Dell Four Color #950- Frosty The Snowman

This Dell Four Color from 1958 stars the second most popular character to star in a Christmas novelty song, Frosty the Snowman.

There's 5 or 6 short stories in this book. Though really, they read like chapters. For instance, Frosty is gifted a new scarf by a new friend he meets and throughout the remainder of the book, Frosty is drawn wearing that new accessory. The book begins with Frosty spending time with his forest friends. After gifting them a Christmas feast of carrots, lettuce and seeds, Frosty meets a little boy who cannot afford a fancy sled. So the lad made his own out of an old wooden barrel. Determined to help the little fella out, Frosty heads to the North Pole to ask Santa to make him a sled for Christmas. However, Christmas might be cancelled because Santa has run out of the magic star dust needed to make the reindeer fly. 

My last holiday read, but not review, for 2024. I really enjoyed this book. Being almost 70 years in age, the pages were fragile and I was seriously afraid that the cover would come off. But the Christmas magic inside the book never faded. 

I couldn't tell you who wrote this book. Nor who illustrated it. From a time when many comic book creators didn't provide their credentials, either purposely or by company policy, the artwork for Frosty was a tad generic. But his forest friends and Santa Claus looked so friendly and festive. The storytelling was quite creative. One of Dell's comics devoted to its youngest of readers, it was of a quality found in a Little Golden Book. And I mean that as a high compliment.

If you are a collector of holiday comics and you can find a copy of this either in the wild or at a shop/Con, it's really worth owning. Just read while wearing kid gloves - literally!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "Balloonatics": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 16

I'm learning that as I read my way through the complete works of Carl Barks, the 'good duck artist' is not one to let a good trope die. In not one but two stories, Donald Duck becomes a part of the hot-air ballooning community. 

First, the nephews are trying out some new miniature dirigibles made by Gyro Gearloose, which wreak havoc on Donald who's trying to get some very much desired R&R. In typical Donald firebrand fashion, the boys' Uncle gets revenge. And by revenge, Donald goes overboard with a hot air balloon in his likeness and about double the size of any inflatable you might see at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Plus, it's armed to the teeth!

Story #2 has Huey, Dewey and Louie find a hunting falcon that's just too timid to be a hunter. As the boys try to help the bird find his confidence, Donald enters a contest by being held by the Duckburg Parachute club in which he hopes to win the prize for most original sky dive. Hopefully that will involve the use of a hot air balloon, some vintage balloonist digs and one nervous bird of prey.

Other adventures starring Donald, his nephews and sometimes their spinster uncle, Scrooge McDuck involve a hunt for a sea monster, searching for precious stones in the desert and an investigation into the mysterious destruction of test rockets. There's a classic Turkey Day story in which Donald and cousin Gladstone Gander compete for a chance to earn Thanksgiving dinner with Daisy. It's a tale I've read before but I don't mind a re-read. It's one of Barks' all-time best tales!

There's a couple of stand-out segments in this volume. The complete reissue of Dell Four Color #1161 'Walt Disney's Grandma Duck's Farm Friends', has Barks' presenting a quartet of stories set at Donald's father's family homestead. First, the farm gains a new resident in the form of a gigantic elephant that Uncle Scrooge was gifted from a dignitary. A new chick on Grandma's farm causes mischief along the country side when he's revealed to be a genius with good intentions but some poorly planned ideas. Gladstone makes a visit with intentions of becoming a matador. Then finally, with the nephews visiting Grandma, disaster hits in the form of both a blizzard and the appearance of the Beagle Boys on the lam from the law!

Lastly, readers get to enjoy a half-dozen Junior Woodchuck stories guest-starring Uncle Scrooge in 4 of them! These tales were from when Barks had officially retired from comics. Gold Key had lured the creator back to script duty, but arthritis and age had made it impossible to carry on his quality of work. At the time these stories were published in the 70s, original readers complained of how uninspired the artwork appeared. With their reprinting, Fantagraphics presents new artwork by Danish artist Daan Jippes. The remastered artwork looks like that of Barks and yet, there's something modern about it. Barks was known to be a minimalist when it came to backgrounds. Jippes crafts a masterful background in every panel! Really jarring stuff- in a good way!

The new tales have an Uncle Scrooge more full of piss and vinegar than many of us are used to. His inclusion in those Junior Woodchuck stories were crafted right as the world was about to celebrate its first Earth Day in 1970. (So in a way those stories are holiday themed!) Scrooge McDuck is more like a robber baron, than a penny-pinching businessman, in these stories to the point of almost unlikability. Thankfully, Huey, Dewey and Louie and their scout troop pals save the day and Scrooge's soul in these very different Duck tales. 

With this volume, I'm not sure of a couple of things. For one, why is this a Donald Duck book and not an Uncle Scrooge edition? Would it have even been so bad to have had this volume starring the nephews instead of Donald or Scrooge? Also, if this is a collection of the complete Carl Barks' works of the residents of Duckburg, why the time jump? The Grandma stories were published in 1961. Barks' ecological stories were published a decade later. This is volume 16 of a 26 volume collection. So why put the Junior Woodchuck stories here and not in volume 25 or 26? I'm not complaining about their inclusion. I just don't understand the thought process of the editing team as to having them here and not later on down the line.

A great read that just confuses me as to why certain stories are published out of order if this was supposed to be a omnibus of Carl Barks works about the Disney ducks.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Dell Four Color #1245- The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The world's greatest detective returns in a pair of cases in this 1961 edition of Dell Four Color. First Holmes and Watson tackle the case of 'The Derelict Ship'. Inspired by the mystery of the Mary Celeste, a desperate man employs the sleuth to uncover the whereabouts of the gentleman's missing crew and its load of contents. After a 2-page short in which Holmes schools Inspector Lestrande on a case involving a early morning break-in and trio of suspects, the private eye goes face-to-face with the Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty! A single-page article in the inside back cover of the book that details the methods of deduction Holmes would have used during the Victorian Era close out this issue. 

This was the second issue in less than a year that Dell would publish of all-new mysteries involving Holmes and Watson. Unfortunately, this issue, #1245, would be the last time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most beloved characters would grace the voluminous Dell Four Color series. The fan-favorite series stopped publication with issue #1354 in the Summer of 1962 after Dell's publishing agreement with Western Publishing came to an end.

The two main stories have been attributed to Paul S. Newman. One of Newman's most enduring claims to fame was as writer for the series Turok, Son of Stone. The writer crafted stories of the time displaced Native American warrior for an impressive 26-years. Paul S. Newman would later be credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the 'World's most prolific comic-book writer' with over 36,000 pages of published work to his credit. 

The cover of this issue, along with Holmes' 1961 Dell debut, were painted by George Wilson; a prolific artist for both Dell, Gold Key and later Whitman. Wilson's beloved works included covers of comic book adaptations of popular 60's TV shows such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. 

Though interior art credits were not assigned in this book, a couple of websites claim to know who did the artwork. Mycomicshop.com, for instance, cites Bob Fujitani as the main artist. Fujitani must have really enjoyed working with Paul S. Newman on this project as the pair, along with editor Matt Murphy, would eventually co-create the sci-fi character Doctor Solar for Western's new comic imprint, Gold Key. 

None of these stories were adaptations of works by Sir Arthur. Though a radio series of the same name ran on the ABC radio network for over a dozen years decades prior, a quick rundown of the complete series shows that these whodunits are not from that mystery drama either. The content of this book was truly New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #22 (A Mystery) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

John Wayne Movie Comics (Gwandanaland Comics #133)

Gwandanaland Comics presents a quartet of John Wayne movie adaptations that have lingered in the public domain. From the legendary Dell 4 Color series, these books have never been reprinted nor collected before. And since Dell and in the case of 2 of the films, the production companies don't exist anymore, you probably will never see these comics reissued.

First up is 1956's The Conqueror. Here, a very American John Wayne is portraying mighty Mongol Genghis Khan. Actually, there's no Genghis Khan. The film begins with the historical figure as just your everyday tribal chief named Temujin. Bent on revenge at the death of his father, Temujin seeks assistance from fellow tribal ally Wang Khan against the Tartars. But treachery is afoot as the Khan's shaman is scheming to overthrow his great leader in hopes of arising from the ashes of total war. 

Clearly, Temujin would run afoul of this plan. But the daughter of Tartar's chief has stolen his heart. The New York Times called this film an 'Oriental Western.' I call it schmaltz. Very uneven story and it's just weird trying to imagine all of the characters as Asia when they're all played by white Hollywood actors. 

Rating- 4 out of 10 stars.

Next up was an adaptation of 1959's Horse Soldiers. I reviewed this film separately as part of my 2022 reading challenge. It has John Wayne as a Union Soldier on a mission into deep Southern territory to ransack a supply depot and to destroy the railroad. William Holden and tennis legend Althea Gibson co-starred. 

A thrilling adventure that was also a bit uneven. The opening scene is about 18 pages long. The climatic final battle clocks in at just 2. But the story is nowhere as melodramatic as The Conqueror.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Then we have the western comedy North To Alaska. Wayne plays a prospector who goes into Seattle for supplies and to pick up his partner's fiance while the lover builds a honeymoon cottage on their claim. Well, fiancee decided that 2 years was too long to wait and went and got herself hitched to some other dude. 

So Wayne's character returns with another gal, a saloon hostess in hopes that she'll fall in love with the guy staying in Alaska. But she's in love with Big John. Meanwhile, claim jumpers are causing trouble all over the town. The Union had gotten involved and commandeered everybody's property. But like they say 'Hell Hath No Fury Like a John Wayne Scorned!'

Legendary comic and late night pioneer Ernie Kovacs played one of the swindlers. I'm a big fan of his and though this book is missing his wit and wry sense of humor, I really enjoyed this gold fever farce. I think I might actually seek this out if the movie ever hits AMC or TCM.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

1961's Comancheros is the featured adaptation on the cover. This is the book that really captured my interest. Sadly, it's the weakest of all the books. It's not Dell's fault though. 

The first half of the story has John Wayne playing a Texas Ranger who keeps getting the slip from a Louisianan card sharp on the lame for killing a man in a duel. That part is really good. But when the ranger and the rogue join forces to infiltrate gun runners to the violent Comanches, things get confusing. There's double-crosses. Wayne going undercover as one of the black marketeers just doesn't make sense because I feel that the guy who is his contact should have known who he said he was wasn't the guy. Plus, the whole dynamic of the family of gun runners that John Wayne finally meets is just off. Really, nothing made sense.

I've grown over the years to appreciate the films my dad and grandpa used to watch together. But if this was the first Western I'd give a try to, I wouldn't have the new found fondness. I'd stick with my original opinion as a tyke- Boring and jumbled!

Rating: 2 out of 10 stars.

The collection itself was a Gawndanaland Comics triumph. The images were colorful and crisp. Great color printing. I loved it. The subject mater varied in quality. Some of it is uneven and I put that blame on Dell for focusing too much on unimportant parts of films. Some of it is clumsy. I put that blame on the movies for not being all that well made. John Wayne might be an American icon much like Joe DiMaggio. But DiMaggio only batted .325. 

Face it- some of these films were duds.

Rating of the quality of the volume: 10 of 10 stars.

Overall Rating: Worth Consuming
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Four Color #1048- The Horse Soldiers (2022 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

John Wayne. One of the top box office draws from the 1940s-60s, Wayne starred in over 170 movies in a career that spanned roughly 50 years. Though his star started to wane in the 1970s, Wayne earned an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for 1969's True Grit.  

In 1959, during the pinnacle of his career, John Wayne starred in a Civil War picture titled The Horse Soldiers. Wayne played Col. John Marlowe, a Union solider sent deep behind enemy lines to destroy a train depot and it's supply train. With Col. Marlowe is regimental surgeon Major Henry Kendall. As Marlowe's wife died during surgery, the Colonel is resentful of doctors. But he understands that will Kendall around, many of his troops will survive this mission. 

Joining the troops on the mission is Miss Hannah Hunter. Normally a Southern Belle wouldn't be a part of a union secret mission. But since Hunter and her servant Lukey know of the Union's agenda, they're both along for the ride until it's mission accomplished.

The Horse Soldiers was directed by John Ford, a frequent Wayne collaborator. Based on same name novel by Harold Sinclair, the film was distributed by United Artists. Though number one at the box office, The Horse Soldiers has been regarded as a Hollywood failure. That's because the $4 million dollar box office was not enough to recoup the high salaries of both Wayne and costar William Holden (Stalag 17).

One surprise name attached to the film is that of Althea Gibson. A professional golfer and tennis player, Gibson was the first black woman to win a grand slam title when she won the French Championships in 1956. Wimbledon and the US Nationals were won in '57. Gibson repeated those two titles the following year. The Horse Soldiers was Gibson's only film credit. While her role as Lukey did not garner her any award nods, she was praised for her refusal to say her lines in ' the stereotypical 'negro' dialect written in the script.'

The Horse Soldiers was released as part of Dell's Four-Color Series, issue #1048. The script was written by Gaylord Du Bois (Turok, Son of Stone). Wonder Woman's Mike Sekowsky penciled. The cover artwork was taken from the theatrical poster. This was not the only movie tie-in released by Dell. They also reissued the complete Harold Sinclair novel (Dell F76) with a completely different painted cover that seems to show John Wayne's character atop a steed.

Having never seen this film, I don't know how accurate the adaptation is to the film. However, I can say that the ending seems rushed. The story plot is summarized with production stills in the front inner cover. Yet, some of that introductory material is omitted from the comic itself, primarily General Grant giving his orders to Col. Marlowe. The inner back cover is utilized to finish out the story which sees Marlowe and Kendall parting ways. The artwork seems to resemble Wayne fairly well. But I couldn't pick the other actors out of a lineup; much less really telling if Sekowsky captured the likenesses of Holden, Gibson and the rest. 

Overall, an entertaining story. Good art. But the plotting seemed uneven. The opening scene seems to take over 1/3 of book's roughly 64 pages. The climatic final battle- less than 2!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #25 (Set in the 1800s) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.