Vintage Weekend

War Cartoons by John Francis Knott

Title: War Cartoons

Author: Knott, John Francis, 1878-1963

Subject: World War I, 1914-1918

Publisher: South Western Printing Co., Dallas

Book contributor: The Library of Congress

Source: www.archive.org

John Francis Knott (1878-1963), artist and illustrator, drew more than 15,000 cartoons in his 52-year long artistic career spent almost entirely at Dallas Morning News in Texas.

Born in Pilsen, Austria (now Plzen, Czech Republic), in 1878, Knott came to America with his widowed mother at the age of five. Mother and son settled in Sioux City, Iowa, where he gained admission to the public school. When he was sixteen years old, Knott published his first drawing, in the Sioux City Journal. After a brief, albeit a not too successful, stint in Chicago, Knott went to Dallas where he illustrated harness and saddle catalogs for an engraving company.

But, Dallas changed Knott’s life completely for it was in this city, the third largest in Texas, that he found work at Dallas Morning News as a full-time cartoonist. Knott started by drawing general illustrations and satirical cartoons on the American way of life, and soon made it to the front page. His work, however, received universal acclaim with his daily cartoons during Woodrow Wilson’s first presidential campaign and during World War I.

Knott soon became famous and his cartoons were reprinted in other publications. In 1918, he published his most acclaimed work, War Cartoons, a series of telling black-and-white illustrations that dealt with a wide range of issues and nearly every aspect of World War I — the stark and the sensitive — that are too many to mention here.

Take a look at some of his cartoons below…

Note: The material for this photo essay has been sourced from Texas State Historical Association and the University of Texas at Austin.

Adolf Hitler in comic-books

You look for one thing, you find something else. I was surfing the internet for some out-of-print books when I came across a comic-book I had never seen before — Daredevil Battles Hitler. Daredevil? Why not Superman? Or Captain America? They would be first choice. Then, I thought, if the Fuhrer can fight The Man Without Fear, he might have also fought the other superheroes. Of course, he has! And that includes The Man of Steel and The First Avenger. So imagine my delight when I found as many as sixteen comic-books featuring Hitler on the covers. Naturally, Adolf is at the receiving end in all the comics. Heel Hitler!

I am sure there are more Hitler comics in cyberspace but these will do for now.

An early 20th century comic-book

 
One of the amazing things about copyright-free material on the internet, or material available under Creative Commons License to put it correctly, is what you stumble upon — the surprise factor. For instance, browsing through Internet Archive I came across an early 20th century comic-book series I’d neither heard of nor read before —  Smilin’ Ed’s Buster Brown Comics.

Tracing its origins on the internet, I found that Buster Brown was originally a comic strip character created in 1902 by renowned cartoonist Richard Felton Outcault, who was associated with the famous Brown Shoe Company. The comic strips revolved around Buster Brown, an impish young boy, his sister Mary Jane, and his American Pit Bull Terrier, Tige, a talking dog.

Later, Smilin’ Ed McConnell, the well-known host of the children's radio and television series, Smilin' Ed's Gang, and Buster Brown came together to launch Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang on the airwaves. By then, the comic strip had faded from public memory and it wasn’t long before the character “was merely the trademark symbol for a shoe company.”

Incidentally, the Brown Shoe Company came into the picture much later though people associated its Brown Shoe with the Buster Brown character. The shoe company offered in-store Buster Brown comics that were written by Hobart Donavan, who wrote all the three stories in the comic-book featured here.

I might be sketchy with the history behind Buster Brown, the comic strip and the radio show, and so I invite readers with better knowledge to fill in the gaping blanks.

The three Smilin’ Ed’s Buster Brown Comics turned out to be a delightful set of stories with colour illustrations that resemble some of the early comic-books, notably Classics Illustrated. All the stories revolve around young lads who go on adventures to prove to their fathers and mentors that they are more men than boys, that they have grown up, and that they can stand shoulder to shoulder alongside adults.

 
The first story in the comic titled Pirate’s Gold is set in 1697 and is about Laddy Whickett, a small boy from London, who gets a job as a cabin boy on His Majesty’s Ship City of Calcutta. On board the ship, Captain Reddy (judging by the name, he would be an Indian from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh) places Laddy under the charge of his first mate Jamie Fitzroy. As the story unfolds, Laddy helps Fitzroy recapture the ship from pirates disguised as crewmen on the ship. His Majesty’s Navy rewards Laddy for "his courage, his wit and his nerve" by appointing him as midshipman in the navy. 

The second story, Little Rabbit’s Warpath, is about Little Rabbit, the son of a Sioux chief, who warns his village about an impending attack by the apaches that enables his father to launch a surprise assault on the enemy and defeat them. As a reward, he is given a new title — Little Fox. No more hunting rabbits for the little lad. In this story, too, Little Rabbit is mentored by Fighting Hawk, a young brave warrior from his village. 

In the third story, titled Cobra Man, Billy and Bunny, the young son and daughter of an American gentleman, help their father’s old friend, the Maharaja of Maripan, expose a plot by the cobra gang, led by the king’s stepbrother, to take over the kingdom. As in the previous stories, Billy and Bunny find a loyal friend in Maru, a big soldier and the king’s trusted lieutenant.

All in all, an entertaining comic-book.

Illustrations: Creative Commons License/www.archive.org

Phantom battles prehistoric creatures

 
Phantom – the Ghost Who walks, Man Who Cannot Die and Guardian of the Eastern Dark – and Mandrake the Magician – who never reveals the secret of his magic because, well, magicians never tell – have fought all kinds of weird foes – man and animal, beast and alien. In these two covers, Phantom and Mandrake find themselves cornered by strange prehistoric creatures.

 
Phantom tames his Yeti-like foe and transports him to Eden, his very own island zoo where his other animals, both herbivores and carnivores, live in perfect harmony – the former feeding on grass and the latter feeding on fish. The prehistoric ape is called Hzz who later finds a mate named Hrz and they raise a family.

In another comic-book, Phantom captures and trains a stegosaurus and brings him to Eden where the creature takes an immediate liking to Hzz. Together, they guard the Phantom’s beautiful isle.

 
The Phantom of these stories belongs to our generation, the 20th century. Reality, step aside.

Tarzan and Conan

The Ape-Man and the Barbarian are similar in many ways but the two things they have in common above all is the absence of fear and the ability to fight all kinds of creatures, man and monster, as these two fine covers will tell you. I had both these comic-books in my collection for a long time till, one day, I noticed they were missing. Tarzan and Conan have never failed to entertain since Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard created the two mighty superheroes in 1912 and 1932.

     

Long live King Kong!

 
Much before King Kong was made into a film on at least three occasions – the 1976 version starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange, in my opinion, being more enchanting and engrossing than the 1933 and 2005 versions – English crime writer Edgar Wallace created the giant gorilla in a short story he co-wrote with Draycott Montagu Dell. Their story first appeared in Cinema Weekly in October 1933.

Interestingly, the first version of King Kong was directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack based on a story idea by Cooper and Wallace.

King Kong has lost none of its cinematic influence after scores of movies about beasts and monsters that followed the first version – originally titled The Beast: The Birth of Kong – over the past eighty years. King Kong still sounds better.

The movies spawned many comic-books with the 1968-published Gold Key cover of the mighty King Kong battling puny airplanes atop the Empire State Building being the most striking of all.

Rip Kirby, private detective

These are two vintage covers of Rip Kirby comic-books published under the Indrajal Comics label by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, publishers of The Times of India. Indrajal Comics stopped publication of Remington 'Rip' Kirby and other heroes like Phantom, Mandrake, Bahadur (the brave), Flash Gordon, Buz Sawyer and Garth in late 1980. Kirby, the private detective created by Alex Raymond in 1946, wasn't as popular as Phantom, Mandrake and Bahadur but he had a small band of loyal
followers like this blogger.

The bespectacled and immaculately dressed private eye was largely known for investigating high-profile cases usually involving rich women and jewel heists. He carried a pistol but mostly used his fists and there was almost no violence in his comics. Kirby, who was ably supported by his faithful, albeit disconsolate, butler Desmond, was one of the earliest modern-day sleuths.

Now if I were making a movie on Rip Kirby, who would I cast in his role? It'd be Gregory Peck or Michael Caine.

Long out of print, Indrajal Comics today have considerable value, more so Rip Kirby whose titles weren't too many.

Back in time: Nestlé tells a story

First Nestlé logo

On January 15, I did a small post on how GE turned to comic-books in 1950s to rekindle interest in science and technology among students in America. Over the last hundred years, multinational companies have used comics as a potent tool to showcase and sell a multitude of products and merchandise on one hand and educate the community on the other. In fact, early logos and adverts of companies bore a close resemblance to illustrations in children's storybooks. Others looked like picture postcards and movie posters.

The Nestlé Company was established in 1866 by Henri Nestlé, a trained pharmacist, to "help combat the problem of infant mortality due to malnutrition." Nestlé — which means 'little nest' in German — understood the power of branding. When one of his agents suggested that the nest could be exchanged for the white cross of the Swiss flag, Nestlé's response was firm: "I regret that I cannot allow you to change my nest for a Swiss cross... I cannot have a different trademark in every country; anyone can make use of a cross, but no one else may use my coat of arms."

The 'little nest' hasn't changed in nearly 150 years. You can read more about it at Nestlé.

Source: www.sparehed.com

When GE turned to comic-books

While, globally, corporate social responsibility came to be implemented by multinational corporations since the 1960s, US giant General Electric used a unique form of CSR long before it officially became a part of corporate culture: GE published comics to get students interested in science in a fun and colourful way. Here's what GE has to say:

It’s become a vexing cliché to bemoan the lack of student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). “A national crisis has been identified in the area of global technological competitiveness,” warned a recent study by Purdue University. “Will our science and high technology sectors have the talented STEM graduates prepared to compete and be leaders in tomorrow’s world?

In response to this STEM crisis, the White House has launched the Educate to Innovate campaign. There is also the National STEM Video Game Challenge, where kids learn STEM skills by designing games. GE has some experience experimenting with play and fun in an effort to attract young minds to science and engineering. 

In the 1950s, comic books were as popular with kids as video games are today, and just as decried by parents. “Teachers, parents and lawmakers were bitter about newsstand comics in 1945,” General Electric Review wrote in September 1953. “But in the public relations field, although were all aware of the adult fear that comic books were producing a crop of juvenile delinquents, we couldn’t escape the conclusion that the medium had attractive possibilities for mass communications.

 
Intrigued by the possibilities, GE started printing comics “on mammoth presses on newsprint stock in quantities of 500,000 to 3,000,000.” The titles: Adventures In Jet Power, Adventures Inside the Atom, and Land of Plenty, A Story of Freedom and Power.

 
According to GE Review, the “drawings were shown to several vice presidents and managers” before publication. “And the results of these previews were indeed stimulating because the eight members of management who saw the colourful boards had so much fun looking, reading, and commenting that they not only gave their final approval to the project, but also suggested many themes for future series.”


Photos: www.gereports.com

Asterix and the potion of magic

Nothing's fair in love and war or, for that matter, in comics. Now I have been reading Asterix, my favourite comic-book, for more than three decades. Yet, during all these years, I have never given much thought to the obvious flaws in the Goscinny-Uderzo creation. And there are quite a few.

For instance, in Asterix in Britain, the brave Gaulish warrior and his pigtailed friend Obelix cross over into Roman-occupied Britain with a barrel of magic potion to help a small village fight against the might of Caesar's Rome. Now this village has been successfully defending itself against the Romans without the aid of the potion. All that the Britons, as indomitable as the Gauls, drink is hot water, with a drop of milk, till Asterix introduces them to tea with some herbs that Druid Getafix gave him before he left home.

Now hot water with a spot of milk is no match for the druid’s powerful concoction and yet that is all the magic the Britons have to stave off the invading Romans. My point is if one little village of Britons can defeat the Romans without any magic potion, why can’t the village of Gauls, as we know it, do likewise?

On the rare occasion when the Gauls are without their magic potion, they turn to Obelix to guard the village because he fell into the cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby and it had a permanent effect on him. No one among the Britons fell into a cauldron of hot water and even if someone did, the poor man would have been scalded for life. 

Asterix comics are replete with examples of brave and ordinary people who fight the Romans with little other than the clothes on their back. For example, the Corsicans in Asterix in Corsica stare down their Roman opponents while the Helvetians in Asterix in Switzerland scare the hell out of the tin-hat soldiers by blowing into their alpine horns. No magic potion in both cases. It goes to the credit of the Gauls that they are willing to share the potion with anyone who’s up against the Romans. 

See what I mean. If it weren’t for the magic potion, there would be no village of indomitable Gauls and no bashing of Romans and no menhir-delivery man either. Then again, Asterix wouldn’t have been half as funny without the magic potion.

Copyright for images: Hodder Dargaud