American cartoonist
John Stanley
(March 22, 1914 ? November 11, 1993) was an American cartoonist and comic book writer, best known for writing
Little Lulu
comic book stories from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also drew many of his stories, including the earliest issues of
Little Lulu
and its
Tubby
spinoff series. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed characters and those of his own creation. His writing style has been described as employing "colorful,
S. J. Perelman
-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit (reminiscent of writer
Roald Dahl
)",
[1]
with storylines that "were cohesive and tightly constructed, with nary a loose thread in the plot".
[2]
He has been compared to
Carl Barks
,
[3]
and cartoonist
Fred Hembeck
has dubbed him "the most consistently funny cartoonist to work in the comic book medium".
[4]
Captain Marvel
co-creator
C. C. Beck
remarked, "The only comic books I ever read and enjoyed were
Little Lulu
and
Donald Duck
".
[5]
Biography
[
edit
]
John Stanley was born March 22, 1914.
[6]
Details about Stanley's early years are unclear. He had an older sister Marion, two younger brothers, Thomas and James and a younger sister, Marguerite. He received a scholarship to attend art classes at
Textile High School
in
Chelsea, Manhattan
. Fellow student and future comic book artist
Gill Fox
when interviewed by
Alter Ego
magazine reminisced about Stanley "You wouldn't believe how good his work was at 16?as good as most professionals today."
[7]
There are also references to his attending an institution known variously as the New York School of Design or School of Art. Afterward he began working at
Fleischer Studios
as an opaquer and eventually
in-betweening
.
Stanley left Fleischer's studio in 1935 to work for Hal Horne, contributing artwork to the then just starting
Mickey Mouse Magazine
(3rd series). From there he went to work on Disney merchandise art for
Kay Kamen
, while selling gag cartoons to various magazines (including
The New Yorker
).
[8]
In this period (1935?37) Don Phelps in his piece for the 1976 New Con program book notes that Stanley attended classes in lithography at the
Art Students League of New York
. Stanley then started working as a freelancer out of the east coast office of
Western Publishing
under editor
Oskar Lebeck
in 1943. Stanley during this time did stories for a range of characters, including
Bugs Bunny
,
Raggedy Ann and Andy
,
Woody Woodpecker
and
Andy Panda
, along with his own creations such as Peterkin Pottle and Jigg & Mooch. His scripting was done much like a
storyboard
in animation, with rough drawings to guide the artists and the dialogue in balloons.
Stanley was respected by his peers. Artist Dan Noonan who was a contemporary at Western Publishing during the 1940s in an interview stated that Stanley was, “one of the few truly capable and funny writers in the business. His stuff, the ideas he sent to
The New Yorker
, for example, I would say had as high a sales percentage as anything from anyone in their history... And an omnivorous reader, always. He reads everything he can lay his hands on. I’d say he’s an authority on writers like
Samuel Pepys
and
Boswell
. He has a very strange, wonderful feel for words.”
[9]
Walt Kelly
as an
in-joke
in an
Oswald the Rabbit
one-shot (
Four Color
#102, 1946) has a pirate refer to a cannon that "in 1927 wouldn't say anything but 'John Stanley'?she's fickle"
[10]
Calling his story for
Raggedy Ann and Andy
#38 (July 1949) a classic,
Maggie Thompson
opined "Until John Stanley took over the Raggedys, they were a cheery duo whose adventures demonstrated that loving kindness was the attitude of choice. Suddenly, their world is a dark, unsettling place that is the equal of any nightmare: in this case, a castle that is an
endless maze of despair. Yikes!"
[11]
Stanley and his wife Barbara had two children, Lynda, and James (born in 1962).
Little Lulu
[
edit
]
Modest about his talent,
[12]
Stanley claimed it was utter chance that he was selected to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu to comics: "Oscar [Lebeck] handed me the assignment, but I'm sure it was due to no special form of brilliance that he thought I'd lend to it. It could have been handed to Dan Noonan, [Walt] Kelly, or anyone else. I just happened to be available at the time".
[2]
Stanley had one meeting with Lulu creator
Marjorie Henderson Buell
(known professionally as Marge) before doing the first issue to discuss the background of the character. While Marge continued to exercise oversight of the comics
[13]
this was the sole time she directly gave input regarding the depiction of her creation in comic books.
[14]
Stanley drew the initial Lulu
Four Color
one shots but once a regular series began in 1948 (for the first year bi-monthly then thereafter monthly)
Irving Tripp
and Charles Hedinger (Tripp inking Hedinger before eventually assuming both duties)
[15]
assumed the job of translating Stanley's sketch scripts into finished art. But Stanley continued to do the covers (and perhaps due to deadlines drew the majority of
Little Lulu
#31 [1951]).
[16]
The only time Stanley received credit was
Little Lulu
#49 (July 1952) where a box at the bottom of the inside front cover listed him as being among the staff writers and illustrators who worked on the issue; it also gives Stanley a separate credit for the front cover.
[17]
Whereas the old
Saturday Evening Post
panels depicted the humorous antics of a mischievous tomboy, Stanley quickly expanded the cast of characters in Lulu's universe to an entire neighborhood of children while sketching out rich characterizations that captured as Don Phelps noted "the mannerisms and slang" of kids.
[2]
Many stories revolved around the competition between the boys and girls, often involving the club Tubby, Iggy and the other boys formed whose clubhouse bore the iconic sign "No Girls Allowed". Lulu and her friend Annie would often scheme to "teach the fellers a lesson", much to the shock of the boys who were firm in the belief of the superiority of their gender. This battle of the sexes was highlighted by the boys' club celebrating the first Monday of each month as "mumday", when members were forbidden to speak to any of the girls (or even their own mothers). Shaenon Garrity notes "When not plotting against the girls, Tubby and his gang [would] mix it up with the much tougher West Side Gang".
[18]
Other stories related Tubby's exploits as The Spider, a detective who invariably accused Lulu's father as being the culprit of whatever he was investigating (and nearly invariably Mr. Moppet proved to be guilty). On occasion Lulu would be forced to avoid recurrent foil Truant Officer McNabbem, by means of "straight-up slapstick chases".
[18]
And in flights of imagination Lulu would tell stories to a vexing young neighbor boy named Alvin, many of which involved an unnamed poor little girl (who looked just like Lulu) and her scary encounters with Witch Hazel and Hazel's niece Little Itch.
Stanley also wrote between 1952 and 1959 the four
Four Color
tryout issues (nos. 381, 430, 444 and 461) of the companion series
Tubby
plus the stories in the subsequent series through #35. Stanley scholar Frank Young notes Stanley's only sustained run doing artwork during the 1950s was for #2-9 of Tubby.
[19]
The main artist on Tubby was Lloyd White, and per Young besides Tubby White also "pinch-hit" on the Lulu title, for example drawing some of the solo Tubby stories that appeared there.
[20]
post-Lulu career
[
edit
]
Little Lulu
#135, in early 1959, was Stanley's last,
[3]
whereupon he began writing
Nancy and Sluggo
(titled
Nancy
for issues #146-173) starting with issue #162 and through at least #185, as well as several Dell Giant's (#34 & 45, and Nancy & Sluggo Traveltime). For this title he created the character Oona Goosepimple, who lived in a haunted house inhabited by weird relatives and mysterious little people known as Yoyos who hid behind the fireplace. While she only appeared in twenty issues(#162,166-178, 190-192 plus some Summer Camp Specials - Four Color #1034, Dell Giants #34 and #45) Oona has since attained something of a cult status. He also created Mr. McOnion,
Sluggo
's crabby neighbor. He also probably did the Nancy and Sluggo stories in Dell's
Tip Top Comics
#218-220, 222.
In the 1960s Stanley created a number of humorous titles for Dell Comics. These include:
- Kookie
#1-2 1961?1962, drawn by Bill Williams. Kookie is a 20-something single girl living in a
Greenwich Village
-like environment with roommate Clara and working in a hip coffee shop. Supporting characters include Momma Poppa, the brash, overweight owner of the coffee shop, and Bongo and Bop and other
beatniks
. The subjects of their own back-of-the-book story, Bongo and Bop never interacted directly with Kookie.
- Around the Block with Dunc & Loo
#1-8 1961?1963, humor with urban teens drawn by Bill Williams
[21]
- Thirteen (Going on Eighteen)
#1-25 1961?1967, humor with suburban pre-teens drawn by Stanley starting with #3 [#26-29 reprints of #1-4]
- Melvin Monster
#1-9 1965?1969, humorous horror drawn by Stanley [#10 reprints #1]
In a change of pace he also did the melodramatic medical/romance
Linda Lark
(#1-8 1961?1963) and two forays into straight horror:
- Tales From the Tomb
, 1962 one-shot giant edited by
L. B. Cole
- Ghost Stories
#1, September.-November 1962 (Stanley wrote only the first issue)
Stanley also continued doing stories for licensed characters including
Clyde Crashcup
(#1-5, 1963?64) and
Nellie the Nurse
(
Four Color
#1304, 1962).
All of the foregoing were done for
Dell Comics
; when it and
Western Publishing
parted ways in 1962 Stanley was among the few creators who chose to stick with Dell.
Stanley did a one-page strip "Bridget and Her Little Brother Newton the Nuisance" for the unusual
Wham-O
Giant Comic Book
(published in 1967).
During the 1950s and 1960s, Stanley also drew cartoon storyboards for various New York-based animation studios.
[22]
In 1965, his sole children's book was published by
Rand McNally
,
It's Nice to be Little
, with illustrations by Jean Tamburine. It sold well enough to warrant a second printing the following year.
Stanley's last works in comics were done for
Gold Key
: a 1969 one shot starring the
Good & Plenty
mascot Choo Choo Charlie, and in 1971
O.G. Whiz
#1, featuring the adventures of a boy owning his own toy company. Both were scripted and drawn by Stanley.
[22]
Later years
[
edit
]
After leaving comic books, Stanley worked as the head of a
silk screen
company in upstate New York and in advertising for many years, and did cartoon illustration work for David C. Cook, a publisher of Christian-oriented books.
[22]
In this period his marriage foundered and he moved out for an extended period.
[23]
Fans including Don Phelps and
Robert Overstreet
tracked Stanley down and began to publicize him in comics fandom. His first and only appearance at a fan gathering was at the 1976 New Con in Boston.
[
citation needed
]
Stanley was invited to be a guest at the 1977
Comic Art Convention
and did attend. Despite some advance publicity listing him as a guest he didn't attend the 1980 San Diego Comic Book convention.
[24]
Later in life, Stanley did commissions of painted re-creations of classic
Little Lulu
and
Tubby
cover-gags.
[22]
One of the last published pieces of artwork by him was a sketch that appeared in
The Art of Mickey Mouse
(1991).
[
citation needed
]
Stanley died November 11, 1993, of esophageal cancer.
[
citation needed
]
His wife had died in 1990.
[
citation needed
]
His daughter Lynda is a photographic retoucher who has worked for numerous magazines and advertising agencies.
[
citation needed
]
His son James was an environmental consultant who later worked in computer graphic design and IT.
[
citation needed
]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Stanley's work on
Little Lulu
was #59 on
Comics Journal'
s list of 100 top comics
Four of Stanley's Little Lulu stories were included in the 1981 collection
A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics
edited by
Martin Williams
and
Michael Barrier
. New York: Smithsonian Institution Press and Harry N. Abrams, 1981.
[25]
Stanley fandom eventually coalesced around John Merrill's fanzine
The Stanley Steamer
(1982?1992).
The current outlet for Stanley fans is the infrequently issued fanzine the
HoLLywood Eclectern
edited by Ed Buchman. There is also a gathering commemorating Lulu and Stanley at the annual
Comic-Con International
organized by Buchman and Joan Appleton. This includes fans performing a radio-play style recreation of a classic Stanley Lulu story.
Author-comics scholar Frank M. Young is researching Stanley's authorship of stories published by Dell in various comics during the 1940s and 1950s, posting the results on a Stanley Stories blog he started in 2008 (from 2001 to 2005 he compiled a Stanley Stories website with a similar aim that ceased displaying in 2009 but whose content is slowly being incorporated into the blog).
[1]
Most of the segments on
Cinar
's
The Little Lulu Show
(broadcast on HBO from 1995 to 1999) were adaptations of Stanley's stories (without crediting him beyond stating the series was done "in association with
Western Publishing
".)
Famous Studios
in the early 1960s did two theatrical cartoons based on Stanley stories, reviving their Lulu series of the 1940s.
[26]
Comic book creator Pete Von Sholly has done a computer generated version of the Stanley story "The Monster of Dread End" and with permission of the Stanley family a new issue of Melvin Monster posted online.
[27]
The 2008 anthology
The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics
reprints Dread End, the original and Von Sholly's retelling.
[28]
"Hester's Little Pearl" is an adaptation of
The Scarlet Letter
with the novel's characters and the overall look drawn in the style of Lulu by
Robert Sikoryak
and published in
Drawn & Quarterly
Vol. 4 (2001).
[29]
It was reprinted in the collection
Masterprice Comics
in late 2009.
The graphic novel
Wimbledon Green
by
Seth
contains an extended homage to Stanley.
[30]
A Stanley painting recreating a Lulu cover was featured as one of two covers offered for the 35th edition of the
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
(2005). The hard cover of the Lulu version sold out on the day the Guide was released. The soft cover version sold out two days later.
[31]
Another Rainbow's
Little Lulu Library
issued between 1985 and 1992 brought the Lulu stories to a new generation of readers. Among other things it published the landmark article, in its definitive form, by Brad Tenan that?based on clues in the stories?laid out the case for Lulu's hometown being modeled on
Peekskill, New York
, where Stanley lived for some years.
And in the current decade a successful series of Lulu trade paperbacks published by Dark Horse reprinting Stanley's stories are a testament to their timeless appeal.
Free Comic Book Day 2009 (May 2, 2009) included a John Stanley collection that included
Nancy
and
Melvin Monster
in a flipbook style. Free Comic Book Day 2010 (May 1, 2010) included a John Stanley collection that included
Nancy
,
Tubby
,
Melvin Monster
,
Judy Junior
, and
Choo Choo Charlie
- all of them spunky cartoon kids written (sometimes also drawn) by John Stanley.
Bill Schelly's
John Stanley, Giving Life to Little Lulu
published in May 2017 is the first book-length biography of Stanley, including never before known information about his family of origin, and quotes from the only known extensive interview ever given by the cartoonist (at the 1976 Boston Newcon), which had never been fully transcribed before.
Awards
[
edit
]
Online comics
[
edit
]
Reprint collections
[
edit
]
- Little Lulu Library
(
info
) Six sets containing 18 hardbound volumes published between 1985 and 1992 by
Another Rainbow
; reprints in black and white the stories in
Little Lulu
(including one-shots) through #87 plus articles and historical background to the series.
- Dark Horse Little Lulu softcover collections
18 trade paperbacks published between 2004 and 2008 reprints in black and white the stories published in the Another Rainbow Little Lulu Library, sans articles and covers. One color special was also published. New volumes in color continuing the series (and now including the covers of the original comics) began appearing in 2009. In all Dark Horse issued twenty nine volumes collecting Stanley's entire run on the series, including Dell Giant specials. In addition four volumes collecting issues 1-24 of the companion
Tubby
title were published in 2010-2011 as
Little Lulu's Pal Tubby
.
- John Stanley Library
Nine volumes from
Drawn & Quarterly
(2009-2013) collecting a sample of Stanley's non-Lulu series, including the entirety of
Melvin Monster
, the first nine issues of
Thirteen (Going on Eighteen)
,
Nancy
/
Nancy and Sluggo
(#146-150, #167-177 plus
Summer Camp
Four Color
#1034) and one volume of
Tubby
(containing issues #9-12); volumes designed by longtime Stanley devotee
Seth
.
- Marge's Little Lulu
A five volume hardcover series published by
Drawn & Quarterly
reprinting the classic Lulu stories written by Stanley in color, restored with historical background by co-editors D+Q Executive Editor Tom Devlin and Stanley scholar Frank M. Young.
- v.1
Little Lulu: Working Girl
[Nov. 2019] (reprints the initial five
Four Color
appearances of Lulu in comic books from 1945 to 1946 (#74, 97, 110, 115 and 120), the first three of which were written AND drawn by Stanley).
ISBN
978-1-770463-65-3
- v.2
Little Lulu: The Fuzzythingus Poopi
[Sep. 2020]
ISBN
978-1-770463-66-0
- v.3
Little Lulu: The Little Girl Who Could Talk to Trees
[Dec. 2021]
ISBN
978-1-770463-89-9
- The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics
Collection of classic comic book stories for young children edited by
Art Spiegelman
and his wife,
Francoise Mouly
. Includes selections by Stanley,
Carl Barks
and
Walt Kelly
. (
ISBN
0-8109-5730-2
)
- Golden Collection of Krazy Kool Klassic Kids' Komics
A kids comic book story collection (exclusively
public domain
) edited by
Craig Yoe
. Includes selections by Stanley, Barks, Kelly,
Jack Kirby
,
Wally Wood
and others. (
ISBN
978-1600105203
)
- The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories
edited by
Craig Yoe
. Includes selections by Stanley, Kelly,
Richard Scarry
and others. (
ISBN
978-1684050093
)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Welcome to Stanley Stories--The Blog!
- ^
a
b
c
"John Stanley" by Don Phelps in the 1976 New Con Program Book
- ^
a
b
Seth
(2009) "John Stanley's Teen Trilogy", in Ben Schwartz, ed.,
The Best American Comics Criticism
, Fantagraphic Press, Seattle, Washington. This is an updated version of an article in
Comics Journal
#238 (2001).
- ^
IGN: The Fred Hembeck Show: Episode 42
- ^
Beck, C.C. "The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics". Hamerlinck, P. C., editor.
The Fawcett Companion
. TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001. p.48
- ^
"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VS6C-55S
: accessed 04 Mar 2013), John Stanley, November 1993.
- ^
"A Conversation with Gill Fox - Artist, Writer, and Editor (1940-43) of Quality Comics Group" Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash,
Alter Ego
no.12 (January 2002)
Archived
2010-07-07 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Stanley's New Yorker cartoon: A Second (MUCH Closer) Look
Stanley continued contributing to the
New Yorker
for some years, including this example from the March 15, 1947 issue
- ^
Graphic Story Magazine
#9 (Summer 1968)
- ^
"Just Saying"
an installment of the
Beautiful Balloons
column in
Comics Buyer's Guide
#1664 (April 2010) p.17
- ^
"Favorites"
an installment of the
Beautiful Balloons
column in
Comics Buyer's Guide
#1643 (July 2008) p.146
- ^
Mo Gollub said of Stanley: "One of the greatest story men I've ever known, and he's always been the last person to talk about his own merits". Quoted in Don Phelps' profile of Stanley for the 1977 Comic Art Convention Program Book
- ^
An example of this can be found in a
May 14, 1946 letter from William Erskine to Marge
(Erskine at the time was Buell's licensing agent)
- ^
Don Phelps' profile of Stanley for the 1977 Comic Art Convention Program Book
- ^
Little Lulu and Tubby Dark Horse Figures
- ^
"Adventures in Africa" from Little Lulu 31, 1951--story AND art by John Stanley
- ^
Little Lulu
#49 (July 1952) inside front cover
- ^
a
b
"All the Comics #12: Little Lulu" by Shaenon Garrity
Archived
2008-06-26 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
John Stanley's World, Pt. 2: The Cartooning of John Stanley
- ^
The rest of Little Lulu 95: fairy-tales and Tubby tension
- ^
Around the Block with Dunc & Loo
at
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
.
Archived
from the original on April 10, 2016.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Shaw, Scott
.
"
Choo Choo Charlie
No. 1"
. Oddball Comics. Archived from
the original
on April 28, 2010.
First paragraph only; link to full article dead.
- ^
Interview with James Stanley in
Alter Ego
#54
- ^
Comic Con 1980 flyer
- ^
CSAB: Barrier and Williams, A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics
- ^
Famous Studios louses up Stanley's "Lulu:" Frog's Legs (1962)
- ^
VonShollywood JOHN STANLEY'S MELVIN MONSTER #11 by Pete Von Sholly
- ^
Running Press Books
- ^
"Masterpiece Comics by R Sikoryak"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-02-16
. Retrieved
2008-05-21
.
- ^
Little Lulu Versus Donald Duck ≪ sans everything
- ^
Gemstone Publishing ? The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
Archived
2008-10-10 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Comic-Con :: The Inkpot Awards
Archived
2011-07-25 at the
Wayback Machine
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Margaret Atwood
.
"The Life Lessons of 'Little Lulu'"
The New Yorker
November 29, 2019.
- Michael Barrier
.
Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books
. Oakland : University of California Press, 2014.
- Hamilton, Bruce, "Carl Barks and John Stanley" / transcribed by Milo George.
Comics Journal
No. 250 (February 2003) p. 159-162. Barks & Stanley are interviewed together by Bruce Hamilton in 1976 during a joint panel at New Con.
- Krumeich, Dorothy. "Stanley Comics Help Quell Furor" in
Peeksill Evening Star
August 11, 1965 (reprinted in
Alter Ego
No. 54).
- Merrill, Jon editor
The Stanley Steamer
Nos. 1-60 (1982?1992).
- Seth
, "John Stanley's Teen Trilogy" in
Comics Journal
No. 238 (October 2001), pp. 39?51. Article on Stanley's teen humor comics
Thirteen (Going on Eighteen)
,
Dunc and Loo
, and
Kookie
.
- Shutt, Craig, "Little Lulu, Big Media Star" in
Hogan's Alley
No.15 (2007), pp. 32?36, 38?43.
- Bill Schelly
.
John Stanley: Giving Life to Little Lulu
. Seattle : Fantagraphics Books, 2017 (published in May 2017).
- Maggie Thompson
, "The Almost-Anonymous Mr. Stanley" in
Funnyworld
No. 16 (Winter 1974?75), p. 34.
- Maggie Thompson
, "Little Miss Moppet" in
Comics Collector
No. 2 (Winter 1984), pp. 67?72 and No. 3 (Spring 1984), pp. 67?71.
External links
[
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]
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