“JIMMY WAKELY”
Slightly different in approach from other cowboy comics based on western film stars, Jimmy was picturized as being a western movie actor who, off camera, gets involved with adventures in both the modern and real West; the editors didn’t seem to care which as long as it was a good story. The opening page in issue #1 (Sept./Oct. ‘49) even mentions Monogram, and many stories feature directors, cameramen and leading ladies (all of them fictional).
Issues were at first (#1-13) all 52 pages, but decreased to 34 with #14. Beginning art is by Alex Toth, capturing a good likeness of Wakely. By #9, Carmine Infantino was doing a couple of art chores. Unable to capture Wakely’s likeness, he was dropped and Gil Kane rode in with a cover to #10 and within a few issues was drawing two stories to Toth’s one. Kane took over all the art as of #16. Writer Alvin Schwartz wrote some of the Wakely stories. Photo covers adorned #1-7 (with Monogram stuntmen Bob Woodward and Boyd Stockman on the cover of #5 with Jimmy). The rest of the series sported drawn covers by Gil Kane. Due to the excellent art and solid stories, Wakely comics tend to be a bit pricey with #1 rounding up $270 in Fine, #2-7 around $120, and the rest of the run coming in at $75-$90 in Fine. Most collectors aim for #1-7 due to the photo covers, of which #1, 3, 4 are the best. |
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