Li’l Abner must have obsessive compulsive disorder, which is not unfamiliar to comic book collectors. He goes to great lengths for his Fearless Fosdick comic book (or “comical book,” as Abner calls comics). He is such a fan that he travels to the country of El Passionato to find the last surviving copy of the latest issue. Somehow, as the splash panel tells us, all the copies of that issue were lost at sea. What sea? In 1952, the year that
Li’l Abner #87 was published, comics were printed in the U.S., except for some printed in Canada. Whatever...Al Capp's artistic license certainly makes for a colorful tale, having Abner in a country full of beautiful señoritas, and becoming El Presidente!
But, you say, why are we not seeing the other characters, Mammy, Pappy, Daisy Mae, and on down the line of Capp’s colorful cast? They just didn't figure into this story, so for a more traditional Li’l Abner story go to the link below.
Just click on the thumbnail for a tale of Sadie Hawkins Day in Dogpatch:
6 comments:
That advertisement for Hitler stamps was still running when I was a kid. And I guess that Beck really, really didn't like his pharmacist!
I think that you essentially spotted an Easter egg in the story. Most readers would not think twice about the absurdity of the comic books being lost at sea.
I think that the selling point of the Li'l Abner story was really just the many pictures of beautiful girls. The central gags are alright, but not something to make most of use laugh out loud or recall later and chuckle. However, Abner's thinking with interest about Daisy Mae was a bright spot.
Mind you that I am certainly amongst those who understand the desire to fill a gap in one's comic-book collection. I quit actively collecting long ago, with the exception that, for some decades, I sought a particular issue of Conan in mint condition. (I finally found one with the odd history that it had been used as the exemplar in a book of covers.)
Daniel, I wonder about the Hitler stamps. They would he a memorial of the conquest of Hitler, or they could double as a memento of a man for whom many Americans might have harbored an admiration. (I am sure those German bunds active in the U.S. before the war didn’t go away completely, but members knew it was better not to promote such organizations during and after the fighting.)
I know the feeling well of having to complete collections. My “need” to have a complete collection of anything faded after seeking and finding help for my obsessive compulsive disorder. Saved me money, too.
Great Information,
Thank you for sharing..
I actually sent for those Hitler stamps (on approval...I had no idea what that meant) but my mother said that I couldn't keep them. Much to her dismay I had taken all of them out of their envelopes and had them all mixed up which meant that she had the tedious task of sorting them back to the original envelopes before returning them. Didn't Kurtzman do a parody of this ad in the MAD comic book?
Unknown, yep, he did in Mad #21...featuring a stamp of both Hitler and Stalin, available from Tromp Stamp Co.
James, thank you.
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