When I was in grade school, my mom brought me home a book from a closeout store that I eagerly read and re-read many times, and is one of the precious few titles from childhood that remains on my shelf today: THE SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMIC-BOOK COMICS.
That anthology — a gold mine, even if she only paid a couple bucks for it — introduced me to a whole world that existed beyond Batman and Spider-Man, including Will Eisner, Jack Cole, John Stanley, Sheldon Mayer and Walt Kelly. Most of these men are prominently featured in THE TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN’S COMICS. Edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, it not only lives up its TREASURY name, but gave me the same kick of joyous discovery as the SMITHSONIAN collection did three decades ago.
Dozens upon dozens of terrific tales await in its 350-plus pages, all culled from the 1930s to 1960s. The emphasis here is on kids, meaning comics created for their sake, which nixes all of the EC stuff and most of the superheroes, although a rather fanciful Captain Marvel issue makes the cut. But don’t take “kids’ comics” as to mean “stupid.” These were the days before their comics were mere arms of merchandising; instead of selling toys, they sold themselves. Through storytelling. How novel!
Whether you’re reading them for the first time or the first time in 50 years, you’ll delight to the opening “Hey, Kids!” section, with the infant exploits of Mayer’s Sugar and Spike, the mischievous antics of Dennis the Menace and the proto-feminism of Little Lulu. “Funny Animals” — the very mention of which nauseates those raised on a strict superhero diet — comprise the second section, and include The Three Mousketeers, Fox and Crow, Hickory and Dickory, Uncle Wiggily and Jigger, with Kelly’s Pogo and Carl Barks’ Donald Duck thrown in for good measure.
In the “Fantasyland” chapter, you’ll take a trip to George Carlson’s surreal Pretzelburg, as well as Alice’s Wonderland, as seen through the skewed eyes of MADman Dave Berg. Kelly puts his stamp on a few fairy tales, Milt Stein’s Supermouse does battle with the world’s least threatening dragon, and even Droopy shows up for a page.
Barks’ work features heavily in “Storytime,” with three straight adventures of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, sitting alongside C.C. Beck’s aforementioned Captain Marvel and other creators’ long-lost Intellectual Amos, Billy and Bonnie Bee, and Egbert the Elephant.
Finally, there’s “Weird and Wacky,” as if everything coming before weren’t. These are more twisted tales, but tastefully so, with Milt Gross’ Patsy Pancake and Mayer’s J. Rufus Lion. None are stranger than Jack Cole’s oafish Burp the Twerp, although Basil Wolverton’s “Foolish Faces” feature comes close. Horror is repped by humor, between Stanley’s topsy-turvy world of Melvin Monster, and Dick Briefer’s kinder, gentler take on Frankenstein (as opposed to the straight-scare version he would tackle later in his career). It closes with an outright classic: Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman’s “Gerald McBoing Boing.”
Giants such as Jules Feiffer and Harvey Kurtzman are featured via one-pagers throughout, but they’re no more important than the writers and artists whose names aren’t as iconic. No matter their level of fame and fortune, Spiegleman and Mouly give them their due.
Sorting through thousands of comics to assemble this master anthology had to be a chore, but an enjoyable one, so it’s hard to find fault with their selections. The only true notable omission are the stars of Harvey Comics, such as Casper and Richie Rich. Archie Comics gets one in, with an ever-amusing Little Archies story detailing how girls will be girls.
Even working with such old material, the TOON TREASURY pages are clean and crisp. The entire book is nicely designed, from endpapers to its icon-driven section notations. Should you wish to learn more about the individual creators, their bios are thoughtfully included in the back, as are suggestions for further reading, both new and old.
Pound for pound, page for page, penny for penny, you won’t find a more thoroughly enjoyable book all year than this collection — not in any novel, not in any work of nonfiction. It celebrates a time when escape could be purchased literally for 10 cents at a time. So what if it’s up to $40 here? It’s an investment in hours’ worth of glee that’ll last years. I fully expect that in another 30, I’ll be pulling this down from a shelf to show my grandchildren … if their hands are clean. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ART SPIEGELMAN:
• BIG FAT LITTLE LIT edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly
• BREAKDOWNS: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG %@&*! by Art Spiegelman
• JACK AND THE BOX by Art Spiegelman
Related posts:
- Jack and the Box / Stinky / Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever
- The Best American Comics 2007
- Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!
- The Hanna-Barbera Treasury
- The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics
