Phil De Guard constructed these backgrounds. Nordli’s designs are great but they seem a little more solid than Noble’s work on “Dodgers.” Maybe it’s because of the colours.
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Pierce’s story takes a parody of the title of “Racket Squad” and puts it into a parody of “Dragnet” (Pierce wrote a number of TV parodies for Bob McKimson when he was moved back into the “guys-nobody-else-will-take unit”). Comparisons with Mike Maltese’s earlier Buck Rogers parody in “Duck Dodgers” are inevitable. Still, Porky’s sidekickish observation that “a cih-cuh-cop’s life isn’t all buh-bee-buh-beer and skittles, you know,” is one of the better lines in a ‘50s Pierce story.
It's hard to describe exactly WHY Noble's stuff is better - at least for me - but it is. If this had been released in a "Maurice-less" universe I would be raving about how these backgrounds, especially when compared to 98% of everything else out there. Actually, even in our "Noble" universe, they are still great. I especially like the abstractness of the all tube pic in the middle of the pics.Still, Noble is the gold standard. WHY is that? Entire books have been written on his work, but for me it's perspective, color, geometry, whimsy and an amazing cinematographic feel that permeates his art.
ReplyDeleteNordli's best work for Jones is probably the layouts for Witch Hazel's house in "Broomstick Bunny", which expand on Noble's layouts from Hazel's first appearance (as does Pierce's story over Maltese's original Hansel & Gretel parody in "Bewitched Bunny" -- the Maltese-Noble work with Jones was superior, but the efforts by Pierce and Nordli were more than just beer and skittles).
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