Like most everyone else in my generation I grew up watching the Three Stooges fumble job after job and bash themselves about on a daily basis. In those halcyon days before children were transformed into precious objects to be protected from the whims of their environment, we were allowed to watch grown men bonk each other in the nose or pluck two fingers into one another's eyes. Like most of my generation we survived only to turn around and demand that our own children not be subjected to such degrading violent entertainment. What a crock!
This collection from Papercutz (the first of two) features early issues of The Three Stooges by Norman Maurer. Maurer was a lifelong friend and colleague of Joe Kubert. The two grew up together and became comic artists together but Mauer eventually ended up in California and married to the daughter of Moe Howard, the notorious leader of the Three Stooges. One thing led to another and eventually Maurer partnered with Kubert brought a Stooges comic book to St. John along with Kubert's pet project Tor.
Mauer produced seven issues of the comic for St. John, two of those being in the 3-D format. Sadly this Papercutz collection does not have the two 3-D issues, though you can find one Three Stooges story in Craig Yoe's 3-D collection from Yoe Books.
What we get are exceedingly well-crafted stories by Mauer featuring the trio of Moe, Larry and Shemp. One of the stories "Up An Atom" will actually share plot details with one of the later Three Stooges feature films, specially The Three Stooges in Orbit. Maurer would produce four Three Stooges features and direct two of them at the end of the 50's and into the 60's.
We also get a new feature called "Lil Stooge" about a single fellow who is disrespected by his peers and underestimated as well. His connection to the Three Stooges is unrevealed.
In addition to the St. John material there are three issues of The Three Stooges from Dell, specifically issues of Four Color in which the daffy trio starred. It's notable that the photograph images of the Stooges for these issues were specifically posed by the team for Dell.
These comics are drawn by Pete Avalarado, like a Maurer a talent who worked both in comics and animation. These comics from 1959 and 1960 feature the final ensemble of Stooges with Moe and Larry being joined by Curly Joe. While these comics lack the depth of Maurer's wonderful rendering, they are briskly pace and rather funny.
We get most of the third Dell outing by the Stooges but we will have to wait until the second volume to get all of it as well as more St. John comics by Maurer. Maurer will also be represented with his last Stooges comic work -- The Little Stooges from Gold Key. We'll get to that in a few days.
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