James Whitcomb Riley on Abe Martin

Today is the birthday of the "Hoosier Bard," James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916). Born in Greenfield, Indiana, on October 7, 1849, Riley was one of the most popular poets of his time and contributed to what is called the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. Another contributor was Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930), creator of Abe Martin. Hubbard would have objected to being called a cartoonist, for he preferred the term caricaturist. Nonetheless, I would like to remember the two on the anniversary of Riley's birth with a poem Riley wrote in praise of Hubbard and his just-barely fictional character Abe Martin.

Abe Martin
by James Whitcomb Riley

Abe Martin!--dad-burn his old picture!
P'tends he's a Brown County fixture--
A kind of a comical mixture
Of hoss-sense and no sense at all!
His mouth, like his pipe, 's allus goin',
And his thoughts, like his whiskers, is flowin',
And what he don't know ain't wuth knowin'--
From Genesis clean to baseball!

The artist, Kin Hubbard, 's so keerless
He draws Abe 'most eyeless and earless,
But he's never yet pictured him cheerless
Er with fun 'at he tries to conceal,
Whuther on to the fence er clean over
A-rootin' up ragweed er clover,
Skeert stiff at some "Rambler" er "Rover"
Er newfangled automobeel!

It's a purty steep climate old Brown's in;
And the rains there his ducks nearly drowns in
The old man hisse'f wades his rounds in
As ca'm and serene, mighty nigh
As the old handsaw-hawg, er the mottled
Milch cow, er the old rooster wattled
Like the mumps had him 'most so well throttled
That it was a pleasure to die.

But best of 'em all's the fool-breaks 'at
Abe don't see at all, and yit makes 'at
Both me and you lays back and shakes at
His comic, miraculous cracks
Which makes him--clean back of the power
Of genius itse'f in its flower--
This Notable Man of the Hour,
Abe Martin, The Joker on Facts.

Abe Martin, Kin Hubbard's caricature of a wry observer of the Brown County scene.

Abe Martin ran in the Indianapolis News for years, even after Kin Hubbard's death. He was also the subject of more than two dozen books.

In an age when seemingly everybody had his own brand of cigar, even Abe Martin got in on the act . . .

Not once but twice.

Text and captions copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-John Hambrock

Art of Hoosier Cartoonists Goes on Display in Wisconsin

The Kenosha Public Museum of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is hosting an art exhibit called “More Than Funny: Cartoons and Comics From the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning.” The exhibit will run through Saturday, September 29, 2012, and includes work by Indiana cartoonists John Hambrock, Dave Coverly, and Michael Jantze, among others. A blog called "KenoWi" carried the story of the exhibit and of Mr. Hambrock in "John Hambrock at the Kenosha Public Museum," a posting of September 9.

John Hambrock, creator of the daily comic strip The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and like Dave Coverly (Speed Bump), attended Indiana University. Mr. Hambrock received a degree from the Ringling School of Art and Design. (Cartoonist and fine artist Rob Harrell, creator of Big Top, also went to the Ringling School.) Before becoming an artist, Mr. Hambrock aspired to a career in marine biology, which happens to have been the vocation of SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenberg. In any case, marine biology's loss is cartooning's gain. (Mark O'Hare, one more in a seemingly endless list of Hoosier cartoonists, has also worked on SpongeBob.) In addition to drawing a syndicated comic strip, John Hambrock works in advertising. Among his clients is Keebler, maker of cookies and crackers. (If I can squeeze in just one more parenthetical statement and one more Indiana connection, the Keebler Elves were co-created by advertising executive William Harty, an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame.) Check out the blog posting, and if you live close enough to Kenosha, check out the exhibit, too.

Copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Bill Holman

Bill Holman, Foo-lish Creator of Smokey Stover and Foo, in Traces

Traces, the magazine of the Indiana Historical Society, has published a biographical article on Bill Holman, creator of the comic strip Smokey Stover, in its Summer 2012 issue. The eight-page article includes three full-page photographs of the Indiana cartoonist, plus several pieces of his art. Holman's zany strip ran in newspapers for almost forty years. Few readers of Smokey Stover could have known that the physical violence visited on Smokey, Chief Cash U. Nutt, and the strip's other characters probably originated in Bill Holman's own life story. You can read more in "Foo! Bill Holman and Smokey Stover" by Terence E. Hanley in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Summer 2012. To order a copy or a subscription, go to the website of the magazine and the Indiana Historical Society, here.

Courtesy of Traces.

Text copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Tom Armstrong and "Marvin"

Marvin, World's Oldest Baby, Turns Thirty

Thirty years ago this week, readers of the nation's newspaper comics got their first look at a chubby little baby with a mop of red hair and a sly and knowing look on his face. The baby was and is named Marvin and he was created by Evansville native Tom Armstrong. When Marvin began on August 5, 1982, Mr. Armstrong and his wife were "a struggling couple living in Indiana." Now Marvin appears in 300 newspapers and the little red-haired baby was recently added to the attractions at Universal Studios Toon Lagoon in Orlando, Florida. You can read more about Marvin in an article entitled "Nationally Syndicated Cartoon Strip 'Marvin' Turns 30" by Richard Dymond, dated August 3, 2012, and appearing on a number of websites, including that of the Kansas City Star, here.

Happy Birthday, Marvin!

Copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Joel Pett

Joel Pett Returns from China Trip and Gives a Presentation on Editorial Cartooning

Joel Pett, editorial cartoonist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, recently traveled to China on a low-level diplomatic mission. You can read about his trip in an article entitled "A Not-So-Innocent Abroad Recounts His China Tour, Connects with Fellow Cartoonists," dated July 8, 2012, on the website Kentucky.com, here.

A couple of weeks later, Mr. Pett gave a presentation on editorial cartooning at the Danville (Ky.) Community Art Center, where he gave thanks for having "two of the best senators for cartoonists," Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. You can read more about it in the article "Editorial Cartoonist Has Tongue as Sharp as His Pen" by Todd Kleffman, dated July 19, 2012, on the website of the Central Kentucky News, here. 

Copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Z - z - z - z - z - z

For almost forty years now, Cecil Adams, the world's smartest human, has been giving readers "The Straight Dope" on their strange and seemingly unanswerable questions. What does "The Straight Dope" have to do with cartoonists? Well, this week in his column, Mr. Adams answers the burning question: Why does the letter Z signify sleep (as in "Catching some Zs")? Mr. Adams' assistant, Sam Clemens, found the answer: Zs are used to signify sleep because that's how cartoonists have done it for over one hundred years, beginning with Harold Knerr and The Katzenjammer Kids. In fact, today--August 2, 2012--is the one hundred and ninth anniversary of Zs in the comics. Just one more example of how cartoonists have enriched American culture.

Neither Harold Knerr (1882-1949) nor Rudolph Dirks (1877-1968)--the original cartoonists on The Katzenjammer Kids and The Captain and the Kids--was lucky enough to have called himself a Hoosier. So what does "The Straight Dope" have to do with Indiana? Well, from its beginnings in the murky past, "The Straight Dope" has been illustrated by Slug Signorino, a Hoosier by residence and possibly also by birth. Why only possibly? Because little is known of Mr. Signorino, just like little is known of Cecil Adams. Even Slug's real first name is a secret to everyone but his closest associates. (I have an idea what it is, but I'm not telling.) In any case, today Slug Signorino has provided his usual illustration for Cecil Adams' column, and it shows the Captain emitting a trail of Zs as he is thrown from an ejection seat. Compared to many of Slug's pictures, this one is pretty normal.

You can see the website of "The Straight Dope" here and Slug Signorino's website here.

Copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Bob Englehart

Bob Englehart, Indiana-born cartoonist for the Hartford Courant, has channeled another Bob--Bob Kane, co-creator of Batman--for an editorial cartoon published earlier this week. The cartoon shows Batman with tears in his eyes in response to the massacre at the first showing of the newest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado. The massacre took place on July 20, 2012. Mr. Englehart's cartoon is dated two days later. You can see the cartoon on the website of the Hartford Courant, here.

Copyright 2012, 2024 Terence E. Hanley