Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople Snake! Rare 1948 Comic Book Scans from Milt Gross

Here's another never-been-reprinted, scarcely-seen cartoon blast of brilliance from that Napoleon of nonsense, MILT GROSS! (Applause!!!)

Harry the Hoople-Snake chases after Count Screloose by Milt Gross

This frenetic five-pager from 1948 was hidden in the back of issue #14 of ACG Comics "The Kilroys," which is otherwise just a run-of-the-mill teen comedy Archie-wanna-be. I gotta thank Eddie Trigueros for turning me on to this book. He was even nice enough to let me scan it, but like a doofus, I lost all the scans when I was resizing the images in Photoshop.

Freaky cartoon guy pops out of a tree with a big cartoon worm on his nose milt-gross-count-screwloose

So I had to find the comic on eBay, and rescan my own copy. Good news is that these oddball funnybooks can be gotten online for not too much dough! I always try to find these golden-age cartoon and funny-animal comics in the worst condition possible. As long as they're readable, that's fine by me! I'd rather get four or five old crumbling comics for five bucks each than just one that's in more decent shape. Anyway, here are a few preview panels to get you warmed up...

Count Screwloose is scared of Harry the Hoople-Snake insane guy in the background runs with his umbrella

Harry the Hoople-Snake chases after Count Screloose by Milt Gross

There's no explanation for Harry the Hoople-Snake. He is what he is. It's a cartoon!

Harry the Hoople-Snake chases after Count Screloose by Milt Gross

milt-gross-count-screwloose bounces over the wall of the insane asylum

milt-gross-count-screwloose falls back to earth

So after escaping the nuthouse, Count Screwloose ends up as a contestant on a radio quiz show...

milt-gross-count-screwloose lands in a game show

milt-gross-count-screwloose on a game show speaks into a giant microphone

milt-gross-count-screwloose the audience applauds

What great crowds! Every face is hideously different. A real horror show for our hero.

milt-gross-count-screwloose all the ugly ladies love Screwloose and line up to kiss him

WHAPPO! Man, I love the energy in this drawing below --

milt-gross-count-screwloose whaps the emcee with the big microphone stand

As usual, Count Screwloose escapes back IN to the Balmycrest Booby-Hatch where life is not so crazy!

milt-gross-count-screwloose dives back into the BalmyCrest Booby-hatch insane asylum

The WHOLE five-page story is available to click on and download below.

milt-gross-count-screwloose

Wow! The crowd LOVES it!


Just CLICK on each of the images below and a nice BIG comic book scan page will open in a new window. Enjoy!
Count Screwloose comic book scans by Milt Gross



Count Screwloose comic book scans by Milt Gross

Just CLICK on each of the images below and a nice BIG comic book scan page will open in a new window.
Count Screwloose comic book scans by Milt Gross

Count Screwloose comic book scans by Milt Gross

Count Screwloose comic book scans by Milt Gross

Fun + anarchy + cartooning genius = Milt Gross

A few months ago I posted a fantastic seven-page Count Screwloose comedy epic from ACG's Kilroys #5. Just CLICK below on the goofy dude smoking a mouthfull of cigars to jump over and see that delicious set of vintage comic book scans!
Milt Gross  comic book scan detail of a funny man smoking seven cigars at once

John K. wrote a couple posts that really sum up all that is wonderful about Milt Gross. Check out his insightful and heartfelt articles on Milt Gross HERE: all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity
...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

And the Asifa-Hollywood Animation Archive has some super scans of Milt Gross newspaper comics like Count Screwloose and Dave's delicatessen HERE.
UPDATE: There are a LOT more comic book scans to look at and download! Click HERE

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