Here's a tale of manslaughter and mystery from the pen of an underappreciated artist and story-teller, Milton Knight. This was adapted from a short story by the equally great Arthur Conan Doyle, and we hope you find it as enjoyable and impressive as we did! (Click on the pages to see larger, more easily read versions.)
If you enjoyed the story, we encourage you to support Milton and his work by becoming a subscriber to his Patreon Page by clicking here.
We checked in on the Moon Girls yesterday, so it seems like a good time to present the conclusion to the Elmo Aardvark adventure that began in this post. He is, after all, their biggest fan! (The art is, once again, by the great Milton Knight. This is reportedly the final story written by Elmo's creator, Will Ryan, before he passed away in 2021.)
During the 1980s, there was a bit of a revival of the Funny Animal comic book genre with the number of series and width of genres embodied reaching that of its Golden Age during the 1940s. The best remembered characters and comics from this period are Stan Sakai's "Usagi Yojimbo", Steve Purcell's "Sam & Max", and, of course, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
Cartoonist, painter, and animation historian Milton Knight's contribution to the revival was "Hugo", a series about a put-upon court jester who pined for the love of Princess Tish against the backdrop of an anthropomorphic fantasy kingdom. Here's a short tale, which originally appeared in "Hugo" #1 (Fantagraphics, 1982).
For regular updates on what Milton Knight is up to, and to support his current creative efforts, sign up at his Patreon page!)
In 1931, the Van Beuren Studios launched the Tom and Jerry series of animated shorts. Stylistically, the series inhabits a middle-ground between Felix the Cat of the 1920s and the first few years of Betty Boop cartoons... but they often manage to be more trippy than even what those series had to offer. Tom and Jerry didn't enjoy the popularity of those other characters, though, and their adventures came to an end in 1933.
There were 26 Tom and Jerry cartoons released. The good ones are very good, but the bad ones... oh, my God! The bad ones are so bad that even the audiences of the 1930s must have been bored or perhaps even offended by them.
Right now, though, I'm going to give my thoughts on the best Tom and Jerry cartoon I've watched so far. It's embedded below, so you, too, can watch it right here. I think you'll find it will brighten you day!
Piano Tooners (1932)
Starring: Margie Hines (various voices)
Director: John Foster and George Ruffle
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A pair of zany piano tuners step up to save a opera diva's recital and end up turning it jazzy.
"Piano Tooners" is a cheerful cartoon with fun musical numbers and playful visuals that will keep you smiling from from the opening song through the grand finale where the big-boosmed diva literallyblows the roof of house. In between, we're treated to dancing, piano-playing mice, one of the weirdest music recital ever put on film, a maid transforming into a jazz singer, and Tom and Jerry's innovative piano-tuning techniques.
The experience of watching is further enlivened by a steady stream of visual side gags that come and go in the blink of an eye, as well as miscellaneous comedic nonsense that ranges from cute to risque. I was particularly amused by all the gags involving the diva, and I found the bits with the mice very cute.
But take a look for yourself. Let me know what you think of it, either here or on my Facebook page!
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