Kathy
was a short lived entry into the “Archie sweepstakes” by Standard
Comics. She was introduced to the public in the February 1948 issue
of THRILLING COMICS as a minor back up feature. The creative team
behind the strip is unidentified at the GCD and remains a mystery.
Here is the splash page to that initial story.
The
art in her premiere episode is very distinctive, stylized and modern
for the time.
That
might have been enough to make Kathy a remarkable feature but
ultimately that was not to be. Instead the most distinguishing things
about the series is a shortage of any real editorial direction and a
total lack of artistic continuity. In her two year life, the Kathy
character was reimagined by a whole host of artists.
For
example, take her second story, which ran two issues later. The
sophomore effort of the feature was drawn by Ralph Mayo.
Mayo’s
art is certainly lovely but it is somewhat inappropriate for a
teenaged comedy. While there are some ‘cartoony’ elements in it,
Ralph mostly stays near the style he used on adventure strips.
Besides that he made wholesale changes in the character design. The
raven haired girl from issue 64 is now a blonde and her parents hold
little resemblance to the ones seen earlier. Well that latter trait
is staple in the series.
In
1949 Kathy left the pages of THRILLING COMICS to reside in her own
title; KATHY. In issue 11 Art Saaf was enlisted to work upon the
strip. I find his style much more complementary to the teenaged
comedy milieu than Mayo’s. At this point Miss Crane is now a fiery
redhead!
If
Kathy is remembered at all, I’ve no doubt that that’s due to the
two stories where Frank Frazetta was called upon to use his
considerable talents. One of these, “Cake Fake” was posted on
Destination Nightmare earlier. So here is the other one “Shutterbugs”
a collaborative effort between he and Ralph Mayo.
The
schizophrenic art styles on Kathy are so odd that they deserve
further exploration. You’ll see more in part 2.
Pat
