Hi-Ho Comics only had three issues, but featured the work of three great artists of the Funny Animal era -
Ellis Chambers, L.B. Cole and Carl Wessler.
Published by Four Star Publications in 1946, there is no month listed for the first issue. It most likely was released with the March cover-dated comics, but it could have been a month or two earlier. Pencils are by Ellis Chambers and inks by L.B. Cole -
The indicia for #2 clearly lists April as the cover date, with Ellis Chambers going solo on the art -
As one might surmise from the caricatured Japanese character on the cover above, we will not be censoring any uncomfortable content in these old comics as we go. We're far more likely to use them as a springboard for various discussions. Hiding or cleaning them up is very dangerous practice - we can't learn from what we don't remember.
The third, and final, issue is dated June of '46, and i'm left to wonder if something happened behind the scenes. Ellis Chambers originally sold the idea of the book to the editor at Four Star (using work stolen from Howie Post) and the first two issues are almost entirely done by Chambers, assisted by Post. But Ellis is barely present in issue three, and excepting one issue of Daffy Tunes published over a year later, never worked with Four Star again. While a handful of other artists handle the interior chores, Carl Wessler takes over on the cover -
When i spoke of starting with something easy, i didn't merely mean a series with only 3 issues.
Cover galleries are nice, but what about issue breakdowns? I'm still trying to decide a lot of things, and that's one of them. Would folks want to see posts breaking down the contents of individual comics, perhaps with title panels from each feature? Creator credits, of course - maybe one line summaries?
Another thing i'm trying to decide is how to post stories. For example, there are perhaps a dozen Ellis Chambers stories that have already been posted over on The Voice Of ODD!. When i bring those comics over here, should they be posted in collections? Or perhaps as individual stories? I've mentioned starting Creator Profiles, perhaps they should be set as evolving blog posts like the database, with a link to each new story posted containing their work? That, and having the titles visible in the blog archive would be two of the primary reasons for posting the stories individually, though it might make searching easier, too.
We'll get things figured out as we go. If you've got ideas, suggestions and/or desires - Speak Up!
cover art by Ellis Chambers, L.B. Cole, and Carl Wessler for Hi-Ho Comics #s 1-3 (1946)
All three issues of Hi Ho comics have beautiful covers, despite the uncomfortable stereotype on the issue 2 cover the art style is still beautiful and the style particularly used in issue 1 is like the happy and optimistic but delusional and denying predecessor to the more cynical underground comics. I really love Hi-Ho #1 because it's beautiful wacky and that comic-book happiness just spills on the pages. Unlike a lot of underground comics which were sometimes sloppy-looking it uses the 1940s cartoon style used in a lot of funny animal comic books of the time but literally dopey.
ReplyDeleteI see you've referenced Daffy Tunes and that's also an interesting one although the inking and coloring is more standard, I wonder why Chambers, while still using a great and wacky style, didn't really use that coloring and inking style of Hi-Ho #1 afterwards? Did another forgotten talent do that for the book? If Chambers was the one who did it then I do guess that maybe afterward he started doing more work and had to tone it down because it probably took some time, but there's a lot of mysterious things in his works alone, my evidence for this is the Cosmo Cat and Wotalife were published in the same month and both seemed mostly done by Chambers, that's a lot of work and also they have his worst artwork, it's still good but it's a step down from the stuff before and after, although by the early 50s when he started doing stuff like Tommy Turtle and To-Bit Wacky Woodpecker his style became more illustrated and detailed. Although his later works lost a good amount of the wackiness they were beautifully drawn and seemed to have a lot more care put into the artwork.
I do wonder why Chambers ending up quitting comics, if he actually quit and wasn't "rubbed out." The last published work of his I know was a comic story in Buster Bear #7 published in December 1954. It seems that by the 50s he did a lot less work and although there could be unsigned work it seems that for months he wouldn't publish anything, did he perhaps do something else and drew comics more occasionally? Was he really "rubbed out" or did he just move on to something else? I actually wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of him surviving his habits and maybe drawing comics were tied to them for him and so when he kicked his habits he also found less appeal in doing comics? Well if anyone finds a painting with "Ec" on it that'll say something. His life was a big mystery, and he also had a wonderful cartoon style.
I like collections of stories but a short comment on each individual story would be nice. Also, thanks for the database of old funny animal stories!
My apology on the slow reply - i made comment on being offline over on the main blog, but didn't leave warning here.
DeleteI think you touched on one of the things i very much like in Ellis Chamber's work - it's steeped in the sensibilities of the underground comics that followed a couple decades later, but executed in the lovely style of the classic animation artists.
Funny you mention Two-Bit The Wacky Woodpecker. I only found the strips Ellis did for Two-Bit's book a week or so ago. Previously, i was only familiar with the character from appearances in Al Capp's Dogpatch and such. I've been so buried in the '40s that i haven't looked at his work from the '50s at all in recent times.
I, too, wonder what happened to Chambers. Hopefully, not "rubbed out", possibly burned out and succumbed to his habits, or maybe - as you hopefully speculate - he escaped the grip of the heroin and his life moved in a new direction to avoid the old habits and traps?
He's definitely one of the most fascinating creators of the period for me. I love his work, and can perhaps relate too well to what little is known of him. (No heroin though - never appealed. I was more likely to go the acid/shroom route)
Thanks for the feedback on preference for how stories should be delivered here. I'll sort it out soon, i'm sure, but outside voices help. (Inside voices are well covered) As soon as things are settled here, i'll be adding another 50-100 entries to the database, and then looking at some art posts.
Well as to Chambers fate, although very little is known about him there HAS to be someone out there who's either the descendant of someone in his family or someone who worked with him, but probably we haven't heard because not too many people are into vintage comics. I do think that perhaps eventually some information at the least basic dates, will be unearthed about him. One thing I wonder is what happened to his studio? Post said he had a studio I believe and there had to have been drawings he did for fun and original artwork there but what happened? It's unlikely they survived but still what happened to them?
DeleteChambers life is indeed a big mystery. When was he born and when did he die? How was his childhood like? Why did he start doing drugs? How did he learn an animated cartoon style when usually only animators drew like that?
It's interesting how Chambers lured Post in by copying his story, then did a lot of the work himself and gave Post most of the money. That's pretty weird, and even generous. It seemed like he paid Post pretty well but not even good pay was enough to keep Post working due to Chambers' using a razor blade in an informal way, but why would Chambers hire someone, do a lot of the work and give them a lot of money when he could've just not hired at all? Maybe he planned to trick or get Post addicted for various potential reasons? Based on what little we know of him Chambers could've been good-intentioned or malevolent or both. Drug addiction can really bring out someone's dark side but we know too little of Chambers to know what kind of person he was. What do you think?
Anyways, nice reply and I adore his cartoon style and it's actually VERY similar to my own, though don't worry I don't even drink!
Unfortunately, there doesn't really HAVE to be someone out there who knows his fate - not if he succumbed to his habits. In those pre-connected days it was quite easy to just disappear into the gutters and never been seen again. Hopefully, he found a happier fate and there is indeed someone out there who will eventually provide the answers. (And maybe some of that lost artwork, too!)
DeleteI've wondered about that time with Howie Post. Was it in any way premeditated, a lure? Was it a spur of the moment thing and his offer and payment to Howie a guilt/shame reaction? Did he just need a springboard to start his drawings, looking to Howie as a source? Did he not need or care about the money, just looking for human contact? The whole tone of it all is so fluid without knowing any of his motivations.
Cartooning doesn't come naturally to me, but Ellis could inspire a return to experimenting with the form. But, it's not your cartooning that i would first compare for drug usage though. What are your stories like?
Cartooning comes very naturally to me, I find it to often be more expressive than more realistic art styles. Honestly I'm currently not too good at drawing but Chambers artwork at his best is the style I see in my brain. I do want to draw in a lot of different styles but the cartoon style Chambers used is my personal favorite, it's very fun to utilize. When I first discovered Chambers work I was like "Now THIS is what my art will look like when I get good at drawing!" When I do funny animal stories I just make things up as I go along like I suspect Chambers did and the characters go on wacky adventures and everyone's out to get each other and I also like to add surreal imagery for fun like stuff coming to life, like Chambers himself sometimes did though for him he might've gotten inspiration not from wacky comics like his and 30s cartoons but his habits.
DeleteYeah doing funny animal stories is a blast to me and like Chambers work they use a vintage cartoon style with a twist and are wacky and delightfully all over the place. If you're wondering I don't currently have a way to provide artwork and I still have quite a way to go before I'll actually fully pencil and ink and color stories but I'll get there eventually and I'd love to get to share my funny animal stories online, however that's probably years down the line. When I start doing so if I remember I'll definitely show them to you. If you love Chambers' work you'll probably like mine as well, and I look forward to getting to share wacky funny animal tales!
Not sure how much longer i can keep this system running before it shuts down, so quick note and send for now.
DeleteI'm going offline for a bit. When i return, i had been thinking of establishing a contact point that would allow private emails and the sharing of artwork and such.
The cover for issue #2 has a rabbit with a nail ready to stick it into Daffy Dragon. Similar to the opening page of the Bulgy Bear story and in the Superfox story the villain is Needle Noggin. Not surprising there's pointy pokey thing's in his stories considering that he injected himself quite often apparently.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Ellis did other drugs than just heroin and marijuana. Psychedelics perhaps? Maybe I'm overanalyzing it, but some of his stories have hallucinogenic content where the characters see things and the structure is just really trippy. But even if there wasn't evidence in his works that he could've done other drugs, based on the account of him by Howie Post he seems like he'd eagerly try whatever substance he could find. His works are already examples of comics under the influence of drugs before the underground area, but I do have a little theory.
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance that Ellis could've used LSD before most even heard of it? That's a crackpot theory, but he sounds like he could've known some things. I mean didn't back then people thought weed would make you insane instantly and he was rolling down his windows obviously to get more high? I hardly know about the drug, nor do I plan on using it, and from what little I've read it was at first with the medical community, but if Chambers didn't die who knows where he went. For all we know he could've gone drug-free or experimented with a bunch of drugs. If he survived his habits in the first place. Even if he didn't try acid before it became popular (there's actually evidence that the government popularized it for experimental reasons and to destabilize the civil rights movement, but that's a different topic) it's pretty likely he did more than just heroin and marijuana.
Although I'm not a fan of drugs at all, I do like wacky and trippy art and Ellis's works are a great and early example of such. I love how he mixed the beautiful designs of 40s cartoons with a wacky twist. More information about his life or the discovery of original artwork or drawings he did in his free time would be amazing.
Ages later, i'm slowly managing to drag my brain back in line now that most of the hardware and connection issues have been taken care of (multiple times). Sorry for the terribly long delayed reply.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been far more likely that he was taking something like mushrooms or peyote or some other organic hallucinogenic. The psychoactive properties of LSD weren't discovered until 1943 - and that was in Switzerland. (Yes, it was invented seven years earlier, but it took a while to realize what it was.)
Opium or Laudanum was another more popular option back then, reportedly mixed with absinthe for hallucinogenic effect by some back in them olden days.
And, yeah - I'm familiar with some of that evidence and program to which you refer.
I have pretty much no expectations of someone finding his works and later life, making them public and maybe even sparking a little Ellis Chambers revival. But that would only make it all the more awesome if it did somehow happen.
My suspicions of Chambers doing some sort of psychedelic are clearly he did more than just heroin and marijuana at some point if he was so into drugs? Although we don't know how long he lived to to speculate if he did LSD, he surely had to have done SOME sort of psychedelic at one point although back in the 40s and 50s the menu was different than it is now. Have to wonder why he got into drugs, did he just like being high or was he escaping some trauma from his life? If we ever find out that will be awesome, as you point out.
DeleteAnd yeah, I've been doing some research and the history of psychedelics in America is quite a dark history, and there's even some genuine conspiracies against democracy involved. It's quite a rabbit hole but let me tell you it's not something the contemporary "psychedevangelism" community even wants to acknowledge even exists. For a start here's the DoseNation "final ten" podcasts (right now there's only 8 however, not sure if it'll continue) that talk about the dark side of psychedelics that's usually thrown under the bus, it's quite chilling stuff. http://www.dosenation.com/
Yeah MkUltra only scratches the surface of psychedelic horror, I'm neutral about psychedelics (although I've never done them) but they do have a very profound dark side the community ignores. But anyways those podcasts are very interesting and chilling and are a good listen.
And back to the world of comics, I also wonder if there's any original Chambers art out there, aside from that Cosmo Cat print you posted (I wonder who owns it). It'd be really interesting to see how they'd differ from what got published, I do wonder if the "characters getting high" scenes in potential recreational drawings would be a little less subtle (which would be awesome).
Having long been an outsider, those shadowy bits of society tend to be quite familiar to me. They're easier to see from the fringes than they are when buried in the center.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, the first graphic novel i worked on was A Drug War Carol, which touched upon some of that dark side. It used to be online to read, but the old site no longer exists - just a preview at the publisher's site.
Back at Chambers, i've been thinking about creating some poster art for the cave based on some of his old panels and covers. Not as good as having some posters and such from him, but probably as good as we're likely to ever see at this point.
Give me your E-mail address and I can send to you a little MS Paint alteration of a part of a panel in a Chambers comic. I have no idea how to make it a poster but it's a pretty good design I made and I wouldn't mind it as a poster in my own room.
DeleteI managed to get a bunch of work done today for the blogs (posts scheduled for morning) and hopefully i'll force my brain to get to the comments that it's been avoiding come the morning. But before i crashed, i wanted to finally leave a link that i set up last week for you (and any others). I set the my defunct Third Road blog to moderated comments with no intention of publishing them. The Ear Of ODD! post explains further, but basically it's there so you can privately send your email address and i can email mine in return rather than someone having to drop it publicly.
DeleteOkay - eyes fried out from prepping about 150 pages of artwork today. Going to go let them rest. Hopefully i'll explain about the brain tomorrow.