Porky was always the most innocent of the Warner cartoon characters, particularly in the Four Color comics. I love how hard he tries to make everyone happy in this story. His girl, Petunia, was always a hard woman to please.
The art here is by Fred Abranz, who was a Warner’s animator during the 1930’s and 40s. By this point in his career, he was working full time for Western Publishing as a staff artist. Jeez, this generation of animators could draw. The cover is by Ralph Heimdahl.
Catch the wonder and joy in Porky’s expression when he imagines he has the problem solved (page 7, panel 3). That’s what kids’ comics are all about. Also included here is a guest shot by Beaky Buzzard! This is from Four Color No. 370, Jan/Feb, 1952.
The art here is by Fred Abranz, who was a Warner’s animator during the 1930’s and 40s. By this point in his career, he was working full time for Western Publishing as a staff artist. Jeez, this generation of animators could draw. The cover is by Ralph Heimdahl.
Catch the wonder and joy in Porky’s expression when he imagines he has the problem solved (page 7, panel 3). That’s what kids’ comics are all about. Also included here is a guest shot by Beaky Buzzard! This is from Four Color No. 370, Jan/Feb, 1952.
Dell often did a black and white one-page story for the inside covers. Sometimes, they were my favorite part. You really got a chance to see some excellent brush work on these pages. Like this one. The artist here Is John Carey.
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11 comments:
Not a lot of people know this, but in addition to drawing fantastic Porky Pig covers, Ralph Heimdahl also guards the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard. But only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
pork pig was ever awesome in the comics! as a tv cartoon he seemed doofus-y. that's some skillful inkwork too.
Aaron: Good one (I knew someone was going to notice that name).
Ketih: Yeah, a lot of the characters for Warners were somewhat different in the Dell comics. Plus, they were all buddies! Even Elmer and Buggs. -- Mykal
I totally agree with you about those black & white interior pages. They were often among my favorite parts of those books.
A ton of those Dell funny animal books started showing up a few years ago, and plenty of them were pristine file copies.
I must admit that between my brother and I, quite a few of them were snapped up.
This issue had another one pager by Carey as well, who will get more play on this blog as time passes. The Dell four Color stuff is tops! Smart move snapping up the issues! -- Mykal
So many things to learn here. After so many years I found porky pig again, Cool blog!
Tawhid: I agree. Porky never stops trying, and he just wants to make things all right! I am glad you like the blog. Please come back again. -- Mykal
Petunia's a B-word!...
Prof.: She's a real challenge, I'll grant you. And Porky tries so hard to please! -- Mykal
My little brother and I bought tons of 1940s Looney Tunes comics in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when they were still available rather cheaply outside of conventions.
My bro can't have been older than eight when he stated the obvious: "I don't like Porky's girlfriend. She's so mean to him. She doesn't love him... why does he love her?"
I'm still trying to figure it out. Western's Minnie Mouse (often by the same writers) was just as unpleasant.
It's interesting how Western massaged the studios' lead characters into their two prevailing formulas, which I'll call "Donald Duck" (adult antihero living with more level-headed kids) and "Andy Panda" (earnest hero and eccentric/stupid pal blunder into low-level crime—Stanley actually did this well, others did it robotically).
The "Andy" formula might be better called "Porky," as it seems to have started with him (distorting first Bugs, then Sylvester to take the pal role). But in practice Porky was more of a polyglot, with Cicero and Petunia allowing him to slip into either paradigm.
As good as many Western stories are, you can ram vast quantities into those two formulas and the characters' alleged personalities become window dressing.
Sadly, Western's Mickey Mouse is a rote reuse of the Andy formula, enlivened only by a few good villains (who, notably, mostly started outside of Western's production).
David: Thanks for stopping by! Yeah, the Looney Tunes comics tended to flatten the characters considerably and place them in formula stories; or change their relationships as well. I have a Porky Pig on tap called the "Smug Smugglers" that is the perfect "Andy Panda" type (and thank you for this analysis of story types). Sylvester plays the eccentric friend in that one. The relationship between
Plus, the girlfriends take on a level of meanness that can be quite shocking at times.
What shines, though, in the Looney Tunes comics is the art, which I have read is nearly always done by Warner's moonlighting animators.
let me just say quickly, David, that I think the current Gemstone run on Walt Disney Comics and Stories and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge are the best comics produced today, either for kids or adults. -- Mykal
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