I recently acquired a stash of magazine gag panel cartoon clippings that seem to be mostly from the late 1930s. It’s been fun to look through them and organize them by artist. There are quite a few I wasn’t familiar with. One is John Rosol, who drew these really cute and fun cat cartoons. Almost a predecessor of B. Kliban’s wonderful cat cartoons. There was even a book collecting Rosol’s cat comics in the 1940s, which has been reprinted. I’m not a cat person, but these are cute and very funny, and even charming, which is entirely due to Rosol’s drawing and humor.
I’ve had a long article about multiples in comics, focusing mostly on characters like Donald Duck’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and the evolution of that trope. Is there something to having unnamed multiples doing the same thing, where it’s the sheer repetition that’s funny? I’m not totally sure either way, but it may be a good question.
Below are the four John Rosol clippings I now have. I wonder if these were included in the book, and how extensive the collection is. Is it *all* the cat cartoons, or more of a “best of” collection?
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.