Boy, it certainly has been a chilly winter this year so far, eh? Let's make it even chillier (and sillier) with a scavenger hunt romp though the old cemetery on a rainy night, via the August 1949 issue of Aggie Mack #8. Aggie was originally a syndicated Chicago Tribune comic strip created by Hal Rasmusson, and had itself a nice 'n lengthy run from the mid 40's up into the early 70's. In the late 40's though, Superior Comics acquired Aggie and created a short-lived comic book series which lasted only 8 issues. And okay, I'm just guessing here (because I haven't really researched it), but the lead boy character's eyes seems to be an Orphan Annie reversal, instead of all white eyes, they gave Bobo all black sockets, which only adds to the spooky fun of this story because he of course resembles a hollow-skulled zombie in every panel! Anyway, this is a super kooky tale, (and definitely coat-tailin' on Archie Comics), with a cartoony cool Iger Shop style that all of you THOIA'ers should be well familiar with at this point...
5 comments:
A guy with all black eyes, he should have been a comic horror host instead of the love interest.
How does rain ruin a skeleton? Acid rain wasn't an issue back then.
Wonder if Bobo and his creepy eyeballs were an inspiration for the Sixties/Seventies underground comics character, ProJunior?
Rasmusson also authored one of the once ubiquitous Walter Foster art instruction books--This one simply entitled "Comics". Looked somewhat old-fashioned by the '70s, but I used to enjoy flipping through that particular volume whenever I happened on it, because the quaint cartooning style therein was so charming and appealing.
So I went and looked up example of Aggie Mack from the strip; in the strip he has white pupils and the artwork is a lot more charming and has an interesting style, none of which translates here (I suspect the printing is why the eyes are all black?). No wonder this didn't last long!
The strip has an almost Jack Davis-ish look to it (before Jack Davis!). The ones I saw weren't particularly funny but the strip was well drawn.
As for this story, it's one of those fun and silly stories where a whole bunch of stuff happens and usually everybody ends up arrested and "the story checks out." Nobody in a comedy strip ever gets to keep a reward, sadly!
I like the freewheeling escalation of this story, from motorcycle purchase to screwball cemetery chase. I am not sure why the cops didn't pin the charges on the wanted thief who actually damaged the skeleton, though. Or, you know, the scavenger hunt administrators who actually stole it in the first place. I guess that's just not screwball enough.
I agree with Mr. Barnes that this art is way less charming and sophisticated than the strip (and the cover of the mag). I mean, the strips paid the big bucks, after all. But I do like the work here. It's certainly grotesque and a little curdled looking--close peeks at the characters reveal their pocked and damaged surfaces, stained clothing, etc. The rain and the gnarled tree and good skeleton art are all plusses. The black eyes are just gateway weirdness.
But wow, how many influences can we find here? I see Al Capp, Bob Montana, Boody Rogers. Sheldon Meyer?
That cheerful skeleton got a lot more depressed once he lost his Santa hat, poor thing.
Bobo with his round black holes for eyes is a lot more unsettling than the skeleton would be.
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