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BOOK REVIEW! AL CAPP'S LI'L ABNER VOLUME 8 (1949-1950) BY AL CAPP! (IDW, 2016)

It sure does tickle my heart knowin' that, even after all those years of controversy and self-righteous ex-hippies putting down Al Capp for his criticisms of the New Left and his unwavering nose for pudenda (even if these same social critics seem to dismiss Bill Clinton for his even more devious delvings into the seedier side of sexual release), LI'L ABNER remains a popular comic strip which is, after all these years, deeply ingrained into the comic strip consciousness enough to warrant the royal treatment lo these many years later. 

And not only in various in and out of print collections that are easy enough to obtain, but on-line for a world who by now finds the strip more of a historical curiosity than for the by-now antiquated socio-political commentary that Capp was quite famed for. 

Yes, it does do this fanabla a whole world of good knowing that a good fortysome years after Capp's retirement from the comics world and eventual deep sixing that there are some who still find LI'L ABNER necessary to their own sense of existence. Myself as well...after all, along with NANCY and HENRY this strip remains a part of my earliest flickers of memory, no doubt thanks to my father reading it to me (well, somewhat) as a child but frequent morning viewings of the short-lived Columbia cartoon series which I will say holds up way more'n some animation wags claim. But sheesh, where is the lawsuit from the Popeye people what with Mammy Yokum ripping off a good portion of his schtick?!?!?!?

This volume featuring strips form 1949 to 50 shows Capp at the peak of his powers what with the artwork becoming even finer (reminds me of those late-19th century PUCK efforts from the likes of Keppler and Opper) and the stories becoming pretty gruesome enough even to the point where Capp even slips a Nazi death camp reference in at one point! Particularly grueling is the one where Daisy Mae is kidnapped by some elderly matron for her oafish son and is forced to watch her fellow Dogpatchians starve to death as long as Daisy dares holds out. The Kigmies also appear and while they weren't as popular as the Schmoos there's still a good guffaw to be had there and there, while Abner goes on an extended search to piece together a missing page from a FEARLESS FOSDICK comic book after being mesmerized by the remaining shard of a female knee! Wow, fetishism hit the comic strip pages even back then (although Nancy once did conjure up an image of a young lass tied up rather suspiciously)!

'n yea, there's the introduction of cover star Evil-Eyed Fleagle whose "whammy" inspired one of them classic Screamin' Jay Hawkins numbers that just didn't pan out hit-wise.

The Sunday strip continuity goes on swell with loads of sagas including one about Lonesome Polecats' ultra-sexy galpal who just came back from college with a strong case of Red Power to the infamous FOSDICK tale which has him on the lookout for a can of poisoned baked beans killing anyone possessing such an item in order to "save" them! This 'un also appears in a variety of reprints but at least it can now be seen with every panel intact the way nature intended!

Of course ya also get the obligatory text regarding the state of ABNER and Capp during those times including some snaps of various Schmoo items which can be obtained at an antiques mall of your choice, not to mention an update on the infamous Capp/Ham Fisher feud which even spilled into the pages of ABNER, most notably in the storyline featuring a race horse called "Ham's Nose Bob".