Number 2588: Witch Hazel’s niece, Little Itch, makes her debut

Despite the title of today's post, I am not sure the story, “Ol Witch Hazel and Her Niece, Little Itch,” is the actual debut of Little Itch. I looked at various sources, including the Grand Comics Database, and they list the story as the debut, but with a question mark. They are guessing, like me.

You’d think a grown man would have better things to do than spend a morning looking for such arcane information, wouldn’t you? You’d be correct.

Despite wasting time on the search, I am happy for the story, typical to me of writer John Stanley’s talent. My favorites from the Little Lulu comic books are Witch Hazel and Little Itch. This is the final story I am posting for the Little Lulu and Her Special Friends Annual #3, from 1955. Little Itch’s first appearance or not, Lulu’s impromptu and inspired story, by way of John Stanley, still made me laugh.

Number 2369: Tub’s mustache

This is one of my favorite stories of Tubby, Little Lulu’s pal. I think you can see the story’s ending coming, so I won’t belabor the point, but I have tacked on another element that caught my attention. The cop chasing the mustaschioed Tubby while yelling, “It’s against the law for a little boy to have a real mustache!” is a reminder that as kids my friends and I used to argue about what was legal. If I had seen this story at age seven I would probably have thought that a handlebar mustache on an underage boy was illegal. After all, a cop said it!

From Tubby #9 (1954). Written by John Stanley, and drawn by the Irving Tripp studio.

Number 2309: Little Lulu: “The Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Ghosts”

John Stanley’s Little Lulu stories for Dell Comics are some of my favorite comics from a lifetime of reading comics. As I felt when I was very young, I think the best stories are the tales that Lulu spins for her neighbor, Alvin. Alvin pesters Lulu to tell him a story, and to get rid of him Lulu has to come up with yet another in her long series about the Little Girl. This episode predates the very popular stories about Witch Hazel and Little Itch, always outsmarted by the Little Girl, but it still has a supernatural element. The Little Girl comes upon a school for ghosts while looking for her parents, a pair of sparrows. These stories are stories within stories. Alvin does something obnoxious. After all, he is a boy, a brat! But as Lulu’s Mom tells Lulu’s Pop when Alvin interrupts their sleep, “Lulu will keep him quiet.” The framing devices for Lulu’s fanciful fabrications are funny.

From Little Lulu #24 (1950). Story by Stanley, art by the Irving Tripp studio.

Number 1738: Lulu’s Witch Hazel: “If you go down in the woods today...”

The 100-page squareback giant comics Dell published in the fifties are some of my favorites. Little Lulu and Her Special Friends (1955) is all inspired John Stanley humor, and except for the covers, all Irving Tripp artwork. I love that it has four of Lulu’s “Little Girl” stories, with Witch Hazel.

“Old Witch Hazel and the Witless Whirlwind” is a variation on the three wishes fantasy. Hazel whips up a whirlwind to take the Little Girl  far away to die under horrible conditions. But Hazel’s commands to the whirlwind go comically awry. Also in the story, as a disguise Witch Hazel changes into a beautiful woman. “I hate to disfigure myself like this,” says the witch as her magic wand turns her into a glamorous blonde. That is Stanley’s sense of humor at work.

More Lulu “Little Girl” stories. Just click on the thumbnails.

Number 487


Tubby is a drag


Gran'pa Feeb was a character introduced in Tubby's Clubhouse Pals #1, a Dell Giant Comic from 1956. I wrote an article about him in Pappy's #161.

Feeb is a pretty hilarious character, an oldster going through a second childhood. I laughed out loud when I reread this story, especially the sequence at the top of page two: Feeb says to Willy, "Lucky for you you're wearing glasses! I never fight boys who wear glasses!" Willy responds, "I'm not wearing glasses, Feeb." in the next panel Feeb says, "Lucky for you you've got big glassy eyes!"

Another gag is Tubby dressing in drag to make Feeb hate girls, to help him pass the admissions test for their boys' only club. Tubby is a kid who wants to fit in with his peers so he pretends to hate girls, but he doesn't hate girls. He loves them! Tubby is used to disguises, which he uses when he's his alter ego, The Spider, solving mysteries for Lulu. In this case he's able to fool Feeb, something he never did with Lulu's dad.

The entire Dell Giant is written by John Stanley and illustrated by Irving Tripp.