Comics and Comical Cartoons

1993 Far Side Cartoon “Dumb Bunny Smart Ass.” Gary Larson. FarWorks. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown source. The ass is ready "Animal Farm." The reference here is technically not to a fable, but it is close enough! Besides, the expressions if not the cartoon led to one of the best titles I have had for a fable presentation, "Dumb Bunnies and Wise Asses."

2017 Bill and Jeff Keane, “Family Circus.” King Features. Unknown source. The fun here rests on the presumption that every good story is made into a film. Actually, with the book that mother is reading to this precocious child, that turns out to be true!

1998? “Memories.” Bill Keane in the series “Family Circus.” Unknown newspaper. Unknown source. A colored version of this appeared in 1998. The wordplay on “hare” is ever recurrent!

1927 “Bughouse Fables.” 22 newspaper cartoons by Paul Fung and (Clarence “Billy”) De Beck. King Features Syndicate. From Wes Baldwin, Bartow, FL. I learned in researching these cartoons that “bughouse” means “crazy.” Billy De Beck was the creator of Barney Google. This is a typical case of “fable” not referring to the sort of thing associated with the name of Aesop. Since I have come across them, I preserve them here. The basic movement of these cartoons is role reversal, as when a criminal asks a police officer where he can best sell a used car. In the simplest and last of these, a child in his crib smokes a cigar. Fun still 98 years later.

1984 B.C. “Bad Hare Day.” Johnny Hart. Creators Syndicate. Unknown venue. Unknown source. Yet another play on the word “hare.” Part of the fun here is the way ants live in their below-ground home.

1999? Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Calendar for Friday, March 20, 1999? Unknown source. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1993 Far Side Cartoon “Scenes that make a crow smile.” Gary Larson. FarWorks. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown source. The cartoon shows a roadkill. A viewer might need to look more closely to see that it is a fox that has been killed. The crow would be smiling because the fox outsmarted him in the fable and came away with the crow’s piece of cheese. The verso includes an offer with a coupon expiring in late January, 1993.

1990 Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Newspaper clippings. 3 copies, all apparently from the Omaha World-Herald. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown sources. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1928 23 "Fables in Slang" comic strips by George Ade. Many signed "Art Helfant." Unknown source. I have enjoyed books of George Ade's fables. Those were text narratives. These cartoons are fun. They involve gentle social critique. Online commentators note that they present vernacular rather than slang. Ade was an accomplished playwright. Apparently these cartoon strip fables were syndicated nationally. I include them as a strong example of a popular use of the word "fable." Besides, they have their own charm!