DCRO 47- The Funnies (1936) #6 [AC Story]

Story title: "Big Doin's!!!"

Cover Date: March 1937

By: Sheldon Mayer

DCRO Entry

Last Scribbly story of the bunch! (There are two more entries but they're only strips) Let's go!

And there's another instance of the little baby piece of crap being unnecessarily mean!

So, the story begins right where we left off: The editor has read Scribbly's stuff and is raving to Ving about how good it all is. You know, I'm starting to think this guy's a fraud. Does he really have experience as an editor? Has he read a comic book at all?

Anyway, he has an idea. Since Scribbly is such a good artist, and also, a kid (something tells me the latter is way more important for him), he wants to turn him into the next Shirley Temple! So... He wants him to be an old lady? Oh right! This is old as fuck. Man, I tend to forget how old these things actually are until they throw a punch like referring to Shirley Temple (and a couple others, but she's the one I know) as "kid stars".

So, according to him, everything that can make you famous has its kid version: there are kid actors, kid musicians, etc. So he wants to make Scribbly the first kid cartoonist (because nothing screams fame and glamour like cartooning).

Take a look at this. Make sure your children are far away from this man. He may not be a proper editor, but he sure as hell is a proper businessman. This is the face of an expert in child exploitation. 

I'm kidding, of course. We've talked about this before, but this series is a lot less cynical than what this blog suggests. In real life, this whole situation would probably be pretty fucked up, but here, it's as good as it sounds at face value. 

The story nears its end and Scribbly has but one response to the whole situation.

Of course, he does! He is still 12 after all! Anyway, nice twist. 

Although Ving then proceeds to ruin the joke by explaining it

And that's the end for now!

Oh don't worry, I couldn't if I wanted to! (Seriously, it's pathological).

You can read this story here. Let's see the ratings:

Quality/Enjoyment: 3/5

A more than decent Scribbly story. Some more progression for his "career" and even a good punchline! Not quite good enough for a 4/5 but barely! I'm not even sure about what else I can ask from these!

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

And that's it! After we do the two Why Big Brothers Leave Home strips for this issue we'll move on to the CMRO for just a little while (I still wanna focus on the DCRO for now, since its Golden Age is so much larger). Oh! Also, I've been prowling in the forums a bit and a new series is being added! So we'll have to go back. Can't say I'm surprised tho. I absolutely saw this coming. Anyway, we'll talk more about this series when it actually gets added to the order. For now, thanks for reading and have a nice rest of your day!

DCRO 46- The Funnies (1936) #6 [AA Story]

Story title: "Scribbly Meets the Editor!!!"

Cover Date: March 1937

By: Sheldon Mayer

DCRO Entry

And this is finally the last issue of The Funnies of this Scribbly gauntlet. Of course, that still means we have four entries to go... Don't get me wrong, I still like Scribbly, I just want to get to something else... 

So, the editor, huh? That sure looks like your stereotypical editor alright. Or, businessman, at least, not that I've met that many editors: my books aren't exactly published, or good, or readable, even, or...

Ehem! So this story begins with Ving's editor paying him a visit. He goes around saying hi, and notices some drawings on the table. 

Two things here. First, his name is "Barlowe" which for some reason also sounds very stereotypically business-man-like. Second, Sammy also seems to be the creative type (tho not as talented as his brother). He did mention he planned to be famous a couple entries ago. This all seems to be building up to something.

Anyway, what he sees is a copy of a "Why Big Brothers Leave Home" strip. Which he confuses as a thing Ving's working on. Okay, I know since Scribbly is Ving's pupil, they might have similar styles, but it is a bit weird that his editor doesn't recognize the difference. He thinks it's a good idea (no) and doesn't believe a 12-year-old could do something like that. Well, he did, and it's as good as you'd expect...

Scribbly then brings a shit load of strips to the editor (oh dear god, I hope all of those exist only in-universe, and we don't actually have to sit through them...). Gracefully, Ving takes his student to another room to leave Barlowe alone to focus on the drawings, which he seems to enjoy immensely (weird taste, but ok), as Scribbly sees while "hiding" behind the door frame.

He seems as confused as I am about the man's enjoyment of his art...

I wonder why Ving hasn't shown the drawings to the editor yet tho... Were they not good enough, in his eye? Was he trying to enough of them to kick the kid out and steal the credit? Maybe he thought Scribbly wasn't ready for the fame? Is he actually trying to protect him? What if this was his master plan, and he wanted the editor to discover Scrib "by chance" since that way it was more likely that he wouldn't get rejected? Are these too many questions for a 90-year-old 1-page comic strip? Yes, definitely.

And that's it for today!

Next time, someone will do something big! Right now tho, we will see the ratings.

You can read this story here.

Quality/Enjoyment: 3/5

Not much this time in terms of humor, but it's a nice entry in the series. Truthfully, what I like to see in these is the progression of Scribbly's early-blooming career, and this is one of the best entries, in terms of that! Not much more to say tho.

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

And that's it for now! I'm guessing we'll see more progression next time, so good! For now, thanks for reading and have a nice rest of your day.

DCRO 45- The Funnies (1936) #5 [AD Story]

Story title: "Why Big Brothers Leave Home" (III)

Cover Date: February 1937

By: Sheldon Mayer

DCRO Entry

   

So, this is also a very short strip, so let's get it out of the way, alright?

Scribbly's goblin of a little brother is seen overestimating his brother's strength by pitying against the toughest dude in the block (you know, like the classic "my dad could beat up your dad", but more dangerous since it's all kids.

Since the "toughest guy in the block" is only slightly taller than a baby, I'm assuming he's just an older kid.

Scribbly, unaware of the danger that's waltzing his way, is enjoying his day when suddenly...

Next thing he knows, he's in the hospital, with way more wounds than this one panel suggests. Oh! And the antichrist is right next to him.

And that's it... Does that even count as a punchline? Man, I just feel bad for him, he got beat up for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and the tiniest asshole on the planet just laughs it off...

Jesus Billy, I hope that was just something you came up with and not a true story... Get well soon I guess.

Gee! One whole dollar! That's almost worth being beat up for! (Jokes aside, dollars are worth a lot where I live, so if someone wants to beat me up for a couple of them... I'm kidding, of course! Unless...)

You can read this story here. (Although you definitely shouldn't) So let's see the ratings.

Quality/Enjoyment: 1/5

That's right! Our first 1/5! As you can tell, I didn't like this one. The last one wasn't that good either, but this one falls into one of my least favorite "comedy" cliches: Meanness just for its own sake. Don't get me wrong, if you do it right, great comedy can come from one person being mean to another, but when the meanness itself is the whole point of the joke, it doesn't work for me.

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

And we're done with this issue! We still have one more number of "The (not so) Funnies" to go to finish this Scribly gauntlet (so, four entries) but at least next time we'll get one of the actual stories. So, thank you for reading, and have a nice rest of your day!