Every so often I find a book in the cheap bins, that I'm positive has to be a mistake. I'll usually ask to make sure, if I'm at a proper comic shop; but at EntertainMart? Nope! Yoink! Grabbed this one and hauled right off with it. From 1988, Gumby's Winter Fun Special #1, written by Steve Purcell, art by Arthur Adams.
Somehow, I was never exposed to Gumby as a kid? This comic would've been towards the tailend of Gumby's 80's revival, post-Eddie Murphy and Saturday Night Live. The only short I know I've watched was a 50's one, "Robot Rumpus," because it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000! ("Just work the lumps, Mike!")
Art Adams is doubtless the big draw for this one...man, he was huge then, this feels like a very weird book for him to do; but he won an Eisner for Best Single Issue for Gumby's Summer Fun Special the year before with Bob Burden. The Gumby books are mentioned in Adams's Wikipedia page under "Diversification and experimentation!" But, I'm glad to have Winter Fun, because of Steve Purcell, of Sam & Max fame. (You can see a toy lagomorph--er, rabbit-shaped thing, and a dog with a very distinctive hat in one panel!)
This issue, after an explosion at the toy mine, Gumby and Pokey try to help the trapped miners, which leads to meeting the mole people, and being sent on a mission to Heck to rescue Roy Crabbe, aka Santa Claus! Giant kaiju monsters and mail-away prizes are both involved. And, for good measure, I scanned the back cover so you can make the little diorama! That oughta keep you busy for a bit; don't use the good scissors.
Never got into Gumby myself even though I enjoyed claymation as a kid and still do on occasion as an adult. He was definitely before my time but I think I may have seen reruns of the original Gumby series I think, to at least be familiar enough with him to know Gumby & Pokey? Either way he was never a big part of my childhood like he was for earlier generations of kids
Art Adams was definitely an odd choice, but smart one since no doubt his name alone helped sell this oddity of a project. And Steve Purcell’s typical humor doubtlessly helped make it a fun read besides looking at the pretty pictures.
I watched a YTer describe Gumby as a forrm of existential dread for the time period & it’s definitely not hard to not see it through that lens given how nightmare ish & fever-dreamish his adventures were.
Nice get, goo- I got the Summer Special about the same way. Wasn’t as cheap as the cheap bins but still a really good price. I remember a while back getting Batman 400 in one of those multipacks they use to get rid of 90’s comics (I think at 5 Below or Ollie’s).
I seem to remember reading Art Adams got roped into the Gumby specials because he was a friend of somebody at Comico. It’s a good one though- surprisingly not the only Gumby comics around then either! Blackthorne did a bunch of 3-D Gumby comics that weren’t bad- no big names as I recall but still solid.
That is awesome: BATMAN #400 is one of my favorite single issues ever and I've always thought it should stay in print; but I don't think it's even got one of those facsimile editions yet! (Someone editorially was probably like "but it's pre-CRISIS," in the same tone as someone going through your fridge and nagging you about expired ketchup.)
Just barely though- like, literally the next issue is the first post-Crisis Batman.
I haven’t been real pleased with the facsimile editions lately. It’s been almost a year since they did a Golden Age comic that hasn’t been reprinted at least three times. The Kubert reprint this week is the first Bronze Age comic in months. Archie’s done a surprisingly decent job though.
Batman 400 is decent- one of the few good Doug Moench stories, and I like about half of the artists they chose. Superman 400, on the other hand, I really like- good choices except for letting Steranko do his own story (just doesn’t work for me).
Never got into Gumby myself even though I enjoyed claymation as a kid and still do on occasion as an adult. He was definitely before my time but I think I may have seen reruns of the original Gumby series I think, to at least be familiar enough with him to know Gumby & Pokey?
ReplyDeleteEither way he was never a big part of my childhood like he was for earlier generations of kids
Art Adams was definitely an odd choice, but smart one since no doubt his name alone helped sell this oddity of a project. And Steve Purcell’s typical humor doubtlessly helped make it a fun read besides looking at the pretty pictures.
I watched a YTer describe Gumby as a forrm of existential dread for the time period & it’s definitely not hard to not see it through that lens given how nightmare ish & fever-dreamish his adventures were.
Nice get, goo- I got the Summer Special about the same way. Wasn’t as cheap as the cheap bins but still a really good price. I remember a while back getting Batman 400 in one of those multipacks they use to get rid of 90’s comics (I think at 5 Below or Ollie’s).
DeleteI seem to remember reading Art Adams got roped into the Gumby specials because he was a friend of somebody at Comico. It’s a good one though- surprisingly not the only Gumby comics around then either! Blackthorne did a bunch of 3-D Gumby comics that weren’t bad- no big names as I recall but still solid.
That is awesome: BATMAN #400 is one of my favorite single issues ever and I've always thought it should stay in print; but I don't think it's even got one of those facsimile editions yet! (Someone editorially was probably like "but it's pre-CRISIS," in the same tone as someone going through your fridge and nagging you about expired ketchup.)
ReplyDeleteJust barely though- like, literally the next issue is the first post-Crisis Batman.
DeleteI haven’t been real pleased with the facsimile editions lately. It’s been almost a year since they did a Golden Age comic that hasn’t been reprinted at least three times. The Kubert reprint this week is the first Bronze Age comic in months. Archie’s done a surprisingly decent job though.
Batman 400 is decent- one of the few good Doug Moench stories, and I like about half of the artists they chose. Superman 400, on the other hand, I really like- good choices except for letting Steranko do his own story (just doesn’t work for me).