My Interview with PAPPY from PAPPY'S GOLDEN AGE COMICS BLOGZINE!

My friends, if you are a comic book fan and a web surfer, you have no doubt heard of

PAPPY'S GOLDEN AGE COMICS BLOGZINE,

and have likely enjoyed his fantastic blog of golden age comic book treasures!

To my knowledge, his comics blog is one of (if not the) very first blog featuring wonderful and little known comic book stories from the golden age in their entirety. It is certainly one of the most successful and longest running comic scan blogs on the web to date. Pappy presents these stories with his excellent and knowledgable insights and witty humorous perspective that has set the bar for every other comics blog that has appeared since. It is my honor and privilege to present you with my 'exclusive' interview with the creator and author himself.

I have stated and will continue to state that Pappy's blogzine is my favorite all-time comics blog, and as such I have listed his blog prominently in my exclusive 'Panel Of Experts'. This is the first of what I hope will be many interviews with these experts, and other comic related folks as well.

I don't know if I should tell you that this interview was conducted in a secret underground bomb shelter where Pappy keeps his enormous collection of comic books. The reason I don't think I should mention that is mostly because it isn't true.

The man known as 'Pappy' is undeniably an expert on comics, especially those from the Golden Age. He is also serious about his blogging  --  I just discovered Pappy is so organized he has his comic posts prepared a month and a half to two months in advance! Some people can learn a thing or two about blogging from him

 (I'm talking to you, man in the mirror!).

Now, for your enlightenment, let us join the amazing and revealing interview, already in progress!...

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"PAPPY"

The Man Who Started It All

"I started Pappy's because I was in the process of scanning hundreds of pages of loose comic book stories I was given in the late '70s. A man came into the bookstore where I worked; he had worked briefly in the comics in the late 1940s, and he clipped stories by his favorite artist friends. The clipped stories were mainly from 1948 or thereabouts, and he wanted to get a few dollars from them.Since there wasn't a market for them he just gave them to me. A few years ago they were getting brittle and chipping, so I thought if I wanted to preserve them I should scan them. I had also scanned some of the comics I sold on eBay in 1999-2000, so I figured I might share them online.

"The name Pappy came from talking about my grandkids and a friend said, "I've known you since before you were a pappy, and now you're a grandpappy." Something clicked in my head and there was my blog persona.

"I have drifted in and out of organized comics fandom since 1959 at age 12, when I saw my first fanzine, SQUATRONT, published by R. Crumb's friend, Mike Britt. "

 
 
THE APOCOLYTE: Thank you for this opportunity, Pappy! My first question:

1)  Do you still collect comics? If so, do you stick with Golden Age, or do you buy any other kind in particular?

Golden Age comics can be pricey for a retired guy on a pension and Social Security, but I pick up the odd one here and there.

2) I see your very first post in 2006 was a story by Joe Sinnott. He is one of my favorites from that era...was there any rhyme or reason for posting that particular story or artist?

My blog was going to be called  The Grim Reader's Horror Comics and I was planning to do what Karswell does so well today with  The Horrors Of It All. The Sinnott story was set to lead off  The Grim Reader's Horror Comics. I changed my mind, making  Pappy's  a blog of more general interest, but still using the Sinnott story to launch.  

Considering that Karswell has turned his blog into the fantastic cult favorite it is I'm glad I changed my focus.

3) You have been a comics fan for so long, what are your observations concerning how comics have developed or changed over the last fifty years or so?

Much better printing, obviously, and artists are slicker, using technology like PhotoShop. There is now a market for deluxe comics (oops, "graphic novels," excuse me).

4) Are you a fan of, or do you follow any current comics?

No.

5) In the same regard, are there any artists from recent comic book history that you admire?

Will this get me in trouble? I have enough to do to keep up with the artists of the past, so I haven't sat down to study any modern comic book artists.

6) As far as comic books/art from the Golden Age until now, Do you feel the industry is better or worse now? Have we lost anything from that era that we no longer see today? Has the industry grown well, or not?

In a country that had half the population we do now, successful comic books of the 1940s and '50s sold at minimum 500,000 copies and went up to millions of copies sold per issue. What's a successful comic book sell now? I don't think it's in the six to seven figure range, but I may be mistaken.

Licensing keeps the industry alive, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the millions of people who see Iron Man or The Dark Knight don't translate into readers of comic books, so there's a failure someplace to reach the broader public.

7) When you began your blog, what inspired you?

I have always liked reprints of old comic strips and comic books in either magazine or book form. I saw some Golden Age comics scanned and posted online and thought I could do that with my aging and crumbling comic books. I wanted to save them digitally. Being a non-technical type I was afraid of web pages, but because of blogging, essentially having a webpage for free, I was able to share. It helps that blogs are idiot-proof, otherwise I couldn't do what I do.

8) What do you think about all the comics blog that are popping up everywhere lately? Did you ever dream you would inspire so many fans? (I freely admit my blog is a pale imitation of yours!)

I don't think of your blog as an imitation, pale or deeply tanned, but if I have inspired anybody I feel good about that.

9) Is there a particular genre you enjoy more than others?

Horror and science fiction.

10) If you could meet and hang out with any person from the history of comics, be it alive or dead, who would it be?

I'd like to have taken Lily Renée and Tarpé Mills to a bar, had some drinks, then taken them back to my room for "drawing lessons."

...holy cow, did I really say that? OK, barring that, I would like to have known Jack Cole and done some amateur psychology on his incredible brain.

11) What is it about comics that you enjoy?

I enjoy them for the same reason I like movies, they are a visual medium.

12) If there was one comic you could bring back from the Golden Age and revive today, which one would it be?

Even if I could, I wouldn't. I like Golden Age comics for what they were, not what a modern version would be. My wife has told me I live in the past and I do. I enter my room and except for my computer I'm somewhere between 1940 to 1955, but mostly in the postwar era of 1946 to 1950. I like it in the past; so many creative things in their original form, but because of changing times many don't make the transition to today's world.

13) I know it may be impossible to answer, but do you have a favorite comic artist? Or maybe a top 3 or 5? I know if someone asked me, I'd have a tough time narrowing that down.

Well, then, you know my dilemma.

14) Maybe I should have narrowed that question down a bit...how about: Favorite Golden Age artist? Favorite Silver Age? and maybe even Bronze Age?

There are a lot to name from the Golden Age, but the top would probably be Jack Kirby, Jack Cole, Bob Powell, Walt Kelly and Carl Barks. Silver Age would have to be Jack Kirby, and Bronze Age is Alfredo Alcala, my favorite from amongst a crowd of talented Filipino artists.

15) Do you remember what the first comic book you ever owned? Or the first that you bought?

The first one I still have that I picked out and bought with my own money is Uncle Scrooge #7. Before that my mom bought me the comics I picked out, guiding me to the kids' books, and away from the horror and crime comics of the era. (That's probably why I'm fixated on them today.)

Here's a memory: Sitting on my front porch at age 6 or 7, selling my comic books for 2¢ apiece so I could make enough money to buy more comics. Over the years I spent a lot of money rebuilding a fraction of what I sold, which now sit in my basement in long boxes. I have turned over several collections in my life. If I had them all back I'd be living in the basement and the comics would have taken over the rest of my house. I miss everything I ever let go, but to have them back would be impossible, if just from a storage standpoint.

Wow! Selling your comics to be able to buy more comics! For 2¢ apiece!

However you did it, Pappy, you have managed to amass a fantastic collection, and we, the online readers, have been enriched and enlightened many times over by all the incredible and entertaining stories you share!
For myself, and on behalf of all of your blog readers, I thank you!

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Now I want to share with you all a handful of delightful and seldom seen stories from Pappy's blog. I am taking a few from Pappy's earlier blogging days, in the hopes that many of you have never seen these before. Remember, all of these stories and scans came directly from Pappy's blog, and there are hundreds more where these came from! I invite you to make Pappy's a daily web-stop...I personally can spend hours exploring through his wonderful posts, and there is always something new and exciting to discover there. 

I bow to you, sir Pappy! Thank you!

From PAPPY'S post #3

by Basil Wolverton

From PAPPY'S post #8

By Bill Everett

From PAPPY'S post #13

By Walt Kelly

From PAPPY'S Post #22

By L.B. Cole

From PAPPY'S Post #43

By Sid Check

From PAPPY'S Post #57

From PAPPY'S Post #98

By Alex Toth

By Warren Tufts

From PAPPY'S Post #110

By Bob Powell

From PAPPY'S Post #138

By Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo

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Did you like these?

Of course you did!

These are only a handful of the wide variety of excellent Golden Age comic stories waiting for you at

 PAPPY'S GOLDEN AGE COMICS BLOGZINE!

I probably went a little overboard here, but the deeper I dig over at Pappy's, the more amazing comics I find, and I couldn't decide which stories to show here...believe it or not, I wanted to post more!

Instead of posting every awesome thing Pappy has ever posted, let me just leave you with a few more great links to some more early Pappy treasures! Head directly to Pappy's right now and show him your love!

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2006/07/number-1-welcome-to-first-pappys.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2006/08/number-15-ivans-woe-swiping-has-long.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2006/11/number-56-kill-crazy-carlins-fred.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/01/number-79-harvey-kurtzman-and-will.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/02/number-90-bob-powells-man-in-hood-truly.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/03/number-106-walt-kellys-jack-giant.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/03/number-107-doug-wildeys-bug-boo-when.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/03/number-109-howard-nostrand-holds-that.html

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/04/number-117-alex-toths-time-machine-h.html

...okay! You get the picture! Pappy's is just jam-packed with awesomeness! I have to stop before I break blogger!

Once more I offer my deepest thanks to Pappy for all he's done, and for this interview.

Now, what are you waiting for? Get clicking on those links!

And go start digging for your own treasures over there!