Two Rare Jack Cole Pencils of Playboy Style Cartoons

Sadly, very little of Jack Cole's pencil work exists in any form. Here are two extremely rare examples of his masterful drawing from around 1952-54. 

It's a sheer delight to see how loose Cole's pencils are, and how well he captures the necessary round, feminine forms. 

The bold strokes on these pages, which were probably done with a very thick pencil lead or perhaps a conti crayon of some sort  give us an indication of the strength of his compositions. For example, in the cartoon below, we can see how Cole intends for the lines of the brickwork and even the lines of copy in the newspaper to direct the eye towards the sultry siren he has so beautifully sketched.

These drawings are what is known as "roughs" of cartoons that were sent to magazine editors. It's not known if these cartoons were ever completed or published. In the top right corners of the pages, you can see Jack's address stamp from his New Milford, Connecticut home.

Instead of taking the effort to finish a cartoon, a cartoonist could send in a "rough" preliminary drawing. This also afforded the editor a chance to alter the cartoon or caption, as in the example below, where the caption has shifted towards a more screwball tone.

Jack Cole cartoon rough, probably for a Humorama publication

As in the first rough, this drawing's bold pencil strokes and composition elements indicate exactly where Cole wants the eye to go. 

For more on Cole's cartoon composition, see our popular guest post by Timothy O'Neil: Jack Cole's Playboy Style Cartoon Composition.

 

And, speaking of screwball, be sure to check out my new blog, The Masters of Screwball Comics. This blog features some way cool nutty stuff, including many rare comics scans from my collection that fans of Jack Cole will appreciate. This week's post features more incredibly wacky Gene Ahern comics!

Cole's Screwball Roots: Wacky Inventions

One of Jack Cole's favorite themes was SCREWBALL inventions. He populated his stories with wacky stuff, such as Midnight's "secret vacuum gun," which fired an avenging suction cup at crime. 


One of his first series, Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor, is built around such nutty devices are the "time camera" and an accordion hat retriever. Of course, Plastic Man was filled to the brim with wacky inventions, starting with Plas inventing new forms to stretch his body into.

This theme has its roots in the great screwball comics, which in turn have their roots in the American entrepreneurial spirit. For more on crazy inventions and some great SCREWBALL comics, be sure to check out my article at my MASTERS OF SCREWBALL COMICS blog...


The Snoremonica: They Laughed When I Went to Bed

Lipstick Traces: Plastic Man in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow

Published in 1973, Thomas Pynchon's massive novel is widely regarded to be one of the greatest works of 20th century literature. Time Magazine included it in its list of "All-Time Greatest Novels." The book is considered to be a landmark work of what is known as "postmodernist" fiction. It plays with the literary novel form itself, much like Jack Cole's comics played with the form of comics. So, it's no surprise to discover that Cole's Plastic Man pops up here and there in Gravity's Rainbow.

In the edition I have, the Plastic Man references show up in four places, on pages 207, 214, 331, and 751. Here's the first reference, which shows that Pynchon has a fine appreciation of the spirit of Cole's character:

It's interesting, though, to note that Pynchon refers to the character as "Plasticman," condensing the true name of Jack Cole's character, "Plastic Man," into one word. Perhaps this was a strategy to avoid to a copyright lawsuit. The next reference is brief, but once again very much captures the spirit and trappings of Cole's work:

Indeed, Plastic Man, where are you when we need you? A few pages later, Pynchon refers to a "Plasticman sound," which also shows an intuitive grasp of Cole's use of sound effects.

In the last reference, Plastic Man is joined by other golden age superheroes, plus Philip Marlowe, the Lone Ranger and... well... see for yourself:

In late 1971, DC published DC Special #15, a terrific reprint of Jack Cole Plastic man stories. This was my first introduction to Cole's work, and may have been an influence on Pynchon during the writing of Gravity's Rainbow, which was first published in 1973.