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!

Art Gallery: John Stanley Paintings, Drawings and Doodles (updated November 2012)

For a change of pace, here is some John Stanley original artwork I've found on Heritage Auctions. The first one is from a current auction. It's a quite sharp and well-drawn piece from the mid-1970s.

Here's the website blurb for this piece:

"John Stanley Little Lulu and Tubby Halloween Fun #6 Cover Re-Creation Original Art (c. 1970s). John Stanley revisits the world of Lulu, Tubby, Witch Hazel, and Little Itch with this fun cover re-creation, taken from a 1957 Dell comic book cover originally finished by Irving Tripp. Stanley added considerable detail missing from Tripp's version, and also added his signature in the lower right corner. The art is in ink and watercolor on illustration board, with an image area of approximately 11" x 15.5". An old overmat was at one point rubber-cemented to the board, and has now been removed, leaving a stain outside of the image area; otherwise, the art is in Excellent condition."

 Here's a larger view, sans rubber-cement staining, of this really nice piece of work.

I thought to look in the closed auctions, and found 10 other pieces of original artwork. Since these will eventually get lost in the shuffle, I thought it would be nice to save them all here:

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"John Stanley Marge's Little Lulu #61 Cover Re-Creation Original Art (1989). This colorful re-creation of a 1953 cover scene captures the lighthearted charm and whimsy of John Stanley's fan-favorite work on Little Lulu and Tubby for Dell comics."

"John Stanley Little Lulu and Tubby Painting Original Art (1977). While Marge (Henderson) Buell created Little Lulu as a single-panel cartoon feature for the Saturday Evening Post, it was writer/artist John Stanley who created Lulu's adventures for the Dell comic books. Stanley developed and expanded the personalities of Lulu, Tubby, Alvin, Iggy, Annie, and the rest of the cast. Just as Carl Barks was commissioned by his fans to paint specialty pieces of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, so was John Stanley commissioned to paint fondly-remembered images of Little Lulu and Tubby. The image area of this mixed-media painting is approximately 12.75" x 18", and the art is in Excellent condition. John Stanley has signed the painting at the lower right."

"John Stanley - Little Lulu and Tubby Painting Original Art (1979). 2005 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of the first Little Lulu comic book, Dell's Four Color #74. While Marge (Henderson) Buell created the mischievous moppet as a single-panel cartoon feature for theSaturday Evening Post ten years earlier, it was writer/artist John Stanley who guided Lulu's exploits in the Dell comic books. Stanley developed and expanded the personalities of Lulu, Tubby, Alvin, Iggy, Annie, and the rest of the cast of Meadowville characters. Just as Carl Barks was commissioned by his fans to paint specialty pieces of the Duckburg clan, so was John Stanley commissioned to paint fondly remembered images of Little Lulu and Tubby. In this hilarious scene, Tubby has exceeded the weight limit of the tires of Lulu's tricycle, and blown them out -- Yow! Alvin and Annie also co-star in the upper right. The image area of the mixed-media painting is approximately 10.5" x 15.25". The art is in Excellent condition and John Stanley has signed the painting at the lower right."

"John Stanley Marge's Little Lulu #84 Cover Re-Interpretation Original Art (1992). Not just a re-creation, this terrific cover re-interpretation features an uproarious gag even funnier than the one used for Marge's Little Lulu #84 in 1959. Many comic book fans consider John Stanley on a par with Carl Barks as Dell's two greatest writer/cartoonists. This piece has an image area of 11" x 15.5", and the art is in Excellent condition. Signed and dated in the lower right."

"John Stanley and Lloyd White - Original Cover Art for Tubby #22 (Dell, 1957). This cute cover features Marge's Tubby fishing as a flock of ducks look on expectantly. Haven't we all had that experience? The piece is in good condition with some blue line marks and light soiling, and measures approximately 11" x 14" with an image area approximately 7" x 10". John Stanley contributed the layouts and the concept, while Lloyd White is the pencil and ink artist."

"John Stanley - Little Lulu "Psychic" Preliminary Drawing Original Art (undated) This ink on letter bond drawing may have been done as a preliminary for one of John Stanley's paintings. A note at the bottom reads, "Deja-vu here, Don -- I have the feeling I did this sometime back in the dark (light?) ages -- forget it." The page has an overall size of 8.5" x 11", and the art is in Very Good condition."

"John Stanley - Little Lulu "Spin the Bottle" Preliminary Drawing Original Art (undated) Tubby takes center stage in this ink on letter bond drawing which may have been done as a preliminary for one of John Stanley's paintings.The piece has an overall size of 8.5" x 11", and the art is in Very Good condition."

"John Stanley - Nancy Cover Preliminary Original Art (undated). John Stanley worked on Nancy and Sluggo for Dell and here is a pencil rough for a cover gag. The image area is 8.5" x 11". The art is in Very Good condition and John Stanley signed the art at the lower left."

"John Stanley - Thirteen Going on Eighteen #22 Cover Original Art (Dell, 1967). John Stanley was one of the greatest talents ever to work in comics, and many fans consider him the funniest writer, bar none. His work on Marge's Little Lulu, Nancy, Thirteen, and Melvin Monstercreated generations of fans. This cover art is somewhat of a rarity in that Stanley has signed the art in the lower right, something that he was rarely allowed to do. The image area measures 10.5" x 12". There is moderate use of white-out for art touch-ups; otherwise the art is in Very Good condition."

"John Stanley - Thirteen #28 Cover Original Art (Dell, 1970). Val and Judy both take credit for the wandering eye of the cute boy in their midst. This charming cover features Thirteen's two leading characters at their most adorable. The art measures 14" x 19" and is in Excellent condition with minor creasing at the corners that does not affect the artwork. A copy of the printed comic is also included."

Of course, we know that this is really the artwork for issue #3's cover, which was reprinted as the book's 28th and last issue... the lucky bidder probably did, too... 

As said, I think it's apt to save these from oblivion. Heritage's back lists also had several non-Stanley items that were listed as being by Stanley. 

POST-SCRIPT: Here's an update with two recently surfaced John Stanley pieces. As this is one of the most popular posts here, I think some updating is in order.

First, here's a sweet Halloween piece, painted on commission in 1977:

Next is a superior photograph of a piece seen earlier in this posting. The vivid colors really stand out in this better image...

UPDATE #2, May 3, 2012: Two more pieces have recently surfaced on HA's site. This 1983 painting, through vigorous/crude, is quite amusing:

And, currently up for auction (until May 10th) is Stanley's much tighter, more classically styled re-creation of the cover to Little Lulu #22. This painting was used for the cover of the 2005 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide: It can be yours for probably two grand--rubber cement stains and all!

UPDATE, 11/23/12: Here's an adroit 1989 re-creation of the cover of Little Lulu #76...

For comparison's sake, and to show how deeply Stanley submerged his cartooning style while working on the Lulu series, here's the 1954 original...

Stanley's presence as a cartoonist is still strongly felt on the '54 version (especially in the figure of Tubby, and in the two apple cores on the table). The '89 remake, in which Stanley goes off-model to pursue his own joy of cartooning, has much more personality, in my opinion.

I'll keep updating this popular thread as more new pieces emerge!

Happy B'day Jim: O. G. Whiz, Pt. 2

For our 50th post, here's the second half of the first issue of O. G. Whiz, John Stanley's last original work for comics.

"A Short Happy Life" is a bittersweet story with a cynical, satirical bent that reminds me of Gilbert Shelton's best work. There are faint echoes from Little Lulu's world in this story, but the outrageous corporate actions of the Tikkletoy Company steal the show here.

A SHORT HAPPY LIFE








Our last O. G. Whiz story--and Stanley's final published comix work--drives deeper into Shelton-esque territory. Both the shrill sitcom-stereotyped General Ponko, the colorful baddie of "A Tough Customer," and the battery of highly literal sound effects would fit just fine into any vintage "Wonder Wart-Hog" or "Freak Brothers" story.

Its seems highly probable that John Stanley's comix influenced Gilbert Shelton's profoundly dry, absurd style of humor--well before 1971, of course. I'd be surprised to learn of any 1971 underground cartoonist having noticed, or read, this particular comic book.

Cultural stereotypes seemed to reach some kind of zenith in the 1970s. As a side-product of "awareness" and "tellin' it like it is," florid-but-harmless caricatures like General Ponko were standard fare. Ponko is just a means to an end--a forceful figure to cause comic mayhem for a few pages.

Well, Jim, I hope you enjoyed this two-part post. And, of course, the same goes to everyone else. These stories aren't available anywhere else on the Internet, so save 'em for later enjoyment!

A TOUGH CUSTOMER

Happy B'day Jim: O. G. Whiz, Pt. 1

O. G. Whiz was John Stanley's last original work for comics. This may, in fact, be the very last comics work he did for publication. Very late in his life, Stanley sketch-scripted a couple of "Little Lulu" pages for the fan publication The HoLLywood Eclectern. They were finished by fan artist Larry Blake.

Stanley didn't do the finished art, but his hand is strongly evident in the character designs, layouts and body language of characters. He did draw the cover, with some assistance. It looks like a Gold Key staffer touched up the O.G. Whiz figure to make it smoother and more "commercial." The frogs and the startled secretary are in the loose brush style Stanley used on his 1960s comics:



This may be Stanley's talkiest comics work. His dialogue became heavier and more percussive throughout the 1960s, but never were his comix this verbose. It's witty, lively talk, with a touch of sitcom shrillness. These stories, in fact, have an unusual mix of visual and verbal humor.

Stanley was certainly not out of ideas, this late in the game. The series' premise is simple but clever. Stanley did favor certain physical types. The 140-something Titus Tootle Tikkle looks like the witch/teacher from Melvin Monster, without a wig. Thutnose, O. G. Whiz' rival, bears a strong resemblance to "Baddy" from Melvin Monster and the menacing Buddy from Dunc 'n' Loo.

And, finally, O. G. Whiz is a plumper Melvin Monster with Caucasian skin and specs.

Stanley's last comix work reminds me of Jacques Tati's final narrative film, Trafic, which was also released in 1971. I doubt Stanley saw that movie, but the corporate setting, inventive humor, and gadgetry have some vague thematic link to Tati's under-appreciated film.

Here are the first two O. G. Whiz stories: "Orvie's Rapid Rises," which functions as an origin story, and "The Bubblegum Bogeyman," which sets up the dysfunctional relationship of jealous executive Thutnose and de facto authority-figure Whiz. Their personal dynamic is similar to McOnion's and Sluggo's in the Stanley Nancy comix.

The printing on this comic book, typical of 1970s Gold Key product, is wretched. By this time, plastic plates were used at the press. These held ink poorly, and delivered a fuzzy, grungy quality to both linework and color.

I've gone through four copies of this comic, in a vain attempt to find one that's decently printed. They probably don't exist. It's sad that Stanley's final published work was given such shabby treatment. But, of course, no one, not even John Stanley, could have known this was it.

O. G. Whiz continued for a year without Stanley. It was then revived for a little over a year in 1978. Apparently, something happened during or after the publication of this first issue that caused Stanley to leave comics for good. Whatever the story is (and I hope it comes to light someday), Stanley left comix with a decided, brassy BANG--not a whimper.

ORVIE'S RAPID RISES










THE BUBBLEGUM BOGEYMAN








To be continued in our next post...