Two Beautiful Pages from Al Hubbard

Good afternoon, Kids! So nice to visit with you all again!

In my enthusiasm exalting the wonderful character of Goofy in my last post, I fear I gave short shrift to the artist of the story, Al Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard is one of my favorite comic book artists of all time. His work is always instantly recognizable to me (and any fan of comic book art) by his gorgeous, luxuriant inking. Mr. Hubbard’s work always appears so rich and wet even though it was done and reproduced on pulp paper (in this case) 70 years ago.

In these two one-page stories, taken from the inside back and front covers Four Color No. 468 (May 1953), Mr. Hubbard's linework leaps forward. I always love these black & white inside covers from the older Four Color comics! It really allows the inking and brushwork to shine and with Al Hubbard, that’s an especially rich gift!

Let's revel in the beauty of Hubbard!

Coming up next, a real treat: Some early Howie Post (another favorite of the Big Blog) from 1948.

I will see you all again very soon. Until then, I hope you are all warm, safe, and happy!

--Your friend, Mykal

Goofy in "The Junior Jet"

Good afternoon, Kids! So nice to visit with you all again!

Today’s story stars a personal hero of mine from the Disney Studios: Goofy!

What I admire first about Goofy is his innate loyalty and bravery. But even more importantly, he is always purely optimistic and by nature happy in the worst of times. The needle of his internal compass is always balanced on contentment. Nothing gets him down, and he never, ever quits on his dreams!

Often, when his pal Mickey Mouse is feeling dire, it will be Goofy who urges him to cheer up, reminding him that things aren’t as bad as they seem (even when they seem pretty darned bad). His instincts are always to kindness, care, generosity for anyone he knows (and the moment Goofy meets you, he will consider you a friend).

Goofy will be the first to admit that Mickey (and nearly everyone) is much smarter than he is (in this story, Goofy says to himself “Wish I could think good like Mickey! Must be fun when yah git the hang of it!”), and Goof is always poor as a church mouse. But nothing gets him down, nothing makes him worry too much, and nothing ever stops him from coming to Mickey’s aid when Mick is in trouble.

I love him and have learned from him that a good heart is of more help in the world than a quick mind. I work every day to be more like Goofy.

The great Al Hubbard illustrated this story with a script from Carl Fallberg. The cool cover (which I've thrown in just because it is so cool) is by Dick Moores. Enjoy!

Both story and cover are from Four Color No. 468 (May 1953).

I will see you all again very soon. Until then, I hope you are all warm, safe, and happy!

--Your friend, Mykal

Al Hubbard in Four Color #389 - April, 1952

Few artists in the history of comics have ever demonstrated such control over gesture, posture, and expression as did the great, Al Hubbard. Judge for yourself! This is from Four Color #389, April, 1952..

Ha Ha Comics No. 45, September 1947

The Golden Age of of comics books produced lots of great artwork - but no genre of comics during this period produced art as polished as did kids' comics!

To support this claim, I though I would post every story from an issue of Ha Ha Comics from the late 1940s over the next several posts. Thus, you might see for yourself the high standard of the time. This first story starring the Impulsive Imps will give you the first sampling. I believe the artwork here is by Al Hubbard; with cover by Ken Hultgren.

As a bonus, I'll throw in all the ads that were in this issue as well just to give one a sense of the times. The ad that closes this post includes a half-pager featuring the art of Dan Gordon!

Al Hubbard's Andy Hardy

Today we have the masterful work of Mr. Al Hubbard in two Andy Hardy stories from Four Color No. 389, April 1952. What I love most about the following pages is Hubbard's astonishing feel for character. With Hubbard, every character is given a unique life - they move and act differently from one another, have different weight and balance. And what facial expressions! Hubbard did all the artwork for the following, pencils and inks. After the stories, I'll wrap the post up with two black & white inside covers (Lordy Lou, what inking!), and a stunner of a back cover - all at no extra charge!