4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Four Color 1091

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Four Color #1091 Universal
Grade: 8.5
Page Quality: OFF-WHITE
Pedigree: File Copy
Certification #: 0198382013
Owner: 4GEMWORKS

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: 4GEMWORKS COMPLETE FOUR COLOR EMPORIUM
Date Added: 10/16/2012
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

Jacky’s Diary 4-6/60 File Copy Based on the King Features comic strip by Jack Mendelsohn.
Cover Art: Jack Mendelsohn
Script: Jack Mendelsohn
Pencils & Inks: Jack Mendelsohn (signed)

This is the tied with one other as the third best of 4 copies graded to date. A single 9.4 tops the census. I originally bought this copy ungraded from Metropolis as a VF.

This is one of those comics that , frankly, you simply will not find in high grade. It was written with the idea that kids would cut it up, take it apart, etc. File copies are about the only way to get a decent copy!

Table of Contents
1. 1. A Visit to the Circus
Jacky's Diary
2. 2. Jacky's Diary
Jacky's Diary
3. 3. Camping Out of Doors
Jacky's Diary
4. 4. My Weak End in the Country
Jacky's Diary
5. 5. My Day in the City
Jacky's Diary
6. 6. Jacky's Dictionerry
Jacky's Diary
7. 7. Jacky's Bed-Time Story about 'Jack & the Beanstalk'
Jacky's Diary
8. 8. Jacky's Histerical Stories From Histery
Jacky's Diary Also the back cover of this copy. I am not aware of an Ad back cover for 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/201756/

Additionally, Do Markham’s Toonpedia has some additional information regarding the comic series:

Cartoonist Jack Mendelsohn has worn more hats in the cartoon industry than most. He's written comic books such as DC Comics' Jimminy & the Magic Book and Archie Comics' Super Duck. He's written and directed animated series such as Hong Kong Phooey, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Clifford the Big Red Dog. He's ghosted both the writing and illustration for comics, e.g., the newspaper version of Felix the Cat and the comic book adaptation of Mell Lazarus's newspaper strip Miss Peach. And he's credited with creating some seriously odd cartoons, such as Filmation's Groovy Goolies and, odder yet, this one — Jackys Diary.
King Features Syndicate launched Jackys Diary as a Sunday-only comic on January 11, 1959. It purported to be the hand-illustrated, hand-written diary of a young boy, supposedly Mendelsohn himself in his extreme youth. Thus, it was both written and illustrated as though by a small child — which is not as easy to do as some who have had the misfortune of growing up might think. Week after week, Mendelsohn described trips to the circus, fishing expeditions, visits to members of his extended family, and all sorts of other adventures kids have, in a style simulating that of an actual kid — except, of course, for the fact that it was professionally rendered in every way.
Unfortunately, professional work is sometimes best recognized by another professional, or at least by someone who knows what to look for — or at the very least, by someone who could see that this was a spoof, and that childishness was a schtick and not a natural state for Mendelsohn. King Features received complaints from those who didn't "get" it, and thought the company was publishing the work of an actual child — or, in the case of those who noticed the byline ("by Jacky Mendelsohn, age 32½") by an adult whose abilities hadn't progressed since childhood. Often, parents, mistaking the strip's intent, would encourage their own children to send in submissions to what they thought was a kids' participation feature.
But that's not why it folded quickly, Mendelsohn said in a later interview. It's simply that a Sunday-only comic is more expensive to produce than a daily, and King just couldn't afford it anymore. After three years, it was replaced with a Sunday version of Lee Holley's Ponytail. Before it was finished, it was brought out in comic book form by Dell Comics, but that lasted only one issue (where, by the way, an apostrophe was added, making it Jacky's Diary). Mendelsohn made two theatrically-released cartoons from the series at Famous Studios, but they didn't make it to the screen until 1965.
Today, Jackys Diary is one of a small class of comics, such as King Aroo and Sam's Strip, that are almost completely forgotten by the general public — but vividly remembered by those who really know comics.

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 nd http://www.toonopedia.com/jackys.htm
 
Image #1
Enlarge  
Image #2
Enlarge  

To follow or send a message to this user,
please log in