4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Four Color 1333

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Four Color #1333 Universal
Grade: 9.2
Page Quality: OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
Certification #: 1096689020
Owner: 4GEMWORKS

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: 4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Date Added: 4/17/2013
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

Short Ribs 4-6/62 Based on the "Short Ribs" comic strip distributed by NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association).

Cover Art: Frank O'Neal
Pencils & Inks: Frank O'Neal

This is the single best of just two copies graded to date. Super tough book to find in any kind of high grade. 05/13. I originally bought this graded, as is, via Comiclink.

Table of Contents
1. 0. [no title indexed]
Short Ribs
2. 1. [Egyptian Comic Book]
Short Ribs
3. 2. A Knight in the Woods
Short Ribs
4. 3. Low Noon
Short Ribs
5. 4. The Assistant
Short Ribs
6. 5. Siesta
Short Ribs
7. 6. Case of the Magic Mace
Short Ribs
8. 7. Breakfast in Bed
Short Ribs
9. 8. [Giant Redwood Forest]
Short Ribs
10. 9. Nationally Famous Prizes for You
Junior Sales Club of America This is the AD back version of this issue and also happens to be the back cover of this copy.
11. 10. Single page illustrated story. A back cover on some copies of this issue.

Some data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license. http://www.comics.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
http://www.comics.org/issue/202067/

Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has some additional information relating to the Short Ribs comic character:

There have been comic strips starring good guys like Dick Tracy, bad guys like Desperate Desmond and in-between guys like — well, like practically everybody else. Comic strips have starred men (Flash Gordon), women (Blondie), children (Tiger) and "other" (Robotman). But very seldom do you run across one that has no regular stars at all. Cartoonist Frank O'Neal, creator of Short Ribs, decided against using regular characters and a regular setting because avoiding them gave his strip greater flexibility.
Short Ribs was launched Monday, November 17, 1958, by Newspaper Enterprise Association, syndicator of Our Boarding House, Red Ryder and many other popular comics. The Sunday version started June 14, 1959.
Tho the strip lacked continuing characters, it did have a few recurring settings. Probably the most frequently used was a king's court that looked more-or-less like medieval Europe, complete with knights, wizard, forest-dwelling bandits, etc., kind of like The Wizard of Id. Another familiar one was a western scenario, similar to Tumbleweeds or Redeye, with sheriffs, desperados and suchlike. But storylines (daily gags strung together with loose continuity) could take place anywhere from ancient Egypt to contemporary America. Frequently, they parallelled and made fun of whatever happened to be in the news.
O'Neal, whose other toon credits are mostly in magazine cartoons, remained on Short Ribs a decade and a half. In 1973, he turned it over to his assistant, Frank Hill, who continued it in a very similar style for the rest of its run, while O'Neal concentrated on advertising.
Eschewing regular characters may have been creatively satisfying for the cartoonist, but it wasn't a formula for commercial success. Short Ribs was one of those strips like Barnaby and King Aroo, which are loved by some but ignored by most. There were a couple of paperback reprints in the 1960s and a single comic book from Dell in 1962, but no other media spin-offs. The strip ended on Sunday, May 2, 1982.
— DDM

Copied and used with specific permission from GiGi Dane, the widow of the late Don Markstein. Please visit their site: http://www.toonopedia.com/articles/susie-q.htm
http://www.toonopedia.com/shortrbs.htm
 
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