“Sir Butch” was a portal Fantasy set in Brooklyn and in lands of Imagination. It appeared irregularly in different Fawcett comics in 1942. Its creator was Dave Berg, who is better remembered today as one of the artist/writers at Mad Magazine who did “The Lighter Side of…” pieces. In 1940, the young Berg joined the Will Eisner Studio. This was where he created humorous back-up features like “Sir Butch”.
I find “Sir Butch” interesting in relation to other comics about boys who journey to fantastic lands such as “Dickey in the Magic Forest”, “Danny in Wonderland” and “Jimmy Jupiter and the Land of Nowhere”. All the different comic packagers wanted a story about a modern boy who had adventures in a land of magic. Sir Butch is cut from the same bolt of cloth but Berg has more fun with it in a Mark Twain kind of way. His fantasy creatures are often as well executed as those by Walt Kelly at Fairy Tale Parade.
The appearance of the different parts are presented here in logical order, not by date of publication. For example, Atlas becomes one of the crew but the adventure in which they meet appeared last. Instead of sticking to dates, I have arranged them in sequence that makes sense.
Episode One
“Introducing Sir Butch” (Minute Man #3, Spring 1942)
Things begin in a very real world of Brooklyn. Butch steals an apple then is chased by McCarty, the toughest cop on the block. The boy falls through an open man hole and plummets a great distance.
He lands right in the middle of a joust by two knights. Butch falls foul of the reigning monarch, King Whodayahkallit. The king has a visier named Floda Reltih (Read it backwards. Yes, this is a wartime cartoon.)The king’s crier, Button Hookin Button, supplies Butch with much needed information. The king wants to cut off Butch’s head because the two knights were jousting to see who would go rescue the king’s daughter from a giant. Rather than cut off Butch’s head Button suggests Butch will rescue the princess.
Butch is put into armor and set on a horse. The visier gives him some apples for the trip.
Butch rides up to the sleeping giant and stamps across his nose. The giant throws him off. Butch falls out of his armor but is he ready to fight.
The giant grabs the duo and is about to eat them when Butch throws an apple into his mouth. The magic in the fruit causes the giant to become a big sissy. They rescue the princess and Butch goes back to our world. There he meets McCarty, who he gives an apple. The cop turns into a big sissy too.
Episode Two
“It Began Again in East Flatbush” (Gift Comics #1, January 21, 1942)
Butch tells his “goil” Goity about the land of Waydaheckout but she doesn’t believe him. Butch shows her. He is smart enough to bring an umbrella this time. The two float down into the enchanted land. When they arrive they find everyone has been turned into animals. It is Floda Reltih’s fault. When Button Hookin Button begins reciting poetry the spell is broken. Everyone changes back.
Floda Reltih flees but he takes the princess and Goity with him. The two girls begin fighting over Butch. Button loves the princess and offers to rescue her. He and Butch go off in search of the wizard and his captives.
Floda Reltih sees the two coming. He sends an army of goblins to take them. They are captured and thrown to the dragon.
Butch’s suspenders get caught on a tree. This gives him an idea. He has Button pull hard. The boy flies into the dragon’s mouth and all the way to the tail. Butch pulls the dragon inside out. The episode ends there, the girls not yet rescued.
Episode Three
(Spy Smasher #7, October 28, 1942)
Winged goblins capture Butch and Button. All the captives are thrown into the dungeon. There they find a monster chained to the wall.
Floda Reltih invades with his army. He becomes the dictator of Waydaheckout. He sets up new laws. (These specifically parody the idea of a superior race, book burning and freedom of thought.)
Meanwhile in the dungeon the chained monster attacks Butch. He slips the monster’s tail into its mouth. The creature eats itself until nothing remains but a stomach ache.
The four escape the dungeon and run all the way back to the kingdom. There Button begins to recite poetry to the princess he loves. The spoken word takes away Floda Reltih’s powers and the villain is defeated. The poem has mention of a ‘fat lady’ and the princess is offended. She never wants to see Button again.
Episode Four
(Spy Smasher #9, December 23, 1942)
Floda Reltih is at it again. He plans his revenge. He will send the entire planet crashing into space! Meanwhile the king tries to marry his daughter off to Butch. Goity has something to say about that. The king insists because it is tradition.
Floda meets Atlas at the bottom of the world. Back in the kingdom, the king marries Butch and the princess. Button and Goity contemplate suicide.
Floda Reltih’s spell begins to work with the world falling over.
Atlas tries to save his planet but it takes Button’s poetry to weaken the sorcerer.
In the end the titan tricks the wizard, saying “I bet you can’t hold up the world.” Floda Reltih is egotistical enough to show him otherwise. Floda Reltih now has the job of holding up the world. Atlas is free to join Butch and his friends.
Episode Five
(Spy Smasher #8, November 25, 1942)
Butch returns to Waydaheckout to a surprise. Since he has saved the kingdom so many times, the king wants him to have all of the kingdom and to marry all 36 of his daughters. This is the work of Loki, the god of mischief.
Butch is thrown in the tower to keep him from running away. He climbs up a moonbeam to escape. Atlas, Button, the princess and Goity all follow him.
They end up on a crescent moon made of green cheese.
Goity throws a piece of cheese at Loki because he caused all the trouble. Loki brings his gang in for a fight. The monsters have brought their molls along. They have some thunderbolts they stole from Vulcan.
Atlas catches the thunderbolts and throws them back. Button has taken some of the love arrows and shoots them at the enemy. Soon all the monsters’ girls want Loki. The monsters run after them in anger.
Conclusion
After the last episode in Spy Smasher #9, Sir Butch went the way of Dickey, Danny and Jimmy. There was a sidekick character in “The Shining Knight” at DC called Sir Butch but he was not the same kid (Adventure Comics # 124-166). After World War II, the young boy in a land of adventure was abandoned for superheroes and later horror comics. Sir Butch and the Land of Waydaheckout would resurface at Harvey with a line of comics about young folks like Richie Rich, Casper, Hot Stuff (his urban toughness reminds me of Butch) and all the giants, witches, dragons etc. in a place I call “The Land of Harvey”. The creators of these comics had a tradition to look back on in the 1960s and 70s.
