Comic Book Cats, number 169: Our Gang with Tom & Jerry #45

Comic Book Cats, number 169: Our Gang with Tom & Jerry #45, written & drawn by John Stanley, published by Dell Comics in April 1948.

This six page story starring Tom Cat was recently spotlighted by Brian Cronin on CBR. Brian’s occasional feature “Things That Turned Out Bad” looks at comic books that flew under the radar at the time they were first published, but which over the years have become problematic. And, oh yeah, this one definitely qualifies!

Tom can’t find a birthday present for his sort-of girlfriend Toots, so he offers to become her slave. Unfortunately for Tom, one of Toots’ other suitors, a cat named Bob, is also present. Totts makes Tom also wait hand & foot on Bob, who becomes more and more abusive as the story progresses. Tom finally snaps and, after dumping a bowl of pancake batter on Bob & beating him over the head with a wooden spoon, gleefully delivers a birthday spanking to Toots and then forcefully kisses her. The end result is that Toots is now actually MORE attracted to Tom. Oh boy! ????

This story is uncredited (would anybody even want to take credit for it?) but it has been attributed to John Stanley. Born in 1914, Stanley worked in the animation field for Fleisher Studios during the first half of the 1930s. Following this, he did Disney licensing and merchandising artwork. Between 1948 and 1959 Stanley wrote and occasionally drew the Little Lulu comic book for Dell. Following this he did Nancy & Sluggo for Dell, and created several humor titles for the publisher. He passed away in November 1993 at the age of 79.

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