Winsor McCay's Dream Days (Comic Strips)

By Windsor McCay

Publisher: Hyperion Pr (June 1, 1977)

Hardcover, 178 pages

Amazon Listing

Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator around the turn of the previous century. This is when the circulation wars were at their height and every paper was competing heavily with their neighbor. The daily comic’s page was just starting to develop and grew in popularity exponentially. It was well known a paper couldn’t survive without a good comics section. Winsor Mccay was one of those who first developed the comic’s page into what it is today - or used to be before everything went online.

While there were many firsts in cartooning at that time, there is little that stands out as still being exceptional. The one big exception is McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland - still touted as one of the greatest American comics ever. This book does not contain any of that material. Instead it is a collection of various strips the author worked on prior to Little Nemo, from 1904 - 1914. These begin from a time when comics didn’t have titles, to emerging short lived bits like It Was Only a Dream, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, Poor Jake, Midsummer Day Dreams, and Autumn Day Dreams.

One of things you’ll notice in these comics is the use of the dreaming theme (which encompasses all of Little Nemo in Slumberland) begins quite early and seems to have obsessed him throughout his entire career. Much of the material in the early 1900s was pratfalls and word play, grounded in reality. The dream scenarios allowed him play out whatever fantastic ideas popped into his head without people being turned off. It worked for Alice in Wonderland. I’m also including a clip of his cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur. It was one of the earliest cartoons and all animation cells were hand drawn by McCay himself. Enjoy.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Jeff Hawke: Consel for the Defense (Comic Strips) (Science Fiction)

By Willie Patterson, & Sydney Jordan


Publisher: Titan Books (1987)

Softcover, 88 pages

 
Other sellers of this volume are more reasonable. Starting at 3.99.

Much of the background for this science fiction adventure strip is included in my previous review of Jeff Hawke: Overlord. So in brief, Jeff Hawke ran for nineteen years beginning in February of 1955 and ending in April, 1974. While English in origin, the strip found its most ardent fans in other countries. And there is still is an ardent, albeit older, base of fans who keep parts of it alive on the internet. You can see it on this laughably old fashioned fan site. While the fanzine on it may be real, it doesn’t look like it’s been updated in over a decade. But the site is selling original art from the series, so it may be legit.  

This particular book contains three stories of the Jeff Hawke strip, from its golden age if you ask superfans. The first is Counsel for the Defense wherein Jeff and his associate Mac are hauled off planet by alien police to act as the attorney for Chalcedon, a recurring villain in the series. Things go south, violence and hilarity ensue. Second is Pastmaster, where a figure from the far future appears in Hawke’s time (the future age of 1989) to bring a moonbase and its technology to primitive man and allow humans to technologically accelerate at an incredibly fast pace. This story is unique in its odd depiction of time travel. Last is Immortal Toys, a sort of ancient alien story with an interesting twist. A number of high technological devices are found in the ruins of ancient India and Jeff tries to track their source.

I will saw this, as the original writer pointed out ad nauseum, Jeff Hawke was ahead of its time. Many concepts which are common today first appeared in the strip. Which is why one says that the series was influential, if not popular. Counsel for the Defense introduces the idea of skill implants, as Jeff has a device implanted in his brain which gives him access to the Galactic law library. The ancient alien idea was a fairly new concept when this strip first appeared in 1966.

I have to say that this volume is not a continuation of the previous one, in fact the lead story Counsel for the Defense appears in Overlord, but the presentation in this volume is far superior. It’s softcover, as opposed to overlord’s hardcover, but each strip is larger and allows the reader to absorb the action and dialogue much quicker, allowing for a more enjoyable read.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst. 

Jeff Hawke: Overlord (Science Fiction) (Comic Strips)

by Willie Patterson (writer), Sydney Jordan (illustrator)

Publisher: Titan Books (March 25, 2008)

Hardcover, 128 pages.

 

If you’re a science fiction fan and a comics lover there still is a good chance that you’ve never heard of this influential comic from yesteryear. Don’t feel too ashamed. The reason you haven’t is because there is a clear difference between influential and popular. Many people point to Jeff Hawke as being ahead of its time in various science fiction themes. It was, in a very real sense, the first science fiction comic strip that could appeal to adults as well as adolescents. Specifically in the main character’s attitude. Diplomacy was always attempted first by the titular protagonist, while violence was always a last measure.

It was published in England, but seems to have found its main following in Italy and various Scandinavian countries- which aren’t worth mentioning. It ran for nineteen years, beginning in February of 1955 and ending in April, 1974. This was back in the waning era of the adventure strip. Most of the established ones were continuing on (Dick Tracy, Dondi, Buzz Sawyer, Brenda Star, etc.), and all, including this one was accompanied by incredible draftsmanship and excellent quality inking. But the blood was in the water and little by little the minimalistic style cramped in to overtake quality art in the serial strip. Thank you very much Charles Schultz!

The stories in this volume are not the beginning of the strip, despite this being the first volume of the stories printed. These ones are considered to be the turning point of the series, the time when it truly defined itself, its thematic style, and broke away from all of the other adventure series. Before this, Jeff Hawke was a vaguely sci-fi RAF pilot, a synthesis of Dan Dare and Flash Gordon. After these stories, Jeff Hawke was something quite different.

Part of it came from a desire to do something diverse. Part of it came from the format. Unlike the others which had more space to work with, actions scenes did not work too well in the three panel format (there was no Sunday strips) so the authors looked for other ways to keep people’s interest. In any case, this volume is a good place to begin. The stories before this volume are similar to watching episodes of Dark Shadows before Barnabas Collins emerges from his coffin. It’s simply not the same.

There are four stories collected in this volume, each narrated by a demonic figure and his troll companion. If this means anything later on in the series it isn’t revealed in this book. The first story, Overlord, deals with a battle around Jupiter in which the Earth is nearly dragged into an interstellar war which would’ve left the entire planet destroyed. The next story, Survival, has Jeff Hawke and crew accidently left marooned on a lifeless asteroid. They must make some harsh choices to survive. Third we have, Wondrous Lamp, is a sci-fi take on the Aladdin story only using sci-fi elements. Fourth is Counsel for the Defense, which I will discuss more in the next blog installment.  

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.