Milt Gross Funnies #1Cover - The cover immediately sets it up as a funny comic and gives us a bit of an insight into the characters (i.e., Pop a little strange, the son who's proud of his Pop, the wife who tries to support him and the mother-in-law who doesn't like him). Though why is painting a moustache on a model on a billboard an example of 'meaning well'? Or did he just accidentally mess it up? So I don't really 'get' the cover gag.
Ad for Hi-Jinx - Of course it's no surprise that the publisher would promote others in their stable. But if Hi-Jinx is the 'greatest funny book that ever hit the stands', then the Milt Gross book we're holding mustn't be as funny.
The one-page intro and the other one-pagersIt makes sense to have a page at the beginning that explains the characters. However, the paragraph right at the bottom of the page is the actual start of the story, which seems a little unusual. A lot of people would miss that and go straight to the first page of the comic, though that probably wouldn't matter.
I was also surprised by the one-page 'Well!! What D'Ya Know!' section in the middle, which is basically a recap of the story we're currently reading. It seems like an unnecessary addition unless this was originally a two-parter and this is the recap. Did they include this to meet the requirements for a short story to make it eligible for mailing as an educational magazine? The one-page at the end makes more sense, as it's sort of an epilogue. Though again I wondered why they resorted to a one-page story rather than just continuing with the comic book format, unless it was to do with educational status.
The comic book storyThe story is fairly corny by today's standards, but creates a smile. I'm not sure whether Pop is lazy or just hapless, but he has a heart of gold in being willing to forgo his picnic ticket so that he can get his son a baseball uniform. He's even nice to the horrible mother-in-law. I did get a bit confused when Doc calls him Pop as well. I thought that was his name because his son called him Pop. Lots of opportunity for sight gags. Who wouldn't be more comfortable typing on a bicycle? (p. 18)
They also included a lot of funny names (e.g., Miss Spinwangle). I'm almost afraid to ask, but what does the mother-in-law mean when she says 'He'll probably try to borrow a quarter and queer us?' (p. 33)
The art has a unique style, with a more subtle colour palette than some from this era. The layouts were also interesting (e.g., sometimes using framing and other times not). Lots of visual gags, such as La Mariposa springing off into the wild blue yonder.
Overall - It's a fun comic, though Robb mentioned it only had two issues. I think the premise would be hard to keep going indefinitely. I think the gag would wear thin after a while, so maybe that's why it didn't have a long run. It might have been better if Pop had one crazy invention each issue and that was the point of the story. Or a couple of stories in the same book.
Army Patch ad - What boy wouldn't want to wear a Nazi patch on his jacket? Um ...
An interesting selection, Robb.
Cheers
QQ