Tuesday, October 6, 2020

PEN MILLER: The Cartoonist Detective (1940)


The Cartoonist Detective made his debut in this story, from National Comics #1, July 1940, with art by Klaus Nordling. He had many more adventures, in both National and Crack Comics, and you'll see more of them here. Thanks to rangerhouse, rolster and comcbookplus for the scans. 





4 comments:

  1. Can't say a lot for the plot, but then considering the date...okay. The artwork is okay. I'll look forward to more.

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  2. The art gets better. The plot, probably not.

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  3. Does he ink with a pen or a brush?

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  4. It's amazing how so many of these first generation comic book artists were able to improve their skills while working within the business. Kirby, Eisner, Kubert, Meskin, Robinson ... there are so many who served their early apprenticeship as working professionals. Was it just effort and potential that gave them their first jobs? Could you and I have done likewise, were we there at the right time and place? This example of Klaus Nordling is so rudimentary, yet he evolved into one of my favorite cartoonists. I may be wrong, but I'd say that Fred Ray and Alex Toth were a couple whose abilities were visible in some of their first published work but to identify some of these others would have taken a keen eye for talent. This is one of the mysteries of the ages.

    David Laurence Wilson


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