Our Gang/The Little Rascal's History With Comics

[matthawes]

I hope it's okay to share this information here in the general discussion area of the boards. This past month I finally finished a passion project of mine, a book about Our Gang and its connections with the medium of comic strips and comic books. At first glance, it might not appear there is a great deal beyond the Dell Comics series of the 1940s, or the later Dell series, "The Little Rascals" in the 1950s, but the relationship between the film comedy series and the comics medium goes back further than that and there are still recent examples of that connection to this day, directly and indirectly.

My book, Our Gang The Little Rascals' History With Comics is 160 pages, full-color, and delves into the history of Our Gang and how comics have had some influence or connection from the very beginning. Here is a video where I discuss the book and share what's inside...





Forgive some rambling here and there, asI often record such vlogs off the cuff.


It's a book I think Our Gang fans will really enjoy, and hopefully find both informative and entertaining. If anyone here ever checks it out, please share your opinions and comments on the book. Thanks.

[myhomeo]

Sounds interesting and informative. Not sure if I'd have any way to get hold of it but it definitely sounds like it'd be up my alley.

[dchord568]

I have always had an interest in newspaper comics, but not in comic books. However, I have a great interest in Our Gang, and Matthew's YouTube video showcasing his book was enough to convince me to give it a try.

Luckily for me, his definition of "comics" is a broad one, and in the earlier sections of the book there are a number of intersections between Our Gang and newspaper comic artists and others. If I knew about George Herriman's connection with the Roach studio, I had forgotten about it. I also appreciated seeing some stills that were new to me, particularly the one of the 1933-vintage Gang clustered around a comic book. (Any new still with my boyhood crush Dorothy DeBorba is OK by me!)

The sections with other contemporary children's comic and film series were interesting, in as much as there was crossover with some Gang kids in several of them. I knew about this to an extent, but it's treated much more fully in Matthew's book than I've seen elsewhere. (Donald Haines as Smitty…who knew?) And there was quite a bit of Gang use in advertisements of the day that I hadn't known of before that was worth seeing.

I don't have a personal interest in the Brazilian comic book adaptation that's treated at length here, though it was nice to learn about it. Those who are comic book fans will find much to love in Matthew's book, and even those like me whose interests don't run in that direction can still get a lot out of it. Certainly the effort it took to gather so many disparate examples from so many far-flung sources had to have been huge, and great credit is due the author for undertaking this and delving into the history that underlies them.

The layout is generally pleasing. I'm more persnickety about typos than most (since I was a copy editor in my working career) and there are a few. But I get that when you self-publish, you don't always have the resources to expend in that direction. (But if you do another book, Matthew, I work cheap, especially on projects like this that deal with a subject I care about!)

To sum it up, I feel that Our Gang: The Little Rascals' History With Comics is a book most Our Gang fans will enjoy and get quite a bit out of. I'm glad Matthew let us know about it here.

[matthawes]

Thanks for the review and recommending the book, dchord568. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I tried to be vigilant about typos, but I figured some might slip by my notice. Hopefully, there wasn't too many. Thanks again!

[matthawes]

If you're one of the people who ordered a copy of my book, thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed it. If so, may I ask of you, to leave a review on Amazon? It would be appreciated. I believe reviews helps not only get potential customers, but might help whatever algorithm the site uses to suggest a book or other product. Thanks in advance to anyone who writes a review for my book!