Hillbillies were in during the 1940s, seen in movies, novels and comic strips, so why not a funny hillbilly comic book? Babe Boone is the female L'il Abner Yokum. Her parents are even “Mammy” and “Pappy.” The comic book lasted for eleven memorable issues, and produced some classic stories. Some of those stories (along with examples of Rogers' Sparky Watts and Dudley) can be found in Boody, the Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers, edited by Craig Yoe, published by Fantagraphics in 2009. Boody is still available from the usual outlets, including Yoebooks, Fantagraphics, or even your favorite comic book store if they will be nice enough to order it for you. It gets my highest recommendation.
From Babe #3 (1948):
Man, did that story have some dark twists to it! Had it been an EC horror comic from the same era, I probably would have thought nothing of a girl turning white as a sheet during a blood transfusion, but it's much more startling to see it done in a humorous setting. This Boody Rogers fellow sure knew how to push the envelope.
ReplyDeleteKirk, I agree with you about Rogers pushing it, but I think he was going for the spirit of Li'l Abner, which had some twisty plots and dark satire. I don't know if Al Capp ever showed a girl being drained of blood, though.
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