Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Vivie Risto's Chilly Willy

Today we have the work of Vivie Risto, who worked for Dell/Western Publishing for approximately twenty years, beginning in the early 1940s. Not much is known about Mr. Risto (sometimes Veve or vive Risto). He was first generation American (his parents were Finnish immigrants), born in South Dakota in 1902 (real name - Oscar Wilho Risto). He died in Studio City, California in 1981. For a concise list of his work in both comic books and animation, check out the artist's entry in the Inducks database. "The Sea King's Quarrel" and "Polar Pirates," come from Four Color No. 1074, February-April 1960.

Risto is another of the many worthwhile though forgotten artists from the glorious history of Dell's Four Color. His style seems a pleasing holdover from an earlier period of cartooning and animation, perhaps late Twenties or Thirties. The cover was done by John Carey.

I couldn't let you go without this great ad from the back cover. Oh, for the days when fudge was energy food. See how "Frisky Fudgie" saves the day, all because he is bursting with energy!

16 comments:

  1. This book's a real charmer. Cute overload! It's a shame Walter Lantz's characters aren't seen as much as they once were.

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  2. Hi, Debbie: Risto had charming down cold. I absolutely love the Sea King! Risto also did his own lettering. Chilly Willy (for Dell) seems to have been his specialty.

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  3. Again, I never cared for this guy's stuff, but I LOVE that first story! That Sea King is great!

    I think one of the reasons I didn't like his work is that the second story, "Polar Pirates", was one of the MOST reprinted stories, ever! It seemed to be in every other Lantz book!

    Again, we can all agree to disagree.

    There can be no argument though, Kraft© Fudgies were great! I owed my "robust" childhood frame thanks, in no small measure, to those things!

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  4. Bill: We agree at least on The Sea King. He rocks!

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  5. In the 1940s-50s, Vivie's specialties were Henery Hawk (later including Foghorn Leghorn), Elmer Fudd (1943-48), and Beaky Buzzard (1943-45) for LOONEY TUNES.
    Very funny stuff; the Henery stories are sometimes almost like Tubby with Warner characters, though I don't believe Stanley wrote any of them.

    Risto also drew Homer Pigeon (1944-45, 1952-55) for the Lantz comics and the rather dull Wuff the Prairie Dog (1945-?) for the MGM comics.
    Also an occasional Li'l Bad Wolf or Bucky Bug for Disney, though never too often.

    Chilly Willy is only (ahem) the tip of the iceberg. (-:

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  6. Ramapith: Great info - I'm going to have to hunt down some Henery Hawk and Beaky Buzzard.

    "Chilly Willy is only (ahem) the tip of the iceberg."

    (rimshot)

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  7. Just discovered your site - great stuff! One question: did you just start making archives available with this most recent post? I really like the ability to download an archive of the comics so I can read them with my kids on my iPad, and the ability to download the whole issue as an archive is much simpler than downloading individual pages and zipping them up manually!

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  8. Patrick: The downloadable option has been a bit sporadic until now (some posts over the years have been downloadable, but not done with any consistency. But I will continue to do so now for every post. Thanks for your interest!

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  9. I discovered that there were actually quite a few of your posts with CBR archives by means of a simple Google search: "download site:www.bigblogcomics.com" returned five pages of search results. Probably 30 or more CBR's there, and I've downloaded about half. Fun!

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  10. Patrick: Fantastic! I'm glad you found them. I hand't thought of that search strategy. Well done! I hope you (and especially the kids) enjoy them!!

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  11. I'm sure they will. I'm away from home for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure they'll be tickled when I show them my brand new archive of comics upon my return!

    Thanks again, and I look forward to the next instalment!

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  12. Your posts always inspire me to dig out my kids stuff and re-read them again! Love Chilly Willy...

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  13. Karswell: How can one not love Chilly Willy? He ranks with Casper as being irrefutably lovable.

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  14. Mykal, I'm getting antsy. I love Chilly Willy and all, but am jonesing for new posts! Please to continue...

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  15. Sdestefano: Thanks for noticing! Today or tomorrow, I swear.

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