In case you missed it - Today’s Lio comic strip by Mark Tatulli.

It’s comic book time on Cartoon Brew.

I recently acquired a rare 16 page promotional comic book for Kinney Shoe Stores produced by animator Dave Tendlar. I’ve decided to post it here for three reasons: It’s not listed in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, it’s quite brittle and its very possible my copy might be the only one in existence.

It is not particularly “oddball”, nor especially attractive, but it has a few things classic cartoon fans might find interesting. First, notice on page 16 Kinney Komics was “prepared by Tendlar Publishing”. Did Tendlar produce other promotional comic books? Next you’ll note the main story, Little Jimmy Stout is illustrated by Howard Post (Anthro, Hot Stuff, Spooky). I have no idea what year this book was produced, but based on this Post story, I’d guess mid-to -late 40s.

Tendlar himself drew pages 2, 13 and 14 and may have drawn the center spread (pages 8 and 9). Note that the lettering on pages 1, 2, 15 and 16 is the work of the mysterious Fleischer/Famous Studios lettering genius, who designed the logos and signage in hundreds of Paramount cartoons.

So there you have it. If anyone has additional information on this, please let us know. Enjoy!

Warner Bros. Motion Comics division has created new series of Peanuts Animated Comics to bring a group of Charles Schulz comic strips to life. They are now available through Apple’s iTunes Store. Here’s a sample:

If you need a hit of old-school Charlie Brown, here are several suggestions: 1. Check the Brew TV episode we posted last week. 2. Slate posted a nostalgic article on the DVD re-issue of the Peanuts holiday specials. 3. The Slate article also includes a link to a 1985 Peanuts documentary posted on YouTube.

(Thanks, Alex Rannie and Variety’s Hal Blog)

Worthy of noting in this week before the U.S. elections, Gemstone’s Uncle Scrooge #381 (on sale this week, cover pictured below left) features a story (Breakfast of Champions by Bruno Concina and Lara Molinari) about Scrooge trying to promote his name brand marmalade by getting celebrity endorsements on the cheap. Along with thinly disguised actors and sports stars, the celebs include spoofs of our presidential candidates as well (including Governor Palin).

While I’m at it, I might as well plug Gemstone’s entire line of Disney comic books. The current editors, writers and artists really know the classic characters, and their love of Disney lore comes through on every page. In addition to the terrific new material, they aren’t stingy on reprinting classic work by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson and Paul Murry. Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #696 (pictured below right) doubles as a special issue for Mickey Mouse’s 80th anniversary. Along with rare Gottfredson and Romano Scarpa Mickey comics material, they’ve got a new birthday story by Byron Erickson and Cesar Ferioli. Not to mention what I think is the first-ever modern publication of a 1929 Iwerks ad drawing from PLANE CRAZY’s sound re-release (see portion in center thumbnail below)!

I enjoyed today’s Argyle Sweater, Scott Hilburn’s daily panel cartoon, and I just had to share.

Don’t Cry for Me, I’m Already Dead is a tearjerker of a comic about brothers who communicate only through Simpsons quotes. The artist is Rebecca Sugar whose “dirty” renditions of cartoon characters were featured on the Brew last year. Her mad drawing skills continue to knock my socks off.

Also don’t miss her droll student film Johnny Noodleneck:

…and this fine bit of dance animation:

A major retrospective of work by underground cartoonist Kim Deitch opens at New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on September 9th. There will be an opening reception on Friday September 12th from 6 – 9 pm. The exhibit will display original comics pages and other work covering the artist’s entire career to date, beginning with full-page comic strips drawn for the East Village Other in the sixties up to recent graphic novels including The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Alias the Cat, Shadowland, and Deitch’s Pictorama. The Museum will also host a series of talks and events related to the exhibit.

MoCCA is located at 594 Broadway, Suite 401, between Houston and Prince. It is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 12 – 5 pm, Sundays 12 – 3 pm. The opening reception is free and open to the public. For more information visit the MoCCA website. The Deitch exhibit will run through December 5th.

Over the past year I’ve collaborated with Leslie Cabarga on several Dark Horse Books compiling the best stories of the classic Harvey Comics characters (Casper, Richie Rich and Hot Stuff). None has given me greater pleasure than the forthcoming collection of Baby Huey, which goes on sale in late September. The stories are all drawn by Dave Tendlar (see splash page below) and Marty Taras, who provide some of the best translations of animation-art-to-comic-panels I’ve ever seen. They are as pure to the original source (Taras created Huey and Tendlar was the series main director) as Connie Rasinski’s Mighty Mouse comics for St. John’s, and Gene Deitch’s occasional Tom Teriffic comic pages for Pines.

Amazon has just posted several pages from the book online, including the first Huey comic story from St. John’s Casper No. 1, published in 1949, a full year before Huey’s onscreen debut!