“Bringing Up Father” (06/27/1942)
by George McManus (1884-1954) and Zeke Zekley (1915-2005)
23.25 x 5.75 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

Unlike the editorial page, the war did not always intersect with the funny papers. Here is an example, then, from the “Bringing Up Father” strip by George McManus.

On Saturday June 27, 1942, the FBI captured eight Nazi saboteurs from a submarine off NY’s Long Island. Two days earlier, Dwight Eisenhower was appointed as the commander of US forces in Europe (his decision to proceed with D-Day is still two years away). Less than a week earlier, on June 22, a Japanese submarine was discovered at the mouth of the Columbia River, in Oregon. Two weeks earlier, on June 14, Anne Frank began writing her diary and Disney studios released the animated feature “Bambi.”