John Stanley

John Stanley (March 22, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was an American cartoonist and comic book writer, best known for writing Little Lulu comic book stories from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also drew many of his stories, including the earliest issues of Little Lulu and its Tubby spinoff series. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed characters and those of his own creation. His writing style has been described as employing "colorful, S. J. Perelman-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit (reminiscent of writer Roald Dahl)", with storylines that "were cohesive and tightly constructed, with nary a loose thread in the plot". He has been compared to Carl Barks, and cartoonist Fred Hembeck has dubbed him "the most consistently funny cartoonist to work in the comic book medium". Captain Marvel co-creator C. C. Beck remarked, "The only comic books I ever read and enjoyed were Little Lulu and Donald Duck".

Biography John Stanley was born March 22, 1914. Details about Stanley's early years are unclear. He had an older sister Marion, two younger brothers, Thomas and James and a younger sister, Marguerite. He received a scholarship to attend art classes at Textile High School in Chelsea, Manhattan. Fellow student and future comic book artist Gill Fox when interviewed by Alter Ego magazine reminisced about Stanley "You wouldn't believe how good his work was at 16—as good as most professionals today." There are also references to his attending an institution known variously as the New York School of Design or School of Art. Afterward he began working at Fleischer Studios as an opaquer and eventually in-betweening.

Stanley left Fleischer's studio in 1935 to work for Hal Horne, contributing artwork to the then just starting Mickey Mouse Magazine (3rd series). From there he went to work on Disney merchandise art for Kay Kamen, while selling gag cartoons to various magazines (including The New Yorker). In this period (1935–37) Don Phelps in his piece for the 1976 New Con program book notes that Stanley attended classes in lithography at the Art Students League of New York. Stanley then started working as a freelancer out of the east coast office of Western Publishing under editor Oskar Lebeck in 1943. Stanley during this time did stories for a range of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, along with his own creations such as Peterkin Pottle and Jigg & Mooch. His scripting was done much like a storyboard in animation, with rough drawings to guide the artists and the dialogue in balloons.

Stanley was respected by his peers. Artist Dan Noonan who was a contemporary at Western Publishing during the 1940s in an interview stated that Stanley was, “one of the few truly capable and funny writers in the business. His stuff, the ideas he sent to The New Yorker, for example, I would say had as high a sales percentage as anything from anyone in their history... And an omnivorous reader, always. He reads everything he can lay his hands on. I'd say he's an authority on writers like Samuel Pepys and Boswell. He has a very strange, wonderful feel for words.” Walt Kelly as an in-joke in an Oswald the Rabbit one-shot (Four Color #102, 1946) has a pirate refer to a cannon that "in 1927 wouldn't say anything but 'John Stanley'—she's fickle"

Calling his story for Raggedy Ann and Andy #38 (July 1949) a classic, Maggie Thompson opined "Until John Stanley took over the Raggedys, they were a cheery duo whose adventures demonstrated that loving kindness was the attitude of choice. Suddenly, their world is a dark, unsettling place that is the equal of any nightmare: in this case, a castle that is an endless maze of despair. Yikes!"

Stanley and his wife Barbara had two children, Lynda, and James (born in 1962).

Little Lulu

Modest about his talent, Stanley claimed it was utter chance that he was selected to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu to comics: "Oscar [Lebeck] handed me the assignment, but I'm sure it was due to no special form of brilliance that he thought I'd lend to it. It could have been handed to Dan Noonan, [Walt] Kelly, or anyone else. I just happened to be available at the time". this was the sole time she directly gave input regarding the depiction of her creation in comic books. Stanley drew the initial Lulu Four Color one shots but once a regular series began in 1948 (for the first year bi-monthly then thereafter monthly) Irving Tripp and Charles Hedinger (Tripp inking Hedinger before eventually assuming both duties) assumed the job of translating Stanley's sketch scripts into finished art. But Stanley continued to do the covers (and perhaps due to deadlines drew the majority of Little Lulu #31 ). The only time Stanley received credit was Little Lulu #49 (July 1952) where a box at the bottom of the inside front cover listed him as being among the staff writers and illustrators who worked on the issue; it also gives Stanley a separate credit for the front cover.

Whereas the old Saturday Evening Post panels depicted the humorous antics of a mischievous tomboy, Stanley quickly expanded the cast of characters in Lulu's universe to an entire neighborhood of children while sketching out rich characterizations that captured as Don Phelps noted "the mannerisms and slang" of kids.

Other stories related Tubby's exploits as The Spider, a detective who invariably accused Lulu's father as being the culprit of whatever he was investigating (and nearly invariably Mr. Moppet proved to be guilty). On occasion Lulu would be forced to avoid recurrent foil Truant Officer McNabbem, by means of "straight-up slapstick chases". The main artist on Tubby was Lloyd White, and per Young besides Tubby White also "pinch-hit" on the Lulu title, for example drawing some of the solo Tubby stories that appeared there.

Post-Lulu career Little Lulu #135, in early 1959, was Stanley's last, Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) #1-25 1961–1967, humor with suburban pre-teens drawn by Stanley starting with #3 [#26-29 reprints of #1-4] Melvin Monster #1-9 1965–1969, humorous horror drawn by Stanley [#10 reprints #1]

In a change of pace he also did the melodramatic medical/romance Linda Lark (#1-8 1961–1963) and two forays into straight horror:

Tales From the Tomb, 1962 one-shot giant edited by L. B. Cole Ghost Stories #1, September.-November 1962 (Stanley wrote only the first issue)

Stanley also continued doing stories for licensed characters including Clyde Crashcup (#1-5, 1963–64) and Nellie the Nurse (Four Color #1304, 1962).

All of the foregoing were done for Dell Comics; when it and Western Publishing parted ways in 1962 Stanley was among the few creators who chose to stick with Dell.

Stanley did a one-page strip "Bridget and Her Little Brother Newton the Nuisance" for the unusual Wham-O Giant Comic Book (published in 1967).

During the 1950s and 1960s, Stanley also drew cartoon storyboards for various New York-based animation studios.

In 1965, his sole children's book was published by Rand McNally, It's Nice to be Little, with illustrations by Jean Tamburine. It sold well enough to warrant a second printing the following year.

Stanley's last works in comics were done for Gold Key: a 1969 one shot starring the Good & Plenty mascot Choo Choo Charlie, and in 1971 O.G. Whiz #1, featuring the adventures of a boy owning his own toy company. Both were scripted and drawn by Stanley.

Fans, including Don Phelps and Robert Overstreet, tracked Stanley down and began to publicize him in comics fandom. His first and only appearance at a fan gathering was at the 1976 New Con in Boston. Stanley was invited to be a guest at the 1977 Comic Art Convention and did attend. Despite some advance publicity listing him as a guest, he didn't attend the 1980 San Diego Comic-Con.

Later in life, Stanley did commissions of painted re-creations of classic Little Lulu and Tubby cover-gags.

Stanley fandom eventually coalesced around John Merrill's fanzine The Stanley Steamer (1982–1992). The current outlet for Stanley fans is the infrequently issued fanzine the HoLLywood Eclectern edited by Ed Buchman. There is also a gathering commemorating Lulu and Stanley at the annual Comic-Con International organized by Buchman and Joan Appleton. This includes fans performing a radio-play style recreation of a classic Stanley Lulu story.

Author-comics scholar Frank M. Young is researching Stanley's authorship of stories published by Dell in various comics during the 1940s and 1950s, posting the results on a Stanley Stories blog he started in 2008 (from 2001 to 2005 he compiled a Stanley Stories website with a similar aim that ceased displaying in 2009 but whose content is slowly being incorporated into the blog).

Comic book creator Pete Von Sholly has done a computer generated version of the Stanley story "The Monster of Dread End" and with permission of the Stanley family a new issue of Melvin Monster posted online.

The 2008 anthology The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics reprints Dread End, the original and Von Sholly's retelling.

"Hester's Little Pearl" is an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter with the novel's characters and the overall look drawn in the style of Lulu by Robert Sikoryak and published in Drawn & Quarterly Vol. 4 (2001). It was reprinted in the collection Masterprice Comics in late 2009.

The graphic novel Wimbledon Green by Seth contains an extended homage to Stanley.

A Stanley painting recreating a Lulu cover was featured as one of two covers offered for the 35th edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (2005). The hard cover of the Lulu version sold out on the day the Guide was released. The soft cover version sold out two days later.

Another Rainbow's Little Lulu Library issued between 1985 and 1992 brought the Lulu stories to a new generation of readers. Among other things it published the landmark article, in its definitive form, by Brad Tenan that—based on clues in the stories—laid out the case for Lulu's hometown being modeled on Peekskill, New York, where Stanley lived for some years.

And in the current decade a series of Lulu trade paperbacks have been published by Dark Horse reprinting Stanley's stories.

Free Comic Book Day 2009 (May 2, 2009) included a John Stanley collection that included Nancy and Melvin Monster in a flipbook style. Free Comic Book Day 2010 (May 1, 2010) included a John Stanley collection that included Nancy, Tubby, Melvin Monster, Judy Junior, and Choo Choo Charlie - all of them spunky cartoon kids written (sometimes also drawn) by John Stanley.

Bill Schelly's John Stanley, Giving Life to Little Lulu published in May 2017 is the first book-length biography of Stanley, including never before known information about his family of origin, and quotes from the only known extensive interview ever given by the cartoonist (at the 1976 Boston Newcon), which had never been fully transcribed before.

Awards Inkpot Award in 1980 from San Diego Comic-Con Inducted in 2004 into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame 2015 Bill Finger Award

Online comics links to scans of the legendary “The Monster Of Dread End”, from Ghost Stories #1 a story with Oona Goosepimple from Nancy and Sluggo #175, March-April 1960 Last of the Spinner Rack Junkies Has links to several Stanley stories from Dunc and Loo, Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) and Kookie #1. I'm Learning to Share! scans of selected pages from Kookie #2.

Reprint collections Little Lulu Library (info) Six sets containing 18 hardbound volumes published between 1985 and 1992 by Another Rainbow; reprints in black and white the stories in Little Lulu (including one-shots) through #87 plus articles and historical background to the series. Dark Horse Little Lulu softcover collections 18 trade paperbacks published between 2004 and 2008 reprints in black and white the stories published in the Another Rainbow Little Lulu Library, sans articles and covers. One color special was also published. New volumes in color continuing the series (and now including the covers of the original comics) began appearing in 2009. In all Dark Horse issued twenty nine volumes collecting Stanley's entire run on the series, including Dell Giant specials. In addition four volumes collecting issues 1-24 of the companion Tubby title were published in 2010-2011 as Little Lulu's Pal Tubby. John Stanley Library Nine volumes from Drawn & Quarterly (2009-2013) collecting a sample of Stanley's non-Lulu series, including the entirety of Melvin Monster, the first nine issues of Thirteen (Going on Eighteen), Nancy/Nancy and Sluggo (#146-150, #167-177 plus Summer Camp Four Color #1034) and one volume of Tubby (containing issues #9-12); volumes designed by longtime Stanley devotee Seth. Thirteen going on Eighteen, (v1 ) Tubby, (v1 ) Marge's Little Lulu A five volume hardcover series published by Drawn & Quarterly reprinting the classic Lulu stories written by Stanley in color, restored with historical background by co-editors D+Q Executive Editor Tom Devlin and Stanley scholar Frank M. Young. v.1 Little Lulu: Working Girl [Nov. 2019] (reprints the initial five Four Color appearances of Lulu in comic books from 1945 to 1946 (#74, 97, 110, 115 and 120), the first three of which were written AND drawn by Stanley). v.2 Little Lulu: The Fuzzythingus Poopi [Sep. 2020] v.3 Little Lulu: The Little Girl Who Could Talk to Trees [Dec. 2021] The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics Collection of classic comic book stories for young children edited by Art Spiegelman and his wife, Françoise Mouly. Includes selections by Stanley, Carl Barks and Walt Kelly. Golden Collection of Krazy Kool Klassic Kids' Komics A kids comic book story collection (exclusively public domain) edited by Craig Yoe. Includes selections by Stanley, Barks, Kelly, Jack Kirby, Wally Wood and others. The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories edited by Craig Yoe. Includes selections by Stanley, Kelly, Richard Scarry and others.