Peterkin Pottle

Peterkin Pottle is a life guard, a early American hunter, and an all around great hero. Peterkin Pottle is a high imaginative little boy.

In real life Peterkin goes to a school where he has to sit in back of the class for being stupid. He is consetly teased by the other kids, except for the lovely Patty.

Peterkin Pottle is one of the earliest original creations of John Stanley. He started appering in 1949 and issues #32 to #38 of Raggedy Ann and Andy star Pottle on the cover.

Peterkin Pottle gave John Stanley a chance to show off his dark humor and really start to play with one of his favorite themes, social alienation.

From Raggedy Ann and Andy #33 you can read this Peterkin Pottle story on The John Stanley website.

Below is the story from Raggedy Ann and Andy #38.

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Lil' Eightball

Three "Lil EightBall" cartoons were produced and distributed through Universal Pictures in 1939. Black Like Me: The History Of Black Comic Book Heroes Through The Ages Part One 1900-1968 by Dart Adams makes mention of one of the Lil Eight Ball cartoons and give a short background on the character with pictures. "A-Haunting We Will Go" provides more screen shots for the last of the cartoons with a light background.

Dell took the short-lived, animated character from 1939 and dropped him into the pages of New Funnies. Lil' EightBall is a black boy growing up in the rural south. It has all the racist stereotypes one might expect with that setting.

From New Funnies #106 (Dec 1945)
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More information...

Lil' Eightball (Big Cartoons Database)
Der Captain give his thoughts on Lil Eightball after seeing "A-Hunting We Will Go"
Here is the story of Lil Eight Ball B-17G-35-DL 42-107215 from the 709th Bomb Squadron which featured the character as it's nose art.
I am not sure who owns it now, but New Funnies is not in the Public Domain. It is safe to say Lil Eightball will never be re-printed, but you can still find the cartoons running around and unadvertised episodes on Walter Lantz's Cartoons DVDs.