It's not quite summer yet, but we're heading to the beach anyway for some sun 'n fun, as well as a silly slapstick serving of Pretzel & Picklejuice, courtesy of the one and only issue of Funland Comics #1 from 1945. As far as I can tell, this is also the only appearance of P&PJ, a kooky, low-rent Abbott & Costello-esque comedy pair who equally can't seem to do anything right. So how hard is it to run a hot dog stand anyway, you ponder? Well, add a bikini babe to the equation, and of course things can get pretty dang hard! Creator / artist, Lou Ferstadt also injects an unusual amount of fetishistic female bare feet close-up illustrations to the frenzied action here, so many in fact, that it almost propels the story into Tijuana Bible territory! Flipping through the rest of this frisky Funland issue (for kids), it also becomes a bit suspect with additional funny animal story titles like Angel Pussy, and The Cock Crows starring Woody & Squeaky! Heckuva one-shot.
That is indeed a bevy of bare feet! You could even say they’re hard to miss. But the real gem might be the beach babe photo! So fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThere’s actually a lot of interesting info behind the photo as well, check it out:
Deletehttps://flashbak.com/the-women-of-the-women-relax-on-sydneys-tamarama-beach-in-1939-419301/#
One gag that would have been appropriate for this comic, if the moneybag contained Pretzel's life savings- consisting of a dozen wooden nickels and a five dollar bill of the Confederate States of America.
ReplyDelete"You're so cute," she says, while looking at him like a snake at a mouse.
ReplyDeleteThat facial expression was perfect.
You can tell this is pre-MAD because nobody is filling the pages with chicken fat!
ReplyDeleteI really like the art here, Sheila looks the part of a black widow from the first frame, pickle juice and pretzel really do give off a Abbot and Costello vibe without being in copyright territory, and the action is good and works.
The feet -- that's a bit distracting. On the last page we have feed covered with ... well, it's mustard but one can imagine. I think we've passed into fetish territory at this point.
And a super cute old beach photo!
I saw that "post no bills" gag in the splash and I thought "here we go again." But then there wasn't even one more non-diegetic gag throughout the whole story. I'm impressed! Usually, chicken fat is a hugely over-mined resource for try-hard comedy in comics. (Also, it is a resource for very high quality humor comics, too, but that's not nearly as egregious). This story rises or falls on its plot line alone, and I think that takes guts.
ReplyDeleteI like the panel where Pretzel is sitting on his cloud with love circles radiating from his heart. So sweet. Also dig the way that robber is sporting a brace of Webley Mark IV revolvers. Someone just back from advancing the aims of colonialism in the Transvaal or wherever. Nothing like a beached Edwardian brigand and his honey trap to inspire modern day comedy!