Wednesday, September 17, 2014

MOG-AN-AH The Mound Builder, 1952-53

(Continued from FRONTIER TALES, 1953)

As I noted in the KIT CARSON pages, for a stretch there in the early 1950s, the western comics in BOYS' LIFE magazine sure had a lot of violence and killing, while consistently casting Native American Indians as thieves and killers.

That all started to change when the Johnstone & Cushing 8-page color comics supplement debuted.  Like THE UNTOUCHABLES in its 4th season, both Indians and violence in general began to vanish, before KIT CARSON disappeared entirely.  Meanwhile, the month the color comics section started, one of the brand-new features was a comics series that portrayed American Indians in a far more positive light.  MOG-AN-AH The Mound Builder, by Irving Crump, based on a book from 1931, focused on a pair of Indian tribes, one peace-loving, and the other war-like.
The series only lasted 10 episodes, but was soon replaced by another similar one that was aimed even more at young boys.

MOG-AN-AH The Mound Builder
September 1952  /  Episode 1  /  ["The Wolf Slayer"]  Part 1
story by Irving Crump  /  art by ??
October 1952  /  Episode 2  /  ["The Wolf Slayer"]  Part 2
November 1952  /  Episode 3  /  ["The Wolf Slayer"]  Part 3
December 1952  /  Episode 4  /  ["The Cougar Hunt"]  Part 1
January 1953  /  Episode 5  /  ["The Cougar Hunt"]  Part 2
February 1953  /  Episode 6  /  ["The Cougar Hunt"]  Part 3
March 1953  /  Episode 7  /  ["The Deer Hunt"]  Part 1
April 1953  /  Episode 8  /  ["The Deer Hunt"]  Part 2
May 1953  /  Episode 9  /  ["The Deer Hunt"]  Part 3
June 1953  /  Episode 10  /  ["Mok-Lee The Long-Head"]  Part 1
And that's it for MOG-AN-AH... unfortunately, the series was cut off abruptly one episode into a new multi-part story.  (Don't you hate when that happens?)  But I'll be back soon with more FRONTIER TALES, this time starring a young Native American boy!

Copyright (C) 1953 by Boys' Life magazine

Raw scan of the 1931 book from the Trussel.com site
Raw scans of the comic from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Irving Crump at the Trussel.com site!
Read about The Archeology Of Arizona at the T-Rat site!

Read SPACE CONQUERORS! at this blog!
Read STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at this blog!
Read Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON at this blog!
Read FRONTIER Tales at this blog! 

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Bible Stories, 2012

(Continued from 2011)

Well, it's been 15 months since I set up the last BIBLE STORIES page on this blog, and I've just looked and found out that, sure enough, they've posted the 2012 episodes at the BOYS' LIFE site now.  So, time for an update!

Yugoslavian artist *** ********* continues his run with the 5th version of "Samuel".  This was first covered in the BL series in November 1960.

Naturally, this leads into the 9th version of "David", which was first covered
in the 2nd-ever episode of STORIES FROM THE BIBLE, way back in the October 1952 of the magazine.

As before, these are currently the most recent episodes of this series I have available.  Hopefully, as with this page, more will be eventually forthcoming as time goes on.

***********************************************

On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, I received an e-mail from a Yugoslavian artist whose work I had posted on my regular blog.  He requested I remove his art. 
I HAVE.

OH WELL!

Story by (??)  /  Art by *** *********
BOYS' LIFE  /  January 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  February 2012
B
OYS' LIFE  /  March 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  April 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  May 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  June 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  July 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  August 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  September 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  October 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  November 2012
BOYS' LIFE  /  December 2012

(Continued in 2013... eventually!)

(Or... maybe not.)

Copyright (C) BOY'S LIFE Magazine
Restorations by Henry Kujawa.

Read the BOYS' LIFE Bible series in sequence BY STORY at the
     Professor H Revisits The Bible blog!!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

FRONTIER Tales, 1953

(Continued from KIT CARSON, 1953)

LEE AMES did OLD TIMER TALES OF KIT CARSON, which evolved into KIT CARSON TALES, in BOYS' LIFE magazine from May 1951-May 1953.  It went from B&W to 2-color to 4-color, from being narrated by "The Old Timer" to Kit Carson himself, and from having a high level of violence & killing involving Native American Indians to less violence with white villains.

And then it was gone, replaced in June 1953 with FRONTIER TALES, an "anthology" series that told various stories about the early days of the European settlers in America.  I'm posting this straight on from KIT CARSON because even though there is no real connection (other than it being a historical feature), it features LEE AMES on the art.  (Well, for a while, anyway...)

FRONTIER TALES
June 1953  /  Episode 1  /  "The Opening Of The West"
story & art by LEE AMES

July 1953    /  Episode 2  /  "Across The Great Divide!"
August 1953  /  Episode 3  /  ["Over The Chiholm Trail"]
This particular episode is interesting, in that 4 months later, it apparently served as inspiration for the setting of the series KAM OF THE ANCIENT ONES, which FRONTIER TALES morphed into.

September 1953  /  Episode 4  /  ["The Great Cliff Dwellings"]
Lee Ames' name disappears from the series.  Looking over the art, I suspect this was actually Ames' final episode, as a new name appears on the December 1953 installment, in a notably different style.

October 1953  /  Episode 5  /  "Commodore Perry Opens Japan"
There was no "FRONTIER TALES" in the November 1953 issue.

December 1953  /  Episode 6  /  "The Discovery Of Christmas Island"
story & art by JOE KING
(Continued in FRONTIER TALES, 1954  /  eventually)

Copyright (C) 1953 by Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Lee Ames at the Wikipedia site!

Read SPACE CONQUERORS! at this blog!
Read STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at this blog!
Read Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON at this blog!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

KIT CARSON Tales, 1953

(Continued from KIT CARSON, 1952)

This BOYS' LIFE series ran from March 1951-May 1953.  With the popularity of western series all through the 1950s, I find it very odd that the series ended only 8 months after the color comics section made its debut.  I would have thought a western series would have fit easily side-by-side with the science-fiction of Space Conquerors! and the historical mythology of Stories From The Bible.

The series had started out with some very rough art.  They added graytones, (apparently) replaced the artist, then upgraded to 2-color printing, then 4-color printing, with the simultaneous addition of a classier logo.  Along the way, the "Old Timer" who introduced each story (telling them to a group of Boy Scouts on vacation at the Fremont Ranch) vanished. With the February 1953 episode, the title finally changed to reflect this, from "OLD TIMER TALES OF KIT CARSON" to simply "KIT CARSON TALES".  In these, Kit was shown telling the tales himself!  But after only 4 episodes, the series ENDED, replaced with "FRONTIER TALES", again with art by Lee Ames.

Was it the possibly-excessive level of violence in a magazine aimed specifically at young readers? Hard to say. At any rate, BOYS' LIFE was far from the only source of KIT CARSON stories.  In addition to a then-current TV series that ran from 1951-55, there was also the following info I ran across while doing research:

In 1931 Kit Carson was the subject of J. Carroll Mansfield's daily comic strip High Lights of History, collected as a Big Little Book, Kit Carson (1933).
In the Italian comic Tex Willer (1948- ), Kit Carson appears as Tex's sidekick.
Avon began a series of Kit Carson comic books that lasted nine issues (1950–1955). Boy's Life includes a continuing strip story "Old Timer Tales of Kit Carson" from March 1951 to May 1953. Classics Illustrated No. 112, The Adventures of Kit Carson (October 1953), is based on John C. Abbott's 1873 book; the comic book went through nine printings between 1953 and 1969. Blazing the Trails West, another Classics Illustrated publication (Special Issue No. 144A, June 1958), includes a chapter on Kit Carson.[61]
In England and France, there was a Kit Carson comic that lasted at least 350 issues (1950s), and seven Kit Carson Annuals (1954–1960), often drawn by D. C. Eyles.[62] Six Gun Heroes had two Kit Carson titles (1957 & 1958), and there was a Kit Carson No. 10 in 1963.
The 1970 Walt Disney Comics Digest included Kit Carson.

At any rate, here's the final 5 BOYS' LIFE episodes...  ENJOY!

Old Timer Tales Of KIT CARSON
January 1953  /  Episode 20  /  ["Shoshone War Party Warning"]
story by Stanley Pashko  /  art by LEE AMES
KIT CARSON TALES
February 1953  /  Episode 21  /  ["Trappers' Rendezvous"]
March 1953  /  Episode 22  /  ["New Mexico Smugglers"]
April 1953  /  Episode 23  /  ["Heavy Rains"]
May 1953  /  Episode 24  /  ["Snowstorm Battle"]
(Continued in FRONTIER TALES) --you saw that coming, RIGHT???

Copyright (C) 1953 by Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Kit Carson at the Wikipedia site!
Read about Lee Ames at the Wikipedia site!
See the covers of Avon's KIT CARSON series at the GCD site
Read Avon's KIT CARSON series at the Comic Book Plus site!
Read more KIT CARSON in Avon's BLAZING SIXGUNS
     at the Western Comics Adventures blog!
Read about the CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED version at the Comixology site
Read about the KIT CARSON tv series at the Google.com site!

Read SPACE CONQUERORS! at this blog!
Read STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at this blog!
Read Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON at this blog!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON, 1952

(Continued from Kit Carson, 1951)

This BOYS' LIFE series ran from March 1951-May 1953.  With the popularity of western series all through the 1950s, I find it very odd that the series ended only 8 months after the color comics section made its debut.  I would have thought a western series would have fit easily side-by-side with the science-fiction of Space Conquerors! and the historical mythology of Stories From The Bible.

I'm not usually a prude when it comes to violence, but somehow I find this series rather shocking in the amount of killing it depicts.  I found a comment from someone online who said that by all accounts, Kit Carson was a "genocidal maniac".  I'm beginning to think that may have had something to do with this series being replaced before too long with something less filled with endless depictions of mass killings.

Old Timer Tales Of KIT CARSON
January 1952  /  Episode 10  /  "Battle In The Lava Beds"
story by Stanley Pashko  /  art by LEE AMES
Page 2
February 1952  /  Episode 11  /  "Averts An Icy Death"
March 1952  /  Episode 12  /  "Gets The Message Through"
April 1952  /  Episode 13  /  "Caught In A Buffalo Stampede"
May 1952  /  Episode 14  /  "Avenges An Apache Victim"
Page 2
June 1952  /  Episode 15  /  "He Recaptures A Cannon"
Page 2


There was no episode in the July 1952 issue.

August 1952  /  Episode 16  /  "Wagon Train Ambush" 


The Johnstone & Cushing color comics section debuted in the September 1952 issue. "Boys' Life Color Section -- 8 PAGES of Fun - Adventure - Excitement", it said. The features included "Pee Wee Harris", "Stories From The Bible", "Mog-An-Ah, The Mound Builder", "Old Timer Tales Of Kit Carson", "Space Conquerors!", "How To Make It", "Emanon Dreemz", and "Scouts In Action". Only the latter and "Kit Carson" predated the color section, the latter getting a nice new logo design.

It seems odd that they kept the same series name, considering the last appearance of the scouts was in the June episode, and the last appearance of the "Old Timer" was in the August episode.

September 1952  /  Episode 17  /  ["The Two-Man Army"]
October 1952  /  Episode 18  /  ["Prevents A Murder"]
November 1952  /  Episode 19  /  ["Renegade Whites"]
There was no "Kit Carson" in the December 1952 issue...
     but the series would return the following month.

(Continued in Kit Carson, 1953)

Copyright (C) 1952 by Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Kit Carson at the Wikipedia site!
Read about Lee Ames at the Wikipedia site!
See the covers of Avon's KIT CARSON series at the GCD site
Read Avon's KIT CARSON series at the Comic Book Plus site!
Read more KIT CARSON in Avon's BLAZING SIXGUNS
     at the Western Comics Adventures blog!
Read about the CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED version at the Comixology site
Read about the KIT CARSON tv series at the Google.com site!

Read SPACE CONQUERORS! at this blog!
Read STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at this blog!
Read Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON at this blog!

Friday, September 5, 2014

Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON, 1951

BOYS' LIFE, the publication of the Boy Scouts of America, was first published in March 1911.  Their first "Comics" section debuted in July 1940, with reprints of then-popular newspaper strips, including "Bringing Up Father", "Felix", "Tippy and Cap Stubbs", "Krazy Kat" and "Popeye".  Although other features appeared from time to time, including the long-running "Scouts In Action" (which made its debut in January 1947) and many comics-style advertisements, it was only with the September 1952 issue that a COLOR comics section made its debut, the work of the Johnstone & Cushing advertising agency.

However, a year-and-a-half before that, a bona fide WESTERN series made its debut, in the form of "Old Timer Tales Of KIT CARSON".  The "Old Timer" was apparently a character that popped up here and there in the magazine, as the "host" of various features. KIT CARSON was a real-life figure, a "trailblazer" and Indian fighter, who lived from 1809-1868.

The BOYS' LIFE series ran from March 1951-May 1953.  With the popularity of western series all through the 1950s, I find it very odd that the series ended only 8 months after the color comics section made its debut.  I would have thought a western series would have fit easily side-by-side with the science-fiction of Space Conquerors! and the historical mythology of Stories From The Bible.

Far too typically with BOYS' LIFE, credits are intermittent.  Apparently the art was by Lee Ames, most known for an entire series of "DRAW 50..." books, but I've only found one installment that listed a writer-- "S. Pashko".  A Google search revelaed that Stanley Pashko, later on, was listed as "Senior Editor, Special Features" for the magazine.  I would figure these 2 guys did the entire run, except, the art in the first 2 episodes seems much simpler, cruder, and, the lettering & word balloons are completely different.  If there were 2 different artists involved, it would seem whoever did the first 2 installments, Lee Ames took over with the 3rd for May 1951.


BOYS' LIFE  /  March 1951
Philmont Scout Ranch  /  photo by D.L. Richardson
Page 3  /  "This month's cover"
Page 29  /  "The Old Timer" logo
Old Timer Tales Of KIT CARSON
Episode 1  /  "Trapping In Colorado"
story by Stanley Pashko  /  art by ??
This was originally formatted as a 2-page spread, with each "tier" read from the left page to the right page. To read correctly on this blog, I had to cut EACH segment and put them back together, in a sequence that would make sense on the computer screen.
Part 2

April 1951  /  Episode 2  /  "He Traps Fur Thieves"
May 1951  /  Episode 3  /  "Ambushed By Comanches"
story by Stanley Pashko  /  art by LEE AMES
 Unlike Episode 1, this one was formatted to be read 1 page at a time,
which saved me a lot of trouble re-cutting it (apart from the title area). 
Page 2
June 1951  /  Episode 4  /  "Duel With A Horse Thief"
From here on they started using 2-color printing instead of adding graytones.
July 1951  /  Episode 5  /  "Treed By Two Grizzlies"


After skipping August, the feature returned with another 2-page installment...

September 1951  /  Episode 6  /  "Wounded In Action"
Page 2
October 1951  /  Episode 7  /  "A Blackfoot War"
Part 2
November 1951  /  Episode 8  /  "A Bully Learns A Lesson" 
Artist Lee Ames began using 3 "tiers" instead of 4 with this episode, allowing the images to be bigger and more visually impressive. As far as I can tell, this is the only episode where the writer was credited. Also, this must be the unlikeliest "Christmas" story I ever read. Good grief!

December 1951  /  Episode 9  /  "Fighting Fire With Fire"
(Continued in Kit Carson, 1952)

Copyright (C) 1952 by Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Kit Carson at the Wikipedia site!
Read about Lee Ames at the Wikipedia site!
See the covers of Avon's KIT CARSON series at the GCD site
Read Avon's KIT CARSON series at the Comic Book Plus site!
Read more KIT CARSON in Avon's BLAZING SIXGUNS
     at the Western Comics Adventures blog!
Read about the CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED version at the Comixology site
Read about the KIT CARSON tv series at the Google.com site!

Read SPACE CONQUERORS! at this blog!
Read STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at this blog!
Read Old Timer Tales of KIT CARSON at this blog!