Showing posts with label Milton Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Milton Knight. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Sunday Comics with Milton Knight


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.)


By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight 
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight
By Milton Knight

 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.
 
 

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Thursday, April 20, 2023

End of the Road for Elmo?

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.)



 

 You can more artwork and comics by Milton Knight here. (And you should consider becoming one of his patrons via Patreon!)

Sunday, April 2, 2023

'Hugo' by Milton Knight

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).

"Hugo" by Milton Knight

For regular updates on what Milton Knight is up to, and to support his current creative efforts, sign up at his Patreon page!)

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Elmo Aardvark Strikes Again!


Here's another installment in the "Adventures of Elmo Aardvark" by the great cartoonist and painter Milton Knight. Enjoy!



To Be Continued?
Only time will tell! 

Saturday, January 7, 2023

It's the first full moon of 2023...

 ... and we present a timeless tale of Elmo Aardvark in observance, courtesy of writer/artist/animator Milton Knight!


Like us here at Shades of Gray, Elmo recognizes the true nature of the Moon and that the Moon Girls are the ones running the show up there!




Elmo Aardvark Adventure!

Support Milton Knight by joining his Patreon page (and get previews of what he's working on). Milton tells us that he likes this blog, so we encourage you to support him!

You can also join him in conversation on his Facebook page!

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Wonder Woman Wednesday

On this, the first Wonder Woman Wednesday of 2022, we view our favorite Amazon through the pen and eyes of Milton Knight!

Wonder Woman by Milton Knight

Wonder Woman by Milton Knight





















You can see more of Milton's work at his website here. You should also check out his Patreon site and consider subscribing!

Monday, November 18, 2019

Musical Monday with Tom & Jerry

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.

By Milton Knight
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!