent with Krazy Komics 7, Terry Toons 6 and Comedy Comics 14 wich now lists Vince Fago as director, and Private Stan Lee U.S. Army as Consulting Editor. Stan Lee's comeback is a little harder to pinpoint, the summary page has disapeared sometime between 1943 and 1944. Stan Left the army in 1945, Terry Toons 38 (Cover Date November 1945) with a renewd content may be a sign of Stan's return (Mighty Mouse is now the lead story of the comics), if not, all the comics published in 1946 are under Stan's directions.
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| Pennygraber and Dinky |
1944 and 1945 are hard times for publishers, the restrictions on paper (Paper, pulp, and converted products) begins in 1942, for helping during the time of war, by the end of the war, in 1945 finds the Newspaper Crisis (hitting essentially New York) wich can explain a certain lack of regularity in shipping new comics. (Things will worsen with the paper shortage of 1948).
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| Willy and Andy |
But Vince Fago did get to continue what Stan had started, those 3 comics, wich the publishers nicknamed the Big 3, with supplemental comic books with the fan favorites Ziggy, Silly, Super Rabbit, Krazy Krow and some others: The Ziggy pig and Silly Seal comics of 1944 mentioned at the beginning, but also All Surprise wich was a mash-up comics with new stories of strips from the Big 3, lasted 12 issues (Sept 1943 - Dec 1946) and many titles with fewer issues between 1944 and 1946, Comics Caper (6 Issues), Comics for Kids (2 issues) Ideal Comics (4 issues) and Funny Frolic (5 issues), Silly tunes (7 issues), Super Rabbit (14 issues) and Krazy Krow (3 issues)
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| Super Rabbit First Appearance and an excerpt from Silly Tunes 7 |
By the end of the decade, Anthropomorphic comics didn't sell has much as they did 8 years prior for Timely/Marvel.
Krazy komics lasted 26 issues (Spring 1947), before being refurbished as Cindy Comics (27-40) and later on as Crime Can't Win (41+)
Comedy Comics once again changed its content with issue 34 (September 1946) and lasted only one 1ssue... both titles tried to copy the teen humour from Archie Comics.
Terry Toons did continue, with Mighty Mouse, soon to be joined by Heckle & Jeckle , Issue 59 was the last issue published by Timely (August 1947) issue 60 came from St John.
Krazy komics lasted 26 issues (Spring 1947), before being refurbished as Cindy Comics (27-40) and later on as Crime Can't Win (41+)
Comedy Comics once again changed its content with issue 34 (September 1946) and lasted only one 1ssue... both titles tried to copy the teen humour from Archie Comics.
Terry Toons did continue, with Mighty Mouse, soon to be joined by Heckle & Jeckle , Issue 59 was the last issue published by Timely (August 1947) issue 60 came from St John.
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| Whacky, Wonder, Buck Duck |
That didn't stop Stan.
The End of 1945 (December) sees the publishing of the Dopey Duck Comics (2 issues, it is then renamed Whacky Duck and will continue to issue 6 - June 1947) theses comics are by Stan and Ed Winiarski. Whacky Duck will come back in 1950 in the Wonder Duck comics (soon to be renamed It's a Duck's Life) the charactert will see it's name changed from Whacky Duck, to Wonder Duck, and soon to Buck Duck. (Whacky also Appeared in the last issues of Krazy Komics and All Adventure)
That series will last 12 issues, and will come back in 1952 under the name Buck Duck.
That character, is shameless copy of Disney's Ducks (Donald and Scooge McDuck). (but it still is a good fun read)
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| Buck Duck or Some Disney duck ? |
I.W. entreprises did publish reprints of Ziggy Pig Silly Seal, Super Rabbit and Krazy Krow in 1958.
Did DC comics embrace the Anthropomorphic craze of the 40's ?
I'll talk about it, Another time
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