Sad Sack and the Sarge #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSad Sack and the Sarge #2 is an early installment of what became one of Harvey Comics' longest-running series — 155 issues spanning 1957 to 1982 — cementing the Sarge as a co-equal star alongside the hapless private who had already spent fifteen years making GIs laugh. The issue showcases the expanding cast of the Harvey universe, with both 'Sadie the WAC' and 'PX Penny' features appearing alongside the title strip, reflecting Harvey's deliberate strategy of using each issue to develop supporting characters who would anchor future spin-off titles. Arriving on newsstands the same month that Paramount released Jerry Lewis's film adaptation of the same property, the issue was part of a coordinated cultural moment in which Sad Sack reached its widest peacetime audience simultaneously across comics, film, and newspaper syndication. As a bimonthly title published under the Harvey Hits Inc. imprint and carrying the Comics Code Authority seal, it also exemplifies how postwar military humor was repackaged for a youth readership that had no firsthand memory of the war that birthed the character.
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The Sad Sack was created by Sgt. George Baker, who debuted the pantomime strip in the first issue of Yank, the Army Weekly in June 1942, drawing from his own Army experiences to depict a nameless, put-upon private ground down by military absurdity. After the newspaper syndication run wound down, Baker sold his rights to Harvey Comics, which had already been publishing the core Sad Sack Comics title since September 1949; the Sad Sack and the Sarge spin-off launched in September 1957 to give the Sarge feature its own dedicated home. By the time issue #2 appeared, Harvey's in-house stable — led by Fred Rhoads, who had begun drawing the line in late 1953 — was producing the interiors, while Baker retained cover credits and, per a contractual arrangement, his facsimile signature and thumbnail Sad Sack 'postage stamp' sketches continued to appear on the titles. Leon Harvey is credited as editor on this issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: November 1957; on-sale date: September 15, 1957; published by Harvey Hits Inc. under the Harvey Comics banner.
- The series ran for 155 issues (September 1957 – June 1982), making it one of Harvey's longest-running non-Richie Rich titles.
- Issue #2 carries feature strips for 'Sad Sack and the Sarge,' 'The Sarge' (solo), 'Sadie the WAC,' and 'PX Penny' — the last introducing named characters Sergeant O'Hare and Corporal Johnny Robbins alongside PX Penny.
- Two stories in this issue are reprints from Sad Sack Comics #27 (October 1953), demonstrating Harvey's practice of recycling earlier material in the spin-off line.
- Stories from this very issue were themselves reprinted roughly three years later in Sad Sack and the Sarge #21 (October 1960).
- The character Sad Sack was originally created by Sgt. George Baker, debuting in Yank, the Army Weekly #1 (June 1942) as a wordless pantomime strip about a downtrodden Army private.
- The issue was edited by Leon Harvey and carries the Comics Code Authority approval stamp; it was published on a bimonthly schedule.
- The year this issue appeared, 1957, was also the year of the Jerry Lewis film The Sad Sack, a Paramount adaptation of Baker's character — giving the Harvey comics line a simultaneous pop-culture tailwind.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Sad Sack Comics #27 (1953)
Reprinted in Sad Sack and the Sarge #21 (1960)
Key issues in Sad Sack and the Sarge
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