''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

character created by Sgt. George Baker during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Set in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The title was a euphemistic shortening of the military slang "sad sack of shit", common during World War II. The phrase has come to mean "an inept person" or "inept soldier".

Comic strip

Originally drawn in pantomime by Baker, ''The Sad Sack'' debuted June 1942 as a comic strip in the first issue of '' Yank, the Army Weekly''. It proved popular, and a hardcover collection of Baker's wartime ''Sad Sack'' strips was published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. in 1944, with a follow-up, ''The New Sad Sack'' (1946). The original book was concurrently published as an Armed Services edition mass market paperback, in that edition's standard squarebound, horizontal, 5 5/8" × 4" format, by Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., a

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of The Council on Books in Wartime; it was #719 in the series of Armed Service editions. After the war ended, ''The Sad Sack'' ran in newspaper syndication in the United States from May 5, 1946 until 1958. Baker then sold the rights to Harvey Comics, which produced a large number of commercial spin-offs.

Comic book

Harvey Comics published original Sad Sack stories in the ''Sad Sack Comics''

series, which ran 287 issues, cover-dated September 1949 to October 1982. Sack was a civilian until he re-enlisted in issue #22 (February 1953). Harvey also published the one-shot comic ''The Sad Sack Comes Home'' in 1951."Sad Sack" (title)
at the

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Spin-off series were: * ''Sad Sack's Funny Friends'' #1–75 (Dec. 1955 – Oct. 1969) *''Sad Sack and the Sarge'' #1–155 (Sept. 1957 – June 1982) *'' Sad Sack Laugh Special'' #1–93 (Winter 1958/59 – Feb. 1977) *''Sad Sack's Army Life Parade'' #1–57 (Oct. 1963 – circa 1975) *''Little Sad Sack'' #1–19 (Oct. 1964 – Nov. 1967), featuring a child version of the character *''Sad Sad Sack'' (Oct. 1964 – Dec. 1973) commonly known as Sad Sad Sack World *''Sad Sack Navy, Gobs 'n' Gals'' #1–8 (Aug. 1972 – Oct. 1973) *''Sad Sack USA'' #1–7 (Nov. 1972 – Nov. 1973) *''Sad Sack USA Vacation'' one-shot (Oct. 1974) *''Sad Sack Fun Around the World'' one-shot (1974) *''Sad Sack's Army Life Today'' #1–4 (circa mid-1975 to Nov. 1975, and May 1976) Supporting characters included the Sarge (Sack's First Sergeant, the potbellied and tough but reasonable Sergeant Circle); Slob Slobinski and Hi-Fi Tweeter (Sack's bunk buddies); the General (Brigadier General Rockjaw, always drawn with dark glasses, cigarette holder and

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); Captain Softseat; Muttsy the dog (whose dog tag # was K-9); Sadie Sack (Sad's redheaded female cousin in the WACs); Ol' Sod Sack (Sad's hillbilly uncle); and Little Sad Sack (Sad as a kid, before his army induction). The spin-off ''Sad Sack Navy, Gobs 'n' Gals'' had the supporting character Gabby Gob. The army camp where most of the action took place was usually named Camp Calamity, but was sometimes called Camp Browbeat. The Harvey Comics and newspaper strip were aimed at younger readers than Baker's wartime originals, and the style of the strip changed dramatically. In the newspaper strip, the pantomime style was abandoned in favor of a more conventional comic-story format. In the mid-1950s, Harvey Comics and Baker brought in Paul McCarthy to draw the Sad Sack titles, followed by Fred Rhoads, Jack O'Brien, and Joe Dennett. Others who periodically drew for the titles include Warren Kremer and Ken Selig. Baker retained editorial control and continued to illustrate the covers of ''Sad Sack'' comics until his death in 1975. La Prensa, a Mexican publisher, released the Spanish language editions of the Sad Sack comics under the title ''Tristán Tristón.'' In addition to Sad Sack strips, other strips within each ''Tristán Tristón'' issue included ''Tristána Tristóna'' (Sad Sack's cousin, Sadie Sack) and ''Capulín'' which was about a boy who had overly large feet. The latter two strips were often only one page and used as filler. Other filler strips included ''Firulais'' and ''Chiquilladas''.

Litigation

In late 2000, Alan Harvey (eldest son of Harvey Comics founder Alfred Harvey) sued Steve Geppi (owner of Diamond Comics Distribution and many other properties), charging that Geppi had plundered Harvey's warehouses in the mid-1980s, specifically of original art from Harvey's ''Sad Sack'' comic books. Geppi countersued, claiming that he had legal title to the original art thanks to a 1984 agreement he had made with Steve Harvey—at the time President of Harvey Publications, Inc., as well as President of Sad Sack, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvey Publications, Inc. The suit was settled in late 2002; at the time of the settlement, the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

had dismissed Harvey's claims against Geppi. The settlement agreement allowed Geppi to keep the art, with no money changing hands. The rights to Sad Sack are still owned by Alan Harvey, and have since been published under the name of ''Lorne-Harvey Publications'' and ''Re-Collections''.

Radio

Private Sad Sack (played by Mel Blanc) made an appearance with

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

and Betty Grable on the April 29, 1944, episode of ''G.I. Journal''. The voice Blanc used was a stuttering delivery similar to

Porky Pig Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many crit ...

. The character as voiced by Blanc appeared in multiple other broadcasts of "G.I. Journal". Sponsored by

Old Gold Cigarettes Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. The c ...

, ''The Sad Sack'' radio program ran in 1946 as a summer replacement series for ''The Frank Sinatra Show''. It starred Herb Vigran in the title role with Jim Backus, Sandra Gould, Ken Christy and Patsy Moran. Dick Joy was the announcer for the series which began June 12, 1946, with the episode "Sack Returns Home from the Army" and continued until September 4 of that year.

Film

Harvey Comics announced a forthcoming movie in their Sad Sack issue #32 (March 1954). At

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, Baker's strip was adapted by screenwriters Edmund Beloin and Nate Monaster for George Marshall's film ''

The Sad Sack ''The Sad Sack'' is a 1957 comedy film based on the Harvey Comics character of the same title, created by George Baker. The film stars Jerry Lewis and Peter Lorre and was released by Paramount Pictures. Plot Private Meredith Bixby simply cann ...

'' (1957), in which WAC Major Shelton ( Phyllis Kirk) has the assignment to turn bumbling Private Meredith C. Bixby (

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in pop culture, Lewis was nickn ...

) into a good soldier. The supporting cast includes

David Wayne David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years. Early life and career Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...

, Peter Lorre and Joe Mantell.

References

External links

*
Sad Sack
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia * {{cite web, url=http://www.vintageradioplace.com/broadcast/arcglowingdial0402.html , publisher=Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs (episode guide), title=Series: ''The Sad Sack'', archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720091909/http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logs1038.htm, archive-date=July 20, 2011 1940s American radio programs 1942 comics debuts 1944 books 1946 radio programme debuts American comedy radio programs American comic strips American comics adapted into films American comics characters CBS Radio programs Comics adapted into radio series Comics characters introduced in 1942 Fictional American people Fictional World War II veterans Fictional soldiers Harvey Comics series and characters Harvey Comics titles Humor comics Male characters in comics Military comics Military humor in film Military humor Pantomime comics Radio programs based on comic strips