Saturday, September 27, 2008

Jigger, Mooch and "food that don't fight back:" from "Animal Comics" #28, 1948

By popular demand...here's another of the handful of "Jigger" stories that John Stanley wrote and drew for Animal Comics.

Typically for this series (and 1940s Stanley), we have a pair of dispossessed figures who leave their familiar world for unknown places. In this case, these two city dogs elect to head for the sticks, in search of food that little Jigger swears "jus' lays around on the ground!"

Stanley has these two canine characters' personas down by this story. Jigger is a typical Stanley protagonist. He's driven to see his plans succeed, even when life has shown him that they typically don't pan out. Mooch is content to lie on a dirty sidewalk, and takes much prodding and convincing by his tiny pal to even get to his feet.

Mooch remains unwooed by the charms of the wide-open spaces, where even the apples seem to have it out for him.

The settings are familiar Stanley territory. This run-down, utilitarian urban landscape--one that looks distinctly Northeastern--is the stage for hundreds of John Stanley's stories. Most of Little Lulu and Tubby take place in this anonymous Anywhere, USA.

Wish I had more to say about this story. I kinda shot my wad on "Jigger" in the previous post on this series. I love Stanley's highly stylized, tight cartooning on this series. His artwork never looked the same anywhere else.

Hope you enjoy this story, and thanks for dropping by! I'll do another post tomorrow...probably some more stories from Dunc 'n' Loo!






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