Li'l Abner: Dailies, Vol. 12: 1946

In 1946 Li'l Abner meets the beautiful but carnivorous Wolf Gal, who has her eyes (and stomach) on our hero. But even she is overshadowed this year by one of the strip's most memorable events ever. The most famous resident of hapless Lower Slobbovia is Lena the Hyena, the "ugliest woman in the world." She is so hideous that savvy cartoonist Al Capp cannot bear to draw her image himself. In an extraordinarily successful publicity stunt he enlisted readers to send in their drawings of Lena. And some 500,000 readers from 381 subscribing newspapers responded! To add to the public's attention, Capp persuaded actor Boris Karloff, surrealist Salvador Dali and crooner Frank Sinatra to join him in judging the finalists. The winner turned out to be Basil Wolverton, who became a famous cartoonist in his own right. The amazing background of this stunt is detailed in two fully illustrated introductions (which include pictures of the Lena runners-up). Other characters featured this year: Joe Btfsplk (the jinx with the cloud hanging over his head), Moonbeam McSwine, The Skraggs and Available Jones. Published in 1991 by Kitchen Sink Press ( KSP ) 12 x 9 horizontal format 168 pages ISBN #0-87816-092-2 Mint / Never Read Condition.