Frew #1629 The Strange Girl

Story & Art:  Germano Ferri

About Germano Ferri, there is information inside this issue.

The art & story are close to the classical Phantom of our childhood, i.e Barry's Phantom.

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Scanned & edited by Kit Walker. All credits go to him.

By the way, next post is also Frew. :)

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Frew #1628 - Save Jerusalem

Now we have independent twitter a/c: @bookscomics

and 
facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/bookscomics

Some more facebook "like" are required to use all functions.

Story: Claes Reimerthi

Art: Kari Leppänen

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Scanned & edited by Kit Walker. All credits go to him.

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Frew #1627 - The Gulf Of Aden Pirates

This issue contains 3 Phantom stories:

1.The Gulf of Aden Pirates

Story: Nils Kajander 

Art: Kari Leppänen

2. A Detente with Crime

Story: Tony DePaul

Art: Paul Ryan

3. The Guardian Angel

Story: Michael Tierres

Art: Felmang and Germano Ferri

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Scanned & edited by Kit Walker. 

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Number 1147: Ron Santi's Three Mouseketeers, from the beginning

This strip, the initial offering from the first issue of Funny Stuff, published by DC Comics in 1944, is by Ron Santi. I've never been able to get much information on Santi, except for this note I got from a relative of Santi's, Blaise Picchi, in 2009. It's in response to a Santi strip, "Bulldog Drumhead," I showed in Pappy's #557.

I am not sure what this website is about. I was googling the name of my deceased Uncle, Ron Santi, and I hit your website. My uncle Ron was an animator in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. He has been forgotten. No one seems to know him although he worked for Looney Tunes, Terrytunes, Disney. He animated Heckle & Jeckle, invented Frosty the Snowman. I don't know about Bulldog Drummond and I cannot recognize his artwork, he kept so little of it. His real name was Romolo A. Santi, known as Ronnie. If you think we are talking about the same man, contact me. I don't want to put my email address down here. Contact me through Facebook: Blaise Picchi

Ms. Picchi, if you come across this blog, I hope by now you have found out more about your uncle. We'd all be interested in learning anything we can of him. If anyone out there worked with Santi in animation or the comics maybe they could tell us what they know.

As you can see by the artwork on this feature, Santi was a superb funny animal illustrator. The details and effort he poured into every panel is awe-inspiring. He probably could not have been paid enough for the work he put into "The Three Mouseketeers." I have more early issues of Funny Stuff, and in the future will be featuring more of this artist's work. As a caution, knowing how I am, and my scheduling, no one should hold their breath while waiting.

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Frew #1626 Grinning Jack's Treasure

Here is one more Frew!

Frew #1626: The Jungle Vampire
Story: Claes Reimerthi
Art: César Spadari



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Scanned by "Kit Walker"
Edited by me.

Have a nice reading!








These are coming soon!

Frew should start publication in India! Even at price of the Indian Market, they shall be winners and we too.

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Number 1146: Just a heart throb named Bill

Poor little rich girl, Mona, lusts after hardworking hunky young pretty-boy seaman, Bill. After a rough trip through a bad launch and stormy weather, they end up adrift on the much calmer Sea of Love. I'm sure when Heart Throbs #1 was published in 1949 it set many a young girl's heart all-at-sea with the soggy saga of Mona and Bill. And maybe more than a few young guys, too. At one time love comics were the best selling comic books, published by the boat load. Few were as well drawn as this seaborne soap opera, done by a master of pin-up pulchritude, Bill Ward. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had pioneered the genre, and every other publisher jumped into the pool. They could not have sold as well as they did unless they were read by both men and women. So the soap opera is for the gals, and the sexy stuff is for the guys. Or maybe the other way around...or even a mix of both. Everyone likes a good fantasy, and there were no fantasies like love comics.

At this stage of my life when I'm retired not only from my job but relationships, I can understand the fantasy, but always find it tempered by the reality. I often thought that stories of superheroes were more realistic than the love stories I read in these comics. At the end Bill says he and Mona will have to live on a seaman's pay, and she says, "With you, darling, I'd gladly live on bread and water." Ah, that's where these comics get real phony, because she won't. I give Mona and Bill about six months; she's at home and he's at sea and she misses the privileged life of a One Percenter. Back she goes to mom and dad at their mansion, leaving poor Bill with a shipwrecked marriage.

Heart Throbs had smooth sailing from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the first 46 issues. DC bought the Quality line and kept it afloat for 100 issues more.









Another sailor named Bill, Barnacle Bill, that is, is played by Bluto, Popeye's enemy in a few dozen animated cartoons. The eternal triangle is played over and over again, with my personal favorite entry this cartoon from 1935:

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Another Famous Letter Writer

Okay, so he gushes a little bit--strike that.  So he gushes like Old Faithful.  Consider it's George R. R. Martin, the man responsible for the outstanding dramatic series on HBO, The Game of Thrones (and, of course, the novels which it is based on).  And what's more, consider that the thrill of seeing his name in print like that supposedly inspired him to become a writer.  I'd say he's forgiven for his enthusiasm.

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