The late great was born 106 years ago…
By PETER BOSCH
If there is one thing I truly love about DC’s Silver Age humor comics, it is the art of the late Bob Oksner, who was born 106 years ago on Oct. 14, 1916. Oksner drew beautiful women. No, I take that back… he drew breathtaking ladies. And they shared one similar feature: As Oksner himself observed, “My women had Saturday night bodies and Sunday school faces.” (Alter Ego #67, April 2007, TwoMorrows).
That sexy-but-innocent quality was a mainstay of the Oksner women who appeared in titles such as The Adventures of Bob Hope and Angel and the Ape. But they were never more appealing than when he was drawing DC’s adaptation of the TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, the 1959-63 CBS sitcom about girl-crazy teenager Dobie (Dwayne Hickman) and his beatnik buddy, Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver).
“Meet Bob Oksner” page from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis #16
Oksner was absolutely the perfect artist for the comic. What painter Alberto Vargas was to Playboy, Bob Oksner was to Dobie Gillis. Here are 13 GREAT COVERS from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis 26-issue series, which ran from May-June 1960 to October 1964.
In chronological order:
The only issue to feature a photo cover (of rich, obnoxious Chatsworth T. Osborne Jr., played by Steve Franken).
Note the lower right corner of the cover. DC was proud that Bob Oksner won the National Cartoonists Society Division Award for Comic Books for 1961. It was the second year in a row that he won the award.
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MORE
— 13 COVERS: A BOB OKSNER Birthday Celebration — 2021 EDITION. Click here.
— 13 COVERS: A BOB OKSNER Birthday Celebration — 2020 EDITION. Click here.
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PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, has just been published by TwoMorrows. He has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. Peter lives in Hollywood.
October 14, 2022
To wake up in a Bob Oksner world, surrounded by all those gorgeous ladies… Sigh… And he never lost his touch! Even his 70s/80s work with Lois Lane stories still had that magic!
October 14, 2022
Those are some great covers. And Thalia Menninger was a total babe. Much better than yucky old Zelda. Probably because Tuesday Weld was sexy as hell.
“A Saturday night body and a Sunday school face”. That about sums up my dreams.
October 15, 2022
Dobie looks just like Dwayne Hickman. However the Bob Denver character looks more like the drawings of Jerry Lewis in his book. I wonder if Denver did not sign a release to have his likeness presented in the comic?
October 15, 2022
Love Bob Oksner ! My introduction to him was in the 80s when he inked Keith Giffen on those Ambush Bug series, At the time I had no idea how much work he had done. Since than I’ve collected his Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis , Angel and the Ape is great, Love the issues inked by Wally Wood.
October 15, 2022
I’d forgotten there was a Dobie comic! (It came along around the same time I did! We’ve been watching the series in reruns: the depictions here are superb! Like, cool!