Adios to Mike!
Boy, I hate to be rushed, but Alan Holtz’s Stripper’s Guide is posting SYNDICATE PROOFS of Marvelous Mike from Cole Johnson’s collection. So rather than be completely scooped, I’m going to print the concluding story line of MARVELOUS MIKE in one post.
Well, that’s the story. Bob Kuwahara’s job as the first story sketch artist at Disney may have influenced the idea behind Mike. It’s really “Baby Weems” from “The Reluctant Dragon” isn’t it? Just a bit soapier, with a bit of Little Orphan Annie style sidetracking going on. It’s interesting that with only 6 days of the strip left to go, the Post-Dispatch was still promoting it: This ad ran on 9-15-1957. Most of the run of Mike was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Everyday Magazine” on the back page. The Post ran most of the daily comics with color added, not always the best color and not always in register. That’s why the copies of Mike I used were often murky. Here is a note that the Post ran on 4-25-47 when the ongoing labor disputes forced the dailies into black and white: Â
You will notice that I’m missing 9/2 and 9/9/57 from the above strips. 9/2 was Labor Day, and 9/9, a Saturday episode that wasn’t printed because the Post was shut down in a strike! Mike’s final strips were printed in the midst of labor troubles. I used two versions of the 9/18 strip, one for the dialog, and one for the drawings. The microfilm printer just wouldn’t cooperate that day. It is with sadness that I bring to a close these Marvelous Mike episodes, one of my favorite strips from childhood. Again, thanks to my brother for risking his life (literally) to copy these from the microfilm collection of the St. Louis Public Library. It took many years to complete this project, I can’t believe it’s done! Now, click the link to the right, and go over to Stripper’s Guide, they have a better class of material. I hope they get more response to reprinting Marvelous Mike than I did! Remember to click on the thumbnails to see the strips at readable size.
This just in: thanks to Cole Johnson, here is one of the missing strips from the above story line, 9-2-1957: Â The blustery Mr. Kimball shows his human side.
You can see more of these great scans if you go over to the Stripper’s Guide blog.
Mike Kazaleh says:
Thanks, Mark! Marvelous Mike is a great strip!
I wonder something about the final strip of the story. His reply to Merrie in the last panel is “Swoog!” That is also what Mike said to the farm lady in the strip from 8/30 when he was pretending to be a regular baby. Could this be a very subtle hint that Mike is acting the part of a normal baby to keep the family peace?
Mark says:
Either Mike is still a genius in the final strip and is putting on a great act, or Bob Kuwahara couldn’t think of another baby noise that suited Mike’s personality! It’s really “Baby Weems” in other diapers, but I’ll always love this strip. Make sure you check out Cole Johnson’s comments over at the Stripper’s Guide blog. Thanks for your comment, Mike K.!
Joakim Gunnarsson says:
Thanks for posting all of Marvelous Mike!
It’s a very charming strip and I see why you like it so much.
Mark says:
Hi Joakim,
I loved your comment. I’m so happy to show Mike to younger generations of comic strip readers. I’m especially glad that you picked up on the “charm” aspect. There’s very little charm left in cartooning today, it’s mostly a matter of taste. Completing the reprint is a dream come true, and having appreciative readers to share the dream is better still.
All best, Mark