Monday Cartoon Day.
Today some of the earliest Ketcham cartoons I could find.
In the later days of WW II Ketcham drew a series called Half Hitch for the Saturday Evening Post, about a wide eyed innocent little sailor-boy who got himself into all sorts of mischief. The second one I am showing here has been reprinted here, there and everywhere, but at least I can put a date to it. The first one is from May 1944 and the second one from April 1945.
In these two cartoons at least, Half Hitch is not that dissimilar from Dennis the Menace. In fact, I can imagine either cartoon being reused in Dennis. After the war, Ketcham started selling one shot cartoons to all markets. Earlier, I showed a couple he did for Dell's 1000 Jokes. In these three 1946 cartoons (two from the Post, one from Collier's) we see him trying out new styles. But the solid design that exemplifies all his work, was still there.
PS Today my copy of Al Jaffee's Tall Tales arrives from Amazon. Have you already got yours? I review it later this week. For those who want to know more, click the Al Jaffe link underneath.
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