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The Laredo Crockett comic strip opened with the perfectly drawn cinematic sequence at top and was deservedly popular with audiences for the next eighteen years. Both script and art were always top-notch and if he was not a seminal influence on the style of Alex Toth I’ll eat my Stetson. Bob Schoenke wrote and drew Laredo Crocket from June 12 1950 to January 27 1968. He had no assistants so the strip was discontinued after his death from the flu on January 13 1968. Between 1965 and 1967 Schoenke was drawing the long-running Jane Arden comic strip -- in a wild west locale. It was simply Laredo Crockett with a female heroine. Before beginning Laredo Schoenke was the artist/writer of the Jack Armstrong strip which also featured western themes.
As I recall, the Laredo Crockett strip started in our paper in the spot occupied by Jack Armstrong, and started, as the strip above, with someone in the Armstrong strip telling a story, a reminiscence. Am I mistaken in my memory?
ReplyDeleteI loved the Crockett strip, and began to wear my cap pistol cross-draw, as Laredo did. It's amazing what one recalls.
Bob Clayton
The last strip of Jack Armstrong I found was from June 6 1950 and the last panel had a grizzled old coot saying he had seen some hair-raisin' sights in his day. Looks like he was setting up for a yarn unfortunately the rest of the sequence was missing until June 12 1950 and the beginning of Laredo Crockett.
ReplyDeletea year later, and I just read the last weeks of Jack Armstrong. The old timer telling the story is indeed the kid in the first week of Loredo Crockett.
ReplyDeleteStoryline solved at last! Laredo Crockett can be read online at
ReplyDeletehttp://news.google.com/archivesearch
LAREDO CROCKETT BY BOB SCHOENKE WAS THE BEST THING EVER HAPPENED TO ME AT THE AGE OF 8 I COLLECTED THE SUNDAY STRIPS LOST THEM DUE TO A FIRE BUT IN 2007 WITH A LOT OF LUCK I MANAGED TO DOWNLOAD IT IN IT'S ORIGINAL PRINTING FROM AN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE AND AM NOW RE - INKING THIS COMIC STRIP IT IS VERY HARD WORK AND TAKES A LOT OF TIME BUT WORTH THE EFFORT I HAVE INKED UP TO 1964 AT THIS STAGE 14 YEARS DONE 4 TO GO I DO NOT KNOW WHY THE COMIC CARTOON ARTISTS DO NOT DO THIS STRIP LIKE THEY DO TARZAN AND PRINCE VALIANT FOR THEY WERE VERY MUCH LIKED IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE IT DONE THE SAME WAY LAREDO CROCKETT HELPED ME THROUGH A VERY DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD THANK YOU FOR THE CHANCE TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS COMIC STRIP
ReplyDeleteBob Schoenke was my Dad's brother. Uncle Bob used to sit around the table and draw cartoon characters such as Reddy Kilowatt, Jane Arden many Disney characters. He worked for Disney for a short time. He was a great detailed artist that died way too soon.
ReplyDeleteI found an original etching of an Indian on a horse with Bob Schoenke signature. It was in trash being removed from an apartment in Pasadena, Texas I would like to hear from you.
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