Number 1142: The “friendenemy”

Milt is Dudley's best friend. So why does he do him dirt every chance he gets? Well, that's what friends are for! I think everyone has a couple of “friends” like Milt when they are teenagers. If they're lucky they catch on before the "friends" do too much damage.

It reminds me of the old saying, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” except in this case your friends are actually your enemies.

Ah, well...as we grow up we live and learn. I think I know better now about choosing my friends more carefully. As far as I'm concerned, my best friends are you Pappy readers!

Drawn by Boody Rogers, from Dudley #2 (1949):








Don't forget Craig Yoe's great book, Boody, with many stories by this fabulous cartoonist, from your usual bookstore sources.

Number 1095


Jasper Fudd steps up to the plate


Jasper Fudd appeared in issues two and three of Boody Rogers' teenage comic, Dudley. Too bad there were only three issues because I think it's good. Jasper (and no, I don't know if he's related to Elmer Fudd) is a hick who moves to an urban high school, and needs to prove himself. It reminded me of what happened to me in a similar situation (oh lordy, another memoir from Pappy)...my family moved and I joined a fifth grade class which had been in session for a couple of months. I was tested on the baseball field during a phys ed class. I couldn't run, field, catch or play base, but Big Pappy had taught me how to bat, to step into a pitch and hit a long ball. That's what I did. I hit home runs. It was the same story with basketball. Big Pappy taught me to make free throws. I couldn't run, guard, or make a basket while moving, but I could hit free throws. So if there were ever teams that needed a guy to do one thing, and do it well, I would have been perfect. Alas. Fifth grade was the pinnacle of my career as a jock.

You can get the second Jasper story in Craig Yoe's book, Boody, still available from your favorite booksellers. This is the first Jasper Fudd story from Dudley #2, 1950:

Number 764


I was a teenage Archie!


Senior year in high school was my Archie year. I had two girlfriends, one blonde, one brunette. I thought I could finagle them both, play one off against the other. As it turned out, by the end of the year each was so disgusted by my ratty behavior I lost them both. Shame on me. Would that have happened to Archie? I don't think so. But that's what I got for using a comic book character as a role model.

Dudley is someone we've met, having been featured in this blog a few times (go to the link below and click on "Dudley" to see the other entries). At least the comic, Dudley, by Boody Rogers, lasted three issues. Adventures of Homer Cobb, with this story drawn by a callow Al Feldstein, only lasted one issue in 1947. Both Dudley and Homer Cobb hewed close to the Archie formula, but Archie is still around and they're not.

From Dudley #2, 1949:










Holy Charlie Brown! Check out Homer's sweater, three years before the Peanuts strip was born. Was this a fashion of the time that Feldstein and Schulz picked up on?

From The Adventures of Homer Cobb #1, 1947:

Number 574


Dudley and the Dumb Belles


Boody Rogers' Dudley returns in his self-titled second issue, from 1950. Dudley was Prize Comics' attempt to get in on the teenage comics market, but Dudley was up against a formidable rival, Archie, and the Boody Rogers comic — which I think is one of the better comics using the formula —was canceled after only three issues.

In this episode Dudley lines up some girls to tutor. Ha-ha. So that's what they call it, eh? I should've thought of that when I was in high school. But then, Dudley's intentions are more pure than mine would have been.

If you want to see more of Dudley, go to the search box in the upper left corner of this screen and type in his name. Better yet, if you're new to Pappy's, type in Boody Rogers for stories about his characters Sparky Watts and Babe, also.

Number 513


You've gotta be a football hero...


It's baseball season, so I'm showing you a football strip.

Our teenage buddy, Dudley, is the hero of his high school football team, much to the chagrin of his "friend", Milt (and haven't we all had a "friend" like Milt?) Dudley does his football derring-do without a helmet! What a guy! The story is the last from Dudley #1, 1949, drawn and written by the great Boody Rogers. Dudley was a short-lived comic book which competed with Archie.

It's pretty good and deserved a longer run, but it doesn't have the maniacal plots Boody showed in his other comics like Sparky Watts or Babe, Darling of the Hills.

And speaking of those comics, Craig Yoe's Boody, a book of Sparky Watts and Babe strips, is available now. Don't pass it up!