Number 1451: Battlin’ ‘bots

I used to watch my younger brother playing Rock’em Sock’em Robots with his buddies. I was a little too old when they became a fad in 1964...I was way too mature. I’d sniff with derision at the youngsters’ juvenile antics in trying to knock each others’ robot heads off, then go in my room and read comic books.

The idea for fighting robots wasn’t new, and had been used in science fiction before. It was used as recently as Real Steel, a movie from 2011.

So, we have two roughhousing robot stories today: “Stuart Taylor in Tales of the Supernatural” is from Jumbo Comics #101 (1947), and the Robotman story, “The Battling Robots” is from Star Spangled Comics #81 (1948). Robotman is drawn by Jimmy Thompson, and Stuart Taylor is credited by the Grand Comics Database as being drawn by Jack Kamen.

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Number 1366: When the bills come due: Wild Bill and Buffalo Bill

I showed the first story from Avon’s Wild Bill Hickok #1 (1949), drawn by Jimmy Thompson, in December, 2012. You’ll find a link to it below the scans for the second story, “Cheyenne Campaign,” also drawn by Thompson.

In this story Wild Bill meets up with Buffalo Bill and even George Armstrong Custer for a fight with some Indians on the warpath. You read dialogue like “. . .those red fiends will...get our scalps...” and “Every shot must be a dead or wounded Cheyenne!” and realize this is one of those stories with casual racism common when Westerns were at the height of their popularity. My apologies to those who may be offended. It was fairly standard fare for its era, but made vivid by Thompson’s excellent and action-packed drawings.

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Read more about artist Jimmy Thompson. Click on the picture to go to another rip-roarin' story:

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Number 1278: A legendary comic book artist adds to the legend of a Western icon

Although Wild Bill Hickok is an historic character from the American West, he's also accorded a legendary status. Much of the story that is written of him mixes in heavy doses of fiction. That includes the Wild Bill Hickok series from Avon, which began in 1949.

For the purposes of this blog, what interests us here is that Wild Bill’s origin story, told here in Wild Bill Hickok #1, is drawn by Jimmy Thompson. Thompson, as this article states so well was fully formed as an artist when he entered comic books in their early days. He drew for Timely and DC, and left both of them in the late forties. He showed up here at Avon in 1949, and then, as the article states, left comics after 1952.

Jimmy Thompson, like some other really good artists of the Golden Age, hasn't exactly flown under the radar — he's been written about, and his work shown, including here at Pappy's* — but most people who write about him don't believe he's accorded the status he deserves for his artistic skill. I think when you look at this story you'll recognize that he was a very good artist, right up there with the best of them, but whose proverbial light has remained mostly under the proverbial basket.

*See Pappy's #317, and Pappy's #1115

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Number 1115


Return of the singing cowboy


This post gives me a chance to make up for a faux pas. The last time I showed a story from DC's Jimmy Wakely comic book* I titled it "The second-string Gene Autry." A reader sent me a note, telling me he understood I was trying to be funny, but felt that Wakely deserved more respect.

The Jimmy Wakely Trio was a popular Western group with several hit records. Wakely was in movies with his trio, then starred in his own movies for Monogram in the late '40s. I'm not able to find any that are currently available on DVD.

I believe that Wakely has mostly disappeared from the pop culture radar, but Jimmy Wakely deserves respect for what he accomplished in his career as a movie star and popular singer. I'm reminded to be careful what I say about people, even though they may be deceased. Family members and fans are googling their names and sometimes ending up at Pappy's. I don't need anyone angry with me over some snarky comment I may have said about their father, grandpa, brother, uncle, best friend...you get the picture.

Drawn by Alex Toth and Joe Giella, from Jimmy Wakely #1, 1949:











*"Jinx Town Lives Again," also from Jimmy Wakely #1, in Pappy's #1020.

Another Jimmy, this time Jimmy Thompson, was the artist for this beautiful three-page strip, "The Sun-Dance of the Crow Indians!" from this issue of Jimmy Wakely. Writing is credited to Gardner Fox, although a caption on the splash page says that Thompson lived with the Crow Indians. I assume he had more than a little to do with technical advice.

Thompson is also the artist who did the Robotman back-up strip in Detective Comics.

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