It’s nice to know that in the world of rotten li’l kid comics, which were staggeringly popular in the 1900s, that there was at least a small feminine contingent in this male-dominated profession. There was the popular Mamma’s Angel Child, of course, but other lesser known female brats include today’s obscurity, Angelic Angelina. This strip ran in the New York Herald‘s Sunday comics section from March 22 1908 to February 7 1909*.
Angelina’s favourite target was her little brother Bobbie, who was gullible enough to be easily convinced to do all sorts of rotten things that end up getting him spanked, while Angelina engineers herself into the hero of the day. It’s all a bit ho-hum of a concept, except for the one detail of the brat being a girl instead of a boy.
The creator of Angelic Angelina, Munson Paddock, was responsible for other ho-hum comics in the late 1900s, mostly for the New York Telegram. One exception that is much better than his norm is Wisdom of Wiseheimer. Angelic Angelina was Paddock’s only series that ran in the New York Herald. Stay tuned Wednesday as Alex Jay has an Ink-Slinger Profile of Paddock with new and updated information.
* Source: Ken Barker’s New York Herald index in StripScene #20.