Sugar&Spike - Unused 1971 book proposal

Back in 1971, Mayer did some material as a proposal for a book collection of comics as THE POCKET-SIZE TREASURY OF SUGAR AND SPIKE STORIES.

It didn't come out, of course. Too early, I guess. Just had to wait another 40 years. Still, a nice cover. This copy of it is from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #11 [2001] from TwoMorrows, a flip-book issue with one side devoted to Sheldon Mayer (guest edited by Bill Alger) and the other to Alex Toth (an artist who Mayer hired back in the 1940s). You should try to find a copy if you're interested in Mayer's work. TwoMorrows is sold out of the print edition, but has a digital version available.

Sugar&Spike - Little Arthur Becomes a Mad Professor!

The Chronicles of Sheldon Mayer's Sugar & Spike

Little Arthur Becomes a Mad Professor!
Sugar & Spike #42 [1962]
6 pages
Reprints: None
Dedication: Carol Chernoff (age 12), Illinois

One of the major recurring characters in the series is Little Arthur, a slightly older boy whose mother Myrna often brings him over.  Arthur first appears in #17, returns in #22 and then shows up every few issues for the rest of the series, including the new material drawn in the 1980s.  Arthur is quite a terror, so the kids learn to dread his visits, which usually consist of Arthur pulling Sugar's ponytail, which leads to Spike biting him.  Arthur is old enough that he speaks grown-up talk rather than baby-talk, so he lie about what happened, getting the kids punished (as Sugar once says, he doesn't so much speak in grown-up talk as he fibs in it).  Of course, his plans always backfire (I don't think the Comics Code allowed them to show success through lying).

In this variation, Arthur has a new interest in medicine, and pretty much ignores Sugar and Spike as he works on his plans for a self-propelled stretcher. The kids figure he must be sick, and are quite happy with that, until Arthur tries to put his ideas into practice, converting a coffee table to a stretcher and trying to use them as test patients.

Characters: Sugar, Spike, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Plumm, Little Arthur, Myrna
Damage: That coffee table is history, all Arthur's fault.  The lamp, that was all Spike



"He should be sick more often! It improves him!"

Sugar&Spike - The New Vase

The Chronicles of Sheldon Mayer's Sugar & Spike

The New Vase
Unpublished
1 page
Reprints: None

Most of the unpublished Sugar & Spike stories are those that Mayer drew in the 1980s. However, there are occasional bits like "The New Vase", a 1-page story that seems to date from fairly early in the run of the series (maybe 1960 or earlier), but which wasn't used for whatever reason. It's a cute enough gag, nothing special, notable for being one of only a handful of stories to only feature one of the kids. Pretty unusual, since a lot of the charm of the series is how the kids interact with each other.

I did want to point out the alphabet building blocks that Spike is playing with.  They were a common prop in the stories, being a ubiquitous toddler toy and endlessly useful for comedy purposes.  What I always like about them is how they frequently spelled out the common baby-talk words that Mayer used when presenting the speech untranslated, GLX, SPTZL, GLAAH and the rest.  Nice touch, I thought.

Characters: Spike, Mrs. Wilson

Sugar&Spike - One Good Deed

The Chronicles of Sheldon Mayer's Sugar & Spike

One Good Deed
Sugar & Spike #87 [1969]
1 page
Reprints: None

Cute little single page story about how the kids react to the doorbell.  I like the logic of Sugar describing ringing the bell as punching the door in the face, and the action that results from that interpretation is both sensible and silly, and the proud expressions on their faces for thinking of it are adorable.

Characters: Sugar, Spike, Mrs. Plumm, Mrs. Wilson


"It was my mommy who punched its nose!"

Upcoming Comics - Staton on Anthem

Hey, if I told you that a prolific 1970s Charlton artist was doing a comic book adaptation of an Ayn Rand novel, who do you think it would be?

Right, Joe Staton, co-creator of E-Man and many other comics in the last four decades. I usually enjoy his stuff (especially when he inks his own work), though I haven't seen too much of it in a while. I noticed he was drawing a lot of Scooby-Doo comics in the last few years, which fit his style well, and he's just been announced as the new artist on the Dick Tracy comic strip.

Anyway, Staton is the artist on an upcoming 144-page comic book adaptation of ANTHEM, Rand's short novel from the 1930s, with writer Charles Santino (who did some enjoyable work on AESOP'S FABLES [1991]). Should be an interesting read.  The story is short enough that not much, if anything, will have to be cut out to fit the 144-page adaption.

Sugar&Spike - Strip Proposal 1980s

In the 1980s, Mayer did another proposal for a Sugar & Spike comic strip. There are around seven weeks worth of daily strips, and possibly one Sunday strip, for this proposal, in various stages of completion. Most of them are fully inked, with the lettering still in pencils. Others are in rougher stages, and sometimes there are multiple versions of the the same strip, which are a nice look at the creative process.

In this strip, for example, Mayer tried the joke two ways, one with most of the baby-talk dialogue translated, and then revised to leave it as baby-talk.  I think he made the right choice.  You can also see some other changes, like in panel three where it was changed to Sugar climbing up on books to reach the sharpener.  I can't make out all the notes, but it looks like there's one sketch where Mayer's trying to work out the expression of Spike's face in the last panel. I also find it interesting that often when Mayer does strips with the baby-talk untranslated he'll note what they're saying in the margins.  I guess that was for his own benefit, to more easily make sure the expressions and body language match what they're saying.

Sugar&Spike - Feature Pages - Cards

In addition to the Write Your Own Comics and Pint-Size Pin-Ups features that ran in the majority of issues of SUGAR AND SPIKE, Sheldon Mayer ran cards featuring the characters for Valentine's Day and Christmas in the appropriate issues from 1960 to 1967.  Yet another excuse for kids to cut up their comics and vex future collectors...

This is one of the four Valentine's Day cards from Sugar and Spike #27 [1960].