Will Gould Red BarryPartial Sunday Comic Strip dated 4-1-35 Original Art (King Features Syndicate, 1935)....

Description

Will Gould Red BarryPartial Sunday Comic Strip dated 4-1-35 Original Art (King Features Syndicate, 1935). Gould was about two months ahead of deadline in 1939 when a disagreement with the syndicate led to the cancellation of his crimebusting masterpiece, Red Barry (we are offering a Red Barry movie poster one sheet in this same auction). The agency showed no better gumption than to scrap the unpublished work, barring what little Gould had reclaimed. This splendid partial-page example comes from the strip's second year. This upper half of a Sunday spread comprises ink over graphite on lightly toned Bristol board with an image area of 14.5" x 11". Marginal notes and scuffed edges. In Very Good condition. For a more detailed description please see our online entry at HA.com.


More Information: Gould was about two months ahead of deadline in 1939 when a disagreement with the syndicate led to the cancellation of his crimebusting masterpiece, Red Barry. The agency showed no better gumption than to scrap the unpublished work, barring what little Gould had reclaimed. This splendid partial-page example comes from the strip's second year. Not to be confused with Dick Tracy's Chester Gould (no kin), Will Gould nonetheless had a backhanded connection, inasmuch as Red Barry was among several hard-boiled detective features calculated to compete with Tracy. One of the most ferocious such competitors, too, and rare in terms of surviving original artwork. This prime example recaps a brutal case involving Detective Barry and a police inspector: The descriptive wording is as harrowing as the standoff it describes. Will Gould's angular drawing style is unique in comics -- as extreme in its way as Chester Gould's Expressionistic technique on Tracy, and yet more nearly realistic. Red Barry, like Dick Tracy, also crashed Hollywood, with Buster Crabbe starring in a Universal Pictures serial of 1938. The syndicate's objections to Gould's work had to do with violence -- which was, of course, the selling point for a strip designed to one-up Chester Gould's Dick Tracy. This upper half of a Sunday spread comprises ink over graphite on lightly toned Bristol board. Image area, 14.5" x 11". Marginal notes and scuffed edges. Very Good condition.


More information about Will Gould. See also: Gould, Will Artist.