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Boody
Bizarre, wacky, weird, wild and sexy—these are just a few of the
adjectives that describe the cartooning of Boody Rogers. Before there
were underground comics, Boody Rogers dug deep into breaking the rules;
before their was low-brow art, Boody created art that hit hard below
the brow. Rogers’s pen and ink outré raucousness was wrapped into great
stories, beautifully drawn art, and hilarious gags. Fans of Boody
Rogers’s Golden Age comic book stories span generations of cartoonists,
from Robert Williams to Art Spiegelman to Johnny Ryan. Spiegelman
printed Rogers’s work in RAW magazine and recently it also appeared in the anthology book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries
(Abrams). Here at last is a single book devoted to this cult comics
hero, collecting Rogers's best Sparky Watts, Babe and Dudley stories,
as well as much more. This beautifully designed tome also includes an
introduction and comic-strip appreciation by editor Craig Yoe (Arf).
adjectives that describe the cartooning of Boody Rogers. Before there
were underground comics, Boody Rogers dug deep into breaking the rules;
before their was low-brow art, Boody created art that hit hard below
the brow. Rogers’s pen and ink outré raucousness was wrapped into great
stories, beautifully drawn art, and hilarious gags. Fans of Boody
Rogers’s Golden Age comic book stories span generations of cartoonists,
from Robert Williams to Art Spiegelman to Johnny Ryan. Spiegelman
printed Rogers’s work in RAW magazine and recently it also appeared in the anthology book Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries
(Abrams). Here at last is a single book devoted to this cult comics
hero, collecting Rogers's best Sparky Watts, Babe and Dudley stories,
as well as much more. This beautifully designed tome also includes an
introduction and comic-strip appreciation by editor Craig Yoe (Arf).
124 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 10, 2012
Boody Rogers was a "Golden Age comic-book visionary." It says so right on the back of the book, and by golly, it's true. I'd never heard of the guy before reading about him on Boing Boing - http://boingboing.net/2009/03/01/the-.... He attended the Cartoon Academy of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and hung out with the big boys - Harold Gray - (Little Orphan Annie), Chester Gould - (Dick Tracy), and Tex Avery - ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVN1Ap...). He illustrated strips for others before getting his own syndicated comic in the 30s and 40s.
His comics are visually reminiscent of Lil' Abner, but the characters are like nobody I've ever met. There's Babe, the world's greatest athlete, who just happens to look like a cross between Daisy Mae and Blondie, Mrs. Two Ton Gooseflesh, who just loves to hear the sound of snapping necks, and my favorite - Sparky Watts. If Sparky is not frequently recharged with cosmic rays, he'll shrink to the size of a pin-point. As you can imagine, this happens quite a bit, and Sparky spends his time cavorting with strange-looking insects, including one whose rump is shaped like a cozy chair for Sparky to sit on.
They truly don't draw 'em like this anymore!
Have a look for yourself, and read an entire Sparky Watts adventure here - http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-s...
His comics are visually reminiscent of Lil' Abner, but the characters are like nobody I've ever met. There's Babe, the world's greatest athlete, who just happens to look like a cross between Daisy Mae and Blondie, Mrs. Two Ton Gooseflesh, who just loves to hear the sound of snapping necks, and my favorite - Sparky Watts. If Sparky is not frequently recharged with cosmic rays, he'll shrink to the size of a pin-point. As you can imagine, this happens quite a bit, and Sparky spends his time cavorting with strange-looking insects, including one whose rump is shaped like a cozy chair for Sparky to sit on.
They truly don't draw 'em like this anymore!
Have a look for yourself, and read an entire Sparky Watts adventure here - http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-s...
January 13, 2024
A collection of comics and strips from cartoonist Gordon "Boody" Rogers between 1948-1950. A broad, diverse array of stories grace this collection and really serves to demonstrate the manic sensibilities of Boody Rogers' imagination. Think something akin to Fletcher Hanks' comics but a bit more grounded. The strongest comics in this trade include "Babe" a screwball and gaudy take on L'il Abner and "Sparky Watts", a story about an ordinary person who suddenly comes into powers due to exposure to "Cosmic Rays". The collection is whimsical and varied, but not all of the stories are really cohesive enough to follow from start to finish. This is an entertaining sampling of a cartoonist who seemingly flew under the radar despite rubbing shoulders against greats like Chester Gould and Eric Stanton.
September 11, 2012
These are amusing comics, from the late 1940s, featuring a selection of Rogers's characters, mainly Babe, the Ozarks Amazon who's basically L'il Abner with breasts and without the laziness, and Sparky Watts, who's been given super powers by a ray (though the main "power" here seems to be that he shrinks if his dose runs out--two of the three stories depend on this gimmick, and the third has nothing to do with his powers at all). These are generally amusingly goofy, way-out stories (talking semi-human bugs who want to marry Sparky; Ozark centaurs who ride women like horses, etc.) with delightfully bizarre art, but the editorial procedures leave something to be desired. The biggest oddity is that one Babe story is split up, part one coming early in the book, part two (after later-dated stories) near the end, and part three omitted entirely. Other stories seem to end in the midst too--one with Babe suffering from a broken neck (!)that was presumably fixed in the follow-up, but who knows? Craig Yoe really needs to give more thought to his selection/organizational principles. Fun as a taste of Boody Rogers; frustrating as a coherently constructed book.
July 17, 2020
Those Babe comics were super-duper!
May 7, 2022
This is some incredibly weird and wonderful material here.
July 18, 2024
Silly and bizarre, just like me!
July 3, 2026
Weird, funny, ugly drawn in the most gorgeous way, always inventive and pretty kinky at times. Probably not a collection of comics for everyone, but it sure works for me.
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August 2, 2011A total revelation for me. Boody Rogers's character Babe is like "Li'l Abner" with a heavy undercurrent of "Deliverance." (Plus, she's hotter than Daisy Mae.) And Sparky Watts must be the first—yes, absolutely first—superhero parody, no? I'd love to hear of an earlier one. A crucial addition to the proto-history of the underground comic. I'm going to get more than a few new Facebook profile pictures out of these unsettling images.
April 17, 2009
The sub-title kinda says it all: "The Bizarre Comics of Boody ROgers". Full review here:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/04/11/...
http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/04/11/...
January 4, 2014
Really original and strange. I enjoyed the art the most. Boody Rogers was very skilled and imaginative at creating ridiculous insect designs. I wish more comics were as fun as this one!
January 10, 2015
Loved the art, didn't care much for the stories, which are sometimes really boring.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews