Redartz: Greetings, friends! Today seemed like a good day for a laugh, and so we shall consider our 'oddest' comics. And before we go any further, let's thank our Bronze Age Baby Doug for the inspiration for this post!
Most of our favorite comics are probably noteworthy examples of fine artwork and engaging storytelling. But if you're like me, in the course of collecting you've picked up a few books that don't really fit in the usual mold. Perhaps you have some bizarre promotional comics. Maybe you have a fondness for some of the oddall titles found in the Silver and Golden ages. Possibly you have a favorite among the mainline Marvel and DC books that just 'seemed a bit off'. That's one of the great things about comic book collecting- there are SO MANY varieties, niches, genres, that there's bound to be something that appeals to everyone.
So, allow me to tell you a bit about my 'oddball'. It's called "The Adventures of Peter Wheat", which is perhaps odd enough already. It's a promotional comic, published in 1953 by the Bakers Associates, Inc. It features a small boy of indeterminate age, who apparently is the guardian of "Wheat Field Castle". He hobnobs with insects and animals, many of whom bear a striking resemblance to the denizens of Walt Kelly's "Pogo" strip. Which is only to be expected: Kelly was the original creator on this series of promo comics.
I get a big kick out of esoteric comics like this one- just something different. A newsprint cover, vintage bread ad on the back, and a boy wearing a wheat kernel on his head- what's not to like?
And I'll finish up today with a few other quirky books from my stack. Perhaps less rarified than "Peter Wheat", but either the covers or the contents appeal to the twisted soul within. Do you have any strange little gems to share? Bet I'm not the only one who craves a little wackiness with their comics....
14 comments:
At the Chicago Comic Convention in the summer of '76 part of the (admittedly minimal) "swag" items that they were handing out were free copies of a few nascent independent comics-- in the days before independent publishers were really even a thing at all. Small B&W First Issues that were clearly more an audition-piece than anything else. They were certainly amateurish-- but showed some potential. Two that I can remember w/out digging them out of the basement would be. . .COBALT BLUE (great name), which I think was a high-tech mercenary/super-agent/sci-fi type of thing? The other was called. . . THE MAJICANS (?I think?)-- sort of an oddballs thrown together for a perilous quest sort-of-thing, IIRC. Art showed some promise-- writing was a bit immature in it's effort to be clever w/ the comic-relief character (which to be fair, can be a struggle for even veteran writers). And there was a third-- which I can't bring to mind at the moment at all-!
Along with The Tick, New England Comics had a whole stable of other characters and comics that don't seem to have made a dent in the collective comics-world memory. MAN-EATING COW (a Tick spin-off) was and engaging title-- sort of like Godzilla or Man-thing in that the supporting cast really was the entirety of the story. A non-speaking man-eating cow just isn't gonna provide much in the way of layered story-telling all by herself. There was also a title called CHAINSAW VIGILANTE which I do have several issues of--- but it didn't make a tremendous impression on me. It/he did have a very rabid small fan base for a time, though.
Ha! Nice to see Megaton Man represented up there!
I also have a few randomly-acquired evangelical Christian comics-- which I find to be rather squirmy. Stylistically, they're a lot like the old romance comics-- but are relentless in their proselytizing, and awfully hard to simply read as a comic.
HB
HB
I have recent-ish Jughead Double Digest that features cows taking milk baths and in the same story, characters breaking the forth wall to make jokes about censorship. And this was published before we got 50 different iterations universes that featured the Archie characters.
I have a copy of Walt Disney's "Moon Pilot" from 1962. It had a quirky quality which made it well worth the buck I paid.
Hello All, My contribution to this would be the line of Treasure Chest Comics frI'm 1946 to 1972. Many wonderful stories and occasional art by greats like Crandall. Not well known since primarily sold/ distribution through Catholic affiliations.
I don't know about Bronze Age oddities, but I have some others. . .
Let's see. . . I got a bunch of Chick tracts (you know those right?) and am always trying to increase my collection of those awful/awesome things.
I have some indie press "poetry" comics that are weird. And mini-comics of various kinds.
A complete collection of the comics that came out for "Asst Editor's Month" in fall 1983 (cover dated January 1984)
And the original (and more recent color re-printing + new material) of Comic Book Comics (aka The Comic Book History of Comics.
I used to have a couple of fairly awful Prince comics, but got rid of them with most of my original collection in the late 90s and I regret it terribly!
Middle Space-start getting some Treasure Chedt Comic Books to counter the Chic Tracts now!!! Lol!
Hmmm, the weirdest comic I have? That's a toughie. Maybe the Rocket Raccoon miniseries (about which I wrote a review on BAB). I have issues 1 and 3 of the A-Team comic; that was pretty strange. And I have a couple of British war comics, but those aren't really weird, just outliers from the rest of my collection.
Wasn't there a DC miniseries called "The Weird" that came out a few years after the Crisis? I haven't read it, so I can't comment on how accurate the title is :)
I had some pretty odd stuff in my old collection, including some educational comics that were handed out at my school (one called Mickey Mouse and Goofy Explore Energy, which I think was published in cooperation with the US government, and one of those Superman promotional comics for the Radio Shack TRS 80 computer). However, hands down the weirdest (and that's definitely not weird in a good way) comics I had was one of those Spire Christian comics featuring Archie. I carelessly pulled that off the spinner rack when I was in my Archie phase. Needless to say, I was unpleasantly surprised when I got home and started reading it; even as a kid found it exceedingly creepy seeing, e.g., Betty preaching to the other kids or breaking out in prayer mid-story.
And on that note: Osvaldo, I suppose I can understand your reasons for wanting those Chick tracts as some kind of oddities, but I've read enough of those online to know I'd never actually want physical copies of them.
Legion of Substitute Heroes #1!
Also liked the joking What If #34 and the No-Prize Book.
And yes, Fantastic Four Roast was great.
All pretty corny by today's standards, but as a kid, a fun break from the "serious" superhero drama!
(oh yeah, don't forget Groo!)
-david p.
Some intriguing books everyone! Thanks for contributing!
HB- those old Chicago Conventions were terrific, although I don't recall those giveaways. "Cobalt Blue" is a cool name. Wonder if he had a partner in "Cadmium Yellow"...
J.A.- that Jughead digest sounds great. "Fourth wall" tales are often a hoot.
Charlie, Osvaldo and Edo- those religious comics are a whole odd niche in themselves. I have a couple of them under "The Crusaders" banner. Pretty intense.
David p.- you named some good stuff! And nothing wrong with a title corniness, our world could use some more such humor...
A couple of other quick thoughts--
DC published a Jerry Lewis comic that had a darned long run (if the numbering is correct)-- his foil being his dreadful little semi-thuggish nephew, Renfrew. I somehow acquired three coverless issues of that book in my youth, and I will say that it was often DARNED hilarious. Silly, goofy-- but with an unexpected dry and satirical edge (often) in the writing. A crossover issue with the Flash as a guest star could definitely qualify as "most odd thing".
Along the same lines, a book I've touted before- although I only have one issue of it, also coverless-- was Gold Key's 12 issue or so run of THE MONKEES. Completely captured the comic tone of the show, right along with the surreal momentary bursts through the fourth wall and switches to non-linear little sight-gags. If it didn't cost a fortune, I would track that whole run down.
HB - you inspired me!
I checked the pricing on the Monkees Comics and they go from $3 - $ 20 for decent shape.
But here is the awesome part (drum roll here...)
Two Comics: 1968 Dell "The Monkees #22" & 1972 Charlton "David Cassidy #3 $10.00 Buy it now!!!
I mean - where could you get that much pop culture for $10??? Monkees and Partridge Family!!!
HB- ooo,ooo, great call on Jerry Lewis! In the last batch of coverless books (is there a pattern here?) I bought and loaded on my tablet, one issue of Jerry's book was among them. Hilarious, and historically interesting (dated 1963, Jerry went to Washington DC and contacted JFK, David Ben- Gurion, Kruschev, DE Gaulle and many other then current figures). And wonderful art by the underappreciated Bob Oksner.
Charlie- man, sounds like an auction to jump on...
My prize for weirdness is "Major Inapak the Space Ace", a 1951 comic about a Flash Gordon like hero and his boy sidekick who travel in space and fight the fight empowered by the chocolate drink Inapak. It's a full-size comic by the Bob Powell studio and when I got it in 1971 I was thrilled to have a comic which was (GASP) twenty years old. Everything I own almost now is twenty years old (SIGH). It's a fun comic and the reason I got hold of one is that a pallet of them full of them warehouse was discovered and they flooded out into the market. They are commonplace enough but still very fun.
https://www.comics.org/issue/9326/
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