Funny Books: The Kids are Alright- the "Lil' Folks" in Comics

Tip Top Comics, featuring "Nancy and Sluggo", "The Katzenjammer Kids", and some strip about a boy and his dog.

Redartz:  Hi all! For today's look at four color humor, we join up with the kid stars of the comic world. Kid comics have been a mainstay of the comics industry since the very beginning ("Katzenjammer Kids", anyone?). Perhaps some of us started out reading comics featuring some of these mischievous moppets. I did; the first comic I ever read was an issue of "Casper" (okay, so technically it was a deceased kid, but still). I soon added Richie Rich to the pile, and Little Dot. Then there were these two early favorites:  Little Lulu, especially when scribed by John Stanley...


 

 and Little Archie ( definitely a 'little' pattern going on there). Little Archie, beneficiary of the talents of writer/artist Bob Bolling...

 




Incidentally, Archie Comics often carried strips of another kid heroine: Lil' Jinx:


















 My ultimate fave kid book escaped my notice until years later, in college: "Sugar and Spike". I discovered those  tots in college, and fell in love with them. DC Comics pioneer Sheldon Mayer created these two torrid tots, with the kick that they could understand each other perfectly, but not 'grown-up talk' ( oh, as often depicted in the stories, animals can speak fluent 'baby talk', as can the elderly- second childhood).

 

 

Even today, while my comics purchases are limited, I still look out for back issues of that title (which are notoriously hard to find complete- they featured a page of cut-outs, which of course  frequently got 'cut out'). 

 








 There were many others, some I read occasionally and others that remain obscure today. Some of these are shown below (by the way- the "Cave Kids" were pretty fun, they often appeared in those great old Golden Comics Digests).  Sooo, let's invite the whole gang over and look at a few covers!

Short Cuts: Snort.... What Just Happened?

Martinex1: I can suspend disbelief just as much as the next guy, but despite being able to absorb the concept of flying characters, shape shifting aliens, and living planets... sometimes the simplest absurdities take me out of the story and leave me chuckling.  

You may have seen some of the examples below before, but I never stop enjoying these panels.  Were the gaffes and situations intentional?   Were they just a result of Silver and Bronze Age prolific productivity?   Or a product of simpler times and good intentions for a younger audience?  Was it an archaic turn of phrase?  Or just a humorous juxtaposition?   Was it the result of long nights and looming deadlines?  

In some cases, like the Thanos-copter in Spidey Super-Stories,  I know it was due to the target audience, but it still brings a smile.

What was the silliest panel you ever came across? What made you stop and say, "Did I read that right?"   What made orange soda come out of your nose?  

Have a great weekend and have a great laugh!  Cheers!  (And if you suggest any other knee-slappers, I will try to swing back and post them later).

Martinex1: UPDATE:  And here is the scene that HB describes in his comments.   From Marvel Team-Up #28, Hercules pulls Manhattan back into place.   I have also included the final panels of the issue in which the Mayor berates the heroes; note the final commentary from the editorial team as they distance themselves from the story, question its veracity, and already set the tone that this has to be imaginary - although I doubt it started out as anything other than a standard team-up. They must have realized it stretched even Marvel's concept of physics and realism.