The Perfect Piece of Toast: H. T. Webster and Harry Bliss

Yesterday's syndicated Bliss panel calls to mind H. T. Webster's 1948 classic from his series The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime:

The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime:
Newlyweds['] First Breakfast
H. T. Webster
November 27, 1948
The Best of H. T. Webster, 1953

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2009/10/thrill-that-comes-once-in-lifetime.html

Harry Bliss visits the same territory. He substitutes a dog for the woman at the table. This is something we saw him do in a 2017 panel inspired by a James Thurber New Yorker cartoon, so it certainly looks like a pattern.

Harry Bliss
Bliss
July 13, 2022

https://store.harrybliss.com/product/incredible-once-again/

Stop me if you've heard this one already. In 2008, Harry Bliss famously borrowed from comic book legend Jack Kirby for a New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest without crediting him. You can read about that controversy here. I have previously documented examples where his cartoon panels seemingly come very close to well-known work by Charles Addams, William Steig, and James Thurber. Coincidence? Tributes? Appropriation? Something else? You decide. Those posts can all be reviewed here. 

Note:  Does that cartoon by H. T. Webster look familiar? It's a favorite of mine and I have discussed it on this blog before. Revisit my musings here.

04015

Drew Friedman's Heroes of the Comics

On Thursday evening, I attended the opening of the  exhibition Drew Friedman's "Heroes of the Comics" at the Society of Illustrators. About half of the artist's originals portraits of comic book giants are on display in the narrow second floor gallery.

Drew Friedman just keeps getting better and better. He originally came on the scene with darkly-satirical comics of Hollywood B-listers rendered in painstakingly-stippled india ink. Now he displays mastery of a sumptuous color palette that somehow recalls the Golden Age of comic books—and there's not a stipple in sight. Friedman clearly adores the figures in his Old Jewish Comedians series, but with the comic book artists his adulation, even reverence, is now front and center. That's only fair. Unlike the comedians, many of these artists never achieved the public recognition or financial success they deserved, but they fired up the imagination of millions of young readers. The show continues through June 3.

Wally Wood

Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld

Jack Kirby

Dave Berg

Joe Simon
Chic Stone

Chic Stone

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Mort Drucker

William M. Gaines, top right

Attempted Bloggery's quick links:

Drew Friedman

Attempted Bloggery's Heroic Index

02179

Captain America No. 1

The new "Captain America:  The First Avenger" movie opens today, the latest film featuring characters from the Marvel Comics universe.  Before Marvel there was Timely Comics, and it is here that Captain America had his origin during the Second World War.  On the cover, we see Captain America pummeling Hitler early in 1941, months before America even entered the war and four long years before Der Fuehrer was finally defeated.  Americans might not have been eager to enter the war when this was published several months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but they were certainly no fans of Nazi Germany.

At the bottom of the page, we read that this comic book contains not only Captain America, but "Also Captain America's young ally, Bucky."  Bucky Barnes was, of course, Captain America's sidekick, and he was in fact the original comic book sidekick.

My father has always told us he owned a copy of this very first Captain America comic book. He believes he sold it on a street corner for perhaps a dime.  I do wish he had held on to it for a bit longer.

Here's a very nice copy that sold at Heritage in 2006:

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America No. 1

Lot 2364

Captain America Comics #1 Kansas City pedigree (Timely, 1941) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages. This is one of the bes... 2006 January Comic Auction #819

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Sold for:	$96,686.25 (includes BP ) Currency Converter Bid Source: Live: Floor
Auction Ended On:	Jan 19, 2006
Item Activity:	19 Internet/mail/phone bidders 2,465 page views

Printable auction results for all items in the 2006 January Comic Auction.

Description:

Captain America Comics #1 Kansas City pedigree (Timely, 1941) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Cream to off-white pages. This is one of the best copies available of one of the best-known and most desirable comic books of all time. In fact, only two unrestored copies of the issue have been certified with higher grades by CGC to date. Of course, having the origin and first appearance of Captain America would make this a significant comic no matter what, but the icing on the cake is the classic cover by the character's co-creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Simon once explained the inspiration behind the cover as follows: "There had never been a truly believable villain in comics. But Adolf was live, hated by more than half the world... I could smell a winner." There are two other very significant first appearances here: the villainous Red Skull and of course Cap's sidekick Bucky Barnes. Out of all of the key Golden Age #1 issues, this was the only one to premiere a brand-new character in a comic book devoted to him! That shows the confidence that Timely had in the character, and that confidence was justified, as it catapulted Timely into the top rank of comic book publishers. Overstreet 2005 VF/NM 9.0 value = $95,000; NM- 9.2 value = $140,000. CGC census 11/05: 1 in 9.0, 2 higher.

Guides and Pricing Information:

Previous Prices from Heritage Auctions for this item for this grade

LOT NO.

PIECE

GRADE

REALIZED

	Captain America Comics #1 (Timely, 1941) CGC Apparent VF/NM 9.0 Moderate (P) Cream to off-white pages. Captain America is on... Lot 1516 VF/NM 9.0 Auction 813 Saturday, October 2, 2004	$9,487.50
	Captain America Comics #1 Mile High pedigree (Timely, 1941) CGC Apparent VF/NM 9.0 Slight (P) Off-white pages. The United St... Lot 3330 VF/NM 9.0 Auction 809 Sunday, February 8, 2004	$64,400.00

View prices realized that match this item in other grades.

PLEASE NOTE: All prices realized reflect the final hammer price PLUS the buyer's premium  in auctions that charge a buyer's premium. Each item has a notation at the top of the listing indicating whether that lot included a buyer's premium. All information listed is intended to be as accurate as possible, but errors are possible. Please use this guide carefully and inform us of any inaccuracies.

Price Guide Report*

Grade	2.0	4.0	6.0	8.0	9.0	9.2
2011 Overstreet Price	$10,000.00	$20,000.00	$30,000.00	$70,000.00	$142,500	$240,000
*All information listed is intended to be as accurate as possible, but errors are possible. No item may be returned or refused based on this information which is provided as a service to our customers. You should contact each pricing source directly to determine the accuracy of this information.

CGC Census Report* Latest Update: 08/2011 Grade 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8 9.9 10.0 0 4 2 0 0 0 2 5 2 6 5 1 6 3 3 2 4 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 1 1 1 4 1 4 1 10 5 3 8 6 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 6 2 0 3 1 3 7 6 8 9 2 16 8 6 11 10 3 3 4 1 1 0 0 0

http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=819&lotNo=2364&type=temcomics110205b

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