Another Fritz "Funny Animal" rarity..

I found the following Frazetta artwork, on DocDave Winiewicz's blog, awhile back. Ain't it a beauty?

As you can see at the bottom, it's signed from "Franky".. Pretty unusual, for Frazetta.
It's a pen/ink drawing, dated from the mid-1940's. And was intended as a "gift" to fellow artist George Roussos. Who was a comic-book artist in his own right. And later on in the early 60's, he'd garner fame as "George Bell"; one of Jack Kirby's more successful inkers.
During this 1940's period, many young artists were clamoring to find "the good stuff".. Comic-book illustrations by artists of the past, which they could reference (and I mean reference, not "swipe" necessarily!) to help improve their technique/skills, in creating their own artwork.
Usually at the very top of that list, was: Hal Foster.. Especially his work on the 'TARZAN' newspaper comic-strip. Hence the message Frazetta wrote to George at the time: "You can have this George... but please get me those Tarzans!" And eventually, Frazetta did..
You can read the full story behind this, on DocDave's blog.. by clicking here!

Well almost a month ago, I happened to score another Frazetta comic-book gem off eBay.. This time, it was a copy of 'BARNYARD COMICS' #24; published by 'Standard', way back in 1949.. The Seller didn't mention Frazetta content in his listing. But fortunately, I have a number of checklists for this stuff. And I was able to snag this old book which included: TWO complete Fritz stories, PLUS another 2 text illos, as well!
All that, for just over 10 bucks?! Huzzah!!

Rather than selfishly hoard this material for myself, I thought I'd share the 'Hucky Duck' 3-pager with the wider Internet world.. Not only because I was amazed by the similarity of the large Bear pose, to the Roussos "gift" drawing.. But also, because it's one of the few Frazetta "Funny Animal" stories that hasn't been reprinted elsewhere. At least, not to my knowledge..


Amazing, isn't it?
The coloring is always so inaccurate & clunky.. But it has a real warmth to it. And I sometimes find that the bleeding of the colors, can actually enhance some of the panel work.. The lighting effects on Page One/Panel Three, work especially well! heh

See y'all next time!

I LOVES Me Dem "FUNNY ANIMALS"!

Anybody that knows me.. Already knows that I'm slowly assembling my own scrapbook/binder of Frazetta's old-timey 'Golden Age' comic-book work. And a big chunk of that, was the beautiful "Funny Animal" text illos & stories; that were published by 'Standard Comics' in the mid-to-late 4o's..
Today, was an awfully good day for me.. As I received the last of 3 different "Funny Animal' books that I'd been waiting on, won off eBay. This last one, was entitled: 'BARNYARD COMICS' #20. And not only did it have 3 different (2 of which, are featured here) text illos. But it also had a very nice 7-page "Barney Rooster" story!


If memory serves,-- both the 'Big Ears' and 'Forest Concert' illos were featured in the Kitchen Sink 'Small Wonders' trade paperback; published in '91. But I have a complete Checklist of the entirety of Frazetta's comic-book output.. And it's pretty shocking just how much artwork, is actually still missing from that particular book..
Plus, it was only published in black&white. To truly appreciate how gorgeous this stuff looks, it behooves you to see them in color! There's something about that slightly off-register printing on old yellowing pulp, that really enhances the "warmth" of these Pics!


Featured above, is the custom Christmas Card that I created for my family, in 2005.. It was my own attempt at staging some "Funny Animals" in a similar way. Unfortunately, I recall that the yellows didn't printout all that well; skewing towards a more-greenish tint.
This digital JPEG-version is actually closer to the original intent of the color scheme.

Off-and-on, I've also been developing a 'Pulp'-style crimefighter story, using s'more "Funny Animals".. I hope to get some of that stuff posted on here, later.
'Til next time, see ya!