Sad Sack and the Sarge #128

If the cover to this 1977 Harvey Comic was Christmas themed, I would call this book a 'Scrooge'. We get this really really festive Halloween cover with Sad Sack skewering his gruff, but caring Sarge, as the most frightening decoration for the Army base's upcoming Halloween bash. But in terms of any of the stories being Halloween themed, there's absolutely nothing.

There are 4 stories starring Sad Sack, the Sarge and other characters in this book. 3 are paneled stories. 1 is prose. The artists and writers might have set these tales during the month of October. But there's nothing to the plot or settings that imply that the characters are in the throes of the season of the witch.

The opening story was the best. Sad Sack and Sarge are going on leave via air travel. Sarge got business class while Sad Sack flies 2nd class. The differences in the experiences of the 2 characters couldn't be more polarizing or funny. The middle story was interesting as it's got Sad Sack being an Army test subject to early virtual reality and hard light hologram technology. A funny read but lacking the magic of the opener.

The prose yarn was a rambling mess. These fillers were merely requirements to help meet first class postage standards and the lack of care and finesse shows. But it seems that whomever plotted the prose tale also scripted the last story which sees Sad Sack and Sarge on horseback getting lost on a vacation excursion at a dude ranch. 

There were also a couple of one-page gags that were okay. But again, not involving Halloween. In fact the only thing Halloween themed was an ad for UNICEF starring the main characters of Harvey Comics, including Richie Rich, Casper and Baby Huey. 

This is the second time that I have been burned by an issue of Sad Sack. I bought a reprint of Sad Sack: At Home for the Holidays that features a beautiful cover of the main character coming back to his metropolitan home for a Christmas break. But it was devoid of Holiday cheer. At least one story was set during Sad Sack's trip back home and there was snow. But none of the sets were decorated with boughs of holly; nor were there any 'fa-la-la-la-laaas' in the air.

If I had spent a ton of money on this book I would have been really disappointed. But the asking price was only 90 cents and I think I used trade credit. And at least half of the material in this book was decent. However, if I come across another Sad Sack comic book with a holiday cover of any sort of celebration, you can be assure that I will be making sure there's at least 1 themed tale in the book before I shell out some cash to purchase it.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.