Click the image for larger version.

Nothing much to say about this one. Just merry Christmas, everyone.

(also the hatching and cross-hatching in this is beautiful, just look at it)

Click the image for a larger version.

Here's another Will-Yum, having a horrible time the day before Christmas. It reminds me of when I was a kid, trying to figure out what was in my presents by size and weight, and never being able to. One year, there was one under the tree from my dad, which was relatively small but very heavy. I thought about it for days, unable to think of anything that it could be. It turned out there was actually a brick inside (yes, an actual brick), which I never would have guessed. I think it's one of few presents I've received that have rendered me speechless, due to my laughing so hard.

Of course, this was because the actual present wouldn't fit under the tree, as it was a giant framed poster, but I still like telling people that my dad once got me a brick for Christmas.

Click the image for a larger version.

I've covered The Gumps previously at Christmas (here and here), and showed Andy Gump's incredible generosity at this time of here. This one, however, goes as far as to quantify just how generous he is. I like the fact that when he discovers he has more money than he thought he did, he realizes he has more to give away.

If only there were more people like Andy in the world.

Click the image for a larger version.

Will-yum was a relatively obscure comic strip even in its own day. It ran for 13 years, but was never in a very large number of newspapers. The character of Will-yum first appeared in a number of creator Dave Gerard's magazine cartoons, and was eventally turned into a syndicated strip by the National News Syndicate. It unfortunately wasn't unique enough to survive among the many strips featuring young boys getting into trouble.

In this strip, we have a common device cartoonists use when they run out of ideas: put themselves into their strips to converse with their characters. I think every cartoonist has done it at some point, and some do it so often they count as a recurring character. It's even the whole idea behind the Brenda Starr movie (which is so goofy and self-aware and I love it).

It seems to work here, though. I think the joke could've worked if Will-yum had been speaking to about any adult, but it may not have been as interesting to look at that way. I'm…

Click the image for a larger version.

Toppers are notorious for only being a footnote related to the comic strip that they sit atop. That's no exception here. Little Brother ran as a topper to H.J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family, and that's the extent of the information available on it on the internet. I include it here because I don't find The Bungle Family to be that interesting, but I really like this joke.