STANLEY STORIES: Welcome to Stanley Stories--The Blog!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Welcome to Stanley Stories--The Blog!

In 2001, I began a website called STANLEY STORIES. It's still up and running, and you can visit it here: http://www.fmydesign.com/ssmain.htm

The website has garnered much attention lately. This makes me feel guilty. I feel guilty because I haven't updated the website in around three years.

It's a mighty pretty website, if I do say so myself, but it's a dead end for me. The labor involved in writing/rewriting/correcting/fine-tuning HTML code is such a turn-off for me... I'm proud that I can write HTML, and design pretty well, but it's too much like work--even for an obsession!

Inspired by many thumbs-up mentions of the old site on some blogs, I've put two and two together. Why not continue the site--but as a blog? Sure, it won't look all jazzy and way-out like the website, but it's allegedly easier to post regularly.

So, here 'tis. STANLEY STORIES 2008--comics stories written (and sometimes drawn) by the great comics creator John Stanley.

If Safari likes Blogger (it doesn't like WordPress, I've discovered) I'll post regularly, with complete stories from my ever-expanding archive of Stanley material.

I'll include new Stanley discoveries to which I stake my claim--no one has noticed or found these works 'til now! It's amazing how prolific Stanley was in his three-decade comics career. Small wonder that his own accountancy of the stories he wrote is incorrect. How could anyone who worked in such great volume, for no credit, be bothered to remember every single piece they created?

I'll dazzle you with my musings on Stanley's work and themes when I can. Otherwise, I'll bravely muddle through post after post. My goal: to provide you with fascinating, sometimes unknown works by one of the great writers and humorists in American comic books! His colorful, S. J. Perelman-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit (reminiscent of writer Roald Dahl) marks him as an important American writer.

7 comments:

Steven Rowe said...: "I'll include new Stanley discoveries to which I stake my claim--no one has noticed or found these works 'til now"

Oh? I feel sure that I added some to the Who's Who sometime back that arent well known -(at least not when I added them)
and no doubt others have marked somewhere else as well....; August 9, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Frank M. Young said...: Steven, I don't want to make claims that aren't mine to make...I haven't seen your information, but, to the best of my knowledge, many of these stories are as of yet unaccredited to Stanley.

If you could share your information with me, I'll be happy to check it against mine and see if I have any leads on stories yours lacks, or vice versa. Please contact me via e-mail if you're interested.; August 10, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Pete Von Sholly said...: Love your blog! Please see my site:
www.vonshollywood.com
for a Melvin Monster book I made. It's not as good as the real thing but it may beat a blank?
Best, Pete Von Sholly
More anon...; August 11, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Frank M. Young said...: neat story, Pete! I'll visit your website and read some more!; August 11, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Steven Rowe said...: I'm not trying to get huffy, just pointing out that you dont know what stories other people have found. All you know is that you don't know they were Stanley until you found them. Which isnt a bad thing, but I just get woozy when folks claim to have discovered America all by themselves.
I can say that most of the comics I found did make it to the Who's Who of American Comic Books (I was a senior editor back in the 1980s and 1990s). This was before the internet. I am glad you're sharing with folks, and appreciate what you're doing.; August 12, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Ricardo Cucamonga said...: I am a mexican comic artist quite influenced by Stanley's comics.

When I was a kid I used to read "Little Lulu" stories, the mexican reprints of Editorial Novaro.

For me, there was a particular fascination with its style and stories... after randomly finding your website a few years ago I was able to approach to Stanley's and Tripp's work and not only enjoy it as an adult, but appreciate its influence as an artist.

Thanks a lot for being part of this inspiration. :); August 16, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Michael Brown said...: I just learned about this blog.

Mine main awareness of Stanley is thru his work on Little Lulu. As a kid of the 60s, I read Little Lulu comics from Gold Key (including several Golden Key Digests). I still have them and enjoy them.

I got the recent reprints of LL from Dark Horse (also gave copies to my mom who is still a fan, who got copies to give to her sister, also still a fan). Was very disappointed that they just up and stopped the reprints without any explanation. I was really hoping they would continue the series, and get into reprinting his Tubby work as well.; September 17, 2008 at 12:36 PM

THE JOHN STANLEY COMICS BIBLIOGRAPHY SERIES

I have compiled a detailed, fully illustrated (in color) story-by-story career bibliography of the comic book and magazine cartoon work of John Stanley, in three decade-specific oversized paperback editions. They're available in book form at Amazon.com.

You can read more about the 1940s volume HERE.

Check out the 1950s edition (the longest of the three books) HERE.

The 1960s volume can be previewed HERE.

Covers of the three books are seen below--and that of THE TAO OF YOW, a lavishly illustrated book of essays on John Stanley's world and his work, including expanded versions of essays first seen on this blog. TAO OF YOW may be perused HERE.

A FERVENT PLEA TO FELLOW BLOGGERS

I would like to suggest that the following grammatical and punctuation errors be avoided by one and all;

1) misuse of the possessive apostrophe-s. It's means "it is," not "its." Appropriate use, e.g.: "It's hot outside today." Wrong usage: "I looked at it's cover."

I see this horrid mistake committed hundreds of times daily on the Internet and elsewhere. If a word ends in an s, chances are someone will ram that apostrophe in there. (e.g., "Today's Special's").

Please, please, PLEASE--unless you intend to convey that a person, place or thing is being discussed, in the present tense, or is in use as a contraction of two words (i.e., "it is, let us, what is"), DO NOT USE THE APOSTROPHE!

2) misuse of the apostrophe in dates. Again: unless it is intended to convey the location or possession of a certain quality, such as "1867's drinking water supplies" or "1978's energy crisis," DO NOT USE THE APOSTROPHE! The same applies to the use of decade-connoting dates. It is the 1950s, or the '50s--NOT the 1950's or the 50's!

3) the two most abused words in the English language are "amazing" and "hilarious." It pains me to see these words used thousands of times a day in print and in conversation.

If everything is amazing and/or hilarious, then NOTHING is amazing and/or hilarious.

There exists a wealth of synonyms--delightful words that convey these two properties. Please, please, please use them in the place of these two horribly over-worked adjectives.

Visit synonym.com for easy access to other words that will help you communicate better and smarter.

4) When in doubt, use Spell Check.

Computer users have a luxury--we can instantly determine if a word we've typed is properly spelled. Any computer's spell checking program will inevitably have bugs, but most of the time it's quite helpful.

There is no good reason (aside from un-caught typos) that Internet writing should have spelling errors. We no longer have to interrupt our work, walk over to the bookshelf, pull out the dictionary, find the word, and return to our task. Right-click on a highlighted word and you'll know if it's correct or not.

The speed of the Internet sometimes inspires sloppiness--in myself and in others. In our excitement to get our writing on-line, it's easy to forget that finely-tuned prose may require a little more time.

It is worth the effort--and it takes little effort anymore--to double-check spelling before you make a post live. I often go over old posts and correct typos or poor writing. I feel it makes a difference, and that it supports my worth as a scholar and critic.

If this plea can prevent the egregious misuse of proper English in the blogosphere, my life will not have been in vain.