We've had our fair share of horrors so far this month here at AEET: witches, phantoms, a handful of Frankensteins (with a few more on the way too!) --heck, we even encountered a Vamp'Beer! But now it's time for the most loathsome monster of all time to appear, and lawd help Daffy Drafty to avoid finding himself 6 feet under before midnight! This is a very funny, 4 page strip, via the unrationed and pocket-sized, September 1944 issue of Army and Navy Fun Parade Vol. 3 #6. WW2 era laughs like this from Art Helfant undoubtably helped lift morale and keep the boys ('n gals) chuggin' along in high spirits, especially when reminded that even a top dog nazi can always, and very easily, be knocked down and totally out of the picture once and for freakin' all, IYKWIM? Also, there's a silly blood bank gag at the end of the post, but I forget from where it originally came from... so yes, some assistance is required, please!
First page, last panel, Daffy looks very much like early Tintin. Hergé was drawing Tintin well before WWII so it could be more than a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteWonder where Hitlunatic got the swastika armband.
According to Ai (which can make mistakes) the blood bank cartoon came from the same issue as the main story.
ReplyDeleteWell, I had a feeling… thanks!
DeleteThe vampire should have asked if he could make a withdrawal.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, that was manic. Rarely do I feel much like I am watching an early cartoon short when I read a comic--certainly Disney and Warner's own daily strips never feel like the actual films; they changed their own formats completely for the printed page--but this one manages to achieve that hectic, rather relentless barrage of sight gags pretty well.
ReplyDeleteIt does feel a little like it was made up as it went along, and that really amps the surreality factor. I like the first two pages best.
"Drafty" is such a great pun on "draftee." It's also slang for a million things, of course, most often clothing malfunctions when this was written ("Say, does it feel drafty in here?"). I'm surprised I haven't heard it used more often.
This whole comic is surreal! Like Mr. Cavin said, I'd suspect this was made up as it went along, which, in this case, isn't that bad for a gag strip.
ReplyDeleteThe art is wonderful; it's big and bold (even in the constrained page size) and reads really well, but the fever dream of writing it means you can get lost going from panel to panel.
I love ghost / hitler / crazy guy and how absolutely nutty the whole thing is. About as much as I love the teeth on that vampire!