Customer Reviews

Li'l Abner: The Frazetta Years, Vol. 1: 1954-1955

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are Sunday Li'l Abner pages, penciled by comics legend Frank Frazetta. In my opinion, Li'l Abner was the greatest comic stip of all time. The strip was fantastic during the 1950s, so you can't go wrong here. It seems like this was released because of the Frazetta connection, but the art looks pretty much like all other Li'l Abner art. Frazetta was clearly drawing as close as he could to Al Capp's style. But any excuse to have Li'l Abner strips released works for me. Highly recommended.

When I first opened this book I was disappointed that instead of reproductions of the original art, I was seeing photos of printed newspaper pages, which creates a somewhat degraded image, with the ben day dots smudging together in blotchy patterns, the ink lines losing much of their delicacy, and the light/dark composition being thrown off. Newspaper printing in the '50s wasn't that crisp to begin with, but obviously this was what was available, and so if we are to enjoy these great comics today, it will have to do. All in all, it is legible (about as good as a quality color xerox from a newspaper), and it's a wonder that these pages of the NY Sunday Mirror were saved at all in such good shape.

The stories are absolutely all-time world-class, the drawings are superb and Lil Abner is one of the most memorable comic strips the form has ever produced. There is also a nice explanation of Al Capp's relationship to Frazetta, and an interesting B/W reproduction of Frazetta's artwork for a parody of the motorcycle flick, "The Wild Ones", which drew complaints that it was not consistent with the look of the strip (they were right; the book states that afterward Frazetta did not ink his own drawings).

I laughed out loud at almost every story. They are real gems.

Finally! Although one may quibble over some technical details ( the strips might have been printed a bit larger, and the color is a bit muddy in spots, ) there's no denying that publisher Denis Kitchen is performing a service to mankind by making these historic strips available again - for the first time in almost 50 years.

Al Capp was at a creative peak in the 1950's, the heyday of his uber cool American satiric masterpiece: LI'L ABNER, and these classic Sunday page sequences don't disappoint. For many people, this was their first exposure to Frank Frazetta's work, and he managed to capture Capp's idiosyncratic style with the greatest of ease, adding many brilliant, characteristic nuances of his own along the way.

With the demise of the late, lamented Kitchen Sink Press a few years back, I despaired of ever seeing this classic material back in print again - but here it is! It's impossible for gen X-ers weaned on tripe like Dilbert and Foxtrot to even begin to imagine what a rich source of art and humor the American comic strip used to be in the 30's, 40's and 50's.

For anyone interested in re-visiting a Golden Age of this uniquely American art form, you couldn't ask for a better place to start than this. Hopefully the series will be continued before and beyond the Frazetta years - into the forties and sixties. And while we're at it, how about a color POGO Sundays collection, Mr. Kitchen?

Denis Kitchen said he hoped to bring out a collection of the Li'l Abner Sundays when he printed the dailies under his own publishing company several years ago. He has finally been able to achieve this with the help of Dark Horse. This is a classic strip, sharply written, beautifully rendered, superior to most anything on the funny pages today. Please note this book is hardcover like a european album, not softcover as listed in the description. Also Mac Raboy has nothing to do with it. This must be a mix up from the Flash Gordon book currently available. The reproduction can be a bit muddy since it was scanned from newsprint tear sheets and can only be as good as the source. A great bargain price to boot! You can't go wrong.

The nearest thing I know of today to the satire of Li'l Abner is The Simpsons. Parodies of popular culture, politics etc.. from the perspective of flawed innocents somehow getting caught up in weird events. Al Capp's creation was probably just as well known in it's day as Groening's work is now.

There is great drawing to be seen here by the stable of cartoonists employed in Li'l Abner, there is persistently good writing which must surely have cut close to the wind in 50's America. This is pre-PC and the way Capp seemed to look at the world and the roles and weaknesses of men and women is funny to look back on. At the same time the comedy stands up in it's own right. I particularly enjoyed the Lower Slobbovia scenes. There is often a frenetic pace to all these comics, with Capp seemingly uninterested in continuity concerns.

These works do not seem to be taken from original art (perhaps it can't be located (easily anyway)). They are scanned from newspapers with mastheads still intact. This is interesting to a degree but the limitations of the sources mean the colour leaves a lot to be desired. One of Lonesome Polecat and Hairless Joe's dinosaurs is a different colour each week it appears. A character may have different coloured hair or clothes. Skin tone also vary greatly.

These quibbles are major but the quality of the cartooning and writing is such that it can be overlooked. The 4th volume has some isolated pages which are well coloured and that makes you wish that it was all at that higher standard. Perhaps it would be better in black and white as the dailies look great.

Time to get the dailies back out too. Get on it Fantagraphics!

I caught the tail end of the Li'l Abner series as a child in the 1960's and remember loving it. I recently started looking for some collections in libraries, but couldn't find any so I looked on Amazon and found this volume and bought it. I've had a great time reading it and even though the things it satirizes occurred before I was born, I'm familiar with much of them through my study of history. Much of what is satirized is applicable to any time and is still fresh.

I've recently been reading some of the classic satire of Voltaire (Candide) and Rabelais (Gargantua and Pantagruel) and this seems to fit right in with that style. I guess I have a warped sense of humor. I wish today's comics were this good.

I enjoyed the artwork and appreciated the explanations at the end of the book highlighting some of the items that someone born after that era may have missed. I highly recommend this book. I will probably order more volumes.

I bought this volume (and volumes 2-4) for my Dad for Christmas because he was such a big L'il Abner fan when I was a kid in the 60's. When they arrived I just had to sit down and read them all before wrapping them up! L'il Abner is a lens focused on it's own era in time, totally tongue-in-cheek! For rollicking fun and biting satire these comics can't be beat!

Grew up reading this series. Now I have a permanent copy of my own. Good price and great product for comics junkies.

Lil Abner always had a strong fan club that allowed the reprinting of the daily strips by Kitchen Sink press for about 25 volumes, which if there was no fan base, only one or two volumes would have been published.

In addition,we are very lucky that Frazetta's reputation and fan club would allow the printing of a comic strip that John Steinbeck once stated, its author, Al Capp, should be given the Putszler (excuse the spelling) prize.

Al Capp was a master satirist and storyteller, who would have one acclaim like Mark Twain or O'Henry if not for the snob attitude toward comic strips.

This is shown here. The 50-year-old color strips are re-printed in a fine manner with expert commentary about the period they were written in by Denis Kitchen.

Beware, they feature "politically incorrect" well-endowed women, and one main character, Daisy Mae, as mostly submissive, which would not be allowed in comic strips today as it would raise the ire of feminists and other "progressive" people.

On the other hand, it features the two main male characters, Abner and Pappy, as idiots or wimps, Abner and his brother Tiny as "hunks", and the one of the main women characters, Mammy as the leader of the Yokum clan, who occassionally beats Pappy, which are allowed in comic strips today as the "Progressives" seem to have no problem with this.

Remember, vintage comic strip reprints do not generate big bucks, some even lose money. They are produced out of great admiration for the strips, and we should be grateful for the publishers for doing so.

By the way, why does Amazon include a 'NO' in 'was this review helpful to you?'. People are only human and don't like opinions that differ from themselves. With some who are less mature, this the 'NO' makes it too easy express such displeasure.

Are they trying to discourage negative reviews, hence not purchase the CD. Such reviews only help a person in not being dissatisfied a product that received positive reviews