Giggle Comics #49

This was a fun and exciting look at Americana, 1947. With a total of 5 stories in this issue, 2 were set at Christmas. I'm not complaining about this one because I truly thought I'd be lucky if only 1 story was holiday themed. Heck, I was afraid that this was gonna be a Scrooge issue with only a seasonally themed cover. I consider myself quite lucky with what I got!

The cover story starring the baby dressed SuperKatt was perhaps the most outdated story of the entire lot. One of the main characters is named Petunia. She's the black maid to Superkatt's owner, Junior. With stereotyped large red lips and very poor English, I'm imagining any sort of mass produced reprint of the Superkatt stories by Hanna-Barbera studios' Dan Gordon under the pen name of Dang, just wouldn't happen today due to outcry and fervor. 

This is the first time I encountered the character of Superkatt. Thus I didn't know of the racist portrayal of African Americans in this comic. And no- this isn't why I thought this issue was fun and exciting. The exciting part was seeing all the old ads like that of a candy making set bearing the name and likeness of child actress Margaret O'Brien (Meet Me In St. Louis) and a back page ad for a Slinky knock-off called Mr. Walker. The second Christmas themed story was responsible in large part for the fun.

Christmas Story #2 starred a character called Spencer Spook. He's lighthearted just as Casper is and he doesn't want to scare anybody. But instead of a child, Spencer is the ghost of Jimmy Durante or someone similar. In this hilarious take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Spencer is obligated to haunt the people of the house in which he dwells. There's just nothing in the rule book that says Spencer has to scare those folks. So Spencer decides to take the family of livings on a tour of Christmases past, present and future- with disastrous effect! 

I actually have the holiday issue from the short-lived Ace Comics revival of the character titled The Adventures of Spencer Spook. I thought that Spencer was just a lesser known indy comic character that was mostly forgotten. I did not know that the character was from the 1940s. I'm guessing my issue from 1987 came about from the character probably entering the public domain or something to that effect. Or it might have been a reprint only title. But it was really neat to read a book that was new to me and yet has a character in which I am previously familiar. 

The 3 non-seasonal stories are funny animal stories of characters that again, I am not familiar with at all. There was a Pogo-type story set in a swamp where a singing frog is driving all the other characters crazy. That one sorta reminded me of Michigan J. Frog a little bit. Another story had a character getting all the good luck he could ever ask for while his pal just seems to have a black cloud over his head throughout the whole story. Then, there's a pair of animal hobos (a wolf and a hare) that take a nice blue coat from a scarecrow only to have the character come to life and chase them all over the nearby farm for the stolen garment.

I think that last story might have been the best. There was a distinct quality to the book. It felt like something I could see Carl Barks coming up with. And I will laugh my freakin' head off if it turns out he did. Great twist to the story and definitely something I would want to read again. 

Unfortunately, this 70 year plus old comic is too fragile for me to read again. The cover was barely staying on and I had a devil of a time trying to get it back into the protective sleeve without damaging it again. However, if the money was right, I might find myself willing to buy another Christmas or other holiday themed issue of Giggle Comics. Sure, Superkatt was terribly offensive in its portrayal of minorities. Sadly, that was the nature of the industry back then. But there were some other good stories, awesome ads, and the trio of prose stories required for this publication to meet first class mail shipping standards were pretty decent as well.

Definitely a time capsule of the time period of the good, the bad and the ugly. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Kilroys #15

Experience Thanksgiving 1948 in this classic from Al Hartley (Archie's One-Way) and others. Taking the Archie Comics formula and adding a family dynamic, The Kilroys was a sitcom on paper! Published by the basically now unheard of American Comic Group, the Kilroys were made up of Pop, Mom, son Natch, daughter Katie and rounding out the cast was Natch's kooky pal, Solid Jackson.

There are a total of 4 stories in this book. The first story is the only one set during the season of giving. Starting months prior to November, Mr. Kilroy brings home a turkey in hopes of fattening it up in order to save money on Thanksgiving dinner. But as Gertrude grows, the bird becomes a part of the family. Now with Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, who's going to be the one to give Gertrude the ax?

Story #2 is at least set during the winter. So, I felt that after the Turkey, I got to enjoy a lead up to Christmas with this farce involving Natch and Jackson attempting to go ice fishing. Tale #3 sees Mr. Kilroy needing to sell tickets to his lodge's barn dance. In order to meet his quota, Pop tasks his kids with selling his tickets- which they all do. Only, the tickets got sold on credit!

The final story doesn't star the Kilroys. Nor does it feature the art of Hartley. But that last story was also completed by a comic book legend. It's Milt Gross (Milt Gross' New York) and the story features one of his most beloved creations, the madcap Count Screwloose. In this story, the Count attends a fancy soiree as the self-appointed entertainment of the night. This yarn has typical Milt Gross screwiness and to a point that was fine. But the story felt like something was missing because at one point, the cops arrived and then they disappeared without any explanation. It's almost like 2 stories got mended together but in the process some of the plot gets jumbled.

The copy of this issue I bought was only a couple of dollars. As a result, this book, which is right around 75 years old, is fragile. The cover, which had a coupon on the back removed, was also detached. The center spread page had detached from the staples. And the edges of the rest of the book were really ruffled. Needless to say, this book will be a part of my permanent collection. But this will probably be the only time it ever leaves it's protective cover.

A fun look at post-war America. And pre-code comics! A few laughs and nothing overly cheesy. I did think the trio of one-page prose stories were lame. I understand why they needed to be included- in order to fulfill first class postage requirements. Still, I see them as the biggest thing detracting from the overall quality of this book.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.