A Gen-u-ine Pin-Up Duck

Despite that title, there'll be nary a sign of Howard The Duck in this post. He's busy with the Guardians Of The Galaxy this season; also he doesn't fit our Old Friends Week theme.

Today we'll be talking about another duck, one from Howie Post. We've got a question leading into this one...

When is a Funny Animal not a Funny Animal?

Doodles Duck may be listed in the 1940s Funny Animalphabet, but he and his friends are a grey area. A brightly coloured grey area, but nonetheless...  Are they really Funny Animals if they're toys? 

Folks have been doing toys-come-alive stories long before the Toy Story movies, and Howie was doing it back in 1947 with a series he launched in Leading Comics, starting in #23. They were short, just 5 pages each, so here are the first three stories to introduce Doodles and his Toyland Playmates to you...

A couple issues later, Post decided he could take things further. If toys can come to life for the stories, why not pictures in books?
 

Howie had fun in Toyland for a few years with Doodles, and when he headed off to other strips, Sheldon Mayer took over for for several more years. But, if you go looking, it can be a bit tricky to follow. The strip bounced around between different comics. Besides Leading Comics (and Leading Screen Comics), Doodles also appeared in Comic Cavalcade, Funny Folks (and Hollywood Funny Folks), Funny Stuff, Movietown's Animal Antics, The Raccoon Kids, Nutsy Squirrel, Real Screen Comics, Peter Porkchops, and The Dodo and The Frog.

So...  Happy Hunting!

page art by Howie Post from Leading Comics #s 23-25 & 27 (1947)