Li'l Genius #17

Li'l Tomboy can't help ribbing her friend over an outrageous hat, but when she agrees to zip it, her pal has other plans—he wants to stick around just to hear what she'll say about the next girl's headwear. A one-page romp from 1958 about the persistence of mischief and the hard truth that some laughs are too good to keep.

When a radio station announces a contest to win a real horse for the child who brings in the most breakfast cereal box tops, Li'l Genius and his friends scheme to pool their money and buy enough boxes to claim the prize—but a series of chaotic mishaps, from an electric fan disaster to a wayward goat to an accidental fire, threatens to derail their plans before the deadline. After narrowly winning the horse despite the soggy, singed box tops, the kids must figure out how to keep their prize when an animal welfare inspector shows up with stern warnings about proper care.

Li'l Genius thinks he's outsmarted a bully who's been pestering him all week by sending a taunting message—but when the bully shows up ready for a fight, a surprising twist turns the tables in an unexpected way. This 1958 humor tale proves that sometimes the best revenge isn't what you plan for.

Eddie Extra, an editor desperate for real news, keeps dismissing the kid who keeps trying to tell him about the chaos erupting all around town—bank robberies, explosions, and armed criminals running wild. As mayhem multiplies with each passing moment, Eddie remains stubbornly convinced that nothing truly newsworthy is happening, even as his own newspaper stands become ground zero for the very excitement he's been wishing for.

When a young genius's father can't solve a stubborn plumbing problem—even after five professional plumbers have failed—the boy knows just who to call: Madame Wava, an Oriental dancer from the local stage door. Watch as an unconventional solution saves the day in this lighthearted tale from Li'l Genius #17, proving that sometimes the answer to life's problems comes from the most unexpected places.

Lil' Lumberjack sets out into the woods with only a hatchet, determined to hunt fresh meat for his pop—but his conscience gets in the way when he encounters animals with young ones depending on them. When a charging moose forces him to take shelter in a bear's cave, he witnesses an unexpected battle that changes everything, leaving him with an unusual solution to his hunting problem.

When Ollie's mother calls Dr. Ferber about her son's toothache, the dentist's heart sinks—he's still recovering from Ollie's last visit. Despite his dread, Dr. Ferber prepares for the appointment, even stepping out to gather some "special things" to handle his most challenging patient. It's a humorous look at what happens when a difficult young visitor shows up at the dental office.

A jealous kid schemes to sabotage Eddie, a popular newspaper boy who's winning the neighborhood's favor, trying everything from stealing his papers to soaking them with water—but his plans keep backfiring in unexpected ways. When one of his tricks accidentally leads Eddie's father to discover he's inherited a fortune from a long-lost relative, the scheming kid gets a hard lesson in how his own envy has blinded him to what matters.

In "If I Had a Million," Ollie skips his composition on being a millionaire—because, as he tells his teacher, a real millionaire wouldn’t bother writing one at all. The story captures a delightfully lazy logic, turning a classroom assignment into a small act of whimsical rebellion.

Li'l Tomboy reluctantly visits the doctor for a routine checkup, but her energetic personality turns the appointment into pure chaos—broken doors, flying hammers, and shattered windows pile up faster than Dr. Checkup can keep up. By the time the dust settles, it's unclear who really needed the medical attention in the first place.

A young boy takes his father on a woodland lesson about becoming a man, but his well-intentioned supervision leads to one mishap after another—from thistles and bee stings to a precarious perch high in a tree. With quick thinking and a willing saw, the boy manages to turn disaster into an unexpected solution to their original mission.

A young boy celebrates his birthday, but when he asks a grumpy character for one of the bones lying around, he's roughly turned out instead—leading our disappointed pal to declare what he really thinks of such stinginess.