DCRO 16- Popular Comics (1936) #7 [AJ Story]

Story title: "Knickers, Longies-or art?"

Cover Date: August 1936

By: Sheldon Mayer

DCRO Entry

Today we have another short Scribbly strip from Popular Comics. This shouldn't take long so let's get to it.

The story starts with Scribbly admiring a book that has a picture of his favorite cartoonist: Ving Parker. And in case you're wondering, no, that's not a real person, I looked it up.  Scribbly is fascinated by the fact that this Ving Parker is wearing a smock, which is apparently the quintessential piece of clothing for any self-respecting artist. 

So, the young artist goes to ask his mother to buy him a smock, but she interrupts him and gives him a (admittedly pretty awful) pair of short pants, and forces him to wear them.

Man, fashion was weird back in the 1930s... I mean, for a kid, Scribbly is extremely finely dressed, he's wearing a tie and all! And then his mother makes him dress like a clown...

Next, Scribby calls himself a sissy! 

That aged well...

However, the kid proves that he's smarter than he looks in those pants because he then convinces his mother to buy him the smocks he wants so that his new pair of clown pants won't get dirty.

Oh my! And I thought the short pants were ridiculous...

By the way, Scribbly's baby brother is present in almost every panel, following the cartoonist around the house and witnessing his hijinx. I think that's pretty cute.

Later, Scribbly's mother is bragging to her friend about how she got her son to wear the clothes she wanted him to wear and calls the kid so she can show him off.

So, the friend in question asks Scribbly to open up the smock (a petition you should never make to a kid), but he doesn't want to, so his mom gets so angry she literally turns white.

So Scribbly, filled with terror, obeys and what's below the smock is...

His underwear I guess? Was underwear this weird in 1936? The joke is that Scribbly (understandably) didn't want to wear the short pants, so he's just not wearing any pants? What the hell is this?

Anyway, that's the end of the story.

Also...

Just how many July issues can they release?.

Anyway, the ratings:

Quality/Enjoyment: 2/5

Yeah... That was pretty bad. The joke wasn't funny and the story was generally weird. Most of the stuff we've seen so far hasn't aged too well, but this one especially stood out to me. Anyway, I still don't hate this. I like Scribbly and it's fun to follow his hijinks. 

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

Before I go, remember you can read every Dell-era Scribbly strip here.

Well, that's it for now. Next time we get a new character and the longest entry in the order so far, (seven pages!!) so you should maybe get excited. Until then, thank you for reading, and have a nice rest of your day!