134. Assembly Line Comic Artist

December 30, 2008

Q: Can you help me in recalling who the NatLamp artist was who was doing the auto assembly line comic? (Early ’70s). The Ukranian worker with seniority was always going on about “those young guys, what do they know about screws!”

A: It was “Assembly Line Comics” by Ed Subitzky from the April 1975 (Car Sickness) issue. (Thanks to Ken and Steve for digging up this info.)

Comments

If we're thinking of the same thing, it was an Ed Subitsky production. I saw it years ago in a collection of comic strips called (I think) "Funny Pages." I don't know what regular issue it was in or even if it was printed in a regular issue. It was two pages long and each panel, which was the whole width of the page, featured a row of factory workers having monologues with themselves. The only way to read it was to read it one character at a time. It was very funny. The character I remember best was an old man who complained about the young whipper-snappers making fun of the way he bolted. He insisted that he was the best at bolting, and that nothing, not even touching a movie star's breasts, affected the way he bolted. He ended his monologue by spewing obscenities.

—Ken Brown

December 30, 2008 9:31 pm

The April, 1975, Car Sickness issue had a cartoon called "Assembly Line" by Ed Subitzky on p.48. It shows all the workers in their own worlds jabbering away endlessly in order to pass the time in an incredibly boring job.

—Steve_O

December 31, 2008 1:10 pm

Yep, that's the one. Thanks, guys!

—Mark

December 31, 2008 1:40 pm

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