Bill Peckmann &Books &Comic Art &Illustration 15 Jan 2010 09:00 am
Walt Kelly Comics – 2
- Last week I posted the first part of this display of comic book covers (front and back) drawn by the inimitable Walt Kelly in his pre-Pogo days.
As he completed the series of Fairy Tale covers, he moved into Mother Goose and then The Brownies. There’s a charge I get looking at the brilliant draftsmanship on display here. The man could draw. We knew this from the quality of the art in Pogo, but these covers give us a different light in which to view this artist. It’s a great trip to waltz through the years 1942 – 1948 with Walt Kelly seeing the progression of his comic art.
As I mentioned last week, these covers were copied in the 1980′s by Bill Peckmann from the great collection of John Benson. Bill has loaned them to me, and I’m sharing.
1a 
1b(Click any image to enlarge.)
2a 
2b
Mother Goose develops after the Fairy Tale comics.
3a 
3b
4
Mother Goose becomes a holiday item.
5a 
5b
6a 
6b
An Easter version of Mother Goose
7a 
7b
The Brownies debuts
8a 
8b
on 15 Jan 2010 at 11:02 am 1.George Griffin said …
This, and the other early stuff strikes me as too “cutey toot toot” to quote Kelly. Great drafting for sure, but only a devoted fan could appreciate it as antecedent to Pogo, his masterwork.
And, to answer Pilsner Panther’s 1/10 comments about Kelly’s politics (“getting on a soapbox”), I agree with you Michael. No other mainstream comic strip artist confronted the threat of McCarthyism, not to mention Curtis LeMay, with as much punchy wit. And it was so satisfying and effective because it WASN’T mere editorializing. Like Faulkner, Kelly created a unique world with invented language, whimsical caricature and mythic environments (those amazing trees!) that still resonates today.
on 15 Jan 2010 at 12:33 pm 2.Bill said …
The age groups that Kelly was targeting with his comic books and Pogo strips were not quite exactly the same, and as he grew would he have been able or wanted to cater to both at the same time? Enjoy the work for what it is.
on 15 Jan 2010 at 2:08 pm 3.Michael said …
I have no doubt that the comic strip format grew quite a bit between the time Kelly did these comic books (with a probably more limited audience) and the time he did Pogo. Pogo, itself, grew enormously over the years as Kelly got his voice and changed the medium, himself.
Always the great draftsmanship, linework and compositions.
on 15 Jan 2010 at 2:11 pm 4.Mike McLaren said …
Oh boy, could he draw. These are wonderful. I’m glad you posted them.
on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:11 pm 5.Chris Duffy said …
I actually enjoy a lot of Kelly’s early comic book work more than a lot of his later Pogo work. It can be hit or miss with both, for different reasons. No matter how you slice it, though, he was comics giant. What a force of nature!
Thanks for the great blog.