Another treat for vintage comics fans: Craig Yoe has just put out a gorgeous new collection of Otto Messmer’s Felix the Cat comics from the fifties!
Over 200 pages of comics and commentary from one of the greatest and most influential cartoonists ever: Otto Messmer. The stories are fun and surreal and very silly and cartoony -- a really fresh change of pace from the complicated comics of today. Otto Messmer's style changed a lot throughout his long career, and toward the end of his comic-book days he really embraced a beautiful kind of simplicity. This stuff is just great!
Check out the endpapers in this book:
I love the eye-catching design of the whole book. I just wish Otto Messmer’s name appeared on the cover.
Even the back cover looks cool! 
Check back in a few days for some
Felix comic scans from this same era…
…ones that don’t appear in the book!
love felix very much!thanks for posting info about it..!
ReplyDelete=]
ketepo.blogspot.com
Have mine on order from Amazon. Hope it gets here soon. Though, I am not as big a fan of the comic work as I am of the Sundays.
ReplyDeleteSherm - did Messmer have "helpers"? If you look at the progression of his newspaper strips, particularly the Sundays, 1932 looks like he was going in a more stylized direction than where he ended up in 1933. If you have Gerstein's book, take a look and let me know what you think.
PS - Did you get the Jumbo Comic Book yet? Have you soiled yourself? =)
Oh, silly me. The end papers are from 1932. That is how Messmer was drawing Felix before he put some weight on him and rounded him out in 1933. I love the 1932 Felix and the style that Messmer developed in that year, but the sudden departure from it always had me wondering why?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the story behind Messmer, it was indeed really sad how Sullivan took advantage of him...but in a kind of twisted way,..it was also noted that Messmer never really minded that Sullivan took the credit for Felix...I've got to buy this book! Thanks for the heads up Sherm!
ReplyDeleteIf I could bring a guy back and interview him,...it would be Messmer.
ReplyDeleteI would also put his name in big letters on the web site.
The biggest crime about this whole thing is the fact that the man never received any credit fir anything he did and we will never know the real story behind his life.
No name on the cover of the book? Are you kidding me? Some things never change.
Sherm: Great review of a very, very worthwile book! Messmer forever! I've had mine on order with Amazon for a while. Knowing Mr. Yoe's work, I'd bet the farm Messmer recieves mucho credit inside the covers!
ReplyDeleteGreat going, my friend!
I've been hunting for this everywhere, haven't found it at any stores of comic conventions, I think I'll just order it from Amazon! So awesome!
ReplyDelete