Four Color #229

Dell's Four Color #229 brings Bill Holman's beloved firefighter to the page in a burst of cheerful chaos — the cover shows Smokey Stover at a desk, pen in hand, while a spotted Dalmatian causes mischief nearby and a wide-eyed black cat clings to a lamp stand singing "Inky Dinky Parlay Foo." A framed portrait on the wall and a sparking lamp add to the delightful mayhem, all rendered in Holman's wonderfully loose, gag-packed style. The bottom of the cover previews a "Spooky" strip sequence as a bonus, making this 1949 ten-cent package a genuinely fun snapshot of classic American funny-animal and humor comics at their most freewheeling.