Number 1547: From that wonderful artist who brought you Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich...

I’ve shown another crime story (check the link under this story) by Warren Kremer. He is probably best known as being the master cartoonist who for years drew Casper and Richie Rich, Stumbo the Giant and other Harvey Comics characters. In his early career Kremer was known to do crime stories, and also did work as designer of some of the most gruesome early ’50s horror covers for Harvey Comics.

“Frisco Mary” is from Ace Comics’ Crime Must Pay the Penalty #37 (1954), which is a reprint from issue #3 (1949) of the same title.

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More Kremer crime. Just click on the thumbnail:

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Number 1462: Warren Kremer’s Burke and Hare

Warren Kremer (1921-2003) was one of the most talented artists in the history of comic books, but you’d hardly have known it. Over most of his career he drew the fantastic kid-friendly strips for Harvey Comics, including Casper, Spooky, Richie Rich, et al. He didn’t sign his work and until his name became known by fans he was kind of comics’ best kept secret.

Early in his career Kremer was drawing more adult fare, crime comics, and later he delivered some terrific covers for the Harvey horror comics. With this story of the infamous duo of Burke and Hare for Ace Comics’ Crime Must Pay the Penalty #2 (1949), which he signed, he showed he could handle drawing dead bodies as well as friendly ghosts.

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Number 1006





The Saint and Stumbo





The online copy of Avon's The Saint #5 has an index card identifying various artists who worked on this 1949 Avon comic.





The Grand Comics Database doesn't reflect this information.



If I had not read the I.D. of the artist of "The Saint Breaks A Spell," I would never have guessed it, even though it's a name well known to me. Warren Kremer was Harvey Comics' chief artist for decades, drawing all of the Harvey characters, most notably Casper, Richie Rich, and one of my favorites, Stumbo the Giant. The card tells us that Kremer did two strips in this issue of The Saint. I'm including a Stumbo story from Hot Stuff #17, 1959, to show you that a decade made a lot of difference in that artist's career.



The Saint splash panel provides us yet another example of the Jeepers Girl, who I have featured before. See Pappy's #727 and Pappy's #911, and Pappy's #788, which links to another blogger who has found more examples.

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If you don't mind something personal, I am home from the hospital after my prostate cancer surgery. I have quite a few steps to go through before I'll be back on my feet, but I am on the mend. I have appreciated the notes wishing me well. Thanks to all of you!

Postings through this week were done before surgery, so forgive me if I don't respond to comments.

All my best from your friend, Pappy


Number 473


Tiny Town is missing!


I can hear the groans from you guys now...why am I showing a Stumbo the Giant story? A kiddie story? Well, there is a story behind the story. I didn't notice it until a few weeks ago, too late to post it last year around the 45th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, but it has a connection.

This cover of Harvey Hits #78 has an arrival date of 12-12.

That means it appeared on the stands a few short weeks after the November 22, 1963 assassination, yet a caricature of JFK appears in the story. This is one of those things that publishers who work months ahead of time fear, that something will happen between the time their publication is prepared, and when it goes on sale. It was fairly atypical, too. Harvey Comics played it very smart editorially, giving their stories a consistency and timeless aspect. That way they could reprint a story in 1973 which was drawn in 1963 and their young readers wouldn't be able to detect a difference from any new material it might appear alongside. That wouldn't be true of this particular story because of the JFK caricature. I have no idea whether it was ever reprinted or not, but if it was then it was immediately dated.

The story isn't bad, but I don't pay a lot of attention to the stories in these comics. Warren Kremer was an exceptional artist, and Stumbo was one of his best drawn efforts. I've always admired how he could keep things in proportion between the giant figure and his surroundings, including the tiny people. Especially considering he was working with the constraints of his 8-panel comic book page.

Kremer, who was born in 1921, died in 2003. In 1989 a stroke ended his drawing career, which up that point was extremely prolific. He was reported to be able to draw 8 interior pages a day, not to mention all the covers, promotional material, etc. For many people, Warren Kremer was Harvey Comics.

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Number 339

The Mighty Check-up!

Warren Kremer was a great cartoonist, the "look" of Harvey Comics from its transition to a kiddie-comics line until the company was shut down in the 1980s. He began as a comic book illustrator on standard features, and was good. His exceptional talent came out when he drew the kids' comics. He took over from the animators who had drawn the Casper feature before him. Kremer was prolific and if there was a lead artist at Harvey Comics, it was him. He died at age 82 in 2003.

Stumbo the Giant began as a back-up feature in Hot Stuff, The Little Devil, in 1957. The character had to be drawn bigger than everything else around him. It had to be a challenge for Kremer, and anyone who followed on the feature to draw in those proportions. Stumbo had a certain size in relation to Tinytown, the people who populated it, the mountains. That had to remain consistent, and Kremer did it.

The story, "The Mighty Check-up," is from Harvey Hits #60, September 1962. It was inked by cartoonist Frank Carin. The printed version of the strip is from my collection, but the original art scans are from the Internet. It's always interesting to look at originals and compare to the printed version. In most cases layers of colors would obscure parts of the story. The cartooning is kept fairly simple, not only for the young readers, but so the artwork reproduced in some decent fashion.

Several classic Kremer Casper stories are reprinted in Leslie Cabarga's book, Casper The Friendly Ghost. Maybe someday we'll see an all-Kremer book with some of his Stumbo stories.

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