The Ephemerist

Al Capp’s Fearless Fosdick gets the traditional DC don’t-say-your-name-backwards in this 1955 ad for Wildroot hair products.

This gem by Al Capp from the september 9, 1946 issue of Life Magazine, comes your way courtesy of the wonderful Van Reid, purveyor of ceaseless graphic wonderment.

From Big Town #35, 1955. I’m not sure whether Capp did this strip himself. The type looks genuine enough, as does Fosdick (although there’s a suspicous lack of holes in his body), but I have my doubts about the prisoners.

As we’re heading onwards in what’s turning into a veritable non sequitur week, here’ a war poster by Al “Li’l Abner” Capp, as sent to me in the heydays of the Ephemerist mailing list…

A couple of years ago I won an Ebay auction for some envelopes, featuring art from Al Capp’s Advice Fo’ Chillun. Little did I know that they proved to be customised envelopes, with the art lovingly glued to them by some doting family member who from 1937 until 1938 frequently exchanged letters with one Frances Ann Skillins from Portland. When necessary, the captions in the cartoons were changed to suit the occasion.

Which made them even more valuable to me…

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