It's time once again to check in on my nemesis Captain Kid. What is interesting about Captain Kid is that he looks different in every appearance. Did they just hand off the story to whatever artist was available or was there a regular artist who didn't really know what they were looking for in Captain Kid? We'll probably never know. According to the Digital Comics Museum, Al Liederman did most of the writing and art but I don't know how accurate that is.
This story first appeared in Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel Adventures #12 (June 1942) and features Captain Kid and his nameless girlfriend at the circus and Captain Kid trying to prove he's better than all these professionals. Here's hoping he dies!
Captain Kid does look like he belongs in the circus. He has the same forearm/leg condition that Popeye has but it has apparently affected his head as well.
This circus just lets anyone perform? Things must not have been as regulated back then.
That even lower-rent Butch Matson seems to love the trapeze artist.
You failed. Miserably. And hilariously.
Your hands slipped? Was it because of or despite of the gloves you wear for some reason?
Horse, you had one job!
Crackshot? Why are you closing your eyes? Don't tell me the loud bang scares the great Captain Kid!
Look at that carny, he's seen some stuff. Or the cocaine at this circus hits differently.
Everybody changes their look in this comic. On every page, Captain Kid looks different.
In fairness, that's a pretty good shot to just shoot the pants and not the underwear or ass itself. I say give him the doll. *squints* On second thought, maybe it's just badly colored. Don't give him the doll.
Are you just going to ignore that elephant wearing glasses?
Captain Kid couldn't even ride a horse but you expect him to subdue a gorilla? You are putting an awful lot of pressure on this mediocre white kid.
And I am not ignoring that of-the-times-but-still-very-wrong racism in the second panel. There's no reason for him to be there except for the idea that "scared Black caricatures are funny". That kind of humor may have worked in the Captain Marvel stories with
Steamboat but this is Captain Kid. Nothing's funny.
On second thought, it didn't work and wasn't funny in Captain Marvel either.
Glamourboy's size seems to fluctuate with each panel. When we meet him he's about the size of three Captain Kids but here he can easily wrap his hand around Unnamed Girlfriend.
Captain Kid. Our hero.
I would definitely change that name. Torro Pedo? I understand the name play but Pedo? Really?
I'm going to start calling Captain Kid Mister Kid from now on. Or maybe Dumbass.
What the hell is that? I almost want to call that a racist caricature, too. But of what? Spanish? Italian? Jewish? Romani?
"I'm gonna grow a pair and show that gorilla what-for! But not really."
That ended quickly.
So Glamourboy was just sitting on that, what, petting Unnamed Girlfriend? She should stick with the gorilla, Mister Kid's a dud.
Defense bonds? You can shove your propaganda in a sack, mister. What was the circus doing to try to capture Glamourboy? Nothing? Because it looked like nothing.
What was with the elephant in the glasses?
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panels from Barney Google and Snuffy Smith
I like to imagine that the Christmas gifts Snuffy is purchasing here and wants wrapped are just normal items. A box of baking mix, a box of macaroni and cheese, and a Marie Callendar TV dinner.
Hi and Lois
Your youngest daughter does not take after their older siblings. Trixie's hair comes from Lois, everything else clearly comes from Hi, just like Chip, Dot, and Ditto. And instead of laughing at Trixie's wet nose, get a tissue and clean the damn thing.
panel from Ripley's Believe It Or Not
Fairmount, Indiana to Saline, Michigan is only a three hour drive. I've known people who drove a lot further for a lot less.
The Born Loser
I've already
commented on this strip so I'm just going to copy what I had two years ago. City chicken is kind of a poor meal, just throwing meat together and cooking it. Maybe Brutus' aversion to it stems from him growing up so poor that city chicken is all that his mother made. Brutus isn't going back to his city chicken days. He can't. He won't.
