Here’s the third part of Cathy Hill’s epic story: Racketty Ann and The Lost World! In pages 9 through 12, Racketty Ann continues her story (I love how the dinosaurs want to listen to her) of her trips to the prehistoric island. The secret is suddenly out when some sailors land on the beach, and the news media descend in pesky profusion. I love page twelve as the videographers are torn between focusing on the dinosaur eggs or framing the tapering limbs of their pretty newscaster (just look at the monitors at the top of the page to see just how torn the videographers were). Cathy loaded these pages with downshots and upshots of the dinosaurs really highlighting their immense bulk; the shading and variety of the line weight helps the effect. The progression from fine lines in the background to heavy lines in the foreground is most evident in page 12. The little paleontologist on page 10 has a Rube Goldberg touch as he rides through the air astride his magnifying glass with his neck nearly snapped in half by a helium balloon.
Kamden Spies says:
Hey Mark,
Great post. I have a question though about the Felix comic strip. Did they have a hard time deciding if Felix should speak in the strip since he appeared in silent cartoons? Also, what was the purpose of pairing him with Betty Boop in their duo strip? It’s a very strange concept.
Mark says:
Thanks, Kamden. Felix DID “speak” in the silent cartoons, in the dialog balloons superimposed over his head, and in the full screen titles used in late 1920s Felix cartoons. As a matter of fact, the Winkler silent Felixs were marketed as Felix “Comics”.
The Betty Boop and Felix strip was Brian Walker’s idea. I think he tried to market a Betty Boop strip, due to her nostalgic appeal in the 1970s, but King Features had the rights to Felix, so they added him to the cast to make the new strip more marketable. It didn’t last too long, just a couple of years. Felix could have been any old wise-cracking cartoon cat in the Betty Boop and Felix strip, his writing was a lot like the Garfield strip!