Posted by Winter on March 20, 2008
The pulp hero Doc Savage is 75 years old this year. Mid-Missouri blogger Mercurie has written a post all about the character:
Doc Savage #1 was dated March 1933 and went on sale on February 15, 1933. This means that whether one goes by the magazine’s cover date or when it hit the newsstands, Doc Savage has entered his 75th year of existence. Regardless of which date one relies upon as Doc’s official “birthday,” it would seem to be reason to celebrate. Doc Savage was not only one of the most successful pulp characters with his own magazine, but he also proved to be one of the most influential as well.
Doc Savage was mainly written by Mid-Missourian Lester Dent, who was born in La Plata Missouri lived there for a great deal of his life. The character had a big impact on the superhero genre, including Superman and Batman.
Posted in: History
Posted by Josh on February 25, 2008
Mizzou Magazine has a slide show of comics that appeared from the 1920s-60s in Missouri Showme, a MU student-created magazine. You can also find them in the Spring 2008 issue.
Posted in: History
Posted by Winter on February 13, 2008
Comic writer Steve Gerber passed away last Sunday, February 10th. He had been ill for a while and was battling pulmonary fibrosis which is a lung condition.
I’m covering this here on this blog because he graduated from the University of Missouri. He was born in St. Louis, and attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis for most of college and finished off his bachelors degree by attending the University of Missouri-Columbia for the Fall 1967 semester. According to his myspace page, he majored in Broadcasting as an undergrad. Gerber later went back to St. Louis University for a graduate degree in Speech-Communications.
Of course he later went on to write many notable comic books for both big and small publishers. He is probably best known for his creation of Howard the Duck in 1973. Gerber commented about Howard’s popularity in a Columbia Missourian story that ran on May 6, 1977. “People like the weirdness of the duck,” he said. “He won’t take bull from anyone, and he doesn’t have any superpowers.” The newspaper story also notes that he named Howard the Duck’s companion Bevery Switzler after the Switzler Hall building on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.
The Star Clipper comic store in St. Louis has a blog post about his death as well. They’re going to be sending a condolence card to his mother who still lives in St. Louis, and if you want to add anything to the card, feel free to drop them a line or comment on their blog.
Update: Fellow mid-Missourian Mercurie has an in depth blog post about his passing.
Second update: The comics reporter has organized a page with links to Gerber tributes.
Posted in: History
Posted by Winter on January 19, 2008
Walt Disney will be brought back to life next Wednesday for a speaking engagement. On January 23rd at 6:30 pm, the Kansas City Public Library will host An Evening with Walt Disney. Local historian Dr. Bill Worley will play Disney in character, and probably will talk about Disney’s experiences in Kansas City. The event is free, but reservations are recommended. The event is in association with the interactive Once Upon a Time fairy tale exhibit on display at the central library.
By the way, did you know that we’ve had two local people write books about Disney over the years? Dan Viets wrote one in 1992 and Steven Watts also wrote one in 2001.
Posted in: History
Posted by Winter on October 31, 2007
St. Louis cartoonist/teacher DB Dowd has a blog post about Washington University’s new Modern Graphic History Library. The library is being launched through a series of events November 16th and 17th.
The library’s mission statement:
The Modern Graphic History Library acquires and preserves distinguished works of modern illustration and pictorial graphic culture to promote sustained academic consideration of those materials. The collection includes artists’ working materials, sketches and finished artworks—from book, magazine, and advertising illustration to graphic novels, comics, poster design, pictorial information design, and animation.
Posted in: History
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