Four Color #31

Frank Willard's beloved newspaper strip crew comes to Dell's Four Color series in this 1943 ten-cent offering, Moon Mullins No. 31. The cover captures a wonderfully chaotic moment — a cigar-chomping fellow in a loud plaid outfit scrambles in alarm as a small, bowler-hatted youngster in red and yellow charges at him with a furious scowl, while a third figure's shoes are visible flying around the corner of a bright red wall. It's a lively snapshot of the strip's signature blue-collar comedy, rendered in cheerful four-color style that made these Dell issues such a treat for readers during the wartime era.