Customer Reviews

Golden Collection of Krazy Kool Klassic Kids' Komics

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Craig Yoe's GOLDEN TREASURY OF KLASSIC KRAZY KOOL KIDS KOMICS is a perfect (unofficial) companion volume to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN'S COMICS. Both deserve a place on your book shelf alongside such anthologies as Dan Nadel's ART OUT OF TIME and ART IN TIME, Michael Barrier and Martin Williams' SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMIC-BOOK COMICS, Greg Sadowski's SUPERMEN! and Jules Feiffer's GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES.

The Yoe volume contains the following stories:

"The Adventures of Tom Plump," artist unknown, the earliest known (ca. 1850s) American comic book for kids
"The Magic Soap Bubble," artist unknown, originally published in FUNNY BOOK, 1942
"The King Who Couldn't Sleep," attributed to Dave Berg, POPSICLE PETE FUN BOOK, 1947
"Goblin Glen," Walt Kelly, FAIRY TALE PARADE, 1946
"The Unhappy Castle," Ken Hultgren, HA HA COMICS, 1948
"Alice in Bugville," Dave Berg, ALICE, 1951
"Alec in Fumbleland," George Carlson, PUZZLE FUN, 1946
"King Midas and the Golden Touch," Harry G. Peter, LET'S PRETEND, 1950
"Little Guy," John Liney, HENRY, 1952
"Stanley," Mel Casson, ANGEL, 1957
"The Hair-raising Adventures of Peterkin Pottle," John Stanley, RAGGEDY ANN, 1949
"Tuffy and Clee O'Patra," Syd Hoff, TUFFY, 1950
"Clifford," Jules Feiffer, KEWPIES, 1949
"The Yellow Kid," Richard Fenton Outcault, 1897
"Pigtales," Harvey Kurtzman, FUNNY COMIC-TUNES, 1946
"Felix the Grouch Chaser," Otto Messmer, FELIX THE CAT, 1951
"Jungle Jumble," Otto Messmer, FELIX THE CAT, 1951
"Octopus Al," Dan Gordon, GIGGLE COMICS, 1947
"The Calico Pup," Vince Fago, DING DONG, 1947
"The Great Voice," Jim Tyler, HA HA COMICS, 1944
"M'sieu Macaw," Howard Post, WONDERLAND COMICS, 1945
"Earl the Rich Rabbit," Jack Kirby, PUNCH AND JUDY, 1947
"Wilbur Fox," Ken Hultgren, GOOFY COMICS, 1949
"Jigger," John Stanley, ANIMAL COMICS, 1947
"Barney Bear and Benny Burro," Carl Barks, OUR GANG COMICS, 1946
"Hucky Duck," Frank Frazetta, BARNYARD COMICS, 1949
"Lockjaw the Alligator," Jack Kirby, PUNCH AND JUDY, 1946
"Windy Breeze," Jack Cole, NATIONAL COMICS, 1941
"Inkie," Art Stahl, CRACK COMICS, 1943
"Big Boy in the Amazingly Incredibly Improbable Journey," Steve Ditko et al, BIG BOY MAGAZINE, 1997
"Shlump the Lump," Art Helfant, MOE & SHMOE COMICS, 1948
"Vinny the Vet," Mort Walker, BEETLE BAILEY, 1965
"Intellectual Amos," Andre LeBlanc, THE SPIRIT SECTION, 1944
"'Doc' E. Z. Duzit," Jack Bradbury, HA HA COMICS, 1948
"Super Rabbit: The Mystery of the Disappearing Shoes," Milt Stein, SUPER RABBIT COMICS, 1945
"Supermouse," Al Hubbard, COO COO COMICS, 1946
"Superkatt," Dan Gordon, GIGGLE COMICS, 1948
"Mussel-Man," Dan Gordon, GIGGLE COMICS, 1947
"Hejji," Dr. Seuss, King Features Syndicate, 1935
"Hejji," a possible conclusion for Dr. Seuss' unfinished story, created especially for this collection by Clizia Gussoni and Luke McDonnell, 2010
"Twinkle Hunts a Dragon," attributed to Vic Herman, CALLING ALL KIDS, 1948
"Flap Flipflop the Flying Flash," Basil Wolverton, JACK IN THE BOX, 1947
"Jingle Jangle Tales: The Zheckered Zultan and his Three Little Zulteens," George Carlson, JINGLE JANGLE COMICS, 1949
"Goody Bumpkin," Wally Wood, WHAM-O GIANT COMICS, 1967
"Phil Flop," Louis Ferstadt, ALL GREAT COMICS, 1944
"Mazy," Louis Ferstadt, ALL GREAT COMICS, 1944
"Count Screwloose Cartoon Page," Milt Gross, MOON MULLINS, 1948
"Let's Draw Cartoons," artist unknown, POPSICLE PETE FUN BOOK, 1947

Let's be honest, you either like this kind of stuff or you don't. There was certainly a ton of it published back in the Golden Age of Comics so somebody liked it!

THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF KLASSIC KRAZY KIDS KOMICS is the latest book from the prolific comics historian and anthologist, Craig Yoe. And what a collection it is! Similar in format to last year's kids comics collection edited by Art Spiegelman, this one offers more of the same funny animal and humor comics fun but with the emphasis here on well-known creators you might not suspect of having done this type of work.

You have, of course, Golden Age work by Barks, Kelly and Stanley and others such as Dave Berg and Howie Post who specialized in humor comics. But would you believe not one but TWO 1950's Jack Kirby stories? Jules Feiffer? Harvey Kurtzman? Frazetta!!!???

Not everything is that old even! Steve Ditko's version of the giveaway BIG BOY restaurant comic (as hired by Craig himself) comes from the 1990's and Wally Wood's GOODY BUMPKIN has been a favorite of mine from the gi-NORM-ous WHAM-O GIANT COMICS of 1967 for four decades! It's amazingly hilarious to me even now...to say nothing of being some of Woody's best ever non-MAD humor art.

Children's book illustrators appear also including DANNY THE DINOSAUR's Syd Hoff and the legendary Dr. Seuss himself. The latter is represented with an early, oft-reprinted newspaper comic strip run that was never finished. In a fun bit of conceit, Yoe Studios has actually written and drawn a possible conclusion to the storyline after all of these years! And it's good!

As always with YoeBooks, the design of this thick volume itself is most impressive and will make it a nice addition to any collector's bookshelf physically as well as for its content. Whether you're a comics aficionado, an artist buff or just like funny stuff, THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF KLASSIC KRAZY KIDS KOMICS is a well-chosen anthology and well worth the price!

Simply put, I think Craig Yoe's KKKKK the most beautifully done comics retrospective book I have seen since forever. Paper stock choice, graphic design and layout, reproduction quality; and selection of artists - all rate a first class wow. -- Mykal Banta

When I was a kid I got very excited when the big summer annuals hit the newsstands. Comics bulging with 80 pages! It was such an overwhelming abundance of four-color delights I wondered how I'd get even through it by September. Even in my wildest imagination I never dreamt of more than 80 pages of comics in one package, never mind a phone book-sized volume like Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics (or KKKKK for short). Here between hard covers are some of the best color comics of the Golden Age, one great story after another. Forget 80 pages, this is nearly 300 pages of comics! Plus some nice introductory material, sturdy binding, glossy covers and a neat ribbon bookmark, built right in. A fine example of the bookmaker's art.

KKKKK contains a combination of great stuff from the usual suspects (Walt Kelly, John Stanley, Carl Barks) and rare comics from artists we don't usually associate with funny animals, such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Frank Frazetta. As always with Craig Yoe's books, there is a wealth of vintage comics here that are new to me. A Sunday strip by Dr. Seuss? A comic book from before the Civil War? KKKKK is filled with surprises.

Some of the stories feature funny animals, some are charming fairy tales, and others are pretty trippy! For example, Calico Pup -- not your typical talking dog but a stuffed animal. He lives in a world made of cloth and stuffed with sawdust, which makes it tough when a flesh-and-blood kangaroo visits. (These comics date back from before LSD was invented, which makes them that much more amazing.)

There's also the silly diaper-wearing Superkatt by Dan Gordon and a vintage Felix the Cat story by Otto Messmer. Basil Wolverton, Syd Hoff, Dave Berg, the list of famous creators goes on and on.

It's especially nice to see truly rare comics reprinted, such as Wally Wood's brilliant strip from Wham-O Giant Comics, a book that's impossible to find in good shape because it was too HUGE to store anywhere. Now we can read it in a durable volume that you can hold in your hands (although it is oversized and thick as a brick).

KKKKK is obviously intended for comic collectors as its primary market, but there's no reason you couldn't give this to your child or grandchild as a gift, instilling a love of comics in the next generation. Buy two copies; one for your library and one to give to a kid.

A must-have bookkkkk.

My kids love this and so do I. You really must get it! It's one of our family's all time favorites!

Great stuff for anyone who loves comics and comics art. My nephews (ages 6, 5, & 4) love when I read these stories to them and I enjoy seeing famous artists I know draw some of the stories.

Craig Yoe has way too much fun for any writer. His current project, "Klassic Krazy kool Kids Komics" allowed him to read `kids comics' from the early 1940's to 1960's.
It's true. How else can you explain the treasures he was able to find from the likes of Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, Dr Seuss, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Mort Walker, Harvey Kurtzman, Dan Decarlo, Carl Barks, Syd Hoff, George Carlson, and Jules Pfeiffer `pre-success'? Sure, can I borrow your old funnies and look for classic artists you thought you knew?
As a comic historian, I am marginally jealous of his monumental task. One thing I do know is that his largest task was the selection of exactly what to print, and who he should print. We do know, for instance, that Kirby was active in comic books from the mid 1930's, and that other legends drew under pen names that are lost to history.
Having said that, one of the delights of the book is the inclusion of Mr. Tom Plumb from 1850. Three color art would have been revolutionary at that time. Can you imagine pre-civil war readers thrilling to a `new' entertainment? Mr Abraham Lincoln reading this funny to his children? That in itself makes the inclusion of the strip worth the price of the book.
"The Magic Soap Bubble" is uncredited, but looking at the art, I might hypothesize that it is Shelly Mayer perhaps, or even Alex Blum. What a great advertisement for literacy! Too bad Mr Wertham didn't take the time to read this one all the way through.
Some of the other surprises in the book are:
Dave Berg-The King Who Couldn't Sleep (1947)
Harry G Peter-King Midas (1950)
Jules Pfeiffer-Clifford (1949)
Harvey Kurtzman-Pigtales (1946)
Jack Kirby-Earl the Rich Rabbit (1947)
Carl Barks-Barney Bear (1946)
Frank Frazetta-Hucky Duck (1949)
Dr Seuss-Heiji (1935)
This is really a treasure that demands you spend a whole afternoon reading and admiring. If I have any criticism of this tome, it is that there should have been a short biography section at the end of the book of each of the contributors. Well chosen Mr Yoe.
Let's see one more book, we know these guys did a LOT of work.
[...]
Tim Lasiuta