BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 16: GILBERT PART 1

HUZZAH! MOARER BRITISH CIGARETTE CARDS! THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR IS VERY BRITISH INDEED

1926 JOHN PLAYER AND SONS STRAIGHT LINE CARICATURES MR. G. K. CHESTERTON

THIS ODD LOOKING CHARACTER IS A CARD FROM THE STRAIGHT LINE CARICATURES SET FROM PLAYER'S AND SONS CIGARETTES. IT'S A COLLECTION OF CELEBRITY PORTRAITS DRAWN IN A VERY ABSTRACT ANGULAR STYLE BY SCOTTISH ARTIST  ALICK P.F. RITCHIE. ALICK WAS A PAINTER AND ILLUSTRATOR WHO ALSO PRODUCED AN EXTREMELY EARLY EXAMPLE OF ANIMATION WHICH I WISH I COULD DISCUSS BUT I CAN'T GET THE BFI PLAYER TO WORK. ALONG WITH POSTER ART, ALICK ALSO CREATED TWO TRADING CARD SETS INCLUDING THE VERY FUN ANIMALLOYS SET. WHILE A LOT OF THE CELEBRITIES IN THIS SET AREN'T VERY WELL KNOWN ANYMORE THEY ARE ALL AT LEAST INTERESTING TO LOOK AT IN THIS GEOMETRIC STYLE CREATED WITH ALL STRAIGHT LINES. CHARLIE CHAPLIN IS IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZABLE WHILE WINSTON CHURCHILL LOOKS A BIT LIKE THE OFFSPRING OF A TOAD AND A TROLL. THE POOR EARL OF BALFOUR LOOKS LIKE HE WAS CREATED COMPLETELY OUT OF WOODEN BLOCK TOYS. NJWV HAS A NICE WRITEUP ON THE SET IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE. THIS SET CAUGHT MY EYE AND I WAS HOPING TO FIND A COOL ONE CHEAP

 CHAPLIN AND CHAMBERLAIN WERE NOT SO CHEAP BUT I WAS HAPPY TO PICK UP THIS CARD OF G.K. CHESTERTON. CHESTERTON WAS A PROLIFIC ENGLISH CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN WRITER WHO SEEMED TO INFLUENCE JUST ABOUT EVERYONE AROUND HIM WHETHER THEY AGREED WITH HIM OR NOT. HE WROTE A TON OF ESSAYS, CRITIQUES, POEMS AND CHRISTIAN APOLOGETIC TEXTS BUT HIS NOVELS THAT SEEM TO STILL BE REMEMBERED ARE THE PROTO-SPY THRILLER THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY AND SURREAL SPECULATEIVE FICTION THE NAPOLEON OF NOTTING HILL. THE ONLY THING OF HIS I'VE ACTUALLY READ ARE SOME OF HIS FATHER BROWN MYSTERY SHORT STORIES. THE BEST WAY I CAN DESCRIBE THEM IS TO IMAGINE IF SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS A SMALL CATHOLIC PRIEST WHO SOLVES CRIMES LIKE COLUMBO AND THEN LECTURES LITERALLY EVERYONE INVOLVED INCLUDING THE MURDER VICTIM THAT THEY WERE NOT NEARLY PIOUS ENOUGH. THEY'RE PRETTY FUN LITTLE MYSTERIES AND THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL FILM AND TELEVISION ADAPTATIONS. LIKE MOST CONSERVATIVES, HIS LEGACY IS SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED (THE LARGEST SECTION OF HIS WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE IS TITLED 'CHARGES OF ANTISEMITISM') BUT IN GENERAL IT SEEMS LIKE HIS HEART WAS MORE OR LESS IN THE RIGHT PLACE. THE REAL REASON I WAS EXCITED TO SNAG THIS CARD IS BECAUSE GILBERT IS KINDA SORTA A CHARACTER IN NEIL GAIMAN'S SANDMAN COMICS. FIDDLER'S GREEN, ALSO KNOWN AS GILBERT, IS HEAVILY BASED ON CHESTERTON'S APPEARANCE AND IS PORTRAYED BY STEPHEN FRY IN THE NETFLIX SERIES. THE SANDMAN GILBERT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM THE COMIC AND IS A HELLUVA RIGHTEOUS DUDE. WHILE THERE IS A FIDDLER'S GREEN CARD FROM A 1994 SANDMAN TRADING CARD SET, IT'S PRETTY SCARCE AND THIS VINTAGE GILBERT IS A NICE SUBSITUTE