John Stanley (comics)

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John Stanley
Born March 22, 1914 (1914-03-22)
Harlem, NY
Died November 11, 1993 (aged 79)
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Nationality American
Area(s) artist, writer
Awards full list

John Stanley (March 22, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was a comic book creator, best known for his scripting of Little Lulu's comic book exploits from 1945 to approximately 1959. While mostly known for his scripting Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest issues of Lulu. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed characters and those of his own creation. His writing style has been described as employing "colorful, S. J. Perelman-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit" [1] with storylines that "were cohesive and tightly constructed, with nary a loose thread in the plot".[2] Cartoonist Fred Hembeck has dubbed him "for my money, the most consistently funny cartoonist to work in the comic book medium".[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Details about Stanley's early years are sketchy. He had an older sister Marion, and a younger sister and brother, Marguerite and James. He received a scholarship to attend art classes at Textile High School in Greenwich Village. Fellow student and future comic book artist Gill Fox when interviewed by Alter Ego Magazine reminisced about Stanley "You wouldn't believe how good his work was at 16-as good as most professionals today." [4] There are also references to his attending an institution known variously as the New York School of Design or School of Art. Afterward he began working at Max Fleischer's studio as an opaquer and eventually in-betweening. He left in 1935 to work for Hal Horne contributing artwork to the then just starting Mickey Mouse Magazine (3rd series). From there he went to work on Disney merchandise art for Kay Kamen, while selling gag cartoons to various magazines (including the New Yorker). In this period (1935-37) Don Phelps in his piece for the 1976 New Con program book notes that Stanley attended classes in lithography at the Art Students League of New York. Stanley then started working as a freelancer out of the east coast office of Western Publishing under editor Oscar LeBeck. In this period Stanley did stories for a range of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, along with his own creations such as Peterkin Pottle and Jigg & Mooch. His scripting was done much like a storyboard in animation, with rough drawings to guide the artists and the dialogue in balloons.

Stanley was respected by his peers. Artist Dan Noonan who was a contemporary at Western Publishing during the 1940s in an interview stated that Stanley was, “one of the few truly capable and funny writers in the business. His stuff, the ideas he sent to The New Yorker, for example, I would say had as high a sales percentage as anything from anyone in their history... And an omnivorous reader, always. He reads everything he can lay his hands on. I’d say he’s an authority on writers like Samuel Pepys and Boswell. He has a very strange, wonderful feel for words.”[5]

Calling his story for Raggedy Ann and Andy #38 (July 1949) a classic, Maggie Thompson opined "Until John Stanley took over the Raggedys, they were a cheery duo whose adventures demonstrated that loving kindness was the attitude of choice. Suddenly, their world is a dark, unsettling place that is the equal of any nightmare: in this case, a castle that is an endless maze of despair. Yikes!"[6]

Stanley and his wife Barbara had two children, Lynda (born in 1958) and James (born in 1962).

[edit] Little Lulu

Modest about his talent [7], Stanley claimed it was utter chance that he was selected to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu to comics: "Oscar [LeBeck] handed me the assignment, but I'm sure it was due to no special form of brilliance that he thought I'd lend to it. It could have been handed to Dan Noonan, [Walt] Kelly, or anyone else. I just happened to be available at the time".[8] Stanley had one meeting with Lulu creator Marjorie Henderson Buell (known professionally as Marge) before doing the first issue to discuss the background of the character. It was the last input Marge had regarding the depiction of her creation in comic books. [9] While Stanley drew the initial Lulu Four Color one shots, once a regular series began in 1948 (for the first year bi-monthly then thereafter monthly) Irving Tripp assumed the job of translating Stanley's sketch scripts into finished art.

Whereas the old Saturday Evening Post panels depicted the humorous antics of a mischievous tomboy, Stanley quickly expanded the cast of characters in Lulu's universe to an entire neighborhood of children while sketching out rich characterizations that captured as Don Phelps noted "the mannerisms and slang" of kids. [10] Many stories revolved around the competition between the boys and girls, often built around the club Tubby, Iggy and the other boys formed whose clubhouse bore the iconic sign "No Girls Allowed". Lulu and her friend Annie would often scheme to "teach the fellers a lesson", much to the shock of the boys who were firm in the belief of the superiority of their gender. This battle of the sexes was highlighted by the boys' club celebrating the first Monday of each month as "mumday", when members were forbidden to speak to any of the girls (or even their own mothers).

Other stories revolved around Tubby's exploits as The Spider, a detective who invariably accused Lulu's father as being the culprit of whatever he was investigating (and nearly invariably Mr. Moppet proved to be innocent). And in flights of imagination Lulu would tell stories to a vexing young neighbor boy named Alvin, many of which involved an un-named poor little girl (who looked just like Lulu) and her scary encounters with Witch Hazel and Hazel's niece Little Itch.

[edit] post-Lulu career

In early 1959 Stanley stopped writing Little Lulu (an educated guess is around #135) and began writing Nancy and Sluggo. For this title he created the character Oona Goosepimple, who lived in a haunted house inhabited by weird relatives and mysterious little people known as Yoyos who hid behind the fireplace. While she only appeared in a dozen issues or so (#166-178 plus some Summer Camp Specials - Dell Giants #34 and #45) Oona has since attained something of a cult status. He also created Mr. McOnion, Sluggo's crabby neighbor.

Stanley in the 1960s for Dell Comics created a number of humorous titles starring his own creations. These include:

  • Kookie #1-2 1961-1962, humor with Greenwich Village beatniks drawn by Bill Williams
  • Dunc & Loo #1-8 1961-1963, humor with urban teens drawn by Bill Williams
  • Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) #1-26 1961-1967, humor with suburban pre-teens drawn by Stanley [#27-29 consist of reprints]
  • Melvin Monster #1-9 1965-1969, humorous horror drawn by Stanley [#10 reprints #1]

In a change a pace he also did the melodramatic medical/romance Linda Lark (#1-8 1961-1963) and two well remembered forays into straight horror:

  • Tales From the Tomb, 1962 one-shot giant edited by L.B. Cole
  • Ghost Stories #1, Sept.-Nov. 1962 (Stanley wrote only the first issue)

He also continued doing stories for licensed characters including Clyde Crashcup and Nellie the Nurse.

All these were for Dell Comics, for which Stanley continued working for after it and Western Publishing parted ways in 1962.

Stanley did a one page strip "Bridget And Her Little Brother Newton the Nuisance" for the unusual Wham-O Giant Comic Book (published in 1967).

During the 1950s and 1960s, Stanley also drew cartoon storyboards for various New York-based animation studios. [11]

In 1965 his sole children's book was published by Rand McNally, It's Nice to be Little, with illustrations by Jean Tamburine. It sold well enough to warrant a second printing the following year.

Stanley's last works in comics were done for Gold Key: a 1969 one shot starring the Good & Plenty mascot Choo Choo Charlie, and in 1971-72 O.G. Whiz #1-6, featuring the adventures of a boy owning his own toy company. Both were scripted and drawn by Stanley.

[edit] later years

After leaving comic books, John Stanley worked as the head of a silk screen company in upstate New York and in advertising for many years, and even did cartoon illustration work for David C. Cook, a publisher of Christian-oriented books. [12] In this period his marriage foundered and he moved out for an extended period.[13]

Fans like Don Phelps and Robert Overstreet tracked Stanley down and began to publicize him in comics fandom. His first appearance at a fan gathering was at the legendary 1976 New Con in Boston, at which he met for the first time fellow legend Carl Barks (who was also making his first fan appearance at the event). Stanley was also a guest at the 1977 Comic Art Convention. Despite some advance publicity listing him as a guest he didn't attend the 1980 San Diego Comic Book convention. [14]

Somewhat embittered at his treatment by the industry (reportedly in part for receiving no royalties for reprints), Stanley for some years had little involvement with his fans. He did do some drawings for fanzines and seemed to warm a bit toward his following in the final years. He eventually began to accept commissions for painted re-creations of classic Little Lulu and Tubby cover-gags. [15] One of the last published pieces of artwork by him was a sketch that appeared in The Art of Mickey Mouse (1991).

Stanley died Nov. 11, 1993 of esophageal cancer. His wife pre-deceased him in 1990.

His daughter Lynda is a photographic retoucher and has worked for such publications as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, People, Glamour, Time along with advertising agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Young & Rubicam, TBWA/Chiat Day, and Ogilvy & Mather, among others.

His son James formerly was an environmental consultant but for the past decade has worked in computer graphic design and IT. James has expressed plans to eventually create an official website celebrating his father's work and legacy.

[edit] Legacy

Stanley's work on Little Lulu was #59 on Comic's Journal list of 100 top comics

Four of Stanley's Little Lulu stories were included in the 1981 collection A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics edited by Martin Williams and Michael Barrier. New York: Smithsonian Institution Press and Harry N. Abrams, 1981. [16]

Stanley fandom eventually coalesced around John Merrill's fanzine The Stanley Steamer (1982-1992). Among other things it published the landmark series of articles by Brad Tenan that based on clues in the stories laid out the case for Lulu's hometown being modeled on Peekskill, New York, where Stanley lived for some years. The current outlet for Stanley fans is the infrequently issued fanzine the HoLLwood Eclectern. There is also a gathering commemorating Lulu and Stanley at the annual Comic-Con International. This includes fans performing a radio-play style recreation of a classic Stanley Lulu story.

Most of the segments on Cinar's Little Lulu Show (broadcast on HBO from 1995-1999) were adaptations of Stanley's stories (without crediting him beyond stating the series was done "in association with Western Publishing".) [17]

Comic book creator Pete Von Sholly has done a computer generated version of the legendary story "The Monster of Dread End" and with permission of the Stanley family a new issue of Melvin Monster posted online. [18]

The 2008 anthology The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics reprints Dread End, the original and Von Sholly's retelling. [19]

"Hester's Little Pearl" is a adaptation of The Scarlet Letter with the Lulu characters drawn in the style of Lulu by Robert Sikoryak and published in Drawn and Quarterly Vol. 4 (2001). [20]

The graphic novel Wimbledon Green by Seth contains an extended homage to Stanley.[21]

A Stanley painting recreating a Lulu cover was featured as one of two covers offered for the 35th edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (2005). The hard cover of the Lulu version sold out on the day the Guide was released. The soft cover version sold out two days later.[22]

The Another Rainbow Little Lulu Library issued between 1985 and 1992 brought the Lulu stories to a new generation of readers. And in the current decade a successful series of Lulu black and white trade paperbacks published by Dark Horse reprinting Stanley's stories are a testament to their timeless appeal.

[edit] Awards

  • Inkpot Award in 1980 from the San Diego Comic Con [23]
  • Inducted in 2004 into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame [24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.fmydesign.com/stanleyisms.htm Stanley Stories
  2. ^ "John Stanley" by Don Phelps in the 1976 New Con Program Book
  3. ^ IGN: The Fred Hembeck Show: Episode 42
  4. ^ http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/12fox.html "A Conversation with Gill Fox - Artist, Writer, and Editor (1940-43) of Quality Comics Group" Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash, Alter Ego no.12 (Jan. 2002)
  5. ^ Graphic Story Magazine #9 (Summer 1968)
  6. ^ Beautiful Balloons column in Comics Buyer's Guide #1643; http://www.cbgxtra.com/Portals/1/BG_Images/Online%20PDFs/1643BALLOONS.pdf
  7. ^ Mo Gollub said of Stanley: "One of the greatest story men I've ever known, and he's always been the last person to talk about his own merits". Quoted in Don Phelps' profile of Stanley for the 1977 Comic Art Convention Program Book
  8. ^ "John Stanley" by Don Phelps in the 1976 New Con Program Book
  9. ^ Don Phelps' profile of Stanley for the 1977 Comic Art Convention Program Book
  10. ^ "John Stanley" by Don Phelps in the 1976 New Con Program Book
  11. ^ Oddball Comics - Choo Choo Charlie, No. 1
  12. ^ Oddball Comics - Choo Choo Charlie, No. 1
  13. ^ Interview with James Stanley in Alter Ego #54
  14. ^ Comic Con 1980 sur Flickr : partage de photos !
  15. ^ Oddball Comics - Choo Choo Charlie, No. 1
  16. ^ CSAB: Barrier and Williams, A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics
  17. ^ "Everybody's Favorite Juvenile Feminist: She's 7 Years Old and 70 Years Young!" by Juachoerin http://www.comicreaders.com/modules.php?name=news&file=article&sid=1275
  18. ^ VonShollywood JOHN STANLEY'S MELVIN MONSTER #11 by Pete Von Sholly
  19. ^ Running Press Books
  20. ^ Masterpiece Comics by R Sikoryak
  21. ^ Little Lulu Versus Donald Duck « sans everything
  22. ^ Gemstone Publishing - The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
  23. ^ Comic-Con :: The Inkpot Awards
  24. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisner_Award#The_Will_Eisner_Award_Hall_of_Fame

[edit] Further reading

  • Andrae, Thomas. Masters of Comic Art (Hermes Press, forthcoming) [1]
  • Buchman, Ed editor The HoLLywood Eclectern.
  • Gilbert, Michael T. "Mr. Monster's Comic Crypt" column Alter Ego #53-55.
  • Hamilton, Bruce, "Carl Barks and John Stanley" / transcribed by Milo George. Comics Journal no. 250 (Feb. 2003) p. 159-162. Barks & Stanley are interviewed together by Bruce Hamilton in 1976 during a joint panel at New Con.
  • Krumeich, Dorothy. "Stanley Comics Help Quell Furor" in Peeksill Evening Star Aug. 11, 1965 (reprinted in Alter Ego #54).
  • Merrill, John editor The Stanley Steamer.
  • Phelps, Donald. "John Stanley" in New Con 1976 Program Book (reprinted in Alter Ego #55).
  • Phelps, Donald. John Stanley profile in Comic Art Convention 1977 program book.
  • Seth, "John Stanley's Teen Trilogy" in Comics Journal no.238 (Oct. 2001), pp. 39-51. Article on Stanley's teen humor comics Thirteen (Going on Eighteen), Dunc and Loo, and Kookie.
  • Maggie Thompson, "The Almost-Anonymous Mr. Stanley" in Funnyworld No. 16 (Winter 1974-75), p. 34.
  • Maggie Thompson, "Little Miss Moppet" in Comics Collector #2 (Winter 1984), pp.67-72 and #3 (Spring 1984), pp.67-71.
  • Yoe, Craig and and Janet Morra-Yoe editors, The Art of Mickey Mouse. New York : Hyperion, 1991.

[edit] External links

[edit] Online comics

[edit] Reprint collections

  • Little Lulu Library Six sets containing 18 hardbound volumes published between 1985 and 1992 by Another Rainbow; reprints in black and white the stories in Little Lulu (including one-shots) through #87.
  • Dark Horse Little Lulu softcover collections 18 trade paperbacks published between 2004 and 2008 containing black and white reprints of Little Lulu, in chronological order. One color special was also published.
  • John Stanley non-Lulu collection Forthcoming volumes from Drawn and Quarterly to collect Stanley's non-Lulu series, including Melvin Monster, Thirteen (Going on Eighteen), Kookie, Nancy and Sluggo and Dunc and Loo. Volumes will be designed by Seth, a longtime Stanley devotee.