Something That Obviously Doesn't Exist...

...and yet here it sits on my desk...a package of First Comics E-Man stickers! feel like the Joe Staton art on the header card is recycled from a subscription ad or somesuch, so it doesn't necessarily imply that there are matching American Flagg!, Jon Sable, Freelance, and...God help us all... WARP sticker sets! On the other hand, those aren't that much less likely. Any of you folks out there in cyberspace ever seen these?
   I've got to say that, if you're actually an E-Man fan, these are kinda disappointing, with your only actual art featuring the titular hero being tiny reproductions of one cover and a house ad, while Teddy Q gets comparative star treatment. I don't know how these would look to the hypothetical non-fan sticker collector during that era's sticker craze, but maybe an authority in that area will chime in in the comments.

My Friend Flickr

You might possibly interested to know that there is a Flickr group devoted to our establishment under the name The Wonderful World of Bizarro-Wuxtry, which may be examined by clicking the link. You might conceivably have snapshots of the store that you'd like to contribute to said group. I would encourage that line of thinking.

Blanc by Wolverton

    Here's a Basil Wolverton piece that I've never seen before, used as part of an ad (the rest was not by Basil, and not all that interesting) in the 8/29/1966 issue of Broadcasting magazine. It was promoting a series of short radio comedy bits by Mel and others syndicated under the name of Superfun. It doesn't look like it lasted that long, but you can listen to the demo sampler album here (Oops! Turns out you have to pay to subscribe...but you can at least look at some more advertising material for free), and you can read a short piece about it in Billboard here.

   I don't know how this particular job found its way to Wolverton, but it's perhaps not coincidental that both men were from Oregon. If anyone out there knows that they were fishing buddies or anything, please feel free to chime in in the comments.

    At this point, I should note that here at Bizarro-Wuxtry, home of Georgia's best selection of Sad Sack's Funny Friends, Super-Villain Team-Up,and a great deal more , we have a wide selection of Basil Wolverton products, from comic books to fancy hardbacks to lovely collectible statuettes, offered to you at very reasonable prices. Come on down!

    Bonus Mel fun:  a whole bunch of episodes of The Mel Blanc Show from the '40s, just itching to wiggle their way into your iTunes library.

Your Jimmy Corrigan Footnote of the Week

    Assuming that you've read Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Boy On Earth (and if not, I recommend you do so posthaste), then you naturally recall the section of the book regarding Jimmy's forebears and their adventures at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. And if you did in fact read said book, and do therefore recall that portion, then it is perhaps not that much of a stretch to imagine that that you might find today's featured objects of some interest.
     What you see below are a family's tickets to the Exposition on Chicago Day about three weeks prior to its closing. It was a special event commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the great Chicago fire, and was meant both to celebrate the city's recovery and to attempt to break the record for paid attendance at a World's Fair, then held by the Paris Exposition of 1889, of 397,000. At 716,881 (or 761,942, according to one source), it did so handily.

I bought these tucked inside the below souvenir folder, which the elder Corrigan probably would not have purchased for his son, because (SPOILER ALERT!!) he wasn't a very good Dad.

It's a roughly 3 3/4"X7" hardcover accordion-folded booklet. with a twelve-paneled, one-sided assortment of photos of the Exposition, printed on thick coated stock. Here is a page showing some other cool souvenirs that Papa Corrigan also didn't buy for young James.

    While today's featured items are not themselves available to the consumer (unless you are in fact Chris Ware, in which case I'd love to trade them to you!), we have many delightful Ware products  (and thousands more non-Ware products, for you haters in the audience) available to you at Bizarro-Wuxtry, your one-stop shopping location  for comic books, vintage Lee Majors biographies, cardboard novelty neckties, and more! Come on down!