Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 24, 2025 | 3 comments

SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS…

By SCOTT SHAW!

I enjoyed the work of the late Herb Trimpe – rhymes with “Skimpy” — from the first time he drew a Marvel comic for one of the publisher’s Westerns. Soon, he was following the “look” of Jack Kirby — and did a darn good job of it — but his personal cartoonist hero and inspiration was EC’s Jack Davis. After inking Marie Severin’s work on the series, Herb got his first penciling gig on 1968’s The Incredible Hulk #106, working from layouts by Marie and inked by George Tuska.

Next, he worked with a few combinations, including Frank Giacoia and John Severin – Marie’s big brother. After six issues inked by Dan Adkins, Herb — who was born 86 years ago this Monday, May 26 — finally was drawing the whole magilla. I bought ’em all off the spinner rack. One of those introduced a gooey monster from the swamp called the Glob, in  The Incredible Hulk #121.

Nov. 1969. Trimpe cover art

This was writer Roy Thomas’ tip o’ the hat to the Golden Age swamp monster, the Heap, a shuffling mass of swamp stuff. It debuted in Air Fighters Comics #3 (Hillman, Dec. 1942) in the SkyWolf story “Wanted by the Nazis,” written by Harry Stein and drawn by Mort Leav. He starred in his first solo story in Airboy Comics Vol. 1 #9/32  (Oct. 1946.) with a script by Bill Woolfolk, penciling by Carmine Infantino, and inking by Frank Giacoia, and ended in Airboy Comics Vol. 10 #4/111.

Airboy Comics #9/32 

Many years later, a new Heap returned via Skywald, with a one-shot comic book written by Robert Kanigher and penciled by Tom Sutton, as well as 12 new “Heap” stories in the publisher’s B&W magazine, Psycho, many written and drawn by the great Ross Andru. Historians are uncertain whether Skywald had formally acquired character rights from Hillman, which had ceased publishing in the mid-1950s.

The Heap #1 (Skywald, Sept. 1971.) Cover art by Tom Sutton, with inking by Jack Abel.

Similarly, Marvel’s Supernatural Thrillers #1 was an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon’s short story, “It,” first published in Unknown (Street and Smith, Vol. 3, No. 6, August 1940.)

Supernatural Thrillers #1, Dec. 1972. Cover art by Jim Steranko.

Mad #5 parodied the Heap in “Outer Sanctum” in 1953, and Marvel/Atlas used kaiju-sized “mud monsters” throughout its pre-hero days in Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and others. I was mystified why Smilin’ Stan Lee used mud to scare humans until I assumed that they weren’t made with mud… but feces! Who wouldn’t be scared by a creature that weighted approximately 90,000 tons of poop?!?

That was confirmed with the second appearance of the Glob in The Incredible Hulk #129.

July 1970. Cover art by Herb Trimpe.

When the Hulk smacks the Glob off the top of the Eiffel Tower, what looks like doggie doo-doo lands on the concrete-covered grounds below the impressive structure… and starts to wiggle together, attempting to reassemble!

The Incredible Hulk #129, Page 20. Written by Roy Thomas, pencilling and inking by Herb Trimpe, with lettering by Sam Rosen.

In 1972, San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Ken Krueger asked my high school friend John Pound — the man who created Topps’ Garbage Pail Kids – and me if we wanted to invent characters for a new underground comix, of his, The Gory Stories Quarterly. I wasn’t comfortable with writing and drawing a pornographic story, so I felt had to concoct something else that would still be appropriately outrageous. Then, my tiny brain coughed up the final three panels of The Incredible Hulk #129. Sure, it was juvenile, but so was I.

Gory Stories Quarterly #2½ (SHROUD Publishers, 1972). Cover art by John Pound.

Here’s how Ken described The Gory Stories Quarterly in its indicia:

The Gory Story Quarterly No. 2 ½ “Published  and distributed by SHROUD Publishers – 5010 Newport Avenue – San Diego, California 92107. Copyright by Kenneth J. Krueger for SHROUD, publishers, written permission is necessary if  you plan to rip off anything. EDITOR AND PUBLISHER– Ken Krueger – ART EDITORS – John Pound and Scott Shaw. STAFF – Dave Clark, Stephen Starr & David Weiss. Contributions are welcome and if we get enough in we might even be able to print this thing on a regular basis. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO LIVING PERSONS IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY – we can’t draw that good.” (The cover title and indicia differed.)

Gory Stories Quarterly #2 ½. “The Turd,” Page 2

As you can see, since the Glob’s wriggling remains reminded me of feces, I also ended “The Turd” with very similar artwork!

Page 10

Surprisingly, Gory Stories Quarterly was reprinted twice. One of the editions even featured a reprint of a short story starring “Angelfood McDevilsfood” by R. Crumb!  In the 1980s, Ken became the head of distribution for San Diego’s Pacific Comics, and his workers often stuffed copies of Gory Stories Quarterly #2½ – as well as my funny animal anthology Wild Animals – so Pacific’s comics, books, and portfolios wouldn’t get damaged during shipping! Ironically, copies of Gory Stories Quarterly #2½ are now worth anywhere between $10 and $700. (Yeah, that’s not a misprint!)

All three editions of Gory Stories Quarterly.

But things didn’t end there. After seeing the elaborate costumes at 1968’s BayCon AKA The World Science Fiction Convention in Berkeley, California, I wondered what sort of get-up would be possible without any planning. Since I was also interested in Dadaism – an anti-art movement from the early 20th Century, primarily a reaction to World War I – I covered myself with peanut butter (chunky-style, natch) and portrayed the Turd onstage during the 1972 LACon/World Science-Fiction Convention’s costume contest. The jurors even created a new award for me, “Most Disgusting.”

But I didn’t plan for my body’s temperature to melt the peanut butter, which I smudged on anything and everyone near me. Afterward, I took a long shower to scrub off all the peanut butter down the drain. A few weeks later, I was contacted by the angry showrunner of LACon. It seems that my peanut butter had clogged up the plumbing of the con’s hotel, which, in turn, caused the plumbing to explode. I was told that I owed LACon thousands of dollars, but when I reminded the showrunner that the costume contest’s jurors gave me an award for my Dada presentation, the showrunner realized that I couldn’t be sued!

Years later, at San Diego Comic-Con, I tried to explain all this to Herb Trimpe, but since I hadn’t brought any material to show him, I don’t think he understood what I was talking about. It was for the best, I suppose. After all, I wouldn’t have enjoyed having the Marvel Comics Group’s lawyers sue me.

But I have to admit, thanks to the Turd – and especially Herb Trimpe – for unknowingly launching my career as a cartoonist that’s lasted for 54 years and counting.

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MORE

— ODDBALL COMICS: CARMINE INFANTINO, the Jane Goodall of Comics. Click here.

— ODDBALL COMICS: Perhaps the Oddest of Them All — HERBIE THE FAT FURY.Click here.

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For over half a century, SCOTT SHAW! has been a pro cartoonist/writer/designer of comic books, animation, advertising and toys. He is also a historian of all forms of cartooning. Scott has worked on many underground comix and mainstream comic books, including: Fear and Laughter (Kitchen Sink); Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie); Simpsons Comics (Bongo); Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino); and his co-creation with Roy Thomas, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! (DC).

Scott also worked on numerous animated cartoons, including producing/directing John Candy’s Camp Candy (NBC/DIC/Saban); Martin Short’s The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (NBC/Hanna-Barbera Productions); Garfield and Friends (CBS/Film Roman); and the Emmy-winning Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies (CBS/Marvel Productions), among many others. As senior art director for the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, Scott worked on dozens of commercials for Post Pebbles cereals with the Flintstones. He also designed a line of Hanna-Barbera action figures for McFarlane Toys.

Scott was one of the comics fans who organized the first San Diego Comic-Con, where he has become known for performing his hilarious Oddball Comics Live! slide shows.

Need funny cartoons for any and all media? Click here! Scott does commissions!