The Man With The Stick Figure Cat

Do you know the man with the stick figure cat?

No - we ain't talking about Pete. We're talking about that little mark down towards the bottom right...

That little stick-figure scrawl of a cat is a signature mark of Howie Post. We know him best in previous posts for his window into the life of Ellis Chambers and for his delightful tales of Jimminy And The Magic Book. (Not to mention his trippy Sooper Hippie)

We've seen his first printed comic story before - both versions of it. His second and third tales appeared together just a month later in Bee 29 The Bombardier. (Yes, that's just what it sounds like) First up was a slightly twisted take on the classic hare vs turtle race, including a self-referential bit of early meta-humour -

(Note that early on he liked to sign with cats of a non stick-figure nature)

For the second tale in the issue, Howie gets decidedly more Odd - right from the first panel with Frank Furter striking back at the Hot Dog Factory for apparently having sold his wiener dog family as food...

(See what i mean?)

It was only a few months later, in the summer of 1945, that Howie got his first big solo strip - Alex In Wonderland - the lead feature for Wonderland Comics that we saw last time. In addition to the lead feature, Howie was also creating some of the supporting strips. Here's two more from that first issue of Wonderland Comics. Note that both strips are signed with his name and with his cat -

Both M'sieu Macaw and Max The Magician were ongoing features appearing regularly alongside Alex in Wonderland.

And now that you know about Howie's cat, you can confirm the unconfirmed for Who's Who In American Comics.

page art by Howie Post for Bee 29 The Bombardier #1 and Wonderland Comics #1 (1945)