Dan Gordon on your bookshelf
Marc Deckter June 10th, 2008
Ever heard of Dan Gordon?
Director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Steve Worth describes Gordon as
an animator, story man and director on the Superman and Popeye series at Fleischer in the early 1940s. After the war, he dropped out of animation and made a living as a comic book artist, working on titles like Giggle Comics. He returned to animation in the late 1950s as a storyboard artist at Hanna Barbera, (Gordon boarded the pilot episode of The Flintstones) and on Clampett’s Beany & Cecil series. (from ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: Comics: Dan Gordon’s Superkatt)
Dan Gordon’s comics are terrific – they shine with cartoon energy.
One of the talents I’ve noticed about Gordon is that he can make a cartoon character fun AT ANY ANGLE. He handles the perspective with skill, and he makes you laugh at the same time! Check out how fun he can draw the backs of dog heads…
Dan Gordon proves that even the backs of animal heads can be drawn cartoony
There’s lots of great Dan Gordon comics and analyses online, like these:
(where do you think I
•PALAVER OF THE POTULENT: Dan Gordon
•ALL KINDS OF STUFF: Dan Gordon Funny Animal Comics
•ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD ANIMATION ARCHIVE: Comics: Dan Gordon’s Superkatt
•ALL KINDS OF STUFF: Dan Gordon Does Chicks
•ALL KINDS OF STUFF: Dan Gordon and what makes a cartoonist
•CARTOON SNAP: Dopey Dogg comics by Dan Gordon from ACG Comics Giggle #8
•CARTOON SNAP: MORE Dan Gordon Comics – Funny Films #1
•CARTOON SNAP: Dan Gordon’s Great Manic Popeye Cartoon (famous Studios, 1943)
•CARTOONRETRO: tons of Dan Gordon scans (this is a paysite)
But wouldn’t it be nice to hold these comics in your hands?
All these online scans are great, but there’s something nice about having a hard copy of these comics in your hands to flip though… well we’re in luck! According to Sherm Cohen…
“The July Comics Journal #291 will feature many pages of full color reprints of Dan Gordon comics from Funny Films and Cookie!”
The Comics Journal #291 (Comics Journal Library)
Check out all the people who helped make this issue become a reality…
A lot of people we both know helped me out with the Comics Journal article: Mark Kausler, Mike Kazaleh, Kent Butterworth, Steve Worth and the Asifa Hollywood Animation Archive, Scott Shaw, Milton Knight, Jerry Beck and even Leonard Maltin. Seems like a lot of cartoonists would like to see Dan Gordon get his due. The July Comics Journal #291 will feature many pages of full color reprints of Dan Gordon comics from Funny Films and Cookie! -Sherm Cohen (from Cartoon SNAP comments section)
I know I’ve reserved my copy, have you?
Golly! Thanks for the plug, Marc…I didn’t even know that the Comics Journal was available on Amazon. That’s nice for the 99% of comics fans that don’t have a decent comic store nearby. Sweet set of Dan Goldon links, too! Makes it easy for more folks to find these comics and cartooning treasures ^_^
Thanks for this post, Marc!
Dan Gordon, an excellent comics artist, deserves credit for directing some great cartoons for Famous Studios in 1943. One cartoon history question I’ve had is just why Famous canned him; were Gordon’s films too funny or too extreme for Seymour Kneitel and Izzy Sparber?
The upcoming 2 DVD Popeye volume 3 set will include plenty of goodies from this talented but lesser-known caroon director.
Hey there Marc… the Dan Gordon article is now online (with lots of links and images and some video) on my blog at: http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2009/01/dan-gordon-biography-life-and-work-of.html or http://tinyurl.com/DanGordon