The Success Story

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In 1973 I was sick with the flu at Christmas.  My mom gave me this -




This is by Les Daniels, aka The Mad Peck.  While he wrote a number of books, this is what I remember him for.  I had probably quit reading comics when I was nine or so.  I learned to like the printed word, and I looked down on comics as childish.  How wrong I was.
This book is responsible for my all-consuming delight in reading and trying to draw comic art.  "Comic" means sequential story telling with pictures, not necessarily funny.  Graphic novels are comics, and the great Will Eisner did no one any good by coining that name.  But this introduced me to undergrounds, and that was all it took to spin the young boy's head.  Reading comics was cool!  
There are several complete stories in this, one of which is "Big If" by Harvey Kurtzman, disturbing to this day.  I have mentioned it before.  But there is one in here that has been a touchstone to me and my brother, who is just as nuts about comics as I am and a much better artist.  That story is "Success Story", by Archie Goodwin drawn by Al Williamson.  It appeared in Creepy Number One in 1964, and I reprint it here in all it's in-joke glory.








Ha ha!  Is this good or what?



Now if you will excuse me, I need to finish ruling these panel borders.



Comments

  1. bscruffySeptember 13, 2020 at 6:02 PM

    Wahahahaha! Thanks for 'digging' this up, Billy.
    Gotta' go lock the front door to keep out the angry undead.

    ReplyDelete
  2. chaosfive55February 18, 2022 at 4:37 PM

    A subtle message to the boss!

    ReplyDelete

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