Kookie by John Stanley and Bill Williams 1962

I remember when I bought both issues of Kookie. It was at Dragon Con in the mid 90's. I was in my early 20's and was most likely on a mission to find late 60's and 70's EC 'zines such as Squa-Tront, Wally Wood's Witzend and underground comics from the 70's. I'm not a fan of conventions, but before the widespread use of the internet, and especially ebay, going to conventions was one of the best ways to find old obscure comics and 'zines. It was late in the day and I was about to leave and drive home. I saw those beautiful painted covers of Kookie displayed by a dealer and was intrigued immediately. I knew of Little Lulu and John Stanley, but had no clue of his 60's DELL output at that point. The beatnik imagery was what grabbed my attention. I was still in my Beat phase at that point, as a select few of young people were back then. I bought both issues and left. That was the beginning of my love affair with John Stanley. I posted a couple of stories on the old version of this site back in 2004 or 2005. Here are the complete two issues published by DELL back in 1962. They were written with layouts by John Stanley and drawn by Bill Williams, an artist who is rarely mentioned within the walls of comic book history. Not only are the comics great and full of old guys trying to get Beat Culture (the mainstream version), but they're also drawn with a precision that only a journeyman cartoonist can pull off. Like, enjoy.

Kookie #1, 1962 

Kookie #2, 1962