Thursday, August 30, 2012
Obscurity of the Day: Tommy Hogg
In this typically oddball World Color Printing series we have really good art in the service of an intriguing idea, and execution that falls utterly flat. The creator, Pollard, of which I know exactly nothing, has only this single series to his credit. But he's a darn good cartoonist, and I do like his decision to focus on anthropomorphic pigs, which would seem to have some distinct comedic possibilities. Unfortunately, other than getting a little mileage out of their penchant for squealing, Pollard may as well be drawing humans. And as long as he's at it, if he could have found it in his abilities to supply gags for Tommy Hogg it would have been a big plus. What he does is try to swipe standard 'naughty kid' turns from other strips, and succeeds only in botching the job so badly that the reader has to help out by mentally filling in some of the comedic blanks of the well-known gags.
Pollard's series ran in the World Color Printing Sunday sections from December 4 1904 to March 5 1905, then made one additional appearance on September 10 1905, when John E. Bernier took a single swing at the strip. Since it was Bernier's final appearance in the section, it obviously wasn't the hit he was looking for.
Thanks to Cole Johnson for the samples!
Note: in my book this series is improperly broken up into two separate series, Little Tommy Hogg, and Tommy Hogg's Father.
Labels: Obscurities
