You've met Fletcher Hanks. Now meet Boody Rogers! Fans of Boody Rogers' Golden age comic-book stories span generations of cartoonists, from Robert Williams to Art Spiegelman to Johnny Ryan. Spiegelman printed Rogers' work in RAW magazine and recently it also appeared in the anthology book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries (Abrams). Here at last is a single book - Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers - devoted to this cult comics hero, collecting Roger's best Sparky Watts , Babe and Dudley stories, as well as much more. This beautifully designed tome also has tons of vintage photos and unpublished art (including art from the first modern newsstand comic book that Rogers did in 1935). It all begins with a career spanning fun and fascinating interview with the late Rogers, by editor Craig Yoe (Arf).
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“[Rogers’s] imagination was clearly light year beyond many of his contemporaries…a cartoonist’s cartoonist.” (Brian Heater - The Daily Cross Hatch )
“Nearly everyone who’s come across his work had come away an admirer…Boody Rogers's comics are truly unlike anything else.” (Michael C. Lorah - Newsarama )
“Funny with a touch of madness.” (The Onion A.V. Club )
“Rogers defiantly was ahead of his time, demonstrating more zeal for the medium than much of his contemporaries.” (Rod Lott - Bookgasm )
“If anyone is a comic-book pioneer, it’s Boody Rogers.” (Gordon Flagg - Booklist )
“Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers is a real revelation... Boody Rogers' stories... don't seem to follow narrative structure. They're like Robert Crumb crossed with Li'l Abner. And they are amazing. This is the book to get if you think you know anything about comic book history; it will show you something you never would have thought existed.” (Paul Constant - The Stranger )
“If Hanks’s stories were fascinating for their anger, lunacy, and wild urgency, then these rediscovered gems are a revelation for being every bit as strange, but seemingly on purpose. It’s akin to David Bowie coming along and taking the unstoppable id of The Ramones and The Stooges and crafting something much more complex and layered... Get it together, America. Check out this strange book and dare to dream, one last time, because dark days are ahead, and when the bullets start flying you’ll wish you spent more time laughing.” (Tom Batten - Brick Weekly )
“Publisher Fantagraphics has restored the color and images to its typical standards of quality...not to mention standards of unapologetic weirdness.” (The Oklahoma Gazette )
“Boody Rogers’s work was and is a visual storm front that keeps you turning pages. I only wish our more legitimate fine art doyens and high cultured dictators of today could bring themselves down to this level of imaginative epiphany.” (Robert Williams, artist and author of Malicious Resplendence and Hysteria in Remission )
“A 144-page whopper, rich in humor and dreamlike oddities.” (Michael H. Price - Fort Worth Business Press )
“This is one of the funniest comics I’ve ever read, and all I do is read comics…Just looking at his drawings makes me laugh…This book is essential. Get it or get out.” (Nick Gazin - Vice )
“Boody's absurdism is patently blue-collar. There is nothing heady or cynical or mean-spirited in these strips. They owe far more to the tradition of wives tales and folk legends than Kafka. As their syndication would likely demand, Boody’s bizarre comics are Golden Age nuggets of an off-kilter author who found a particular release in his medium.” (Erik Hinton - PopMatters )
“Utterly fantastic.” (Mike Carey, author of Unwritten )
“Nearly everyone who’s come across his work had come away an admirer…Boody Rogers's comics are truly unlike anything else.” (Michael C. Lorah - Newsarama )
“Funny with a touch of madness.” (The Onion A.V. Club )
“Rogers defiantly was ahead of his time, demonstrating more zeal for the medium than much of his contemporaries.” (Rod Lott - Bookgasm )
“If anyone is a comic-book pioneer, it’s Boody Rogers.” (Gordon Flagg - Booklist )
“Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers is a real revelation... Boody Rogers' stories... don't seem to follow narrative structure. They're like Robert Crumb crossed with Li'l Abner. And they are amazing. This is the book to get if you think you know anything about comic book history; it will show you something you never would have thought existed.” (Paul Constant - The Stranger )
“If Hanks’s stories were fascinating for their anger, lunacy, and wild urgency, then these rediscovered gems are a revelation for being every bit as strange, but seemingly on purpose. It’s akin to David Bowie coming along and taking the unstoppable id of The Ramones and The Stooges and crafting something much more complex and layered... Get it together, America. Check out this strange book and dare to dream, one last time, because dark days are ahead, and when the bullets start flying you’ll wish you spent more time laughing.” (Tom Batten - Brick Weekly )
“Publisher Fantagraphics has restored the color and images to its typical standards of quality...not to mention standards of unapologetic weirdness.” (The Oklahoma Gazette )
“Boody Rogers’s work was and is a visual storm front that keeps you turning pages. I only wish our more legitimate fine art doyens and high cultured dictators of today could bring themselves down to this level of imaginative epiphany.” (Robert Williams, artist and author of Malicious Resplendence and Hysteria in Remission )
“A 144-page whopper, rich in humor and dreamlike oddities.” (Michael H. Price - Fort Worth Business Press )
“This is one of the funniest comics I’ve ever read, and all I do is read comics…Just looking at his drawings makes me laugh…This book is essential. Get it or get out.” (Nick Gazin - Vice )
“Boody's absurdism is patently blue-collar. There is nothing heady or cynical or mean-spirited in these strips. They owe far more to the tradition of wives tales and folk legends than Kafka. As their syndication would likely demand, Boody’s bizarre comics are Golden Age nuggets of an off-kilter author who found a particular release in his medium.” (Erik Hinton - PopMatters )
“Utterly fantastic.” (Mike Carey, author of Unwritten )
About the Author
Craig Yoe is the author and designer of over 25 books on popular culture. He is the former VPGM/Creative Director of The Muppets, working closely with Jim Henson and is a former Vice President Art Director for Disney. He was a Consulting Creative Director of Nickelodeon and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Art at Syracuse University. He has garnered a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, an Addy, and a Will Eisner Award, holds six patents for toy inventions, and has curated exhibits in museums from Japan to New York. His books include the Hotwire series and Bella Donna: The Pin-Up Girls of Kremos.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The roiling, anything-goes "Golden Age of Comics" is best known for introducing and developing the superhero genre, but the medium was so fluid at that time that literally any sort of subject matter was fair game, provided that audiences liked it. Humor comics flourished in the years after World War II, and, in their zeal to get readers' attention, publishers weren't averse to taking walks on the weird, wild side and employing stylists whose over-the-top gags and broad drawing styles would probably not have passed muster in the more cautious post-Comics Code days. Basil Wolverton (POWERHOUSE PEPPER) is probably the best known of these genial nutcases. This volume introduces modern readers to a second likable loony: Gordon "Boody" Rogers. Of this gentleman, I previously knew only that he created Sparky Watts, the first true parody of Superman, and was the leading assistant to Zack Mosely on the comic strip SMILIN' JACK. After digesting this brief collection of examples of each of Rogers' major features -- and "major" is stretching things some, given that even Sparky Watts had a career that lasted less than a decade and was interrupted due to Rogers' service in World War II -- a few additional questions have been answered, at least... but not enough to give this volume the high rating it otherwise might have merited.
One reviewer of BOODY strafed editor Craig Yoe for a fanboyishly dizzy introduction that gave Rogers' biography short shrift -- a bit of a surprise considering Yoe's obvious enthusiasm for Rogers' work and self-proclaimed diligence at digging up data. (I myself picked up at least one error of fact: Carl Ed was the creator of HAROLD TEEN, not SMITTY, which was drawn by Walter Berndt.) At the very least, we should have been provided with a basic bibliography of Rogers' comic-book work. Unfortunately, sloppy, breathless writing is the least of Yoe's sins here. Take Sparky Watts, the bespectacled, casually dressed mock superhero... who is featured in several stories herein but does not get a chance to perform any superheroics. I'd call that a major omission, wouldn't you? Instead, we get to see him lose his mysterious powers and shrink (!) due to the wearing-off of the "cosmic rays" that are the source of whatever abilities he may happen to possess. The resulting antics are funny -- ant-sized Sparky survives encounters with some truly bizarre insect life and barely avoids getting married to a two-headed, half-bug-half-babe (would I make this up?) -- but c'mon, Craig, surely we could have been treated to at least one little fantastic feat, in order to give the un-powered Sparky's adventures in bug-land a little more context? The last SPARKY story, a two-parter, features Sparky and his pal Slap Happy in a supporting role to two pairs of animate legs and feet who fall in love and get married. Sparky and Slap might just as well have been Sam and Silo (cf. my previous review) for all they contributed to this story. If Fantagraphics wants to follow up this collection with another bundle of "Boody" boodle, I have a mild suggestion: publish a volume devoted entirely to Sparky, so that we can actually see what makes him tick, as opposed to getting ticked off at not finding out more about the character.
The volume does a little better by BABE, "The Amazon of the Ozarks," whose origin story and its follow-up appear herein. Unfortunately, the two stories are split up at opposite ends of the book and really should have been printed back-to-back. The influence of LI'L ABNER on this fanciful scenario of a female hillbilly who's part super-athlete and part "eternal innocent" is obvious, but Rogers' Ozark setting is far weirder than Al Capp's ever was, including, among other things, a "table mountain" that's home to a group of male centaurs who get their kicks by racing comely females as if they were horses. This scenario is disturbing enough, but just as skin-crawling is the brief tale in which Babe performs as a female wrestler and has her neck broken. She spends the last page or so of the story with her head canted back at an impossible angle -- and no, there's no deus ex machina to make it all better at story's end. The reader apparently had to assume that Babe's neck would heal up by the time the next issue appeared (and since this only appeared in issue #4 of an 11-issue run, at least she got the chance to recover!).
A few additional stories from a teenage comic, DUDLEY, are thrown in to help the volume make weight, though additional SPARKY WATTS stories would probably have been a better choice. The DUDLEY story, chock full of antiquated "hepcat" slang, is pretty lively and amusing, though nowhere is it made clear exactly which of the characters is Dudley. It's reasonably easy to figure it out in context, but, to me, it's another example of careless editing. JASPER FUDD, a "filler" story about a clod-hopper country boy who doubles as an inexplicably fast cross-country runner, is the most "normal" story in the issue, and, as such, is the story that should probably have been chucked in favor of more zany fare.
Rogers left comics after 1950, and probably just in time; though there's nothing truly offensive herein, his extreme caricatures, "scary" creatures, and occasional forays into realms of "iffy" taste (cf. the BABE story in which a famous actor cross-dresses and escapes to Babe's town to dodge his adoring fans) would have been a much harder sell after the Comics Code crackdown. I liked this material enough to want to see more of it, but the next Rogers collection should receive somewhat soberer treatment, at least when it comes to ancillary material.
One reviewer of BOODY strafed editor Craig Yoe for a fanboyishly dizzy introduction that gave Rogers' biography short shrift -- a bit of a surprise considering Yoe's obvious enthusiasm for Rogers' work and self-proclaimed diligence at digging up data. (I myself picked up at least one error of fact: Carl Ed was the creator of HAROLD TEEN, not SMITTY, which was drawn by Walter Berndt.) At the very least, we should have been provided with a basic bibliography of Rogers' comic-book work. Unfortunately, sloppy, breathless writing is the least of Yoe's sins here. Take Sparky Watts, the bespectacled, casually dressed mock superhero... who is featured in several stories herein but does not get a chance to perform any superheroics. I'd call that a major omission, wouldn't you? Instead, we get to see him lose his mysterious powers and shrink (!) due to the wearing-off of the "cosmic rays" that are the source of whatever abilities he may happen to possess. The resulting antics are funny -- ant-sized Sparky survives encounters with some truly bizarre insect life and barely avoids getting married to a two-headed, half-bug-half-babe (would I make this up?) -- but c'mon, Craig, surely we could have been treated to at least one little fantastic feat, in order to give the un-powered Sparky's adventures in bug-land a little more context? The last SPARKY story, a two-parter, features Sparky and his pal Slap Happy in a supporting role to two pairs of animate legs and feet who fall in love and get married. Sparky and Slap might just as well have been Sam and Silo (cf. my previous review) for all they contributed to this story. If Fantagraphics wants to follow up this collection with another bundle of "Boody" boodle, I have a mild suggestion: publish a volume devoted entirely to Sparky, so that we can actually see what makes him tick, as opposed to getting ticked off at not finding out more about the character.
The volume does a little better by BABE, "The Amazon of the Ozarks," whose origin story and its follow-up appear herein. Unfortunately, the two stories are split up at opposite ends of the book and really should have been printed back-to-back. The influence of LI'L ABNER on this fanciful scenario of a female hillbilly who's part super-athlete and part "eternal innocent" is obvious, but Rogers' Ozark setting is far weirder than Al Capp's ever was, including, among other things, a "table mountain" that's home to a group of male centaurs who get their kicks by racing comely females as if they were horses. This scenario is disturbing enough, but just as skin-crawling is the brief tale in which Babe performs as a female wrestler and has her neck broken. She spends the last page or so of the story with her head canted back at an impossible angle -- and no, there's no deus ex machina to make it all better at story's end. The reader apparently had to assume that Babe's neck would heal up by the time the next issue appeared (and since this only appeared in issue #4 of an 11-issue run, at least she got the chance to recover!).
A few additional stories from a teenage comic, DUDLEY, are thrown in to help the volume make weight, though additional SPARKY WATTS stories would probably have been a better choice. The DUDLEY story, chock full of antiquated "hepcat" slang, is pretty lively and amusing, though nowhere is it made clear exactly which of the characters is Dudley. It's reasonably easy to figure it out in context, but, to me, it's another example of careless editing. JASPER FUDD, a "filler" story about a clod-hopper country boy who doubles as an inexplicably fast cross-country runner, is the most "normal" story in the issue, and, as such, is the story that should probably have been chucked in favor of more zany fare.
Rogers left comics after 1950, and probably just in time; though there's nothing truly offensive herein, his extreme caricatures, "scary" creatures, and occasional forays into realms of "iffy" taste (cf. the BABE story in which a famous actor cross-dresses and escapes to Babe's town to dodge his adoring fans) would have been a much harder sell after the Comics Code crackdown. I liked this material enough to want to see more of it, but the next Rogers collection should receive somewhat soberer treatment, at least when it comes to ancillary material.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you need a shot of bizarre in your life, the work of Boody Rogers will overflow your hypo. Beautifully crafted and rendered stories with an imagination from another dimension. They ain't nobody like Boody.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Absolutely fascinating and absolutely whacky and weird, Boody Rogers comes out as a sort of a cross between Tex Avery, Basil Wolverton, Dali and Will Elder. A very surrealistic artist, if ever there was one, and also one of the most hilarious.
The book reprints some of Rogers' comic stories just the way they looked like in the late 40's, with the original ben-day coloring process used in those days. Even the cover seems to be aged and dated with it's faux creases and torn spine and badly printed colors (don't worry, this is just a printing illusion as the cover is in perfect state and sturdy as are the interior pages which are thick and clean; this book will last for an eternity). Absolutely fabulous. Though I agree that a better input on the artist himself would have made this a truly cult item. Who was Boody Rogers and how come we have never heard of him before?
Kudos to Craig Yoe and Fantagraphics for bringing us this blast from the past, and here's hoping for many more books like this.
Very highly recommended!!!
The book reprints some of Rogers' comic stories just the way they looked like in the late 40's, with the original ben-day coloring process used in those days. Even the cover seems to be aged and dated with it's faux creases and torn spine and badly printed colors (don't worry, this is just a printing illusion as the cover is in perfect state and sturdy as are the interior pages which are thick and clean; this book will last for an eternity). Absolutely fabulous. Though I agree that a better input on the artist himself would have made this a truly cult item. Who was Boody Rogers and how come we have never heard of him before?
Kudos to Craig Yoe and Fantagraphics for bringing us this blast from the past, and here's hoping for many more books like this.
Very highly recommended!!!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dissapointing!
This looked so interesting... But it wasn't.
The comic are not bad. But the editor is. Stories have been cutted in half. They don't finish. This is very dissapointing. Read more
The comic are not bad. But the editor is. Stories have been cutted in half. They don't finish. This is very dissapointing. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Renato_Rea
Worth reading but missing some key info
I am in complete agreement with the 2009 3-star review by Christopher Barat.
What's notably missing from this book are a table of contents, page numbers, original... Read more
What's notably missing from this book are a table of contents, page numbers, original... Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. Gale
Wham! Bam! Blooie!
This book collects some comic books written and drawn by Boody Rogers between 1948 and 1950. These are all humor comics and they are strange but funny. Read more
Published on April 28, 2010 by Johnny Heering
Amazingly Surreal!
This is a wonderful introduction to a comic artist I never knew about before seeing this book. I'm completely enthralled by Boody's insanely surreal, high energy stories. Read more
Published on January 7, 2010 by Tooned Up
Make more!
This is what comics need today... more stories just about imagination and having fun!
The whole dark, gritty violent tripe is way overdue to catch a boot and Boody is... Read more
The whole dark, gritty violent tripe is way overdue to catch a boot and Boody is... Read more
Published on May 21, 2009 by Jason M. Mclawhorn
the laughingest out-loud comics ever printed
I first learned of Boody Rogers' comics from reprint in Art Speigleman's 'Raw Magazine' during the 1980s (the 'Babe' centaur story, which is included in this volume) I was in awe,... Read more
Published on May 11, 2009 by Raymond Tucker
The missing link between Comics and Comix
Craig Yoe has done it again: Introduced me to an amazing cartoonist whose work is new to me and made me an instant fan at the same time. Read more
Published on April 24, 2009 by David Burd
Boody-licious?
"Boody." (complete with inexplicable trailing period) is a great compilation of wonderful art by wacky comic genius Boody Rogers, and I'm grateful to publisher Fantagraphics and... Read more
Published on April 14, 2009 by David
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