The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers

Fantagraphics has just released an anthology of one of the wackiest comic book artists and writers ever, Boody Rogers. His feverishly surreal comics from the 1940s paved the way for the underground artists of the 1960s. When I read these stories, filled with crazy-looking beasts and absurd situations, the thing that stuck out in my mind was how much fun Rogers must have had while drawing them.

You've met Fletcher Hanks . Now meet Boody Rogers! Fans of Boody Rogers' Golden age comic-book stories span generations of cartoonists, from Robert Williams to Art Spiegelman to Johnny Ryan. Spiegelman printed Rogers' work in RAW magazine and recently it also appeared in the anthology book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries (Abrams). Here at last is a single book - Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers - devoted to this cult comics hero, collecting Roger's best Sparky Watts , Babe and Dudley stories, as well as much more. This beautifully designed tome also has tons of vintage photos and unpublished art (including art from the first modern newsstand comic book that Rogers did in 1935). It all begins with a career spanning fun and fascinating interview with the late Rogers, by editor Craig Yoe (Arf).

Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers

• [Anonymous]

  Why is this still not released? Amazon says it’s unavailable, and Fantagraphics’ site can’t find it at all.

• [airdrummer]

  sure looks like al capp’s lil abner…

• [buddy66]

  I never heard of this guy. Is this a put-on?

• [TroofSeeker]

  “…the thing that stuck out in my mind was how much fun Rogers must have had while drawing them…”

  I’ve done cartoons all my life. I started this blog to remind the author and youse that usually a whole lot of time and concentration goes into making a good cartoon. It ain’t some kind of magic that shoots out of a pen. It’s mostly determination, whispering “That’s not quite good enough.”

  But memories swept back at how, sometimes, I am so fascinated with one that is going well that it’s thrilling. Thrilling! So yes, Mark, it can be so fun! It can become like magic shooting out of a pen, tickling you in places you can not reach, nor would you.

• [TroofSeeker]

  Hey! That second frame, where a guy is tearing the end off a log… is that a woman??

• [Sekino]

  I love how utterly non-sequitur the cover panels are!

  Hey! That second frame, where a guy is tearing the end off a log… is that a woman??

  I assume so, judging from the hairstyle (I suspect men weren’t typically represented wearing their hair in a bun and earrings back in the 60′s).

• [tjarrett]

  Totally not a put on. Boody Rogers got a ton of loving pages in “The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics,” an essential survey of pre-Comics Code art. It’s brilliant stuff. The late lamented RAW Magazine reprinted one of his stories a while back, about a world where kidnapped “girls” serve as “horses” for lazy centaurs (the source of the upper left panel in the cover illustration).

• [gabu]

  Doesn’t look like a put-on:
  http://cgi.ebay.com/BABE-5-6-0-F-1948-BOODY-ROGERS-WHITE-PAPER-HIGH-GRADE_W0QQitemZ310123474059QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0#ebayphotohosting
  http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/15/scan-of-boody-rogers.html
  http://www.chancefiveash.com/boodyrogers.htm

• [TroofSeeker]

  Wait- I know him! It’s… CarrotTop! But that can’t be- he’d have to be, like, older than Jack LaLain! Could it be?

• [vonnegutlives]

  Yet another great post broadening my comics horizon. Whenever I think I’m ahead of the game, comics-knowledge wise, I get hit with something like this. Wonderful! Thanks Mark!

• [skramble]

  Yo, that isht is boody.