Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka; DC's Superman vs Muhammad Ali; Trevor Von Eeden's The Original Johnson and Joe Antonacci's modern-day re-imagining of Palooka as an MMA fighter
Over the next few weeks, this blog will be featuring a series of exclusive previews of content from Boxiana: Volume 1, which will hopefully whet your appetite and persuade you to buy the full volume, which will be available as a paperback book (RRP £9.99) or ebook (RRP TBC).
Today I'm presenting an extract from the second chapter of Boxiana Volume 1, written by myself, which charts the history of boxing-themed comic strips and comic books. The article begins by looking at Regency era boxing illustrations before moving on to examine in detail such iconic works as Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka, DC comics' legendary Superman vs Muhammad Ali special, Trevor Von Eeden's modern graphic novel masterpiece The Original Johnson and Joe Antonacci's modern-day re-imagining of Joe Palooka as an MMA fighter.
This article is a perfect illustration of one of the reasons why I have started Boxiana. Boxing comic books are, I'll admit, a niche and somewhat esoteric subject area - and the sort of subject that the likes of Boxing News, Boxing Monthly and The Ring magazine are unlikely to feature!
But that, for me, sums up precisely what I'm aiming for with Boxiana - I want to make sure there is space in Boxiana for subjects connected with boxing that other publications might steer clear of or overlook. That doesn't mean that ALL our articles will be esoteric, but I want to make sure that Boxiana is always willing to consider any form or style of writing related to boxing in any way. There are an infinite number of weird and wonderful topics and personalities associated with the sport and its history - many of which often go unnoticed and commented upon; Boxiana, in its own small way, is therefore hoping to shed some light on some of these corners of the sport.
As I publish further previews from the anthology in the coming weeks and days, hopefully you'll conclude that Boxiana: Volume 1 will be worth purchasing. If not, then at the very least I hope you enjoy the free sneak peeks and other blog posts!
Anyway, that's enough of the hard sell, here's the latest preview - which consists of the first 1,000 words of what is a mammoth 7,o00 word feature. Enjoy!
Boxiana: Volume 1 preview
Round 2
PUGILISTIC COMIC BOOKS COME FULL CIRCLE
Luke G. Williams
charts the history of boxing themed comic books, and uncovers incredible tales
of war-time heroism, forgery, suicide, alien invasion and, finally, artistic
triumph …
With its inherent dramatic content and potential for
metaphor and symbolism, pugilism has long been a staple subject for the
‘traditional’ art forms - from the realist paintings of George Bellows, to
cinematic masterpieces such as The Set-Up and Raging Bull and the
writing of a wide variety of famed wordsmiths, such as Egan, Shaw, Thackeray,
Mailer et al. While the
representation of pugilism in such ‘serious’ art forms has been much analysed
and discussed, boxing-related comic strips, comic books and (to give them their
nom du jour) ‘graphic novels’, have
received comparatively little critical attention. This article will attempt to
redress this imbalance by analysing the fascinating journey of boxing-related
comics from the basic strip cartoons of the 1930s and ‘40s which, despite their
apparent simplicity, were able to produce a genuine socio-cultural phenomenon
in the form of Joe Palooka, to the appearance in the 21st century of
Trevor Von Eeden’s The Original Johnson,
a groundbreaking graphic novelisation of the life of Jack Johnson, which
represents what this writer believes to be an artistic accomplishment of rare
integrity and importance.
The antecedents of the modern boxing comic can be
found during the Georgian and Regency heyday of bare-knuckle ‘boxiana’, when
the mighty heroes of the ring were regularly rendered by the foremost popular
caricaturists of the day, such as Thomas Rowlandson and Robert and George
Cruikshank. Most figures from public and political life in this period were
rendered unflatteringly, for the purpose of searing critique or satirical
comment; for example, James Gillray’s infamous portrait of the Prince of Wales
entitled A Voluptuary under the Horrors of
Digestion, which offered scathing comment on the heir to the throne’s
gluttony and penchant for drinking, gambling and licentiousness. In contrast,
the bare-knuckle boxers featured in prints of this period were usually rendered
in a flattering and heroic light. Witness, for example, the air of nobility and
glorification that George Cruikshank lends to his prints of the Cribb-Molineaux
contests, such as The Close of the Battle
Triumphant.
Although caricaturists were the first to exploit the
public’s hunger for popular, captioned artworks, it was a series of innovatory
writers and artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries who developed the techniques that would
later evolve into comic books and graphic novels. Instead of single pieces of
artwork and a pithy caption, narrative sequences of artwork were now developed
in which the captions sought to maintain a coherent narrative of their own,
rather than merely act as a pithy commentary on politics or current affairs.
Swiss artist Rodolphe Töpffer was one of the foremost pioneers of this art; his
Histoire de M. Vieux Bois was collected and published in 1837 in Europe,
before being translated and republished as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck
in the United States in 1842. Another important innovator in the early days of
comic books was Richard F. Outcault, whose strip The Yellow Kid, first
appeared in the influential New York World newspaper in 1895. Outcault
is generally accepted as having incorporated the word balloon (which had
previously been utilised in speech scrolls and political cartoons) into
newspaper comic strips. During the ‘newspaper war’ between William Randolph
Heart and Joseph Pulitzer, comic strips became a key tactic in the battle to
increase circulation figures, with Outcault lured from Pulitzer’s New York
World to boost Hearst’s rival New
York Journal-American in October 1896.
* * *
By the roaring 1920s, comic-strips in American newspapers were an established
institution and, given the wide popularity of boxing as a spectator attraction and
staple of the sports pages, it was inevitable that a boxing-themed comic strip
would appear sooner or later. The pioneer in this respect was Hammond Edward
‘Ham’ Fisher’s Joe Palooka. Ignoring
his father’s “complete contempt for my aesthetic ambitions”, Pennsylvania-born
Fisher had harboured a long-standing dream to be a cartoonist from an early
age. A poor student (“if there had been anything further back than the last of
the class I’d have been it”), Fisher was largely self-taught, using the pages of
any book he could “borrow or burgle”.
Fisher first coined the idea for the Joe Palooka strip in the early 1920s.
Hanging around a pool-hall in his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, he met a boxer
(later identified as future World Welterweight Champion Pete Latzo, although
some dispute this) who served as his inspiration, as he explained in an article
in Collier’s Weekly in 1946:
“‘Hiya,
Ham?” said he. “How about I an’ you havin’ a game of golluf?” This had the
effect on me of a large, economy-size A-bomb. Here, made to order, was the
comic strip character I had been looking for - a big, good-natured prize
fighter who didn’t like to fight; a defender of little guys; a gentle knight -
I ran back to the office, drew a set of strips and rushed to the newspaper
syndicates. They turned me down colder than a pug on the canvas.”
Initially, Fisher considered naming his hero ‘Joe the
Dumbbell’ or ‘Joe Dumbelletski’, but he eventually settled on Joe Palooka, the
word Palooka being a common colloquial term for an inexperienced or incompetent
boxer. Fisher tried in vain to sell the comic-strip concept of Joe Palooka for eight years. It wasn’t
until he got a job for the influential McNaught Syndicate selling content
across the country that he managed to persuade 30 newspaper editors to buy into
his sales patter; the putative Palooka strip, he assured them, would be “the
most colossal, terrific and stupendous feature of all time”. This enthusiastic
hyperbole had the desired effect and Joe
Palooka duly made his comic-strip debut on 19 April 1930. The simple
introductory narrative established 16-year-old Joe’s honest, blue-collar
demeanour, as well as a colourful supporting cast, incorporating his Pop (a
coal miner), Mom, brother Steve, sister Rosie and manager Knobby Walsh. Peppered
with idiomatic dialogue (“Youse un-honist crook! … Git up an’ I’ll give youse
more!”), Fisher’s storylines were simplistic but engaging, as good-natured and
good-hearted Palooka ascended in the space of just one bout (an exhibition at
that!) against reigning champ Jack McSwatt to the status of World Heavyweight
Champion before vowing to “only fight against crooks an’ bullies”.
As the real World Heavyweight Championship
was passed, with little distinction, between Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Primo
Carnera, Max Baer and James Braddock, Palooka caught the imagination of
Depression-era America. Here was the heavyweight champion many Americans wished they had, rather than the one
they actually had ...
THE FULL ARTICLE WILL APPEAR IN THE PRINT AND EBOOK EDITION OF BOXIANA: VOLUME 1, TO BE PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER
Further exclusive previews of Volume 1 content, as well as further information about Boxiana's contributors will feature on the Boxiana blog in the coming weeks.
Boxiana: Volume 1 is an anthology of never before published boxing writing and takes an in-depth look at the sport’s past, present and future. Original, startling and thought-provoking, Boxiana examines pugilistic themes, characters and issues ranging from the personal to the universal, combining exclusive interview material with meticulous research. The book’s fresh approach will both intrigue and delight all serious followers of boxing.
Featured in Volume 1: comic book legend Trevor Von Eeden analyses the significance of Jack Johnson; Mario Mungia tries his hand at amateur boxing; Ben Williams uncovers his grandfather’s bareknuckle boxing career; Matthew Ogborn considers the issues boxers face on retirement; James Hernandez catches up with Jon Thaxton; rising light heavyweight Chris Hobbs recounts his life in the military and the ring; Rowland Stone recalls a heady night in 1992; Corey Quincy attempts to solve the Wladimir Klitschko conundrum and Luke G. Williams examines the meteoric rise of Deontay Wilder and the under-rated career of Chris Byrd.
No other boxing anthology can match Boxiana’s eclectic range of subject matter, or its in-depth examination of issues and characters from boxing’s past, present and future.
