Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Obscurity of the Day: Buddy and Banty
Among the many comic strip series George Frink created for the Chicago Daily News was Buddy and Banty. At first glance it seems like yet another Katzies rip-off, but the plot had a little extra nuance to it in that Banty is a mischievous halfwit, and Buddy is a comparative angel. Of course in any setup of this type, the inevitable upshot is that poor Buddy pays dearly for Banty's hellraising.
Even though this isn't exactly grade-A Frink material, he employs his gift for portraying anarchy to relatively good effect. In this sample strip, I particularly like the graphic device of being able to see an X-ray view between the two floors of the house, a nice touch.
Buddy and Banty ran on occasional weekdays on the Chicago Daily News back page from June 9 to September 22 1906. Then after a long layoff it came back for a single engagement on February 21 1908.
A footnote on this sample strip is that Frink had a series starring Uncle Bellamy back in 1902-03. But this doesn't seem to be a return appearance of his old character, who had rather unique muttonchops that stuck out from his head like overgrown cat whiskers.
Labels: Obscurities
