And Then I Read: THE SOMEDAY FUNNIES

Images © Michel Choquette and the artists and writers.

With this very large and beautifully made book, publisher Abrams continues their foray into the comics arena in grand fashion. I'd heard rumors of this project over the years, but was as surprised as anyone to see it actually published, and apparently exactly as the compiler and editor, Michel Choquette had always dreamed, but never expected to see either. What began as a 20-page comics supplement for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970s kept growing and growing, gathering new material from across a wide spectrum of creators in mainstream comics, underground comics, international comics, illustration, literature, film, rock and roll, fashion, and probably more categories than you can shake a piece of art paper at. The subject, loosely, is the 1960s, but creators were pretty much allowed to do whatever they wanted from that starting point, and the results are extremely varied.

Okay, so how does it read? About half the strips I did not find entertaining reading. Frankly, many of them come across as something the artist or writer and artist just knocked out in spare moments. Few of the strips or pages tell an engaging story or make meaningful or insightful comments on the 1960s (at least to me, who lived through them). A lot of it is shallow gags or easy mockery. I believe there wasn't much money offered up front, if any, just promises for some later, whenever the project was published. Artists of any experience tend to be wary of such deals, and don't give them a lot of effort. Considering it took about 40 years to see print, that might have been wise! Of the strips or pages that I liked best, many are by mainstream comics creators or cartoonists whose work I like anyway, and was fun to see this small window into what they were doing way back then.

One of my favorites is by Jack Kirby (and Joe Sinnott inks), with great lettering by Gaspar Saladino. (Lettering is not credited anywhere, but Gaspar actually has an art credit for one strip which is only a title and empty panels!) This two-pager looks wonderful, though the story is nothing much, but I was impressed by Jack's verse captions. Didn't know he could do that…  Another one I found fascinating, but ultimately not successful, was a 3-page strip by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith featuring Conan teamed with Sherlock Holmes trying decipher the death of President Kennedy.

Other pages I liked are by Denny O'Neil and C.C. Beck and Don Newton, Vaughn Bodé, Frank Brunner, Harlan Ellison and Leo & Diane Dillon, Will Eisner, Steve Englehart, Archie Goodwin and Sal Amendola, Gahan Wilson, Don Martin, Wally Wood, Steve Skeates and Alan Weiss, Ralph Reese, Steve Parkhouse, Russ Heath, Herb Trimpe, Gray Morrow, Jeff Jones…well, there are more, but you get the idea. And if your taste runs to underground comics and fairly crude art, you might find some of that here you like more than I do. One thing I didn't like, and found detracted from some strips, is a product of something Choquette requested of all his artists: leave a small open space to be filled later by someone else. These spaces now tell the story in pantomime of Choquette's travels around the world for his project, but I think that would have been much better as a separate piece.

One of the most surprising things in this book for me was the biographical article about Choquette himself. Turns out he was half of the musical-comedy duo "The Times Square Two," whose silly songs I used to love when they appeared on TV talk shows and variety shows in the 60s. Look them up on YouTube. Then he became an early editor of "National Lampoon" for several years when I was reading it regularly, before getting sidetracked into this elephantine project.

As I said at the outset, this is a large and impressive book, and I'm glad to have read it, though it also contains quite a few pages I didn't really enjoy. Take that as a modified recommendation, and have a look for yourself!