Early Bird Special

Saturday Leftover Day. For todays post I prepared something small but rare to add to my online collection of Hank Ketcham cartoons: some of what I believe are his first cartoons. They were published in the March and April issues of Gags and were probably drawn before he was drafted. We know Ketcham worked for Disney and left after the strike of 1942. Soon after he was drafted, and the first cartoons we know are from when het did a series about Half-Hitch, a demunitive sailor who he revived in the late sixties with a strip of his own. But these odd looking cartoons suggest he may have sold a couple before Uncle Sam got him as well. Three of these are in the multi panel format, which probably link back to his work as a gag cartoonist for Disney, along Virgil Partch (who also left and ended up being a free lance funny man). He did more for Gags all through the forties, mst of which you can find if you follow the link below. I have collected Hank Ketcham cartoons everywhere I came across them (including in the Laff-A-Day series of posts I have been doing the last few months. In fact, I stil have a bunch to clean. I believe I now have more of his cartoons together than are collected anywhere. And I know I am still only scratching the surface.