My reaction to Jiggs and Maggie 13:
The Perfect Cure: The names of the title characters sounded familiar, so I opened the link, Immediately, they looked familiar. I remembered seeing them in newspaper comics when I was growing up. At first, I had them confused with the Hooples from Our Boarding House by Ahern but eventually realized that this was the strip I had known as Bringing Up Father. Indeed, it was right there on the title page. And I had forgotten the humorous artificial names like Dr. Knowsbest, Mrs. Hi N Mighty, a couple known as the Van Movers, Mrs. Pat Decake, and the ongoing joke about a bar named Dinty Moore’s (a popular canned beef stew when I was a kid, apparently still sold by Hormel). I was also amused by a ridiculous sight gag on page 8 of the PDF where a fisherman in a painting held a pole that reached into Jiggs’ fishbowl.
Papa Fix: This short “Snookums” feature was good for a nice chuckle because we’ve all been there in trying to get rid of a pesky fly.
Home Sweet Home: Starting out by underscoring the housing shortage of the post-WWII era (the comic was published in 1950), this Bringing Up Father story features an exaggerated look at how people coped before the housing boom came along later in the decade. The goofy names continue with Mrs. Hans Anfeet.
Dog Days: This one seemed like two short strips cobbled together. It lacked continuity and wasn’t nearly as amusing as the other stories.
Sailor Beware: The “Snookums” half-page feature depends on the classic “calling in sick” trope and a “punful” joke to conclude it.
I’m not going to describe all the stories in the rest of the book because most of the stories are either one-pagers or seem like one-pagers stitched together loosely by a short narration box. Within that collage of comics, a story called “Smoke Signal” is typical. It’s almost an “I Love Lucy” episode where Maggie (think Lucy) tries to teach Jiggs (think Ricky) a lesson by sabotaging something he enjoys, only to have it backfire because of unanticipated interference. It also features another one of those name games with a character named Matt Tress. Another one-pager with a loose connection is verbally stapled to this one with the narration box, “Next Day.”
Peace and Quiet: This story begins with Jiggs attempt at domestic tranquility which quickly degenerates into a domestic dispute. In search of peace and quiet, Jiggs takes a walk and encounters all sorts of Mack Sennett-type sight gags worthy of Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Kops, and W. C. Fields. Even the ending seems appropriate to those old classic comedy shorts.
Link to the comment:
Jiggs & Maggie 13
