Foxy Fagan Comics

Monday, June 02 2003 @ 05:00 PM PDT

Today’s comic may star the vulpine con man known as Foxy Fagan, but its real attraction may be the stupendously racist story of little black ‘Pancakes’ in The Land Of Watermelon! You’ll be spiting seeds when you read this one!

[fieldinserts][issuetitle]Title: [subissuetitle]Foxy Fagan Comics[subissuetitle]
[issuetitle][issue]Issue: [subissue]No. 2[subissue]
[issue][publicationdate]Date: [subpublicationdate]February, 1947[subpublicationdate]
[publicationdate][publisher]Publisher: [subpublisher]Dearfield Publishing Company, Inc.[subpublisher]
[publisher][coverartists]Cover Artist(s): [subcoverartists]Harvey Eisenberg[subcoverartists]

[coverartists][introtext]Today’s comic may star the vulpine con man known as Foxy Fagan, but its real attraction may be the stupendously racist story of little black ‘Pancakes’ in The Land Of Watermelon! You’ll be spiting seeds when you read this one![introtext]

[fieldinserts]If the plural of moose is “meese”, that’s a clue to the identity of the co-publisher of this obscure Oddball funny animal comic (revealed in the Oddball Factoid below!) FOXY FAGAN COMICS features a multitude of somewhat-familiar cartoon critters that greatly resemble many more famous animated characters – but bear enough differences to prevent litigation! A total of seven issues of FOXY FAGAN COMICS were published; its companion comic, RED RABBIT COMICS was somewhat more successful, with 22 issues appearing in print.

Included in this issue of FOXY FAGAN COMICS are the stories and features:

• “Foxy Fagan”, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg. – Foxy’s “Droopy”-like neighbor Bobbles has invented a rocket called the “Bobble Buzz Saw” which can fly one thousand MPH. Foxy is dubious, but when he runs into the porcine millionaire investor Mortimer C. “Take A Gamble” Giltrocks, he hatches a scheme that’s he’s certain will make him a fast fortune. First, he approaches Bobble with an offer to purchase the “Bobble Buzz Saw”; he winds up buying it for a twenty-five dollars. Once that deal is struck, he easily interests Giltrocks in investing in ‘his” invention. (When Bobble tries to enter their conversation, Foxy introduces him as his “mechanic”.) But before they close their deal, Giltrocks insists on a demonstration. Foxy balks at being the test pilot – after all, Bobble’s inventions never work – but when the posh pig sweetens his offer by three million dollars, the greedy fox can’t resist. Bobble warns him, “if it ever goes up – there’s no way to land it!”, but after repeated attempts, the “Bobble Buzz Saw” finally takes off, soars into outer space, then immediately crashes back to Earth! Crawling from the wreckage, he seeks out Giltrocks to seal their deal, only to see the delusional “millionaire” being hauled into a waiting ambulance and carted back to the insane asylum from which he escaped! What’s even worse, Foxy Fagan receives a fine of twenty-five dollars for leaving the crashed “Bobble Buzz Saw” in the middle of the street, where it’s blocking traffic!

• “Little Buck”. – Left behind by the other Indian braves because he’s “too little”, Little Buck complains to his colt Pinto about missing the tribe’s deer hunt. Determined to catch his own deer, he disguises Pinto with fake antlers as a lure to attract a buck deer. But the big buck isn’t fooled a bit; after giving Pinto the once-over, he head-butts the little horse into a nearby lake. Next, Little Buck sets a noose-trap that’s tied to a bent sapling tree, but once again, Pinto winds up on the receiving end of Little Buck’s scheme. Little Buck’s final attempt is an ambitious one. He digs a deep pit in the middle of the trail and covers it with branches, grass and leaves. But he does such a good job at camouflaging it, he and Pinto lose track of its location, and soon wind up trapped inside the pit, where they soon become the objects of derision of every deer in the forest!

• “Pete And Tweet”, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg. – During a heat wave, Tweet the canary is determined to cool off in the birdbath right outside his window. But once he’s doing the backstroke, Pete the cat soon interrupts his watery revere. Pete chases Tweet into the barnyard, where Tweet disguises himself as a baby chick. When Pete challenges their hen-mother, she calls on her husband, Henry the rooster, who offers Pete a taste of chicken wings and drumsticks – by punching and stomping the overzealous feline!

• “Get Rich Quick Pancakes”, a two-page text-feature, illustrated by Harvey Eisenberg.

• “Hick And Slick”, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg. – This pair of rodents is a variation on the old story of “The Country Mouse And The City Mouse”. While Hick is hard at work in their garden, Slick scans the newspaper’s classified ads for some easy money, being a firm believer in the adage, “Only suckers work for a living”. Sure enough, Slick discovers an ad that reads: “Wanted – fat young mouse – Why work for a living? Don’t be a sucker – if you can qualify for this job you will never have to worry about working again -- ! Apply No. 1 Big City Boulevard – immediately!” Slick heads for the city, with Hick tagging along. There, Slick meets his potential “employer”, a hungry cat pretending to be elderly by wearing a fake moustache and beard. While checking Slick’s “qualifications”, he prepares the cocky little mouse for cooking! When Hick sees the cat shove his pal into a heated oven, he disguises himself as the local “Oven Inspector” and blusters his way into the cat’s home. Opening the oven door, he frees Slick, accusing the cat of breaking the law by keeping a mouse in his oven! Fortunately, there’s no law against keeping a cat in an oven, so Hick clobbers the puss with a bat and knocks him inside! Later, back home, Slick helps Hick work in the garden, saying, “Just peel off my cellophane wrapper and call me ‘sucker’, Hick ol’ boy!!”

• “The Bugsey Bear Family”. – Bugsey Bear’s son tries to talk him into going fishing, but Bugsey’s wife has other plans for her husband – like beating a carpet. Bugsey tries to get out of the chore by disguising the family’s cow as himself and attaching a rug-beater to its tail. Grabbing his rod and reel, he meets his son down t the lake, but immediately gets in deep trouble with the local game warden by fishing in a “No Fishing” area without a fishing license. To avoid being arrested and serving thirty days in jail, Bugsey takes the game warden to his home, where he plans to pay the thirty dollar fee out of his wife’s purse. Unfortunately, Mrs. Bear is no help at all; she’s angry with Bugsey for letting their cow eat her rug…which thirty dollars will just about take care of replacing!

• “Pancakes”, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg. – Jumpin’ jitterbugs! This is, without a doubt, the Oddball gem of this issue of FOXY FAGAN COMICS; in fact, it’s one of the very oddest comic book stories ever published! Rather than describe this outrageously racist story of watermelon-lust, here’s the entire bizarre story, page by page, courtesy of Oddball Comics:

  “Pancakes”, Page One
  “Pancakes”, Page Two
  “Pancakes”, Page Three
  “Pancakes”, Page Four
  “Pancakes”, Page Five
  “Pancakes”, Page Six

• “Bobbles The Inventor”, an inside-front cover gag-strip.

• “Foxy Fagan Popularity Poll”, an inside-back cover reader participation feature promising “50 Prizes” of one dollar each to the first fifty participants in the poll.

• A back cover ad for FOXY FAGAN COMICS’ “companion” title, RED RABBIT COMICS – featuring the exploits of a long-eared cowpoke -- illustrated by Harvey Eisenberg.

ODDBALL Factoid – If you wonder why both Foxy Fagan and Red Rabbit look suspiciously similar to “Tom” (of TOM & JERRY) and Bobbles is a near-double for Tex Avery’s “Droopy”, it’s probably because cartoonist Harvey Eisenberg was, for many years, a layout artist at MGM, the animation studio that produced both cartoons series! But here’s an even more unexpected secret: Eisenberg and his studio boss, Joseph Barbera (the man who gave us the phrase “I hate meeses to pieces”, among countless others) were the publishing partners behind the Dearfield Publishing Company!

Bonus ODDBALL Factoid – Not only was Harvey Eisenberg one of animation and comic books’ most talented cartoonists, but his son Jerry Eisenberg is another major talent, having created the cartoon characters “Peter Potamus” and “Fangface”, among many others!

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