This story of Al Capp's breakout LI'L ABNER characters, the Shmoos, reminds me of one of DC's Bizarro World tales from a decade later, right down to the supersuit. The only thing I know for sure about the artist is that it wasn't Capp who never actually did any of the comics based on his strip.
2 comments:
The Shmoo comic was but a pale knockoff of the Shmoo arc in the L'il Abner newspaper strips. Shmoos in the strip provided for people's needs whatever were their wants and desires, even to spontaneously and happily dying to provide sustenance for them.
They were, at the same time, Christlike and a metaphor for the welfare state (altho that was not a term or art then). The point of those stories was that people become lazy and greedy when they don't have to work for and earn for themselves. Lacking such satire, the comic book, without a human element was a mere cute creature in a self contained universe, much like Mickey Mouse, and about as relevent.
You'll note there are no human
Personally, I am enjoying the bizarre and wonderful irrelevancy of the Schmoo.
Thanks for posting!
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