Buzzy #3

This 1945 DC summer issue of Buzzy delivers pure slapstick charm right on its cover, where a rotund, cigar-chomping Mr. Gruff leans over a dock to lower a diving helmet onto young Buzzy — saxophone in hand and already half-submerged — while a red-haired girl clutches a black cat in alarm and wonders aloud if Buzzy is about to meet his end. George Storm's lively linework gives the whole absurd scene a bouncy, warm energy, with even a little frog watching the chaos unfold from the water nearby. A delightful slice of mid-1940s teen-humor comics that shows DC's lighter side in fine form.