This comic book story by Lou Trakis appeared as filler pages in Katzenjammer Kids issue #20 published by Standard Comics in the Spring of 1952.
I don't know anything about the artist, but he sure knew how to draw comics with a carefree, breezy look!
Click on the pictures below to see BIG Hi-Res scan of each comic book page
I just really enjoy the loosey-goosey, bouncy-silly look of these drawings. After scanning through hundreds of pages of old comics, these just jumped right out at me.
The artist is obviously very skilled, but he's not slick in the slightest. That's a good thing.
I love the goofy faces with the wonky expressions. The faces of all the characters looks the same, but he makes up for it by giving each one a very distinctive costume and hat. Very primitive...like a Bazooka Joe comic.
No "art" here, no subtle characterization.
Nothing new or groundbreaking.
But it made me smile. I hope it made you smile, too. ___________
Well, this story was a pleasant discovery...some really top-notch freaky pre-Marvel sci-fi/horror comic book pages from the King of comics, Jack Kirby.
This is from Alarming Tales #1, September 1957
Published by Western Tales, Inc. and Harvey Features Syndicate. This comic book story is one of five tales in this all-Kirby extravaganza. If you get a chance to lay your paws on this comic book, get it! It's a winner through and through!
As usual, CLICK on any one of the pages below to see a large-size kooky Kirby comics page.
It looks like Kirby spent some time inside Steve Ditko's fevered imagination before drawing this story! Clearly, Jack Kirby knew how to draw those kind of extra-dimensional landscapes many years before Steve Ditko drew them in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales with Dr. Strange.
This 1957 comic book story was drawn just a few years after Richard Matheson wrote the short story "Little Girl Lost," but it was five more years before this imagery showed up on the Twilight Zone when "Little Girl Lost" was adapted for TV in 1962. I wonder if "doorways to another dimension" was a popular pulp-fiction theme at the time.
As usual, CLICK on any one of these pages to see a large-size comic book page.
Whew! That was a close one!
Would you like to see more stories from this comic? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think! Thanks...--Sherm
