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I love this one. The absurdity of Ignatz hanging two stockings because he has two feet is already funny enough for me, but the escalation to four stockings due to having four feet is even better. It's kind of odd as far as cartoon animals go, though. We say four legged animals have four feet because they stand on all four of them, but cartoon animals only stand on two. So, do cartoon animals also have four feet? I'm actually inclined to say they don't.

So sorry, Ignatz, only two stockings for you this year.

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It's Papa Who Pays was the topper to Toots and Casper, both of which were created by Jimmy Murphy. This is a fair representation of the strip as a whole, with Papa always coming out with nothing in the end after his family takes advantage of him somehow. I don't quite understand how the situation in this particular strip happens, though. Why would someone give someone a gift, then take the gift back from them to give to someone else? It's re-gifting of an entirely different sort. I guess it was more common in the 20's.

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I've already gushed about Payne's artwork enough, so for this one I'll just say that I love this joke, or joke within a joke. Willyum "makes a crack" about asking for a goldfish from Santa, which you imagine might actually be true given his age, but the actual punchline is that it's a scheme to get Christmas money. Why people pay him for that I can't imagine. Still, it gets a nickel out of Pop, so that's a success. I just wonder what he's going to buy with it.

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Now, some may see the two middle panels on this strip and call them unnecessary, or call C.M. Payne lazy for including them, and they could possibly be correct. However, I think this is really the way some kids talk to each other, with unnecessary repetitions and continual questions, so it works. Besides, it gives us a chance to see more of Payne's wonderful hatching work.

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S'Matter Pop was a comic created by C. M. Payne, and is probably best known, if it's known at all, as being an early influence on the young Charles Schulz, who would go on to create the comic strip Peanuts. It should not be confused with the similarly titled but completely unrelated strip "Say Pop!" which was also created by Payne a few years later. Those two should also not be confused with the other unrelated strip "Take It Easy, Pop," a strip Payne created a couple decades after those two. All three, as well as the other comic strips he created, are truly a joy to look at because of Payne's dynamic and expressive art style. It's simple and kind of messy, but it's unlike anything else you might see in the newspaper. I love the shape of the word balloons, as well. Instead of just trying to make sure they're out of the way of the rest of the artwork, their shape calls attention to them and integrates them into the artwork more.

In this particular strip, Pop shows us one of the best ways to answer a child's question about Santa Claus: be honest, but use big words the child doesn't know to confuse him and have him assume you're simply confirming what he already thought. Works every time. Probably.

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Mutt and Jeff are always an interesting pair, because there's always a quite perplexing logic to their schemes. While getting a divorce is certainly a way to get out of having to get your wife a Christmas present, it generally comes with a large amount of other problems and costs (believe me, I know). I don't see any way that even a fur coat could cost less than the bill Mutt will receive from Sir Sidney the well-known barrister. I imagine Sir Sidney would have a very nice Christmas, though.

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Bringing Up Father is all about a man who gets rich unexpectedly, and moves into a much larger house than he's used to. I'd imagine that along with that would come more closet space and therefore more options for hiding Christmas presents, but I guess Jiggs and Maggie still went for the same one when deciding where to hide them. Good thing Maggie wrapped hers first.

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Krazy Kat needs no introduction, as I've posted about him previously, but I couldn't resist another round of Christmas comics with him.

I realize Krazy's dialect may be a bit difficult to decipher in this one, but in short, he determines that cold snaps always happen in winter, and never in summer. In summer, there are only "hot snaps," which isn't a commonly used phrase but certainly should be.

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Somebody's Stenog was another "working girl" comic strip from the 1910s and 1920s, much like Winnie Winkle. Unlike Winnie Winkle however, who was written as intelligent and competent, the stenog of the title, named Cam O'Flage, was written as a bit more aloof and empty headed. Still, she pulls a clever trick in this strip by taking advantage of her boss's greed as well as his penchant for eavesdropping on his employees' conversations. The only problem there is that she'll have to actually buy him something now.

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Winnie Winkle was one of the first of many "working girl" comic strips that came out of the 1920s, and was certainly one of the most popular. It ended up running for an impressive 76 years, and spawned a series of Dell comic books and even a few movie shorts. It was even one of Roy Lictenstein's major influences.

This strip in particular shows off cartoonist Martin Branner's simple but elegant style, with some brilliant crosshatching in the trees. I'm also a big fan of the lettering. So many cartoonists of this era were horrible at it, but the text here is very clear and easy to read.

And of course I love the joke.