BERNARD DIBBLE - The Wooly Art and Cute Girls

[GGA_Fan]

This is an edited except from a review I wrote for a Bernard Dibble story (from Crack Comics).

 

The Wild, Wooly Art and Cute Girls of BERNARD DIBBLE

 

Bernard Dibble

 

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What could be an easier read than a single page filler comic? But do not confuse, overlook nor dismiss any filler art by Bernard Dibble, for just because a story may be brief, does not automatically reduce it to fluff. I absolutely adore many creations by artist Bernard Dibble (of Iron Vic notoriety). Even his real name seems like a comic book concoction. I mean it's perfectly goofy, isn't it? Instead of Beezy Bumble, imagine, Dizzy Dibble. It would still work. The creations that he has developed possess many charms that capture a true essence of farcical old comic books. Dibble's art takes a poke at middle-American life with his satirical draw on human consciousness. His zesty comical drawings, character dialog, and anecdotes flow seamlessly through his unique style of appealing, enthusiastic sequential art and gets right up there and under my skin like a captivating parasite or a seductive, endearing rash. I am fast becoming a minion of Bernard Dibble's art and recognize his lively contributions to GGA and Comicdom.

 

His art is often a visual medley of sight, that stimulates my perceptions with a heaping dose of charismatic wit, tomfoolery and irresistible rustic charm. Take his Kiki Kelly character for instance, she is an ordinary, average American girl in her late teens, and whose misadventures are not your obvious typical Archie swipes (like Candy, Cindy, Patsy Walker, Jeanie, Millie or a multitude of other GA comic characters), but rather is the arrival of a believable self-standing character with an existence (as is Dibble's other teenage, Beezy Bumble character), a visual device that drives Dibble's graces into the popular genre of GA off-beat teen humor, which is probably better suited and entertaining for an older demographic, like men plagued by years of (not-so) blissful matrimony.

 

Some of his brief 1 page filler-chronicles contain more drama, laughs and emotion than most tales 10 times larger. I sense a surreal atmosphere behind Dibble's art, that may or may not be intentional, but the effect is almost unrivalled. I would even go so far as to call it Wolverton-ish or Simpsons-esque. Each word, action and element within his stories are designed to provoke mounting tension, until it's final release in the last climatic panel which is usually the gag itself. Some of the art of his that I most admire are the wildest ones in which he draws with sheer, delightful abandon like only a zealously motivated comedic artist can. All that he sought to convey can barely fit into the page limitations that have been allocated to him by the publisher (mostly Quality Comics). Dibble's panache for drawing beautiful gals is what first caught my attention since my primary interest is with GGA. His dames often have an innocent flare, but are well aware of their own rich beauty as they flaunt themselves from panel to panel.

 

Another hilarious aspect to Dibble's humor here is his satirical jab at married life, with wives often presented as a nagging, over-weight, corroded and weathered third-gender hags. These generalizations are not politically correct, as most Golden Age art similarly reduced elements of life down to their lowest common denomenator. It cracks me up when he does this as his hags perfectly contrast the flip-side when he lovingly draws other sleek gals with inherent feminine beauty.

 

I can clearly see the charm within his art, as I do with the early strip art of Zack Mosley 1938-1940/41. In Mosley's case, he stylistically changed or adapted his art to suit his Newspaper strip characters, but I believe in the process, lost the original appeal I felt. Whereas Dibble's art seemed to remain consistently charming and edgy throughout his portfolio. I wish that he could have lived longer, so that there would be more of his art to admire. Like early Mosley works, Dibble's creations and style make him an original progenitor to GGA, and all that it would embody, and when GGA blossomed, they harmonized very well. He was the perfect artist to inherit characters Molly The Model and Lala Palooza amongst others.

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I hope to shed light on this artist, and welcome anyone who can shed further light for me. I'd like to know more about his life as a comic book artist beyond from what I have already learned (through the usual sources GCD and Lambiek). I find the Digital Comic Museum an invaluable resource in conjunction with Comics.og for discovering comic book artists that I may have been otherwise unfamiliar with.

 

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[GGA_Fan]

How could that babe walk on beach sand in high heels (on the attached pictures above this post)? That makes for a hilarious picture onto itself.

 

I have also seen some very early Zack Mosley art where one of his De-Icers is swimming out into the ocean to rescue Jack (after an airplane crash), and she still had her high heels on. Only in the comic books.

 

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[GGA_Fan]

A few more absolutely charismatic pieces.

 

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[GGA_Fan]

Here's a really cool panel. Both Wolverton-ish and Freakish (imo). You wouldn't want to eat any magic mushrooms and dwell on this pic for too long.

If this same image were painted on canvas in the same year, 1945, (as apposed to the comic book media) it would have been a surrealistic beauty worthy of display at the upcoming 1947 International Surrealist Exhibition in Paris.

 

 

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[GGA_Fan]

I actually e-mailed some guy named Dibble in South Carolina, hoping he was a descendant of Bernard, the comic book artist. He never wrote back, so I guess it was the wrong Dibble Family. I would like contact information for his family so I may correspond with them about Bernard's life as a GA comic book artist, and know more about him and his love of comic book art. Can anyone steer me in the right direction for making such contact?

[Diblet58-migration]

I am actually his grandson. If you would like further information shoot me a PM.

 

[Diblet58-migration]

Actually a better way to contact me would be through email. I'll pm you my email address.