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Boody Rogers was a golden age comic book artist whose work was as bizarre as any underground comic that followed decades later. I'm reading his out-of-print autobiography now, Homeless Bound, which is mainly a series of anecdotes about growing up in West Texas. In one chapter, he describes a number of the interesting characters he got to know. Excerpt:
The kind folks at the Hollywood Animation Archive have scanned a complete Boody Rogers comic for you to enjoy. It's from Vol. 7 of Babe, a L'il Abner Parody / knockoff. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | More Boing Boing coverage of Boody Rogers
"Short Arm" Baxter was yet another strange case. The poor guy was born with short arms, and they didn't grow with his body. You've all heard of the guy who never reached for the check. They say he had short arms and deep pockets -- could never get his money out. Well, "Short Arm" Baxter couldn't reach his pants pockets. He always wore a shirt with a pocket to keep his folding money in. He wore his house key around his neck on a long chain. When he changed a dollar, he'd put the change in his mouth so it wouldn't spill out of his shirt pocket.
One day he was window shopping and a friend walked up behind him and greeted him with a slap on the back. "Short Arm" almost went into convulsions. His friend thought he was choking to death. At last, "Short Arm" got his breath -- and just in time. He was turning purple. "Goddamn it, Burt -- you just made me swallow 98c!"
The kind folks at the Hollywood Animation Archive have scanned a complete Boody Rogers comic for you to enjoy. It's from Vol. 7 of Babe, a L'il Abner Parody / knockoff. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | More Boing Boing coverage of Boody Rogers