Chicago Spanking Review

Texas Slim Spanking

Comics Gallery 2

Ferd Johnson had an interesting career: he was the originator of Texas Slim, from which this spanking is taken, but is probably best known for his incredible 68-year run on Moon Mullins where he assisted Frank Willard until taking over from him in 1958, a record in comics comparable to those of Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken Jr. in baseball. Johnson's workload on Moon Mullins at times must have interfered with his ability to do Texas Slim, which had several incarnations as a result of this and other factors. Although the copyright date is not completely legible, we think the episode seen here dates from near the end of the first incarnation in 1928, making it (possibly) the earliest comic strip spanking we have yet documented.

© Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Posted by the Web-Ed on 03/04/2011.

© Chicago Tribune Syndicate.

The spanking itself is well-motivated; the spankee has been shooting at Texas, having been told by her grandfather that fellows are no good. The OTK positioning is done pretty well although we can't see what if anything Texas is sitting on, and he applies the spanks with vigor. Afterwards, she tells her grandfather that fellows aren't so bad after all, because "they don't spank half as hard as yo' does!"

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this spanking is that Texas doesn't say anything before, during, or afterward - we have to wonder if the spankee understood that he was trying to teach her not to shoot at him any more.