Hello Americans;
When you think of Harvey Comics, do you think of this...
or this...
?
Would you believe that Harvey was also once this....
and this...
?
It's true!
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Page 2...
Recently, the Board was asked,
"Why did we need 17, 000 Richie Rich titles?" Well, the answer is because they were massively popular. However, Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost aren't the be-all, end-all of Harvey Comics. Heck, Casper didn't even start in comics at Harvey, let alone start in comics! Harvey Comics would be around for a decade before what we think of as Harvey Comics were debuted. Let's turn back the clock to 1940. Actually, well go back a little further, before we get to the fateful year of 1940.
In 1908, Robert B. Harvey was born to Russian immigrants (family name Wiernikoff). 5 years later, fraternal twins Alfred and Leon were born, in Brooklyn. Robert would grow up to earn a bachelor's and masters degree and was a CPA. Alfred would develop his cartooning skills and begin selling advertising cartoons, for $5 each, by the age of 15. He eventually landed a job at Fox Comics, publishers of the popular Blue Beetle, in 1939. It was there he would meet artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Alfred would grow tired of slaving away for Victor Fox, for low wages and decided to strike out on his own. With the aid of Joe Simon and distributor Irving Manheimer, Alfred launched his comic book publishing company, Alfred Harvey Publications, and their first comic, Pocket Comics.
The book was a new idea; not in content (an anthology of superheroes); but in format. It was created at a digest sige, suitable to be carried in the pocket. However, sales were never quite what was hoped (and Joe Simon believed that they were being shoplifted) and the book was discontinued. Undeterred, they expanded their line by acquiring titles from Brookwood (Speed Comics, Worth Publishing (Champion Comics) and Holyoke (Green Hornet). To this, they would add Spitfire and All-New Comics.
Most of the material was standard Golden Age stuff, with the one real breakout star being the Black Cat.
Linda Turner, actress and stuntwoman, began life in 1941, in the first issue of Pocket Comics. Linda is the daughter of silent western film actor Tim Turner and is a leading actress, when she comes to suspect that director Garboil of being a Nazi spy. She investigates her suspicions after donning a costume of black blouse and gauntlets, red shorts and buccaneer boots, and a black mask. The costume gets tweaked a bit into what we have come to know and love...
Black Cat runs into LA Globe reporter Rick Horne and the pair team up to foil Garboil. Horne would continue as love interest and supporting character and Black Cat would gain a side kick, Black Kitten, aka circus aerialist (how original) Kit Weston.
Black Cat was a key feature in Speed Comics, before gaining her own title in 1946. That popularity continued for several years, outlasting most superheroes of the Golden Age. As one of the rare female headliners in superhero comics, her popularity was only surpassed by Wonder Woman and rivalled by Phantom Lady. The feature was synonymous with artist Lee Elias, who handled the bulk of her classic stories. Elias gave her both a sexy look and a dynamic action style, as can be seen in
this example...and here...
Elias was one of the many artists from the Milton Caniff school, as his work invokes the creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, though with more room to with the action. Elias' work would gain quite a following here, before he eventually moved on to companies like DC, where he became noted for Eclipso, among other features. Others of note to work on the character include Bob powell and a young Joe Kubert.
Aside from her daring adventures, Black Cat was noted for her judo lessons, as we can see here...
The character would soon find attention from one Dr Frederick Wertham, where the judo spots are called out for encouraging violence in kids (as opposed to wholesome sports, like football, boxing or wrestling). As times changed, Blac Cat went through some thematic changes, becoming Black Cat Western, Black Cat Mystery, Black Cat Western Mystery, Black Cat Western (again), Black Cat Mystic and back to Black Cat Comics, at the end. The Black Cat Mystery iteration was a horror themed book, which also found itself targeted by Wertham.
Other heroes appearing at Harvey included Shock Gibson (a superhuman who can fly and generate bolts of lightning), Captain Freedom (one in the endless line of superpatriots), The Spirit of '76 (another flag waver, with a cutlass or saber), and Pat Parker, War Nurse...
Pat later gave up the mask and assembled a team of female Heinkel-kickers, the Girl Commandos. Too bad they never met the Boy Commandos, although these girls were adults.
Harvey pretty much continued in this fashion, until the late 40s, when superheroes began to wane. Though Black cat kept going, most of the rest were retired and replaced. Harvey would then hit on two ideas that served them well, going into the 50s: newspaper strips and humor comics. From the newspapers, Harvey was soon publishing reprints of and new stories for such characters as Li'l Abner, Dick Tracy, Dagwood and Blondie, Terry & the Pirates, Steve Canyon, Kerry Drake and Joe Palooka.
Some of these proved short-lived; but, Blondie, Dick Tracy and Joe Palooka ran until the early 60s and Blondie and Joe Palooka spawned spin-off titles (Dagwood got his own title, and Palooka pals Little Max and Humphrey got their own eponymous books).
Harvey also picked up some King Features adventure strips, with Flash Gordon, the Phantom and Mandrake. However, these proved less than successful (and Fash gordon was reprinting Raymond strips!) in an era where comics were moving away from the old newspaper-style adventure.
In the humor comic fron, apart from Blondie, Harvey had home-grown work like Rags Rabbit, who appeared in Nutty Comics, and their clown-themed book, Clown Comics.
There was one other comic strip that came to Harvey, which would have a long lasting appeal: George Baker's Sad Sack.
Sad Sack was the creation of George Baker, a commercial artist and Disney animator (Pinocchio, Dumbo, Fantasia and Bambi) who found himself drafted in 1941, prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In a complete surprise, the Amy actually gave him an assignment that matched his artistic skills and he was soon working as an animator for training films. He was eventually brought on to
Yank, The Army Weekly , a service magazine, where his pantomime strip appeared.
Upon leaving the service, Baker turned Sad Sack into a syndicated newspaper strip, which brought him to Harvey. Harvey began publishing both reprints of Baker's strips and new material, especially from artist Fred Rhoads.
Baker continued to do covers until his death, in 1975. The comic was massively popular from its introduction in 1949 up through the 60s and into the 70s. At one point it was spun off into Sad Sack and the Sarge, Sad Sack's Army Life, Little Sad Sack, Sad Sack's Funny Friends; plus, other titles and specials. Over the years, following the Harvey formula, reprints became plentiful, especially after years o stories. New material still appeared; but, reprints became more and more common. This fact would lead to a lawsuit from Fred Rhoads, the primary artist, who was not paid for the reprinted stories. That lawsuit, in 1977, was eventually ended in favor of Harvey; but, was one part of Harvey's eventual demise. Still, for a long time, these were fun tales of the hapless Army private and his trials and tribulations. In fact, it was Harvey who got him back in uniform, as baker had taken Sad Sack into civilian life with him. However, like many veterans, he found the civilian world unrecognizable and back he went and stayed.
Really, Sad Sack, as well as Blondie and Joe Palooka would point the way forward to Harvey, though there would be some diversions along the way. We'll look at those diversions, next time, as we see Harvey follow the lead of EC Comics, of all companies.
And now you know........the rest of the story.
This is Paul Harvey Comics, saying...........
Good Day!