A Stanley Surprise for The New Year: Lost LITTLE LULU Stories Discovered!

https://www.tcj.com/john-stanleys-lost-little-lulu-stories-a-significant-find/

Tom Devlin of Drawn + Quarterly made a remarkable find in the papers of cartoonist Irving Tripp. See the results of this hitherto-unknown final team-up with John Stanley on a one-off 1970 issue of Marge's Little Lulu and read my short piece about it all at the link above.

As a bonus, here are the other stories from this issue--not featured on TCJ's site due to ethnic humor that isn't intended as malicious but didn't pass muster for widespread use:

As said in the essay, in Stanley's world, anyone who's pretending to be what they're not (or 'putting on airs') is risible. Male hubris is the endless font of Stanley's human comedy, and these boys acting out their weird masculine frontier fantasy (in an area when the cultural harm done to Native Americans wasn't discussed or acknowledged) set themselves up for the proverbial pie in face. ("Pass the peace banana" is a sublime line of dialogue, IMHO.) No offense is meant in any way with the presentation of this story; it's a part of this discovery and of historial importance.

Two harm-free one-pagers round out Stanley and Tripp's work for this last waltz with the LULU gang:

I hope you enjoy seeing these hidden-in-plain-sight stories that evaded notice for half a century plus! I hope to have some good news concerning the future of John Stanley's work in reprint editions sometime soon. Thank you as always for your interest in this blog!

Post-Mortem Post 003: The Fine Art of Comics Pantomime, with Little Lulu and Company

John Stanley was a great storyteller. His ability to spin multiple variations on a number of stock plots, and bring something fresh to the table each time, is downright enviable.

At the core of his storytelling skill is a sardonic, droll sense of humor. Stanley often indulged in slapstick on the comics page, and did it well. His true gift was an understated, subtle comedy, deeply rooted in the myriad flaws and quirks of characters he made his own and knew like his own children.

In my recent updating and book publication of the three-part John Stanley Comics Bibliography (see links at foot of post), I've been reminded of the grace and charm of his pantomime one-page gags in early issues of Little Lulu. These were in line with Marge Buell's original vision of the character. They expanded beyond Marge's one-panel chuckles, as did Stanley with all the characters he grandfathered over from the Buell version.

Stanley's "Lulu" and "Tubby" stories are dominated by talk. Traditionally, the author offered a great deal of character information from how his comic figures act, react and think. At his best, Stanley can make pages of dialogue riveting. His love of language, and his word-smithing, are evident in each line he wrote for the hundreds of thousands of speech balloons he filled.

A constant of Stanley's Lulu and Tubby work are one-page pantomime pieces. These items, usually landfill in poorly-planned comic magazines, were treated as equals to the longer, dialogue-driven stories by their creator. There is no sense of haste or waste in these pages. As with the text feature, Lulus Diry, these apparent fillers are as rich and rewarding as any other components of the series.

Stanley did another string of impressive one-page pieces for the magazine New Funnies, featuring his rendition of Woody Woodpecker. Those may be read HERE. The "Woody" pages, drawn by Stanley, traffic in the typical sassy dialogue exchanges of his longer stories. The Lulu pages are almost exclusively mute, and require the reader's utmost attention to small details. Their rhythm, flow and structure are striking. They're often laugh-out-loud funny, and offer a taste of Stanley's driest wit.

Here is a selection of some of my favorite panto pages from early issues of Little Lulu. Spend some time with them and you'll be rewarded...

two pages from Little Lulu one-shot #110

two pages from Little Lulu one-shot #120

two pages from Little Lulu one-shot #97

two pages from Little Lulu one-shot #115

Little Lulu one-shot #131

two pages from Little Lulu one-shot #139

Little Lulu one-shot #146

Little Lulu one-shot #158

two pages from Little Lulu #1

three pages from Little Lulu #2

Little Lulu #3

Little Lulu #4

Little Lulu #6

Little Lulu #8

Little Lulu #13

John Stanley's hand as cartoonist is keenly felt in the earlier pages. This sheaf of 23 pages offers a quick look at the visual evolution of Lulu, from Stanley's cartooning to Charles Hedinger's to Irving Tripp's.

Stanley entertained an ambition to be a magazine gag cartoonist. He had one cartoon published in the New Yorker in 1947. Roughs exist for several other well-executed gag cartoons, but I don't think any others were published in his lifetime.

As Lulu became more formula-bound, the gag pages acquired a more mechanical flavor. By 1955, they are more filler than inspiration. That said, Stanley wrote one of his most inspired single page strips late in the Lulu game, for issue #94:

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To learn more about my just-published complete John Stanley comics bibliography, please click HERE. The books are available on amazon.com and createspace.com. These lavishly illustrated books are a great holiday gift idea for the comics-loving person in your life...

A Cockeyed Cure For Well-Being: Clyde Crashcup #3, 1964: story by John Stanley, art by Irving Tripp

SPOILER ALERT: Once again, I've gathered today's stories in a stand-alone CBR format, which you can download HERE. I put in some time straightening and brightening the pages, and I think it improves the reading experience.

Don't dig CBRs? Rename the file as an RAR extension, unzip it, and read the pages that way. You'll want to read the stories before you partake of my commentary on them.

That said, let's get this show on the road...

Addled Inventor Creates Already-Extant Mammals, Ungulates, Junk Mail; Mute Assistant Suffers Self-Evident Fate With Stoic Calm; three stories from Clyde Crashcup 2, 1964

It's getting tougher to find something suitable to present to you, here at Stanley Stories. Yet there are a still new-to-blog goodies lurking in ye olde archives.

People seemed to dig the previous two Clyde Crashcup posts. Thus, lightning strikes thrice and a post is born.

I've said everything that needs saying about Clyde Crashcup, and where it fits in the John Stanley canon, elsewhere on the blog.

John Stanley (and two of his finest artists, Irving Tripp and Bill Williams) seemed to enjoy themselves with this five-issue series. There's a genuine sense of fun in their DNA. Much less joy is evident in other post-Little Lulu work-for-hire projects, such as New Terrytoons (and, arguably, the later run of Nancy and Sluggo).

Crashcup's built-in Quixotic qualities were tailor made for the John Stanley sensibility. As well, the series offered catnip to its creator: a single situation that could be milked for endless variations.

Here, for your summer reading pleasure, are three stories from this second issue of CC. Well, four; first is a one-page filler illustrated and lettered by Irv Tripp...

"The Kid Who Came to Dinner," Little Lulu Four-Color one shot #146, 1947

I recently consulted with the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and provided some John Stanley material for an upcoming exhibit which will feature work by artist Jon Haddock. He names John Stanley as one of his influences, as well as other comics creators.

Since I did these hi-rez scans, and pretty much trashed an old comic book in the process, I thought it prudent to share them with those of you who can't make it out to Arizona to see this exhibit. (Ditto for those who only know the black-and-white version of this story, via the Dark Horse reprints.)

"The Kid Who Came To Dinner" was one of a few "Little Lulu" stories personally chosen by Mr. Haddock for the exhibition.

Doing these scans (along with "The Hooky Team," the third-longest "Lulu" story, also published in 1947) gave me a fresh look at these long-familiar stories. It reminds me how easy it is to take Stanley's Little Lulu for granted. In '47, Stanley's Lulu was still a work in progress. His take on the characters continued to evolve until the end of the 1940s. Their actions, reactions, motivations and frustrations remained essentially the same until later in the 1950s.

At this time, Charles Hedinger and Irving Tripp did the bulk of the artwork for this series. It was a transitional period for the feature. The awkwardly designed characters wouldn't really look right 'til Irving Tripp took a more prominent role, circa 1950.

Stanley's hand, from his pencil rough "script," emerges when the characters themselves are agitated. Flashes of his 1960s work can be glimpsed through the cracks.

This story's title is an allusion to a popular play (made into a hit 1941 movie) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, called The Man Who Came To Dinner. The play gave Monty Woolley the role of a lifetime as a-hole/art critic Sheridan Whiteside.

The story features an early version of Tubby Tompkins--the most essential John Stanley character. Stanley's Tubby was still a work in progress. As with Lulu herself, Tub seems more a genuine kid in this 1947 piece. Here, he's more arrogant that Quixotic.

The most important thread to the finalized Tubby is his unwavering sense of self-rightness. Like Larry David's persona on the TV program Curb Your Enthusiasm, Tubby makes aggressive, eagerly expressed statements that ripple the calm waters of mid-century American civility.

Stanley sets this story at a familiar familial Ground Zero--the dinner table.

Tubby's anti-social antics steal the show in "The Kid Who Came To Dinner." In this still-developing state, his brash, larger-than-life persona overpowers the intended calm of the Moppet household.

Stanley had yet to refine his interpretation of the Lulu character. She is not the wise voice of reason we see in the 1950s stories. She still retains some of her spitfire quality from the Marge Buell gag cartoons. The Lulu of, say, 1952 would never be this mouthy or impulsive. It's clear that she resents Tubby's usurpation of the family dinner table routine.

Lulu's parents do their best to maintain proper decorum, despite the series of challenges hurled at them by Tubby's presence and personality.  Lulu's father cracks under the stress. Her mother retains her cool, altho' it's clear to see her bewilderment at Tubby's presence.

Tubby's love of food often leads him to physical discomfort. Here, as in Stanley's masterpiece-level "Great Day" (Little Lulu #23), Tub has a rapt audience for his theater of nausea. By the sign of one Stanleyism--spots before the eyes--we have evidence that Tubby is indeed queasy. He seizes this opportunity for higher status, and flaunts it for all it's worth.

I'm impressed by the subtle layering of the last page--which ends on a note of quiet melancholy. Those last two panels are masterful. The doctor, meant for Tubby, begins to examine Lulu's harried father. As this happens in the background, we see Lulu's mother reach for the note Tubby scrawled.

That final frame is amusing and sad-making, in equal measures. Lulu's mother has no expression on her face. In the wake of Tubby's anti-social visit, the note's vague, convincingly childlike accusation is a jarring coda. I would imagine Mrs. Moppet was subdued and glum for the rest of the evening.

Although John Stanley's Little Lulu was still a work in progress, in 1947, his emergent sophistication as a writer, shaper of characters, and status-tician is strongly felt in "The Kid Who Came to Dinner." This story is a great choice for the walls of an art gallery.

A John Stanley/Irving Tripp Christmas Story-- from Four Color #1274, 1961

I just learned that the artist of this, and many other stories posted on this blog, Irving Tripp, passed away on November 27, 2009.

Tripp was the most common collaborator of John Stanley. He drew most of the Little Lulu comic books from 1949 on, well past Stanley's tenure on the series.

Thus, this post is dedicated to Mr. Tripp.

Christmas was one of many seasonal themes that informed John Stanley's work. Little Lulu has its fair share of yuletide-themed stories. Many of those are archly funny displays of kiddie toy lust and suburban one-upmanship.

Stanley rarely created a Christmas-for-Christmas'-sake story. This is one of his very few efforts in this vein. Irving Tripp came along, to render this curious, decidedly minor effort in a quasi-Marge Buell style.



Santa Claus Funnies, like DC Comics' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was a seasonal series that enjoyed a long run.

Dell's book was a mash-up of various Western staff artists, and stuck to disconnected short stories, all involving the makers and deliverers of gifts (Santa, reindeer, elves) and those waiting at the receiving end (kids, parents).

It was the closest Dell got to publishing religious comix. Santa is a kind of religion. It involves belief in a figure who may or may not exist, and who is a symbol. I'm sure I'm about the millionth person to make this point.

Dell's book enjoyed a 19-year run. Earlier issues are loaded with the cushy, cuddly, fuzzy-wuzzy full-bore Disney-esque artwork of Walt Kelly.

I haven't explored earlier issues for possible Stanley content. This story, "Santa's Return Trip," is clearly John Stanley's work. It will probably go over like gang-busters with your children. This one's for them!










There is some funny verbal stuff in "Santa's Return Trip." Scamper, the over-worked "stock-room elf," has a touch o' the Tubby Type. It's a very soft story. The stakes are surprisingly low. To be honest, Scamper seems pretty replaceable. He would have had an interesting new life as the nameless little girl's living doll.

That's the John Stanley Christmas story I'd like to read! And, who knows--perhaps it's out there, waiting to be rediscovered...