Another early effort from a very young Alex Toth

And by very young we mean early teens. It's understandably crude in places but there are still clear indicators of the talent  that was about to emerge.

Courtesy of the Four Color War.

From Heroic 33

An interesting breakdown of Golden Age comics readership

From Jungle Frolics

A 1944 report by the Market Research Company of America showed that 95% of boys and 91% of girls aged 6-11 read comics; 87% of boys and 81% of girls aged 12-17; 41% of males and 28% of females aged 18-30; and 16% of males and 12% of females over the age of thirty.  The younger girls and boys were reading a dozen comics a month on average.  These statistics don't include the daily newspaper strips or Sunday funnies.

An early one-pager from a very young Alex Toth

From Heroic #33 via The Four Color War:

Christmas Poems illustrated by Walt Kelly

These were a big hit last year so I think I may make them an annual feature

Turkey Day

Dick Briefer's Pirate Prince

Labor Day