Chicago Spanking Review

Oaky Doaks Spanking Storyline

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Sweetspot has conducted what we might call both targeted and general searches of newspaper comic strips. The targeted searches are aimed at uncovering spankings which are known or suspected to exist in a given strip. Sometimes, however, he has discovered something no one even suspected was out there, and what follows is perhaps the most remarkable of those discoveries, made last October (2016).

The strip is Oaky Doaks, known to CSR readers for the spanking of Judy by a big brute, and it featured an entire storyline that revolved around spanking beginning on September 3, 1943 and continuing through October 27 - that's only a week shy of two months! Let Sweetspot set it up for everyone now:

"Ralph Fuller's Oaky Doaks ran a spanking centric story line from the late summer through the early fall of 1943. Morgana the witch, who evidently lusts after Oaky Doaks, believes she has gotten her hands on Merlin's love potion. Instead Merlin has tricked her because the potion will actually cause any man who drinks it to immediately hate all women and to proceed to spank them. Morgana contrives to serve the hidden potion to Oaky Doaks in an after-dinner drink. He almost immediately spanks her and tosses her in a closet. She escapes in short order promising revenge on Oaky Doaks but essentially broom-flies her way out of this story. Oaky goes on a spanking rampage through Camelot."

Sept. 3, 1943 (click to increase in size).

Sept. 4 - 6, 1943 (click to increase in size).

Sept. 17, 1943.

Sept. 18, 1943 (click to increase in size). Sweetspot remarks that "Buttercup was sweet and innocent and a good friend of Oaky so it made sense that Fuller actually saved her from being effectively spanked."

Sept. 22, 1943 (click to increase in size).

Sept. 23, 1943. Scans by Sweetspot (click to increase in size). Posted by the Web-Ed on 04/07/2017.

Sweetspot's explanation continues:

"Eventually Queen Guinevere herself falls victim to his strong hand. Oaky Doaks is reluctantly banished from the realm by King Arthur who has been informed by Merlin that Oaky Doaks has been drugged by Morgana (doesn't let the king know it was his potion by the way)."

Sept. 24, 1943 (click to increase in size). Five women, including the stuffy society matron in the last panel, have strapped pillows to their sore behinds!

Sept. 25, 1943 (click to increase in size). King Arthur is amused by Oaky's spanking exploits. Queen Guinevere is not!

Oct. 1, 1943 (click to increase in size). Oaky pretends he's ready to kneel before Queen Guinevere, but he turns her over his knee!

Oct. 2, 1943 (click to increase in size). Oaky spanks Queen Guinevere herself, and using fine OTK position - hooray!

Oct. 2, 1943 (later scan from the Moberly Monitor).

Oct. 7, 1943. The knights of Camelot banish Sir Oaky, but not before cheering him on. Significantly, almost every male character seems to be in favor of the women getting spanked, at least privately. Scans by Sweetspot (click to increase in size). Posted by the Web-Ed on 04/14/2017.

Sweetspot's explanation continues:

"Oaky's chance for redemption comes in the form of an offer to proceed to the Kingdom (town) with the curious name of Sissi and assist King Henpeck with a problem he is having with the women folk. It seems that while the king and his men were away fighting a crusade that the women took over the city. Upon their return the men were forced into subservient positions (like having to rock the babies and do the laundry!). Anyway, the king knows Oaky's recently acquired reputation for dealing with women and asks him to set things right. Oaky spanks his way through town and elicits promises from the women that they will return to their pre-crusade positions in life."

Oct. 12, 1943 (click to increase in size). Oaky is enlisted to save the kingdom of Sissi by King Henpeck.

Oct. 15, 1943 (click to increase in size). A demanding wife expects breakfast in bed, but Oaky sees to it she gets spanked before supper!

Oct. 16, 1943 (click to increase in size). Oaky spanks his way across Sissi.

Oct. 16, 1943 (later scan from the Moberly Monitor).

Oct. 18, 1943 (click to increase in size).

Oct. 19, 1943. Oaky gives the Queen's messenger two messages - one verbal, one non-verbal. Pillow strapped to her rear, she reports to the Queen. This is the second female to ponder the attraction of a masterful man who doesn't hesitate to spank (the first was the woman in the street in the Sept. 24 strip who relates, "'E tanned me proper!" Scans by Sweetspot (click to increase in size). Posted by the Web-Ed on 04/21/2017.

Sweetspot's explanation continues:

"The last woman to be spanked is the queen of Sissi. Back in Camelot King Arthur is informed by Merlin that the antidote for the potion is "perhaps" for Oaky Doaks to see the face of his true love. That actually works and the spanking comes to an end when he sees Princess Elaine."

Oct. 21, 1943 (click to increase in size): Queen Addie Kate (abdicate), who has in effect forced her henpecked husband King Henpeck to abdicate his throne, builds up her muscles for what she figures will be her fight with Sir Oaky Doaks.

Oct. 23, 1943 (click to increase in size): But when Oaky arrives, he presses her funny bone (a nerve center is located there), ending her resistance. Over his knee she goes!

Oct. 25, 1943 (click to increase in size): King Henpeck is yet another male who is overjoyed to see his wife getting spanked, just as King Arthur was.

Oct. 26, 1943 (click to increase in size): The sight of Princess Elaine breaks the spell over Oaky, and he released Queen Addie Kate, although not before delivering some good whacks to her sizable rear.

Oct. 27, 1943. Queen Addie Kate discovers that she likes being spanked - oh, boy! Scans by Sweetspot (click to increase in size), touched-up and posted by the Web-Ed on 04/28/2017.

Before discussing this remarkable storyline, let's briefly review the spanking panels:

Oaky spanks Morgana (1).

Oaky spanks Morgana (2).

Oaky spanks Queen Guinevere (1).

Oaky spanks Queen Guinevere (2).

Oaky tries to spank Buttercup, but fails due to her armor.

Oaky spanks the wife who expects her husband to serve her breakfast in bed.

Oaky spanks three of the women of Sissi.

Oaky spanks Queen Addie Kate (1).

Oaky spanks Queen Addie Kate (2).

Oaky spanks Queen Addie Kate (3).

Let's examine what we have here: no fewer than seven women are shown getting spanked, including two queens (and not counting the aborted spanking of Buttercup), and an equal number are shown with pillows strapped to their behinds! Also, the spankings get plenty of visual emphasis, in some cases extending over from one daily strip to the next. The very idea of a potion that sends a man on a spanking rampage certainly suggests that either artist Ralph Fuller or less likely the uncredited writer Bill McCleery (who was also the comics editor of the Associated Press syndicate that distributed the strip) must have been into spanking. At some point it appears that Fuller took over the writing, making him the more likely suspect. The four other known spankings in Oaky Doaks, all but one of them M/F, would seem to leave no doubt - how could you have 11 adult spankings in your comic strip (12 if we count Buttercup) and not be into the scene? There's probably no way, but there is something that forces us to consider the possibility that McCleery or Fuller simply felt the way Kings Arthur and Henpeck do in desiring to take their out-of-control women firmly in hand.

Rosie the Riveter on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, May 29, 1943, just three months before the spanking storyline began in Oaky Doaks. Art by Norman Rockwell.

Sweetspot and I talked it over and agreed that what could be going on here was a reaction to women taking over responsibilities they had never had before while the men were off fighting WWII. What led to this was simply a shortage of factory workers needed for wartime production. To encourage women to take these kinds of jobs, previously held almost exclusively by men, the character of Rosie the Riveter (seen at left) was invented to exemplify this new female worker.

Now it's possible to overstate this case: feminists might like to believe otherwise, but women were not "oppressed" until the 1960's and the feminist movement that began during that decade. The truth is that relatively few new women entered the workforce during the war; many had been laid off from their jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930's and were simply returning to the workforce when new positions opened up. The "working woman" was nothing new - think of Winnie Winkle's subtitle "The Breadwinner" going back to the 1920's - what was different was that women were now employed in formerly male-dominated trades. It does seem apparent from the names "Sissi" and "Henpeck" and the burly appearance of Queen Addie Kate (who smokes a pipe!) that McCleery/Fuller felt this change represented some danger that women would act too much like men and men would become emasculated unless some action were taken to restore traditional sex roles.

What specific action they felt would be most efficacious we can see here very well, and we have remarked many times on the ability of spanking to humble the prideful female. The effect is accentuated where the spankee is highborn or otherwise privileged, and we see that clearly here with the spanking of the two queens. Notice that the beautiful Guinevere loses her crown while being taken over Sir Oaky's knee just as Queen Pera did when being spanked by The Phantom, symbolizing their loss of station, and Queen Addie Kate, who epitomizes the female too big for her britches, has her humiliation is extended over several panels.

We have pointed out also that several of the women (one of those talking in the street, the messenger sent by Queen Addie Kate) show a decided preference for a strong man who doesn't hesitate to spank, and the Queen herself openly admits to having enjoyed the spanking Sir Oaky administers. This last really crosses a line, as we have pointed out with regard to the Humorama spanking cartoons: when the spankee enjoys the spanking, it's gone beyond the purely disciplinary and has entered the erotic realm. It does seem, therefore, that the creator(s) of this most spanking-centered storyline in comics history must have had at least some interest in adult spanking.

Oaky Doaks was reprinted in comic book form in Famous Funnies. Because Famous Funnies has never been completely indexed, we have been unable to determine if this Spanking Storyline was ever reprinted there although we have of course searched through all the available issues. If it was, it would be in full color but possibly abridged, and we will certainly add it here when it finally turns up.