Robotman’s Graphics – Smooth, Cartoony and “Designy”

Jimmy Thompson's Tenure on "Robotman"
(Part Two of Four) by Frank M. Young

As with Cole's "Plastic Man," Thompson's "Robotman" soon incorporated a comical, trouble-making sidekick. This made moot the depressing aspects of the character's mechanical alone-ness. Poignantly, Robotman assembled his friend, a wise-cracking, ego-maniacal robo-terrier named Robbie.

In Thompson's stories, Paul Dennis/Robotman, with Robbie in tow, is a real home-body. He's often seen relaxing, reading the newspaper, listening to the radio and even, illogically, smoking a tobacco pipe!

He seems quite content with the sarcastic mecha-canine at his side. Robbie gives Robotman a life, and a reason to be.

Robbie's brassy personality upped the series' potential for humor and whimsy. Yet Thompson did not aim the feature at tots. His humor, though always gentle, has a adult sense of wit. The strip's themes are most often rooted in the urban adult world.

"Robotman" had the appeal and individuality that most mid-1940s DC features lacked. Yet it was kept a secondary feature. Usually buried in the back half of its home title, and confined to six pages, Thompson's stylish, creative and formally innovative comics were seemingly doomed to obscurity.

With the 1943-48 "Robotman," Thompson managed to fly under the heavily restrictive radar of the DC/All-American editorship. Their editors, among them Sheldon Mayer, Whitney Ellsworth and Mort Weisinger, severely enforced a house style. Mayer allowed his artists to display individual styles, but he was especially hard on his creative staff.

A feature as flat-out eccentric as "Robotman" flourished in obscurity. Right under the editors' noses, a genuinely appealing, personality-rich talent blossomed.
Today, Thompson's stories remain the only worthwhile moments in their issues of Star-Spangled Comics, amidst the mediocrity of the Simon and Kirby-less "Newsboy Legion," the dreadful, ubiquitous "Penniless Palmer" and the inept, gratingly rendered "Star-Spangled Kid."

Thompson, like Cole and Eisner, saw the opening pages of his stories as an opportunity for bold, intriguing poster-like designs. His opening pages seem to dare the reader to pass them by. His artistic come-on remains powerful and persuasive today. They must have shone like beacons to savvy 1940s readers.

Thompson also made a stock element of the comic book page fresh and stylish. While most comics were routinely hand-lettered, Thompson devised a thoughtful, creative use of the Leroy mechanical lettering system--also used on the perverse, popular "Wonder Woman" feature and in the classic EC "New Trend" comics.

Thompson's stories are much simpler and more straight-forward than Cole's twisty, plotty narratives. As well, Thompson seems to go out of his way to avoid dark subject matter, whereas Cole plunged fearlessly into themes of suicide, murder and dejection.

Thompson's Robotman is lauded and encouraged by his flesh-and-blood fellow citizens. Yet he feels compelled to sustain a ludicrous secret identity. As Paul Dennis, via his plastic-slipcover "human disguise," he's quite uptight about the compromise of his secret identity.

I hope that Thompson did this to satirize the absurd nature of the super-hero secret identity. He approaches it with humor, and contrasts the overly-cautious Dennis/R-man with blabbery, reckless Robbie, who WANTS the world to know how great he is.

As you read these stories, note Thompson's strong design skill. Each page is a playground of light and shadow, of color and texture, and of the innate relationship between images and text.

He also delights in breaking up the grid of the comics page. Ell-shaped panels, long verticals or horizontals and unorthodox layouts are the order of the day in Thompson's work.
Thompson had an illustrator's knack for suggesting atmosphere and detail. His blend of comic-book chiaroscuro and elements of bigfoot cartooning, again, compare favorably to Jack Cole's contemporary efforts.

Then, damn the fates, the merry-go-round broke down. Something happened after issue 80. The editors finally noticed what Thompson was doing--and they put a stop to it.

With issue 81's story, Robbie the Robot-Dog was abruptly eliminated. Not a word was said about his deletion. He simply unexisted. The bigfoot elements of Thompson's cartooning were downsized to more regular adventure comics rendering.. Axed, in one fell swoop, was 95% of the playfulness that made "Robotman" such a stand-out.

Away went the bold, decorative Leroy lettering, too. Thompson now hand-lettered his pages. While the results were still striking, the thrill was gone. "Robotman" was now just an ordinary comic book feature--albeit better-illustrated than 90% of its contemporaries.

The history of the comic book is riddled with dumb editorial decisions. DC's ix-naying of Thompson's comical "Robotman" deserves a high berth in this particular Hall of Shame.
In this post,. and over the next few days, you'll see examples of the change that led "Robotman" into its less-inspired third phase of existence.

"Robbie, Come Home!" from Star-Spangled Comics # 69, is a charming example of "Robotman" at its least super-heroic. Thompson's graphics are at their smooth, cartoony and designy peak here. The story's splash page is typical of the strip at its most visually pleasing.

This story is extremely Robbie-centric. In stories such as this one, the series' namesake is almost pushed into the background. It's similar to Will Eisner's contemporary Spirit stories in which the masked sleuth barely appears at all.

Thompson, like Eisner, knew exactly what he was doing. His genre-bursting style was a breath of fresh air. Robbie's egotism and gadfly impluses are amusing and lively. This is 1940s cartooning at its best!

Next up: more zany Robotdog antics--and things get even cartoonier!

NOTE: Thanks to my dear friend Paul Tumey for bringing Jimmy Thompson's work to my consciousness. Paul runs an outstanding blog on the works of Jack Cole
http://colescomics.blogspot.com. Go there immediately!
--Frank Young
http://stanleystories.blogspot.com/
Text ©2009 by Frank M. Young

Coming up: More on Jimmy Thompson’s later years, and four more full-length Robotman stories!

Robot Town USA and Robotman In The Moon

Following are two stories from the series' last run in Detective: "Robotman In The Moon" (issue #141) and "Robot Town USA" (issue #147).

"Robotman In The Moon" (Detective #141) boasts Thompson's most spectacular visual fireworks. This scan comes from a Canadian edition, which has crappier printing than the US version. Thompson's highly atmospheric and dramatic approach shows his ability to play it straight with great style and distinction.






"Robot Town USA" (Detective #147) is earnest post-war liberal allegory. It eerily anticipates the classic EC SF story, "Judgment Day," in its basic theme. As a departure from the usual crooks-and-heroes format, this story also inspired Thompson's pen and brush. Again, I wish the printing quality was better...





Thompson's departure from "Robotman," as with most 1940s comics, was completely unheralded. Artists such as Ruben Moreira and John Certa inherited the series, which became filler-product, and somehow lasted 'til <i>Detective</i> #202.

I doubt the powers-that-be at DC knew what to do with Jimmy Thompson. A journeyman illustrator, he could fulfill any comics genre. His unwillingness to conform to the DC house style is notable and laudable. I regret that so many restraints were put on him, as an artist, in this last run of "Robotman."

In our next and final chapter, we'll examine some of Jimmy Thompson's other work for DC--and his teen comics of the late 1940s!

--Frank Young

http://stanleystories.blogspot.com/

Text ©2009 by Frank M. Young

Thanks to my dear friend Paul Tumey for bringing Jimmy Thompson's work to my consciousness. Paul runs an outstanding blog on the works of Jack Cole (http://colescomics.blogspot.com). Go there immediately!

Robotman and Jimmy Thompson: Golden Age Comics' Best-Kept Secret

“Jimmy Thompson: Golden Age Comics' Best-Kept Secret”
by Guest Blogger Frank M. Young

It's my pleasure to offer the first in a series of guest postings for Cartoon SNAP! You may have seen my blog Stanley Stories, which is devoted to the works of John Stanley, whom I consider to be comics' greatest writer. Sherm has asked me to write a post on Stanley. I'll certainly do that one soon. For my first post here, I'd like to discuss one of the hidden treasures of 1940s comic books: writer-artist Jimmy Thompson.

Part One:
Who Was Jimmy Thompson?

Thompson, a former newspaper-strip artist, had worked anonymously on several syndicated features for the Philadelphia Ledger, including the pioneering Sunday feature "Hairbreadth Harry." Thompson entered comic books in their infancy. His first features were serious, well-told accounts of Native American life and culture. In this vein, he created what is, arguably, the first graphic novel, the 64-page Red Eagle, for publisher David McKay in mid-1938.

The American West would inform a few other comics series from Thompson's pen and brush. His greatest volume of published work, as with many other 1940s comic book artists, was in the super-hero genre. Thompson worked for Timely, Fawcett, DC and Famous Funnies in the '40s. His artwork can be found on features such as "Mary Marvel," "The Human Torch," "The Angel" and "Sub-Mariner." Flashes of Thompson's individuality peek out from his pre-"Robotman" work for Timely and Fawcett. As their comics were, by and large, assembly-line production, it was tough for any single artist to stand out.

Thompson's entry in the super-hero world occurred when the genre was in a rut. By 1943, the comic-book industry was in high gear. Demand for comics by servicemen pushed publishers to increase their output--and to cut corners. Quantity, not quality, was the order of the day. The medium's great formal innovators were at war (Will Eisner, Jack Kirby), distanced from their creations (Siegel and Shuster were gone from their "Superman" feature), or settled into generic "house styles."

While this generic approach cut corners for publishers and enabled best-selling titles to appear regularly and reliably, it robbed comic books of their pre-war distinctiveness. Outstanding work still appeared. Jack Cole's output for Quality Comics got better and more confident with each passing year. Writers such as Alfred Bester and Bill Finger enlivened the super-hero genre with clever scripts. Innovative artists like Mort Meskin, Klaus Nordling, Dick Briefer, Bob Powell and Joe Kubert began to hit their stride.

As well, 1943 saw the professional debuts of two enormous writer-artist talents: Carl Barks and John Stanley. Their work fell outside the super-hero genre, but the two creators would soon click with the reading public, and remain top sellers for years to come--despite their complete anonymity. A certain dullness began to creep into super-hero comics during World War II. A de-emphasis on the wild, weird and eccentric was supplanted by patriotic propaganda. Ruts and routine became the norm for story content. The lesser writers' and artists' flaws were aggravated by the need for more product. Scanning the contents of most wartime comics can become depressing. One longs for a spark of inspiration, or distinction. It is seldom found. A strong exception to this rule is the work of Jimmy Thompson.

When he inherited the "Robotman" feature in DC's lackluster Star-Spangled Comics anthology, he endowed the genre with charm, droll humor and powerhouse design and draftsmanship. Thompson helmed "Robotman" for the next few years.

The feature migrated to the higher-profile Detective Comics, home of Batman. Thompson worked on the strip from 1943 to 1949. Thompson continued to work for Timely during his "Robotman" tenure. He turned in a stunning 12-page "Human Torch" story for All-Select Comics #9, in 1945, that's identical to his "Robotman" stories in look and feel--right down to the stylish mechanical lettering.

-----"If I Were Robotman" from Star-Spangled #26-----

Click on any page to open up
a HUGE hi-res Robotman comic book scan

His work has somehow flown below the radar of most comics historians. Ron Goulart accorded him a berth in the second volume of his The Great Comic Book Artists series in 1989. One Thompson "Robotman" story appeared in DC's hardcover anthology The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told, from around the same time. Thompson's work has been nearly impossible to see.

The stories you'll have the pleasure to read today were kindly scanned by diligent, anonymous individuals who regularly scan and post old comics, of all genres, on the Internet. Without the tireless efforts of these devoted folks, most of these comics would remain unseen, except in the collections of the very rich, or of those fortunate enough to hoard them back in the 1960s and early '70s, when they could still be had for reasonable sums.

The supposed value of old comic books has, rather cruelly, banished their accessibility until recent years. DC and Marvel have published numerous expensive hardcovers of Golden Age material. These books are highly flawed, in my opinion. They are printed on glossy paper--a mistaken choice that impedes their enjoyment--given garish, unapt recolorings, and often traced or crudely reproduced. Digital scanning has, belatedly, become the standard. A few savvy publishers have recognized that matte-finish papers are the best way to properly reprint these vintage materials.

Short of holding an actual 1943 comic book in one's hands, a high-quality digital scan is the best way I know of to read this material. This is how I have become acquainted with Jimmy Thompson's work. And, as well, it's how we're able to share it with you today. For your reading pleasure over the next few posts, we’ll be sharing three of Thompson's earliest "Robotman" stories: "If I Were Robotman," from Star-Spangled #26; "A Sniff in Time" from issue #33; and "The Battle With The Beasts" from issue #36. Joe Samachson is credited as writer on these early stories, but Thompson's sensibilities transform potentially-routine scripts into something special.

--Frank Young
http://stanleystories.blogspot.com/
Text ©2009 by Frank M. Young

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UPDATE!

More Robotman Comic Book Scans HERE:

Click HERE for more Robotman

Robbie the RobotDog in “A Sniff in Time” – Robotman Comics by Jimmy Thompson

In our last post, guest blogger Frank Young (of the terrific Stanley Stories blog) began a three-part comprehensive look at the career of cartoonist Jimmy Thompson. Thompson is most famous for his work on the comic book adventures of Robotman. Today’s story, “A Sniff in Time” features Robotman’s trusty cyber-canine companion, Robbie the RobotDog!

Check back soon for our next Robotman adventure: “the Battle With the Beasts!” ..and be sure to check out Frank Young’s Stanley Stories blog for the best of John Stanley comic book scans! ------------------- Did you miss Part 1? If so, CLICK HERE! Robotman Part 1

Robotman Part 3: Battle of the Beasts

This is the third part of guest blogger Frank Young’s celebration of the life and comics of Robotman artist Jimmy Thompson -  Golden Age Comics' Best-Kept Secret

Part One features an in-depth biography of Jimmy Thompson’s early years, along with some gorgeously pulpy scans from "If I Were Robotman" from Star-Spangled Comics #26 

--- 

Part Two continues with "A Sniff in Time" from issue #33,

and today’s installment features "The Battle With The Beasts" from Star-Spangled Comics #36

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next time, an even more in-depth look at the next steps in Jimmy Thompson’s cartooning career!

These posts are brought to you by Frank Young and his Stanley Stories Blog…The place for all your John Stanley comic book needs!

Jimmy Thompson's Tenure on "Robotman"

This week, guest blogger Frank M. Young continues his encyclopedic look at the life and comics of Jimmy Thompson: Golden Age Comics' Best-Kept Secret

Part Two:
Jimmy Thompson's Tenure on "Robotman"

by Frank M. Young

Jimmy Thompson did not create "Robotman." The concept came from "Superman" creator Jerry Siegel, via Eando Binder's "Adam Link" science-fiction stories. Despite its obvious debt to the Binders' concepts, "Robotman" was a genuinely fresh idea for the comics.

Siegel infused the character, as with his creation, the Spectre, with a sense of fatalism also seen early installments of "Superman." Siegel's heroes, like Steve Ditko's "Spider-Man" of the 1960s, all exist on the periphery of the regular world. They mingle with the "little people" but cannot truly be a part of them.

This troubles them, and they talk at length, to themselves, about this aspect of their existence. In this sequence from the feature's second story, Paul Dennis/Robotman asks a flesh-and-blood woman out for a date, then slumps into a chatty depression about how things can never really work out with a real live girl:

Siegel soon abandoned the feature, which began a predictable slide into mediocrity. Like most DC secondary features, it was filler--sometimes-clever, sometimes-lively, but still filler.

When Jimmy Thompson inherited "Robotman," it had most recently been illustrated by Don Cameron, whose characters' lock-jawed grimaces often suggest the less pleasant sensations of a colonoscopy.

Such angst--and such perfunctory status--were not part of Jimmy Thompson's agenda.
He gave "Robotman" a whimsical, breezy touch from the moment he inherited the feature, with issue #25 of Star-Spangled Comics.

Thompson contributed a six or seven-page story for the next 57 issues--plus another 17 for Detective. Thompson left the series after issue #154. It would prove his last work in the super-hero genre.

The Grand Comics Database credits Joe Samachson, with the scripts for this series. (God bless the GCD, which is as riddled with errors as the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide!)

Regardless of who scripted the stories, Thompson's sensibilities take center stage in this series. His staging, direction and "acting" are unmistakable.
As we have seen in Part One of this series, a bold sense of design, innovative use of typography, a deft blend of comical and dramatic elements and a tendency to explore eccentric characters and narratives distinguish Thompson's seven-year run on "Robotman."

In his tenure on the feature, Thompson created a DC equivalent to Jack Cole's popular "Plastic Man." The features share a frequently whimsical outlook, and interlace cartoony drawing with serious, sometimes-sinister themes of crime and punishment.

--Frank Young
http://stanleystories.blogspot.com/
Text ©2009 by Frank M. Young
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Coming up next: "Robbie, Come Home!" from Star-Spangled Comics # 69, is a charming example of "Robotman" at its least super-heroic. Thompson's graphics are at their smooth, cartoony and designy peak here. Don't miss it!

Robotman Comics...Good Ol' Fashioned Comic Fun!

My pal Chris Duffy (Editor Extraordinaire @ Nickelodeon Magazine) has posted a wonderfully silly comic book adventure featuring Robotman on his "Comic Books are Interesting..." blog.

Spoilers lurk below this paragraph,
so go read
"Robotman Around the World in 24 Hours"
before you spoil it by reading
my dopey comments.
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How freaky is that scene on page 3...Doc Payne is basically raping Robotman...yeeesh!



Love these one-liners:

"Not even mountains can stop me!" --that's my new motto

"If I'm lucky, my head will roll free, undamaged! Here goes!"
...and of course, "Tarnation!"

I love the structure, too! Great, exciting opening splash panel followed by a framing sequence that makes you go "Whaa?" I thought the head-in-the-box gag was a fantastic hook...I wonder if David Fincher ever read this comic...?



It all adds up to good old fashioned silly comic book storytelling. I mean, once started, nobody could STOP reading this story no matter how hard they tried!



What? You didn't read it yet? Well click on over and have some fun! 

Read RobotMan Comics

More info on the Golden Age Robotman HERE
The Unofficial Biography of Robotman

Jerry Siegel's Golden Age Robotman

Ponytail Part 4 –The Rest of Issue #6, 1962

 

 

 

This is the fourth in a series of Ponytail comics scans form 1962. For the first three posts on Lee Holley and his teen comic, just click on the links below:

Ponytail post #1 Ponytail post #2 Ponytail Post #3 Take a look at some of these links for more insight into the career of cartoonist Lee Holley:
http://lambiek.net/artists/h/holley_lee.htm http://www.toonopedia.com/ponytail.htm

There’s a lot of great information about Lee Holley on the web – including this VERY in-depth interview:

http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/interviews/holley/home.asp

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Robotman is coming!!!

Stay tuned to CartoonSNAP
for an extraordinary series of guest posts about
Jimmy Thompson:
Golden Age Comics' Best-Kept Secret