Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for October 29, 2009

Hey! Why is it in color all of a sudden?? Still, glad to see the old comics fellas. Scancarelli renders them quite well. In black and white or color.

I miss ol’ Smoky.

My biggest problem with the old comics home is that, while it’s an interesting idea, I don’t think it’s executed well. At all. It’s essentially just a bunch of references thrown together without rhyme or reason.

Ah well. Maybe we’ll see Pogo and Krazy Kat. It’d be better than nothing.

toaster, I’m curious, what would you consider a better execution? Obviously Scancarelli rolls all these old characters into his own style…but when you consider the vast range of individual styles these sources represent, I don’t know if any single cartoonist could put rhyme or reason to it any more than he does. Me, I’m just glad he’s doing it…his affection for the history of the medium is obvious.

I wonder if Calvin and Hobbs or any Far Side characters are wandering around aimlessly in there?

Listen, I agree with you in one respect. These old comics deserve attention, and I’m glad that Scancarelli is giving it to them.

But what I mean by a better execution is.. well, the last time he worked in the old comics home, it was just a string of references, as I said.* As in, “here’s a character from Li’l Abner. And now here’s one from Mutt and Jeff! Isn’t that funny?” He couldn’t even, as I recall, match the unique cadence of Krazy Kat’s speech. I want more than just references.

Also, it seemed to me like there was little effort put into tying them to a story; the references were the story, such as it was.

I’d like to see more depth, more of an attempt to make this feel real, while still retaining the otherworldly quality. In short, I’d like to see more story.

Respectfully yours, Toasteroven.

*If you think I am wrong about this, correct me. My memory might be misleading me. That’s not sarcasm. I want to hear what you think.

Does anybody remember a cartoon movie from the 70s that featured all the King Features characters? Scancarelli should try something like that.

Foo Foo Notery Sojack

Better get someone sensible like Mary Perkins on the line.

Color added for the upcoming colorful characters?

Outstanding! I love it!

Heh, I think Calvin would distress the poor old comics badly; Mutt & Jeff probably wouldn’t handle the little sociopath well!

Is Pogo old enough for the home? I sure miss the smamp folks.

I would agree with Toasteroven. It would be nice if there were some linkage between the characters. For example, what if Jeff and Smokey were playing poker with Mammy Yokum and getting snookered?

… something more than just a series of cameo appearances..

BTW, I note that a lot of strips, including Annie, are colorized today. I like it in Annie. Not so sure about Gasoline Alley.

Guess you’re going to have to go over there Gertie. This guy doesn’t hear so well.

I wonder if this will turn out to be a dream. Maybe Gertie passed out during her routine with the Cackle Sisters, and everything since will be not “real”…

Anyone remember the dates of the last visit(s) to the Home?

Irrespective of all of the particulars connected with Mutt And Jeff, Krazy Kat and all of the other classic comics, it’s great to see them again in any context. My hat is off to Maestro Scancarelli.

Color or no, story line or references, it is very nostalgic for someone who grew up following the daily comics in the ‘40’s. May I have some more, please?

Wonder if Jeff got that hat from Dick Tracy?

Tidler seems to be missing out on the “colors” being added to gocomics…haven’t heard his comments in a while….

Some “old” comics you can still see on line:

Comics on Creators has Archie, among others: http://www.creators.com/comics/cat-seeall.html

Yahoo News has Nancy, Ferdn’nand and Alley Oop - plus a host of others http://news.yahoo.com/comics/born-loser

Houston Chronicle has Archie, Judge Parker, Mark Trail, Mary Worth, Popeye, Rex Morgan,M.D., and Snuffy Smith, to name a few http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComics.mpl

JS On line has Katzenjammer Kids, Prince Valiant, Henry, Hazel, Popeye, Judge Parker, Mary worth, Mark Trail, Barney Google, Rex Morgan,, M.D. and many others http://www.jsonline.com/comics/

The really old-time comics are part of a feature called Comic Kingdom. Actually, a lot of newspapers, including the Denver Post, have been experimenting with Comic Kingdom - but I think that JS Online (Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel) has decided to make the Comic Kingdom a permanent feature on their web page.

If you choose one of the really old-time comics first - such as Katzenjammer Kids, you will end up on a page with the entire Comic Kingdom line-up. You have an option for choosing your favorites and there is also an option for rating each comic in the Comic Kingdom line-up. I guess that Comic Kingdom also plans to begin including reader comments - because you have an opportunity to choose one of your favorite comic characters as an avatar.

Houston Chronicle also includes Gasoline Alley in their line-up - but Houston Chronicle does NOT post the Sunday comics any longer. I am not sure why they stopped. Houston Chronicle also used to have a very extensive archive of ALL of their comics, going back into the 40s and 50s. But, for some odd reason, they suddenly stopped offering that service as well. Houston Chronicle also includes an option to “build your own comics page” in the upper right hand corner. You can choose to view comics 4, 6 or 8 per page. You have to remember to bookmark your page when you are finished building your own comics - so that you don’t have to do it all over again every time you visit the Houston Chronicle.

Someone who visits Gasoline Alley regularly posted a link a couple of Sundays ago to vintage copies of Walt and Skeezix taking their autumn walk. Those were really tremendous, but I forgot to bookmark them. There were a lot of other vintage comics available at that same site. Those copies went back to the 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. That was a genuine treat. What was eye-opening is that one newspaper which was featured on the vintage comics web site was advertising that they had sixteen pages of full color comics on Sunday for a nickle! Old-time newspaper editors were smart enough to know that the comic pages sold newspapers!

Thanks for all the tips, Deborah!

Color. Well, what do you think of that? Hmmm.

I noted the same thing Madman did, but the other way around. The color in Annie didnt work for me. Here, Gertie never looked better. There is alot more depth and humanity to her drawing today. Not sure if it’s due to the color, or because of the close up panel shot. Either way, she looks much more real. More alive, vibrant.

I hope no one is offended if I say that this is the first time I’ve really been able to ‘see’ Gertie as being black. As an artist working in a black and white medium it must really be difficult showing something like race without resorting to horrible stereotypical dialogue. Thank you Jim, for never doing that. And thank you for never being blantantly obvious and not using dialogue cues to show her race. Gertie is one of my favorite characters and I hope that all this works out well for her.

I can’t wait to see Byrd and all the other characters who don’t normally appear in the Sunday strip to show up in color.

I don’t know. I like the color with this new story line, but I don’t think I would have liked it, for instance in the recent strips of the old theatre.

deborah reyes houston chronicle dropped the sunday comics years ago because it cost them too much to colorize them