Number 1871: Carnie Callahan and his gang of special people

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! In 1944 for 10¢...a thin dime, the tenth part of a dollar...you could see the origin story of the Barker, the one-and-only Carnie Callahan. Carnie is in charge of a wondrous group of very special and talented human beings, who make up the sideshow of Colonel Lane’s Mammoth Circus.

As a gift to readers encountering this carnival crew here at Pappy’s, we let you in free! You don’t even have to come up with a dime. Is that generous? Is that a gift? Well, sure it is! (We make our money on rigged games of chance and on overpriced concessions in the midway.)

The Barker, for the mid-forties, was a fairly long-running feature. This first story, drawn by the inimitable Jack Cole and written by Joe Millard, appeared in National Comics # 42 (1944), and moved the former cover feature, Uncle Sam, to the back of the book. Uncle Sam would soon be gone, but Carnie and his group would go until the last issue of National, #75 in 1949. Not only that, he would have 15 issues of his own comic book. The reason is probably because artist Jack Cole left the Barker after a couple of issues, to be replaced by another of Quality Comics’ fantastic art talents, Klaus Nordling. Readers had no reason to feel they had been led into the tent by Jack Cole, and then once they had paid, bamboozled by an inferior product.

No need to take my word for it, either. You can link to a story by Nordling posted here nearly six years ago, after you finish reading today’s offering.

Enter the tent here, for a story from The Barker #5. Just click on the thumbnail.

Posted in: Pappy Comics