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COMIC BOOK REPRINT REVIEW! THE FUNNIES #3 (Gwandanaland Comics)

You've already read my review of POPULAR COMICS, one of the many newspaper comic strip reprint titles (known as BORMS --- Books Of Reprinted Material --- in the comic book world) that proliferated from the mid-thirties until about a good two decades more/less later. Well, here's another quite similar comic book, although while POPULAR concentrated on the strips that were being pushed by the Chitown Trib syndicate the ones in POPULAR were part and parcel to Cleveland's NEA Services, a syndicate that I really go for as far as these classic olde tymey strips go. NEA was more than willing to distribute the kind of comics that might have been too cornpone or for that matter even too screwy for the competition, and although the strip scene of the thirties was perhaps at the top of its form the ones that NEA handled had a sort of special appeal that went after the heavy hitting har-hars as well as the quiet rural reminiscences of a world that would slowly turn into something quite different once World War II got into gear.

Front cover's got a Major Hoople drawing that was more'n obviously not delineated by either Gene Ahern nor any of the artists who continued on OUR BOARDING HOUSE when Ahearn left for greener dollars. Kind of a lousy drawing if I say so myself, but don't fear 'cause the Hoople who appears inside is the bonafide guy (post Ahern since no credit was given or asked for that matter) and the stories presented are pretty top notch and indicative of the happier side of an existence where little things like comic pages meant a real whole lot! A great way for depression-era kids to while away the hours for mere pennies at that, and hey even this far down the line someone with the mental acumen of myself can sure get more enjoyment outta strips like this 'un 'n ALLEY OOP* than I can every shard of what is being churned out as entertainment these days, popular or not. And if that makes me a bad human being then call me Lucifer himself!

Hey, they're not all NEA Services strips, because a few outsiders such as DAN DUNN and a pre-DC (and then Harvey) MUTT AND JEFF show up here. Not only that but there are a few original comics turnin' up in the mix --- Sheldon Mayer's SCRIBBLY, best known for his long tenure at the All-American line which also gave us the Flash, Green Lantern etc., surprisingly enough makes an appearance here. These SCRIBBLYs were actually done up in a Sunday funnies format as well if only to fool the doofs out there into thinking it t'was an actual comic strip as if the single-digit readers out there would care one whit but eh! When Dell's Max Gaines trekked over to DC Mayer went along with him and well, would their comedy line, for what it was, been the same without the likes of him and Bob Oskner?

What makes this particular SCRIBBLY whatcha'd call "noteworthy" is the storyline regarding the boy cartoonist actually meeting his favorite artist, mainly one Ving Parker. I kinda wonder if this particular "Ving" is in actuality Ving Fuller, the cartoonist who was immortalized when he was offhandedly mentioned, in a somewhat negative light at that, in a LI'L ABNER cartoon. Dunno why Al Capp had it in for the guy but sheesh, that curt putdown's probably the only reason anyone would remember the man a good almost ninety years after the fact!

Face it, but some of the strips showin' up just don't have that punch in the psyche zing that made for fun reading even then let alone now. HERKY was a kiddie comic about as funny as Whoopi Goldberg while BOOTS was just another one of those young career-chasing femme strips that was for the (yech!) gurls, unless you were a boy and liked Tijuana Bibles. As far as serious fare, BEN WEBSTER'S DIARY looked about as stiff-figure stilted as Dave Berg and was dryer to boot, and perhaps if they tapered off with the TAILSPIN TOMMYs and CAPTAIN EASYs (both fine comics yet deserving of their own space) they coulda added more personal faves like OUT OUR WAY and OUR BOARDING HOUSE (only two of the latter which appear here, one with topper strip THE NUT BROTHERS lopped off!). Sheesh, there are only a couple SALESMAN SAMs  'n like I sure coulda used a few more of that particularly crazed "screwball" strip myself!

If I had any beef in general to say about THE FUNNIES or BORMs in general is that strips with continuing storylines just don't cut it given that yer gonna come in on the fun and jamz smack inna middle and you hafta wait until the next ish to see how things turn out (and on and on...). Speaking of such strips, didja know that Gaines had to be persuaded to have these strips published in proper order because he thought it would be just fine enough if they were plopped into these comics willy nilly as if any of the kids were gonna notice the difference! (Of course you knew given I already mentioned this in my review of POPULAR COMICS, but I doubt any of you had the curiosity to even bother clicking the above link to read that writeup!)

Before I go, I gotta marvel at the Gilbert chemistry set ad that appears on the backside of this 'un! Gee, talk 'bout impending disasters once the kids begged their parents for one of these only for the splish splosh of chemicals to cause grievous harm. Didn't William Burroughs blow off the tip of his pinkie after foolin' 'round with one of these? Well in his case it SERVED HIM RIGHT even if the experience didn't keep him from turning into that sicko you all adore and love.

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*it's still running although even I must admit that the steam went out way back, perhaps as early as when the time traveling angle was introduced according to my father. The modern day Sunday version is, now get this, called LITTLE OOP and it features Alley as a child and is drawn in that current cutesy MARVIN/CRABGRASS style that's been the norm for some time. In these strips Oop is seen engaging in supposedly humorous escapades in what looks like a perhaps vain attempt to remain relevant on what's left of the funny pages, flopping miserably in the process. Like NANCY, it is deserving of a quick and somewhat merciful euthanizing.