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Author Topic: Frank Thomas  (Read 4416 times)

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Offline chrisbeneke

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Frank Thomas
« on: October 29, 2016, 10:31:06 AM »
Hi,


I'm helping Yoc with some forthcoming DCM Archives and Collections of Frank Thomas comic book series.


He's probably reached out to the usual gang for available biographic/bibliographic help. I know there's an entry for Frank Thomas in volume 2 of Goulart's Comic Book Makers, but I've misplaced my copy and can't check that entry for any other leads we haven't already pursued, which are mostly based on GCD and Bails Who's Who entries.


There are certainly some penciller attributions on GCD that we'd challenge/change.


And the writer attributions on Bails are admittedly best-guesses, I think, mixed with plain wrong (Little Lulu during the 1940s was all Stanley; the Howdy Doody comic didn't exist until 1950, though if Thomas did script that series then that might account for his otherwise apparent absence from the comics field during the early 1950s).


His newspaper strip work apparently never garnered the attentions of the strip experts I've contacted, though Going West/Hossface Hank, a long-running strip for a weekly page of comics syndicated by Mutt & Jeff ghost Al Smith to rural small-circulation weekly papers, is quite charming and well done.


Samples of his single panel comic, Aunty and Arabella, from Cats Magazine, ran from the early 1960s to decades after his 1968 death allegedly, and haven't turned up online either.


The revised, considered complete Owl and Eye archives should please golden-age fans and the Billy and Bonny Bee funny bug stories and his other collected Centaur work might win this underappreciated comic book maker new and deserved attentions.


Thanks for any help,


Chris B


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Digital Comic Museum

Frank Thomas
« on: October 29, 2016, 10:31:06 AM »

Offline Yoc

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Re: Frank Thomas
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2016, 04:02:37 PM »
Thanks Chris.
Yes, any one with samples of Aunty and Arabella (later just Arabella), from Cats Magazine we'd love a sample.

And the Ron Goulart book was actually called 'Great Comic Book Artists ver2' (1989).

-Yoc

Offline Geo (RIP)

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Re: Frank Thomas
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2016, 09:03:53 PM »
I got some sample of the cartoons and will post them soon.


Geo

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Offline chrisbeneke

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Re: Frank Thomas & Lloyd Jacquet shop?
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2016, 07:48:28 AM »
Hi Geo,


Not to rush you, but I'm hoping to finish my contribution to these collections in the next week or so.


I've looked at the Going West/Hossface Hank strips (~50) that show up in searches at fultonhistory.com.


I'd love to see more and suspect that when I'm up to speed on that archive's quirks, I may be able to see strips that OCR might've missed...?


We have not found samples of his other signed strip work (nor samples of his ghost work on Ferd'nand, if that's possible) --


1938 All-American Football (which likely shows more Caniff influence than his own style)
1946 Dinky Doyle
1960s-1980s Aunty and Arabella from Cats Magazine, which Bails lists FT as writer on this panel (?)


So those would be most desirable right now.




The other question that early T*mely and Centaur experts might be able to address has to do with the Lloyd Jacquet (Funnies, Inc.) "shop":


Did FT have any association with Jacquet?




His published work shows up in comics for which that shop is known to have produced work, like MM from T*mely and Green Giant #1 (and only).




I'll recheck Lee Boyette's history of Centaur that was partially published in A/E, but maybe others here have answers as well:


Did the Jacquet shop grow out of Centaur or was Centaur using material from this already existent shop?




Thanks all,


Chris B