{"id":2586,"date":"2017-01-03T11:17:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T19:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2586"},"modified":"2024-01-09T11:20:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T19:20:51","slug":"maggies-world-047-food-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-047-food-for-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 047: Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n

MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 047: Food for Thought<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"HD<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n


Maybe you\u2019ve decided that 2017 is the year you take control of what you\u2019re eating. Nourishment has been a plot element in comic art ever since (or, perhaps, long before) Tad Dorgan popularized the term \u201chot dog.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realizing going in that this can only be an appetizer for the banquet that the topic deserves, let\u2019s think about comics and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ad\u2019s the Thing.<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Cartoon characters quickly became connected with food as identifiable symbols. Sometimes, the characters were licensed from their comics origins. (Consider Skippy Peanut Butter and its fraught connection with Percy Crosby.) Sometimes, the characters were created as comics representatives of the brand. (Or its adversary. Some may recall Mr. Coffee Nerves, but I actually thought he might have appeared in ads for Sanka\u2014until I realized it was Postum that sent him on his way. \u201cCurses! If he\u2019s switching to Postum, I\u2019m through!\u201d Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles worked on the comics-page ads that may not be in your collection of the work of either storyteller.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Orphan Annie\u2019s connection to Ovaltine is well-known. Well, maybe not so much these days, but we\u2019re collectors here, right? By the way (if you consider chewing gum to be food), we should tip our hats to such characters as Bazooka Joe and the Dubble Bubble Twins. But that\u2019s all the attention they\u2019ll get here; there\u2019s actually an entire website devoted to \u201cBubble Gum Comics,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> if you want to chew over the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wow! C.C. Beck and Peter Costanza even got contributor credits in this tale of quick energy in\u00a0Captain Marvel Adventures<\/em>\u00a0#79 (December 1947). \u00a9 2016 Tootsie Roll Industries Yum! A big delight was in every bite, according to\u00a0Avengers<\/em>\u00a0#206 (April 1981). \u00a9 2016 Marvel and \u00a9 2016 Hostess Brands, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A couple of the best-known comics-connected food items were Tootsie Rolls candy and Hostess baked goods. In the case of the former, Captain Tootsie came to the rescue by providing whatever energy was needed to solve the problem. In the case of the latter, a variety of trademarked super-heroes were involved in delicious escapades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, in the 1940s, we heard a lot about \u201cenergy.\u201d Radio ads told us that Royal Pudding had \u201cmore food energy than sweet, fresh milk.\u201d And Captain Tootsie assured us that we could skate 2\u00bd miles on the energy in his candy. These days, we correctly call \u201cfood energy\u201d by the alternate title of \u201ccalories.\u201d Sigh. Eat that Tootsie Roll? You\u2019re going to need to skate 2\u00bd miles to work it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But onward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cAll the comics are new and original\u201d in\u00a0Blondie Comics<\/em>\u00a0#4 (Winter 1947)\u2014but some story elements were faithful to the newspaper strip.\u00a0Popeye and Wimpy<\/em>\u00a0#70 reprinted earlier strips\u2014some of which paid tribute to Wimpy\u2019s obsession. \u00a9 2016 King Features<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes, Food is Just Another Opportunity for Gags.<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Dagwood in Chic Young\u2019s Blondie<\/em> newspaper strip in the 1930s would occasionally build himself what was soon referred to by readers as a \u201cDagwood sandwich.\u201d For example, he extolled its ingredients in a 1939 strip: \u201cThey all have a purpose \u2026 Ham is the base \u2026 Cheese gives it tang \u2026 Onions give it authority, and the sliced pineapple a touch of color \u2026 The sausage is to make it look gay and the sardines lend variety.\u201d Such strips would then wrap up with a gag. In the extended stories in comic books (specifically noted on some covers as only \u201cbased on Chic Young\u2019s famous comic\u201d), several pages might be occupied by Dagwood\u2019s constructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, there\u2019s Thimble Theatre<\/em>. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Popeye and spinach\u2014but that was the Fleisher cartoons, not Elzie Segar\u2019s strip. The food I\u2019m talking about is the nourishment so cherished by Wimpy. In 1932, he said, \u201cCook me up a hamburger. I\u2019ll pay you Thursday,\u201d and the rest is history. As with Chic Young\u2019s strip, the theme of food continued, even when others took over the tales. (In the example shown here, the strip was drawn by Bill Zaboly.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, these are only a couple of such instances. Entire story arcs featuring Walt Kelly\u2019s Albert and Pogo involved the fact that (as might be the case with others of his species), Albert Alligator would ingest anything that would hold still\u2014and some things that wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, Food is the Whole Story.<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In Maggie\u2019s World<\/em> #037, I cited \u201cjust looking for a snack\u201d as one of the sources of villainy in the comics world. From Big Bad Wolf in Disney animation and Walt Disney\u2019s Comics and Stories<\/em>, to a variety of vampires, to Frau Totenkinder in Fables<\/em>, hunger is sometimes the driving force for a character. (Superhero buffs may think immediately of Galactus\u2014who\u2019d have been just a big guy stomping around the universe in 1966, had it not been for an appetite that included regarding the Earth as a yummy main course.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the central character as victim, rather than villain, Winsor McCay\u2019s Dream of the Rarebit Fiend<\/em> began in 1904 and was based on the principle that eating Welch rarebit at bedtime would give the diner nightmares (which is what each strip was devoted to).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more I consider the topic, the more food-oriented comics stories come to mind: Too Much Coffee Man,<\/em> Garfield\u2019s lasagna focus, Jughead\u2019s hamburger obsession, not to mention Milk and Cheese<\/em>. And Chew<\/em>. And, hey, what was up with Peter Porkchops?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
What could go wrong? Al Capp considered the impact of food on society when he introduced Shmoos in 1948. \u00a9 2016 Capp Enterprises, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In any case, if I had to focus on just one comics tale that was entirely based on the importance of food, it\u2019d be the story that Al Capp told in 1948 in one of his best and darkest commentaries on the modern world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collected by Pocket Books in the mass-market paperback The Life and Times of the Shmoo <\/em>in 1949, the story survived in a way that many newspaper-strip continuities did not. And, as Dave Schreiner wrote in Vol. 14 of Kitchen Sink\u2019s Li\u2019l Abner Dailies<\/em>, \u201cMarketing aside, just why did the Shmoo hit it big? It was one of the great fantasy creations of all time, but it particularly struck a chord in 1948. The Shmoo offered comfort to an uneasy world, abundance in a time of shortages, security in the form of ham and eggs, steak, chicken, and anything else you wanted. A lovable creature, vaguely resembling a human organ with feet, it answered all of mankind\u2019s needs and longings. How could something like that miss?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that, of course, meant that Shmoos would cause trouble. \u201cWhat industry will be ruined next? \u201cTransportation! Nobody needs any food any more\u2014so they don\u2019t need my trucks to carry it!!\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the use of raising the prices of my cars higher and higher? \u2014 Shmoos don\u2019t need gas or oil\u2014and (sob!) they give a shmoother ride!!\u201d \u201cWho needs toys\u2014with Shmoos around? They\u2019re more fun than a barrel of monkeys!!\u201d Time for Shmoo exterminators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, but remember comics in advertisements? Even Shmoos were delighted to get \u201cthat Cream of Wheat feeling!\u201d And (if you wanted to wash your hands before eating, clean up those supper dishes, and launder your napkins afterward) Shmoos could lay Ivory Soap, Dreft, and Duz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food for thought, indeed \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World appears the first Tuesday of every month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n