George L. Carlson
George Leonard Carlson (1887 - September 26, 1962) was an illustrator and artist with numerous completed works, perhaps the most famous being the dust jacket for Gone with the Wind. He is cited by Harlan Ellison as a "cartoonist of the absurd, on a par with Winsor McCay, Geo. McManus, Rube Goldberg or Bill Holman." Comic book scholar Michael Barrier called him "a kind of George Herriman for little children".
Also recorded as George Leonard Carlson · George Carlson
George L. Carlson

George Carlson · Grand Comics Database [1] · Public domain
- Born
- 1887
- Died
- 1962
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- graphic designer · illustrator · comics artist · writer
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
George Leonard Carlson (1887 - September 26, 1962) was an illustrator and artist with numerous completed works, perhaps the most famous being the dust jacket for Gone with the Wind. He is cited by Harlan Ellison as a "cartoonist of the absurd, on a par with Winsor McCay, Geo. McManus, Rube Goldberg or Bill Holman." Comic book scholar Michael Barrier called him "a kind of George Herriman for little children".
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wikidata · Q5541446 · wikipedia · George L. Carlson
In this article
Timeline of creative works
Timeline of creative works
In the Harlan Ellison Hornbook preface to his essay on Carlson, Ellison relates how he contacted Carlson's daughters and attempted to get the material they sent him preserved in a museum or archive, to no avail. According to Paul Tumey of Fantagraphics, Carlson's book Draw Comics! Here's How - A Complete Book on Cartooning (Whitman, 1933) was included in an exhibit on Art Spiegelman in the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in 2009. Two episodes of "The Pie-Face Prince of Old Pretzelburg" (from Jingle Jangle Comics 5 and 24) are included in A Smithsonian Book of Comic-book Comics ed. By J. Michael Barrier and Martin T. Another "Pie-Face Prince" episode is reprinted in The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, ed. By Art Spiegelman. "The Zheckered Zultan and His Three Little Zulteens" appears in The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics, ed. By historian Craig Yoe. In October 2013, a two-part article on Carlson's career appeared in The Comics Journal. Calling Carlson "an under-appreciated, largely overlooked cartoonist, illustrator, game designer, and graphic artist extraordinaire" with a "playful, surreal world", writer Paul Tumey examined Carlson's life and work and announced the publication of Perfect Nonsense: The Chaotic Comics and Goofy Games of George Carlson by Daniel Yezbick (Fantagraphics, December 2013). The article references Ellison's essay and another he wrote for a 1990 Carlson tribute comic book published by Innovation, Mangle Tangle Tales #1. It also includes an extensive bibliography of Carlson's work. A more scholarly analysis appears in Daniel Yezbick's 2007 "Riddles of Engagement: Narrative Play in the Children's Media and Comic Art of George Carlson".
• 1917 - Illustrates The Magic Stone: Rainbow Fairy Stories with paintings • 1917 - Cover illustration for Judge Magazine, July 14, 1917 • 1920 - Illustrates Swiss Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffis • 1920 - Illustrates Jane and the Owl by Gene Stone • 1921 - Illustrates Adventures of Jane by Gene Stone • 1928 - Illustrates The Adventures of Toby Spaniel • 1929 - Creates a dust jacket for The Whirlwind • 1931 - Provides black and white ink drawings and full color frontis for Fact and Story Reader - book eight • 1933 - Authored Draw Comics! - Here's How - A Complete Book on Cartooning • 1936 - Illustrated the original yellow dust jacket for Gone with the Wind • 1937 - Writes and Illustrates Fun-Time Games, Puzzles, Stunts, Drawings, also Fun For Juniors, and also Points on Cartooning. • 1939 - Illustrates "Uncle Wiggily and His Friends" by Howard R. Garis • 1940 - Cover illustration for "Treasure Chest of Stephen Foster Songs" • 1942 - Begins work with Jingle Jangle Comics at its birth, creating covers and contributing comic strips such as "The Pie-Face Prince of Old Pretzelburg", contributed for 8 years every other month, two strips per contributed issue. • 1949 - Creates 1001 Riddles for Children • 1953 - Creates book I Can Draw for young artists • 1955 - Creates Funtime Crossword Puzzles for juniors • 1959 - Creates book Jokes & Riddles for young children

John Martin's Book March 1920

Illustration from "Caricature (Thirteenth Edition): Wit and Humor of a Nation in Picture, Song and Story." (https: archive.org/details/carricature-1908)
published by Leslie-Judge Company · "Caricature (Thirteenth Edition): Wit and Humor of a Nation in Picture, Song and Story." (
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1887
George L. Carlson born.
1962
George L. Carlson died.
Literature
Literature
Literature
A treasury of Eskimo tales; illustrated in color by George Carlson.
Life Inspiring Life, Sculpture Review, 2004
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bridgeport Telegram, Bridgeport Connecticut, September 27, 1962:
- 2.Harlan Ellison, "Comic of the Absurd". Harlan Ellison Hornbook (Penzler, 1990). Originally appeared in Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson, eds., All in Color for a Dime(Arlington, 1970).
- 3.J. Michael Barrier and Martin T. Williams (eds.), A Smithsonian Book of Comic-book Comics. Smithsonian, 1982.
- 4.Paul Tumey, "Figuring Out George Carlson". The Comics Journal, October 9, 2013. (Part 2 here.
- 5.Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, eds., The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics. Abrams, 2009.
- 6.Craig Yoe, ed., The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics. IDW, June 2010.
- 7.Daniel Yezbick, Perfect Nonsense: The Chaotic Comics and Goofy Games of George Carlson. Fantagraphics, December 2013.
- 8.Daniel Yezbick, "Riddles of Engagement: Narrative Play in the Children's Media and Comic Art of George Carlson". ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, vol. 3 no. 3, Spring 2007. .)
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q5541446: George L. CarlsonWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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