Sad Sack and fan stuff

[skjam]

I went to this weekend's local comic book sales convention, Springcon (held in the State Fair grandstand) and had a good time. I picked up several books and items with the purpose of creating a raffle basket for my company's United Way drive, plus some stuff for myself. (Sadly the Three Caballeros poster signed for me by Don Rosa is too big to scan.)

In the cheap bins, though, I found something that many of our younger members may be unfamiliar with.



Sad Sack, short for the military term "sad sack of shit", was created by George Baker as a pantomime comic strip during World War Two. It was quite popular, and eventually Mr. Baker licensed the property to Harvey Comics, which ran comic books based on it for decades. It did very well for Harvey, as evidenced by the franchise supporting a half-dozen titles a month.

Sadly, by 1976, when this issue of "Sad Sack and the Sarge" #117 was printed, George Baker had passed away, so only that little bit in the upper left corner of the cover is his artwork.

A couple of inside glimpses, and some unrelated pieces picked up at the convention, behind the cut.



Let's start off with a public service announcement.



This story may remind you a lot of Beetle Bailey, which uses similar military humor.



But Sad Sack has more of a tendency towards hilarious violence (1 1/2 pages of 5)



Captain Softseat delegates the search for a hero to Sargeant Circle, who comes up with a hare-brained scheme to have Sad Sack save the camp from a (dud) bomb. Except that it's not a dud after all.



And another, less high-minded ad from the issue...





And now, something that's at least partially for icon_uk, a print I purchased from Paul Taylor, creator of the webcomic "Wapsi Square."



And a commissioned sketch of Uptown Girl, star of the small-press comic book of the same name by Bob Lipski, this drawn by Joel Vollmer.



Yes, her head is really that round.





Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!

Comments

[randyripoff]

I remember reading Sad Sack comics somewhere between the ages of 5-12 I think they were funny, but unmemorable.

Oh, and poor Robin. Poor, poor Robin. I guess he'll have to take one for the team.

[skjam]

Funny but unmemorable seems to be an accurate description of most of the Sad Sack comics. The original George Backer work was the strong stuff, and then they just kept extruding product.

[auggie18]

Funny but unmemorable seems to be an accurate description of most of the Sad Sack comics.


It's Beetle Bailey without the gay undertones. Which sucks, because the gay undertones were the best part about Beetle Bailey.

[halloweenjack]

Sad Sack and Beetle Bailey both seem born of that national experience during World War II and shortly thereafter (Beetle Bailey started in 1950, but Mort Walker was a WWII vet) where millions of people got drafted or volunteered and found out first hand how many of their fellow soldiers, sailors, Marines etc. were lazy, stupid and/or bureaucratically inflexible, as opposed to the popular image of the military as a place of discipline, efficiency and esprit de corps. I'm surprised that either strip survived the Vietnam War, let alone that Beetle Bailey is still being published today, with its cast of characters still wearing their Eisenhower-era uniforms with the occasional nod to the 21st century.

[skjam]

Beetle Bailey survives on the newspaper comics syndicate's refusal to let a strip die if there's newspapers willing to run it. And whenever newspapers try to drop a strip, senior citizens are the ones who respond the most strongly.

Sad Sack only stopped publishing because of the general collapse of Harvey Comics--and apparently there's some sort of rights dispute that is in the way of doing reprint collections as seen with their more kiddie comics.

[arilou_skiff]

In Bailey's case it was likely Korea that provoked the shift, since it started out as a college humour strip.

[icon_uk]

I've never seen Sad Sack before, though Beetle Bailey was collected in the UK (My favourite BB remains the simple little exchange "Beetle! What are you doing up to your neck in the swamp?" "Promise you won't get mad Sarge? I'm feeling around with my toes for your jeep")

And awww, thank you so much for thinking of me, what a fun sketch! :)

[cainofdreaming]

Never seen Sad Sack before either, I kinda doubt it ever surfaced on our shores. Beetle Bailey was a kind of guilty pleasure of my youth, but it kinda ran its course by the time they came up with the offshoot of Beetle's college years.

[arilou_skiff]

Technically it's the military humour that's the offshoot. (or direction change, or whatever you may call it)

[kraesil]

*Scratches head* somebody explain Ivy's anatomy to me in that sketch, I'm getting confused. It's too much for my tiny brain

Nooope. I don't know Sad Sack. Way before my time.

[auggie18]

She's a plant.

BAM! EXPLAINED!

[cainofdreaming]

So, the parts that photoshynthesize reach towards the sun? I guess that's one explanation.

[bradygirl_12]

Yep, the comics were popular because after the Korean War, you had a peacetime draft during the '50s and every able-bodied man was familiar with the military whether he fought in a war or not. My dad was a Korean War vet and would read these occasionally and just smirk. :)

[junipepper]

Oh, yes indeed. In fact, my dad was in that peacetime draft (which he always refers to as "Cold War I"). He spent two years staunchly defending, um, Maryland. He was made Company Clerk because his Sargent was convinced that All Jews Are Smart (Dad's general rejoinder, "Oh come on, Sarge -- look at Greenberg, fer chrissake," went right over the Sargent's head). On the plus side, Dad discovered several Jewish holidays he'd never heard of before, all of which entitled him to weekend passes home to New York.

So, that was not altogether relevant, but it came to mind. Actually, I do remember Sad Sack because my dad once said, "Yeah, it (the Army) really was that stupid and boring (as the comic) a lot of the time."

[bradygirl_12]

One thing about the draft was a whole generation of men (and some women) had common experiences and could relate to military experiences. Total strangers could start talking about life in the Army and it would be the same for everybody: stupid, boring and head-scratching. :)

[arilou_skiff]

There's a similar kind of experience in most countries with mandatory military service. (91:an Karlsson, a swedish counterpart to Bailey et. al., has been running since 1932)

[riddler13]

But in Brazil, military service is also mandatory, and army strips aren't popular at all.

I think it's because of the 21 years of military regime (1964-1985).

[darth_cloudo]

...Do they still sell those rocket toothbrushes?

[skjam]

Sadly, Evel Knievel is long over--though I bet you could find something similar at Target with whatever it is that the kids are into these days.

[darth_cloudo]

Aw, the rocket toothbrush looked awesome. :[

[skjam]

Darn straight! The old time comics ads could make anything look awesome...as opposed to what they turned out to be when your mom finally gave you the money to order them. :-(

[darth_cloudo]

Indeedy! The ads pages in older comics are so much fun to look through. X-ray glasses, tootsie rolls, self-defense lessons, spy wallets, magic tricks, you name it! Although, as you say, I suspect that it's probably more fun looking at the ads than actually getting what's being advertised.

[skjam]

As and when I scan some more of that Daredevil Comics starring the Little Wise Guys, there's some more fun ads I want to show.

[darth_cloudo]

Hooray! Fun and misleading old ads, here we come.

[riddler13]

I just remember it from The Simpsons: there's an episode in which Milhouse buys "The Death of Sad Sack". Never thought it was a real comic book, though.

The best analysis of Beetle Bailey EVER was done by the Comic Strip Doctor.

[arilou_skiff]

I suspect that article largely misses the point.

For most soldiers, army life is boring. Most never get into combat, or even close to it. The US army in particular has gotten better at utilizing people in that respect, but they're still not even close to putting all (or even, I suspect, a majority) of it's half-a-million active-duty personnel in combat.

The experience for the vast majority of military personnel in a modern military (and arguably even in a pre-modern one) is one of boredom, routine, and more boredom and routine.

[riddler13]

A very valid counter-opinion! :)