LOAC Essentials Volume 4: Alley Oop 1939

In 1939, Vincent Trout Hamlin had been writing and drawing the successful Alley Oop for more than five years. In Alley Oop, Hamlin created a unique concept, marrying his fascination with dinosaurs and prehistoric times to a rollicking style of storytelling and drawing that was simultaneously serious, fantastic, and loaded with slapstick. The series was set in the kingdom of Moo and starred Alley Oop, the club-wielding caveman, his girlfriend Ooola, friends Dinny the dinosaur and Foozy (who speaks in rhyme), plus Oop's rival, King Guz, and Guz's Queen Umpateedle. Yet Hamlin knew that the strip's horizons in Moo were limited. So it was, in early 1939, that Alley Oop and Ooola see a mysterious box and, to the utter amazement of Guz and his minions, promptly fade from view, followed by the caption: "Dear Reader: you must now say goodbye to Moo... if you are to follow Alley Oop in this strangest of many strange adventures. - V. T. Hamlin". Oop and Ooola had entered a time machine and were now living in the modern day 20th Century! Their host was the inventor of the time machine, Dr. Elbert Wonmug! No change of such magnitude had ever occurred in a continuing newspaper strip, and readers responded enthusiastically. With every time period in history available as a backdrop, Alley Oop became even more popular. This volume features Oop's final Moo adventure, followed by his trips to the 20th Century and ancient Greece, where he and Ooola share adventures with brave Ulysses, the lovely Helen of Troy, and the mighty Hercules. V.T. Hamlin would send his characters everywhere and everywhen - but the classic Alley Oop begins with the stories contained in this volume. The book is introduced by Michael T. Price, who first met V. T. Hamlin in the 1960s and remained friendly with him for the rest of the cartoonist's life. Price also composed the musical score for Hip Pocket Theatre's production, Alley Oop.

Vincent Trout Hamlin was born on May 10, 1900 in Perry, Iowa to parents Erma and Dr. Frederick Clarence Hamlin, a dentist. He began drawing very young and published his first cartoons in 1916. He enlisted in the army at 17, after lying about his age, to fight in WWI and was shipped to France as part of the Sixth Army's Motor Transport Group. When the war ended, he returned to the United States determined to become a syndicated comic artist, having met a newspaper man in the army who convinced him of his abilities. He attended the University of Missouri, studying art and journalism. Traditional college education did not suite him, however, and lhe eft after only a year. He held numerous jobs until he had his big break in 1933 when Alley Oop, which would become his most well-known strip, was purchased by the Newspaper Enterprise Association for syndication. Hamlin continued work on the strip until retiring in 1973, when he passed the reins to his long-time assistant, Dave Graue. Hamlin passed away in 1993.