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Li'l Abner Dailies #11
Li'l Abner: Dailies, Vol. 11: 1945
In 1945, World War II ended and a new age dawned. In Li'l Abner, Al Capp moved along with everyone else into this age, guiding vbhis immensely popular adventure strip into satire. At the top of his artistic and storytelling form, Capp was more than ready to greet the postwar era. In this book you'll meet Orson Waggon (Orson Welles), boy radio genius, who has a sensational kill somebody during an actual broadcast --a somebody named Abner Yokum. Also in this Timberwolf McHowl, Moonbeam McSwine (who prefers the company of pigs to men) gets a bath; Fleabrain, Lonesome Polecat, Barbara Seville and another wild Sadie Hawkins Day Race. Orson Welles parody and more! Introduction by Madeline Gardner, Al Capp's sister (with early family photos) and another fine intro by Dave Schreiner putting the year in historic context. Published in 1991 by Kitchen Sink Press ( KSP ) 12 x 9 horizontal format 168 pages ISBN #0-87816-083-3 Mint / Never Read Condition.
168 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1990
4 people want to read
About the author
Al Capp
142 books7 followersAlfred Gerald Caplin (1909-1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist. He is best known as the creator, writer and artist of the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner, which run for 43 years from 1934 to 1977.
Capp was born in 1909 in New Haven, Connecticut, of a poor family of East European Jewish heritage. His childhood was scared by a serious accident: after being run over by a trolley car, nine years old Alfred had his left leg partially amputated. This early trauma possibly had an impact on Capp's cynical humour, as later represented in his strips. His father, Otto Philip Caplin, a failed businessman and an amateur cartoonist, is credited for introducing Al and his two brothers to making comics.
After some training in art schools in New England, in 1932 Al Capp moved to New York with the intent of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. The same year he married Catherine Wingate Cameron. In the first couple of years of his career Capp worked as an assistant/ghost artist on Ham Fischer's strip 'Joe Palooka', while preparing to pitch his own comic strips to the newspaper syndicate.
His strip Li'l Abner was launched on Monday, August 13, 1934, in eight American newspapers to immediate success. The comic started as an hillibilly slapstick, then shifted over the year in the direction of satire, black humor and social commentary. The strip run until 1977, written and mostly drawn by Capp.
A lifelong chain smoker, All Capp died in 1979 from emphysema at his home in South Hampton, New Hampshire.
Capp was born in 1909 in New Haven, Connecticut, of a poor family of East European Jewish heritage. His childhood was scared by a serious accident: after being run over by a trolley car, nine years old Alfred had his left leg partially amputated. This early trauma possibly had an impact on Capp's cynical humour, as later represented in his strips. His father, Otto Philip Caplin, a failed businessman and an amateur cartoonist, is credited for introducing Al and his two brothers to making comics.
After some training in art schools in New England, in 1932 Al Capp moved to New York with the intent of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. The same year he married Catherine Wingate Cameron. In the first couple of years of his career Capp worked as an assistant/ghost artist on Ham Fischer's strip 'Joe Palooka', while preparing to pitch his own comic strips to the newspaper syndicate.
His strip Li'l Abner was launched on Monday, August 13, 1934, in eight American newspapers to immediate success. The comic started as an hillibilly slapstick, then shifted over the year in the direction of satire, black humor and social commentary. The strip run until 1977, written and mostly drawn by Capp.
A lifelong chain smoker, All Capp died in 1979 from emphysema at his home in South Hampton, New Hampshire.
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October 16, 2020
Li'l Abner improved quite a lot in 1945. Only two of the last three stories were slavishly repetitious to stories in previous years and one of those had a fresh twist. The rest mostly took the plots into new directions, though there was repetition between the opining story and the Orson Welles "satire" later in the book. Overall, the stories are fresher and funnier than in the past.
One comment about Dave Schreiner's introductions: do not be fooled by his use of the word "satire." What Capp is doing in some of these stories and some stories in previous books is not a MAD magazine-like parody of popular culture. The so-called Orson Welles satire here has very little to do with the Welles or the kinds of programs he produced for radio. Instead, Capp includes some superficial details so that readers will know that he has Welles in mind but then does something different with them. This is not really satire nor it is parody. At most, it is reference.
One comment about Dave Schreiner's introductions: do not be fooled by his use of the word "satire." What Capp is doing in some of these stories and some stories in previous books is not a MAD magazine-like parody of popular culture. The so-called Orson Welles satire here has very little to do with the Welles or the kinds of programs he produced for radio. Instead, Capp includes some superficial details so that readers will know that he has Welles in mind but then does something different with them. This is not really satire nor it is parody. At most, it is reference.
Displaying 1 of 1 review