Magazine Cover Comics: Francine the Freshie

 

The magazine cover comic Francine the Freshie by Virginia Huget has that slightly sour smell of a fill-in, penned and scheduled in haste to fill a last minute gap. Since it is the work of Virginia Huget, and we know she's capable of writing a fine jazzy yarn, these short and downright business-like captions really leave us feeling short-changed. Thankfully Huget's art on this series, though certainly rougher than we are used to from her, is nevertheless pleasant to peruse. 

The story, what little there is of it, is that Francine goes off to college and (of course) meets the man of her dreams. However, this series is so short -- only four episodes -- that there is really no proper ending. Francine and "the football star" (he's not even got a name!) connive to get away from the college for a moonlight drive together, and that's it. I guess we are just to assume that love, marriage, babies, and old age pensions are to ensue. 

Francine the Freshie was syndicated by King Features, and ran from August 25 to September 15 1929.