Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hank Ketcham Banking Gag


Everything that's old is new again. Here's a gorgeous Hank Ketcham gag cartoon from 1947, four years before the debut of his DENNIS THE MENACE newspaper panel. A lot to linger over here; the layout, the use of the wash as a framing device, the banker's wee hand surreptitiously signaling to the bare chested torturer. And look at all those various branding irons! Yipe!

My thanks to my friend Leif Peng, whose Today's Inspiration blog is one of those essential stops on the cartoony information Internets highway. Leif surprised me with this in the morning email and I had to share. Thanks, Leif!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my God that's beautiful! WOW!!!

    Where was that in that Ketcham book that came out a while back?!

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  2. The hot-iron man clearly loves his job.

    I think Addams did a variation on this gag, or am I mixing it up with the game show one?

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