The third Arf book Arf Forum finally goes out to Fantagraphics today so now I’m gearing up today to work on my next book Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings. I’m putting the below dirty drawing by clean cartoonist Raeburn Van Buren in the book. Burn drew the beautiful Abbie and Slats newspaper strip written by Al Capp. I’m struck how similar Van Buren’s 1931 cartoon is to John Newton Hewitt’s 1911 cartoon. Do you think Van Buren swiped it? BTW “strabismus” is an eye disorder where you can’t focus or where you squint. You know, like Mr. Magoo.

“Isn’t that the girl we met at George’s tea?”
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y Raeburn Van Buren, 1931

MORAL STRABISMUS
Both—”What a beautiful backyard scene!”
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by John Newton Hewitt, 1911