Bertie Bruin Tries to Kill his Forest Pals

The last couple of posts featured the freaked-out funny-animal comics of H. Chambers If you missed them, check out the stories of Eddie the Elephant and Percy Pelican from the pages of Hi-Ho Comics #1  (1946).

This story, “Bertie Bruin” continues the fascinatingly freakish art of H. Chambers, but with an added twist: Some of the most horrible storytelling I’ve ever seen in a comic book!



It’s quite an object lesson in what NOT to do when drawing comics.

In the transition from page 2 to page 3 I had NO idea what the heck was going on. The flopping stage direction and confusingly similar character designs left me scratching my head, wondering if the pages were printed out of order.

And what happened between the last panel of page 3 and the first panel of page 4???
Once I figured it out, I went along for the ride and enjoyed watching a cute story disintegrate into confusion because of bad staging. But it’s a fun disaster.