Travellin' Toughie, Part 2

 

Ding Dong #2 (1946) finds Travelin' Toughy still testing out his new flying carpet. He ends up in Mexico. A panel on the first page reminds us that Toughy has to do at least one good dead each day or the carpet will lose its power.

We still know nothing about Toughy's backgroud, but it seems likely he hasn't had much schooling. What follows over the next couple of pages are a few gags based on Toughy's lack of knowledge of Mexico. This culminates with Toughy trying to eat some very, very hot food.

Toughy isn't so tough in this case. His mouth trailing smoke from the hot food, he takes off on the carpet to find a way to quench his now-burning thirst.  Thus, before ducking into a rain cloud, he ends up leaving behind a thick string of smoke weaving around the sky. 

The smoke trail is quite a distraction for those in the village stadium watching the bullfights. In fact, a young boy falls out of the stands into the ring. Toughy spots this and does some fancy manuvering with his carpet to distract the bull. He finally subdues the bull by breathing on it. There's still enough hot tamale on his breath to do the job.

So Toughy once again pulls off his daily good dead and so keeps his flying saucer. Once again, Ted Miller's art is clean and fun to look at, while the unknown writer fills the story with humor and a protagonist who is never quite as mean as he claims to be. Travelin' Toughy really is an unjustly forgotten character.

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