I have, in the past, deluded myself into thinking I’m some kind of ‘expert’ in the fields of comic books and strips but the older I get the clearer it becomes I don’t even know a fraction of what I don’t know. You would think this would bother me, seeing as how I’ve devoted myself life to learning as much as I possibly can about both. But one of the few, great comforting things about my life is I now fully understand I can never, ever run out of things I don’t know.

For instance, up until about a year ago I had absolutely no idea that either Hal Rasmussen or his comic strip Aggie Mack existed. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribute Syndicate starting in 1946, and was about the typical teen adventures of Agnes a.k.a. Aggie, though with a twist of Cinderella. She was being raised by her father’s second wife who clearly preferred her own daughter Mona and tended to treat Aggie like a servant. Apparently the strip was never quite as grim as that premise might suggest; there was still plenty of adolescent antics. But underneath all of the madcap stuff there lurked an undercurrent of animosity between Aggie and her stepmother and stepsister.

The strip ran for 26 years and is now all but forgotten but it was very popular in France for decades and in 1960 an original French version was created by cartoonist Gerard Alexandre.

Superior Comics published eight issues of Aggie Mack; the Grand Exalted Comic Book Database doesn’t list the contents of the early issues but if the cover of #5 is to be believed #1-4 featured reprints of the comic strip. But starting with #5 the comic books contained original material by artist or artists unknown. There are precious few examples of Rasmussen’s version of the strip available for viewing on the web, so I can give no reliable opinion on it. I’ve only seen one issue of Aggie Mack, #8, but I can definitely say I liked it.

It’s important to note when I downloaded Aggie Mack #8 from the Digital Comics Museum I know absolutely nothing about Rasmusson or his strip; on the surface the comic looked like just another late 40’s teen comic. So I was really taken aback when I came to this panel:

Or this one; I really don’t know what the deal was supposed to be with Aggie’s friend who was a boy Bobo and his weird, dead, India ink eyes. Was he supposed to be blind? A mutant or the illegitimate child of a Dick Tracy villain? Whichever it was it sure creeped the hell out right out of me.

The comic stories were typical teen stuff, but handsomely done, drawn in a style like nothing else on the stands at the time. Whoever Artist Unknown is I like his work and wish I could read the other issues of Aggie Mack; maybe some day…

Rasmussen drew the strip until his death in 1962 whereupon it was taken over by Roy L. Fox who drew it until in ended in the early 70’s under the title Aggie.