History ComicStrip / LilAbner

* MsFanservice: Daisy Mae has blond hair and a tiny hourglass figure. A whole bunch of others share these similar traits, and the men of the comic (save the title character himself) gawk at them just as much as the reader is invited to. Stupefyin' Jones is a ''weaponized'' variant.

* DeepSouth: Dogpatch is inhabited with ignorant shoeless poverty-stricken hillbillies.

* TheFaceless: Lena the Hyena started out like this, but Capp finally held a contest to depict her, which was won by Basil Wolverton's [[https://catchafallingstarbook.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/lena.jpg infamous monstrosity]].

%% * LetsMeetTheMeat

* APigNamedPorkchop: Salomey the pig's name is a play on "salami."

* YourHeartsDesire: Shmoos were a species discovered by Li'l Abner in the Valley of the Shmoon. They loved humans unconditionally, had a phenomenal rate of reproduction, and provided humanity with ''everything'' they needed for subsistence. They gave milk, laid eggs (a few had even mastered laying ''hard-boiled'' eggs, and one even managed an ''entire cheesecake''), and acted as pets and beasts of burden. A human could cause a Shmoo to commit [[JustForPun Shmooicide]] just by looking at it hungrily, at which point its skin could be cut thin for cloth, thick for leather, boiled to harden into a timber substitute; its eyes used for buttons, its whiskers for toothpicks: also, of course, its flesh was boneless, and delicious in several different ways, depending on how you cooked it. [[spoiler: As soon as this miracle animal became known to the outside world, American big businessmen attempted to wipe them out, since a solution to world hunger and suffering would have destroyed their profits.]]

A seminal and [[LongRunners long-running]] (1934–77) newspaper [[http://www.lil-abner.com/ comic strip]] by Al Capp, which detailed the bizarre lives and loves of the hillbilly inhabitants of Dogpatch, USA. The title character was the perpetually 19-year-old big-hearted lunkhead, the son of spitfire Pansy "Mammy" Yokum and the dull-witted useless Lucifer "Pappy" Yokum. For many of the early years of the strip, the marriage-fearing Abner was pursued aggressively by the lovely Daisy Mae Scragg; in 1952, Capp gave in and let her finally marry Abner. The strip was known for its vicious satire of current events, initially from a more liberal perspective though switching to a conservative bent in its twilight years as Capp grew older. Many of the storylines focused on the innocent Abner being placed in positions where he was easy prey for corrupt villains.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Abner himself is one of the few characters who actually wears shoes, virtually everyone else goes barefoot.

* MsFanservice: Daisy Mae has blond hair and a tiny hourglass figure. A whole bunch of others share these simiar traits, and the men of the comic (save the title character himself) gawk at them just as much as the reader is invited to. Stupefyin' Jones is a ''weaponized'' variant.

During the strip's run, it was adapted into two films, a [[Theatre/LilAbner Broadway musical]] (which served as the basis for the second film), a radio serial that ran from 1939 to 1940 and five short animated films made by Creator/ColumbiaCartoons in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1944]]. While the series itself never became a television show (despite an unsold pilot airing just once on NBC in 1967), ''Fearless Fosdick,'' a ruthless parody of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', briefly spun-off into his own 13-episode puppet show that was swiftly canceled, while the Shmoo appeared in two Saturday Morning Cartoon series for Hanna-Barbera in 1979 and again in 1980–84 (both times sharing billing with [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble]]). A theme park, Dogpatch, USA, opened in 1968, though it was largely unsuccessful for most of its life and closed in 1993 ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogpatch_USA though most of it is still standing]]). The strip is also credited with introducing several colloquialisms into the English language, including "schmooze", "irregardless", "druthers", and even the word "shmoo" has entered into at least four separate fields of science. The strip was also the original source of "Sadie Hawkins Day" dances.

* EmphasizeEverything: The strip was notorious for having '''LOTS OF BOLD TYPE!!!''' and often ending sentences with '''THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!''' Capp did this deliberately, since it made it easier for the strip to catch the reader's eye on the comics page.

* EmphasizeEverything: The strip was notorious for having ''LOTS OF BOLD TYPE!!!'' and often ending sentences with ''THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!'' Capp did this deliberately, since it made it easier for the strip to catch the reader's eye on the comics page.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* YourHeartsDesire: Shmoos were a species discovered by Li'l Abner in the Valley of the Shmoon. They loved humans unconditionally, had a phenomenal rate of reproduction, and provided humanity with ''everything'' they needed for subsistence. They gave milk, laid eggs (a few had even mastered laying ''hard-boiled'' eggs), and acted as pets and beasts of burden. A human could cause a Shmoo to commit [[JustForPun Shmooicide]] just by looking at it hungrily, at which point its skin could be cut thin for cloth, thick for leather, boiled to harden into a timber substitute; its eyes used for buttons, its whiskers for toothpicks: also, of course, its flesh was boneless, and delicious in several different ways, depending on how you cooked it. [[spoiler: As soon as this miracle animal became known to the outside world, American big businessmen attempted to wipe them out, since a solution to world hunger and suffering would have destroyed their profits.]]

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of the first strips to do this regularly. The [[ShowWithinAShow strip within a strip]] ''Fearless Fosdick'' was often used to comment on the conventions of the actual strip. The story of Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae's marriage came about because Abner took a vow to do whatever Fosdick did in his strip, and Fosdick ended up marrying. Notably, this story also poked fun at the perpetual [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]] of most comic strips: while Fosdick eventually [[AllJustADream wakes up and realizes that he wasn't married after all]], returning to status quo, the same was not true for ''Li'l Abner'', as Daisy Mae and Abner remained married for the rest of the strip!

** [[MeaningfulName Stupefyin']] Jones is [[UpToEleven the most evident]].

* HeroicBuild: Li'l Abner has this, his brother Tiny takes it UpToEleven.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of the first strips to do this regularly. The [[ShowWithinAShow strip within a strip]] ''Fearless Fosdick'' was often used to comment on the conventions of the actual strip. Taken UpToEleven in the story of Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae's marriage, which came about because Abner took a vow to do whatever Fosdick did in his strip, and Fosdick ended up marrying. Notably, this story also poked fun at the perpetual [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]] of most comic strips: while Fosdick eventually [[AllJustADream wakes up and realizes that he wasn't married after all]], returning to status quo, the same was not true for ''Li'l Abner'', as Daisy Mae and Abner remained married for the rest of the strip!

%% * MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop: The shmoo take the "multipurpose" aspect of this trope UpToEleven.

* PovertyForComedy: One of the staples of the comic. Everyone in Dogpatch is ridiculously poor and on the brink of starvation, and it's all PlayedForLaughs. Al Capp himself grew up poor and took a fair bit of inspiration from his childhood -- just exaggerated to comical extremes. Taken UpToEleven with Lower Slobbovia, which makes Dogpatch seem downright wealthy in comparison.

At the height of its popularity, it ran in over 900 newspaper in North America and Europe and an estimated 70 million Americans read it every day. The wedding storyline became a major media event, even making the cover of Life magazine. Al Capp became a regular face in television during the height of the strip's popularity in the golden age of newspaper comics, and one of the few cartoonists to remain a public figure in his own right. Eventually, time took its toll, especially in the 1960s when he drifted into becoming a right wing crank sneering at young folk singers and political activists both in his strip and in public speaking appearance, even picking a public argument with Music/JohnLennon during his famous Bed-In. In 1971, that public reputation was shattered forever when he was arrested on sex related charges and papers began to drop his strip in droves. In 1974, Capp, feeling the previous five years of his strip were terrible and his health failing rapidly, called it quits. The strip's swan song received even more massive coverage in the press, with many calling it the end of an era. Capp himself passed away in 1979.

During the strip's run, it was adapted into two films, a [[Theatre/LilAbner Broadway musical]] (which served as the basis for the second film), a radio serial that ran from 1939 to 1940 and five short animated films made by Creator/ColumbiaCartoons in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1944]]. While the series itself never became a television show (despite an unsold pilot airing just once on NBC in 1967), ''Fearless Fosdick,'' a ruthless parody of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', briefly spun-off into his own 13-episode puppet show that was swiftly canceled, while the Shmoo appeared in two Saturday Morning Cartoon series for Hanna-Barbera in 1979 and again in 1980–84 (both times sharing billing with [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble]]). A theme park, Dogpatch, USA, opened in 1968, though it was largely unsuccessful for most of its life and closed in 1993 ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogpatch_USA though most of it is still standing]]). The strip is also credited with introducing several colloquialisms into the English language, including "schmooze", "irregardless", "druthers", and even the word "schmoo" has entered into at least four separate fields of science. The strip was also the original source of "Sadie Hawkins Day" dances.

%% * MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop: The schmoo take the "multipurpose" aspect of this trope UpToEleven.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The Schmoos, which spawned a merchandising mania... until Capp finally got so tired of them overshadowing his strip that he had them all killed off.

%% * CrapsackWorld: Lower Slobbovia. Dogpatch itself is only slightly better.

%% * HayseedName: Just about everybody in Dogpatch, including Abner himself

%% * DistractedByTheSexy: Stupefyin' Jones
%% * DeepSouth: Dogpatch (couldn't get much deeper..)

%% * GargleBlaster: Kickapoo Joy Juice

%% * HonestJohnsDealership: Available Jones.

%% * PersonalRaincloud: Joe Btfsplk
%% * ThePigPen: Moonbeam [=McSwine=]

%% * ATankardOfMooseUrine: Kickapoo Joy Juice.

--> '''Abner''' ''(to Daisy Mae):'' You don't realize what a handy-cap bein' sane '''is''' to [[TakeThatMe a cartoonist!]]

* APigNamedPorkchop: Salomey the pig's name is a play on "salami"

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Nogoodniks (the evil version of the Shmoos) had "li'l red eyes". They devoured "good" Shmoos, were the sworn enemies of "hoomanity," and wreaked havoc on Dogpatch.
%% * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The Schmoos, which spawned a merchandising mania... until Capp finally got so tired of them overshadowing his strip that he had them all killed off.
%% * {{Ruritania}}: Lower Slobbovia

* MsFanservice:
%% ** Daisy Mae, and a whole bunch of others. Stupefyin' Jones is a ''weaponized'' variant.
** Abner himself might qualify as MrFanservice. He may be a big chaste doofus but he's nonetheless a cute, hunky, young guy with jet-black hair and a [[WalkingShirtlessScene great physique]].
** Abner's younger brother Tiny manages to be even ''more'' of a MrFanservice, being even taller and better built. Early on he looked more comical since he had inherited his father's big nose, but then his nose was broken, he got surgery and he ended up as traditionally handsome as Abner.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: All celebrity parodies had their names changed, mainly so Capp could use them whenever he wanted. One of the more notorious was ''Fearless Fosdick'' author Lester Gooch, a parody of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' author Chester Gould. Gooch was frequently portrayed as mentally deranged, and only capable of writing well when he ''was'' insane. Another particularly vicious example was "Joanie Phoanie", who stood in for Music/JoanBaez.

%% * HonestJohnsDealership: Available Jones

** Capp's work [[UnbuiltTrope pre-dated the expression "fan service,"]] but this strip is a very strong example. The strip didn't rely on RuleOfSexy - it was genuinely humorous quite aside from the eye candy - but unlike almost any other media in TheFifties, it [[RefugeInAudacity reveled]] in fan service.

* ChasteHero: Abner, to a comical {{Asexual}} degree.

During the strip's run, it was adapted into two films, a Broadway musical (which served as the basis for the second film), a radio serial that ran from 1939 to 1940 and five short animated films made by Creator/ColumbiaCartoons in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1944]]. While the series itself never became a television show (despite an unsold pilot airing just once on NBC in 1967), ''Fearless Fosdick,'' a ruthless parody of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', briefly spun-off into his own 13-episode puppet show that was swiftly canceled, while the Shmoo appeared in two Saturday Morning Cartoon series for Hanna-Barbera in 1979 and again in 1980–84 (both times sharing billing with [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble]]). A theme park, Dogpatch, USA, opened in 1968, though it was largely unsuccessful for most of its life and closed in 1993 ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogpatch_USA though most of it is still standing]]). The strip is also credited with introducing several colloquialisms into the English language, including "schmooze", "irregardless", "druthers", and even the word "schmoo" has entered into at least four separate fields of science. The strip was also the original source of "Sadie Hawkins Day" dances.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Fearless Fosdick suffers several to the point that it's a PariodiedTrope.