Friday, 08 August 2008

Today is August 8, 2008. Here is Saturday, August 8, 1942.

My parents-in-law gave me this comics section from the Saturday, August 8, 1942, New York Post. They found it in the walls of their house, where it had been installed as insulation 60+ years ago.

There are at least two interesting things about this comics section. One is that it features Miss Fury, a great comic strip, recently reprinted in part by both Fantagraphics and Pure Imagination. Not only is it about a female crime fighter (who wore a proto-Catwoman costume, not seen here), it was written and drawn by a woman, Tarpe Mills. This makes it doubly rare for 1942, (as it also would be for 2008).

The other interesting thing is this Cicero's Cat strip by Bud Fisher of Mutt and Jeff fame. It's a great example ofthe device of cartoon characters being aware of their medium, like when Albert the Alligator, in Walt Kelly's Pogo, would light matches by striking them on the side of the frame. Fisher's use of the panel here is ingenious and startling.