...And then there is this little demon seed.
From the psychotic man-baby contemplating the gigantic mystery pie with horrible, unnamed ingredients to the shark-toothed demon-mother-wife-jailer and the rushing river euphemistically named the "County Orphanage" this Golden Age attempt at humor begs for a modern-day treatment by a good horror or shock writer. There's undoubtedly an entire unknown back story to this tale and I believe we are looking into a region of hell.
From Jack in the Box #11 (October 1946).
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
There's being mischievous
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Totally mind-boggling and bizarre!!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the story I was saying to myself that it was a fake or some such a thing by a present cartoonist pretending to look a vintage comic, but immediately I realized it'd be just impossible reading something like this these days, that's for sure--
Thanks for sharing this. It has been quite a discovery to me!
You are welcome. I couldn't believe this when I first saw it, either.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks to BB for all the incoming traffic.
Speaking of psychotic man-babies...
ReplyDeleteHey!
ReplyDeleteThat has to be the "Mystery" toon from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". The villain was supposed to be a classic toon that was obscure but should have been popular enough that someone knew him. Now the eyes thing, notice the kid's psychotic pupils change ala Blade Runner each and every frame...
Aside from that, the "Rights" should be bought up by the Ritalin manufacturers...
I think that this story is actually a parody of Red Skelton. He had a character on his radio show, called "Mean Widdle Kid." If you remember Looney Tunes, they used to reference it all the time. "Daddy said if I dood it, I get a whippin'--I dood it anyway." Or, "He bwoke my widdle arm!" They were all popular catchphrases from Skelton's show.
ReplyDeleteI think this story is making fun of that sketch. Divorced of the context of the times, all that's left is the psychotic meanness that was at the center of those sketches in the first place.
Mean little kids were a big part of pop culture back in those days.
That is some serious serial killer in the making behavior.
ReplyDeleteSo THAT's where Stewie Griffin got his act from!
ReplyDelete"Orphangage"? I think that's how Popeye pronounced it, anyway.
ReplyDeleteFinal panel is a bit reminiscent of the old comic strip "Home Wanted By A Baby". Eh, not really, but how often do you get to pimp BarnaclePress?