"Jigg & Mooch [untitled]" Animal Comics No. 30, December 1948 story and layouts: John Stanley finished artwork: possibly John Stanley/? It's always a pleasure to present a comics story written and drawn by John Stanley. This series was a late-comer to the younger-market anthology Animal Comics. Aside from Walt Kelly's garrulous, dense Albert and Pogo feature, the book's contents were clearly aimed at very early readers. Stanley was an early contributor to Animal Comics, beginning with some very funny stories featuring lackluster characters from the Famous Studios group of cartoon characters. Since issues of this title are very hard to find (and, thus, quite expensive), I don't have access to these early Stanley stories (anyone out there willing to make some scans?) This story is in Stanley's "modernist" mode, also seen in his one- page Woody Woodpecker strips for contemporary issues of New Funnies (to see an example, click here). Drawn with a strong, hard "clear line," and featuring extremely stylized characters, Jigg and Mooch is a curious stand-out from the baroque efforts of Kelly and the more storybook-oriented fare that fills the magazine. Familar Stanley themes -- social alienation, pursuit by an inept authority figure -- pervade this story. Its air of sparseness stands in high contrast to Stanley's increasingly talky, rich efforts for LITTLE LULU, NEW FUNNIES and other titles of this era. Stanley would return to this "less is more" outlook for 1960s efforts like MELVIN MONSTER and THIRTEEN GOING ON EIGHTEEN (which he also illustrated). To read the story, click on the comic book cover and enjoy!