COMICS: A little boy who takes on the world, and a droopy-faced bear

Half adventure, half humor in these comics

J. Caleb Mozzocco

Animator Gene Deitch's mid-'50s comic strip creation Terr'ble Thompson was the real hero of all human history, a 7-year-old old kid who entertained entreaties from the likes of General George Washington at his tree house "Werld Hedd Quarters" to travel back in time with him to perform such deeds as writing the Declaration of Independence and saving the troops of Valley Forge. Though Terr'ble was "Nero's hero, had Robin Hood a-quiver, and made Alexander great," he's not in any of the history books, because no one seems to believe him. His parents think he has an overactive imagination, the older kids think he's nuts and his history teacher is understandably exasperated.

It's somewhat ironic then that the amazingly illustrated and innovative daily comic strip starring Terr'ble has similarly been forgotten to history. At the time, Deitch had a full-time gig at UPA animation studios as well as a growing family (including a little boy who'd grow up into '60s underground comix luminary Kim Deitch) and something had to go.

That something turned out to be Terr'ble Thompson, which ran only six months from 1955-56.

Fantagraphics, which previously published a collection of Deitch's Record Changer Magazine cartoons under the title Cat on a Hot Thin Groove (Terr'ble's dad Tugwell bares a resemblance to the Cat, as well as an interest in Hi-Fi), has saved The Real-Great Adventures of Terr'ble Thompson from the ash heap of newspaper-strip history with a complete collection of the series.

It's a half humor, half adventure strip, with the storylines revolving around Terr'ble helping out the likes of Christopher Columbus, Santa Claus, Cleopatra and Sir Gawain, who are all most often menaced by Terr'ble's arch enemy Mean Morgan, who seems like a cross between Walter Matthau and Satan.

Deitch's work holds up remarkably well today, looking quite a bit like that of modern comix all-stars Seth and Johnny Ryan. Spot-on, minimalist character designs of historical figures combine with loose lines, sharp angles and high-energy visual storytelling to make for a strip unlike any you've ever read before—not bad for a little-seen, 50-year-old strip. The book is a welcome look at a lost gem, but just important, a look what might have been, if Terr'ble Thompson had lasted longer.

Surely today's comics pages would look a lot different.


Hugs: Bloodpond


Modus Operandi Publishing

Las Vegas' own Michael Ogilvie presents another bizarrely dark pantomime comedy featuring "Hugs," a droopy-faced, retarded-looking polar bear with a grievous stomach wound, in this handsomely designed, self-published graphic novel (complete with a hard cover, stitched binding and a built-in red-ribbon bookmark—just like a Bible might have!).

Each page is divided into two big panels, brightly colored and designed within an inch of their lives, and what follows is a pretty stream-of-conscious narrative that reads like a paper Looney Tunes cartoon, only several times loonier (and much gorier).

As for the story, there's this chicken that crosses the road, see, and then a meteor strike, and a dog that falls in love with a chicken leg, and another dog that falls in love with that dog, and Hugs, and the devil (portrayed as a grizzly bear wearing a six-gun), and a game of chess, and the pope, and a sacrificial virgin and a great deal of substance abuse and firearms. It all makes sense—or a semblance of sense—in the end, but it may bear repeated readings to get there, as Ogilvie packs his pages with visual and textual information (mostly in the form of quotes and citations).

The artwork itself is a strange sort of cartooning and collage hybrid, so that the dopey-looking cartoon bears and dogs consort with medieval art and photographs in their journey to the afterlife and back. Alternate Reality Comics and Cosmic Comics are planning to carry to carry the book this month, Ogilvie said. Interested parties are

welcome to hit him up for info at
[email protected].

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