Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Multi-Tasking (II)

      Jason Sacks
      January 27, 2003
      Ambidextrous
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Leading Questions: Cue "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)"

      Jason Sacks
      April 20, 2017
      Big Two, Columns, DC Comics, Leading Question
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • 2.0

      Review: 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank #1 Squanders Its Promise

      Jason Sacks
      April 29, 2016
      Black Mask, Indie, Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 4.0

      T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3

      Jason Sacks
      January 20, 2011
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Catching Up with Baltimore Comic-Con's Marc Nathan

      Jason Sacks
      September 5, 2007
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Classic Interview: Elliot S! Maggin - A Three Typewriter King of Guy

      Jason Sacks
      August 7, 2015
      Classic Interviews, Interviews
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Comics Bulletin Exclusive Preview From Marvel - All-New Invaders #12

      Jason Sacks
      November 20, 2014
      News, Previews
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • 'Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel' is a Great Tribute to the Master Cartoonist

      Jason Sacks
      May 23, 2017
      Books, Classic Comics, Classic Comics Cavalcade
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Classic Comics
Classic Comics Cavalcade

Canteen Kate: A perfect example of why I love running this Classic Comics Cavalcade

Jason Sacks
February 19, 2014
Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns

Matt Baker's charming Canteen Kate strips are a perfect example of why I love running this Classic Comics Cavalcade column, because I sometimes feel like an archaeologist uncovering lost dinosaur bones.

Created between 1951 and 1953, these two dozen stories originally appeared in the pages of Fightin' Marines and Kate's own comic – but this beautiful ditzy redhead was hardly the kind of leatherneck that was featured in the rest of the comic. No, Canteen Kate provided slapstick comic relief to the grim and gritty war yarns that surrounded her delightful adventures, with a stack of charmingly ridiculous stories that read with a delightfully dated and ditzily sexist approach that somehow feels completely fresh.

Canteen Kate

Kate is a civilian employee on a military base in the South Pacific. She runs a canteen where the soldiers can pick up a snack or treat that reminds them a bit of home, along with the lovely American shopkeeper. As drawn by Baker, the unparalleled master of depicting the female form during the Golden Age, Kate is irresistibly sexy and completely chaste, a whirling dervish of energy and life, and a manic dream girl for the WWII crowd.

Kate's stories tumble upon themselves, one absurd event after the next, literally head over heel at times from panel to panel, as our beautiful protagonist drags her long-suffering boyfriend Al along for one absurd adventure after the next. These stories also all center around a wartime setting that would have felt comfortable for most readers of the comic, frequently former GIs who had been home from the War for just a few years and occasionally pining for the fun events that happened alongside the trauma of war.

Canteen Kate

Thus many stories here surround the idea of Kate or Al inadvertently disrespecting the brass on the base: in one, Al accidentally destroys a cake for Major Herringbone, which leads in a Rube Goldberg-type turn of events to Al baking a new cake with gunpowder instead of flour.

Another involves a group of soldiers whose days on leave in Tokyo are ruined by Kate's ridiculous antics and non-rule-following ways. This absurd set-piece somewhat inevitably involves cross-dressing, some regrettable Japanese stereotypes and an ending in which most everyone is chased by the MPs for traveling without a pass.

Canteen Kate

Then there are the stories where Kate's good looks and attitude get her out of the jams that she creates; in one, she jealously pretends that she's a USO performer, gets in deep trouble for a time but eventually escapes punishment with a perfectly-timed kiss. In another she destroys a General's Ming vase but continually seems to avoid punishment because she inadvertently camouflaged things in a way that hid her mistakes.

Huh, you know, dear reader, it's kind of strange writing this review because I'm making Kate sound like a villain, a trouble maker, a rogue in the house and ghost in the machine, unintentionally sabotaging and destroying everything that she touches, a beautiful Shiva the destroyer or Dennis the Menace. And I guess that she does mess everything up, cause havoc for her friends and bring chaos upon everyone.

Canteen Kate

But we readers love Kate for her reckless rowdiness for a few reasons. For one thing, she is a real manic pixie dream girl, continually acting as a wish-fulfillment ditzy redhead whose energy and spirit can't be bottled up by the rules of a militarized society. She's one of those people who rebel just because she can and maybe because she has to. Kate may be as deep as a spoonful of water, but she's delightful fun to watch.

All the credit for the pleasure of watching Kate rests with artist/writer Matt Baker. Baker's been immortalized as one of the finest artists of beautiful women during the Golden Age of Comics, and this collection shows why. Kate is a bundle of energy, sometimes almost literally a pixie, whose small bust, long legs and animated face light up every scene in which she appears. She's an indomitable and irrepressible sprite, beautifully drawn in a way that sets her apart from the olive-drab uniforms that surround her on the page.

Canteen Kate

The good people at Canton Street Press have resurrected Kate from her unwanted limbo for the first time in over half a century with a great new hardcover collection of stories featuring her. I'd never heard of Canteen Kate or her surroundings until I read TwoMorrows' 2012 Matt Baker biography; that book inspired a thirst to read more and I couldn't be happier than to have that thirst satiated with this volume.

While I'm very glad to have this book in hand, it does have flaws. For one thing, the images in this book look like they're scanned from the art in the original comics without a lot of clean up applied to them. This means that pages are printed as they were in the 1950s – sometimes blotchy, sometimes off-register, and sometimes with a loss of fine lines. I'm sure the folks at Canton Street didn't have many alternatives with this book, and they do their best with the material here, but there's a slight feeling that the material on these slick pages doesn't quite present Baker's brilliant work in its best light.

Canteen Kate

The introduction by Flaming Carrot's Bob Burden is an affectionate and delightful reminiscence about his journey to discover the art of Matt Baker and good girl art in general, but Burden's writing desperately needed an edit pass to remove some of the typos, missing words and rambling digressions that derail the piece. There's a sense that if Burden had had an empathetic editor, this intro would have been fascinating; instead, it's merely intriguing.

But despite its minor flaws, Canteen Kate was one of the most delightfully fun books I've read in a long time. The wonderful slapstick comedy of these stories, combined with Baker's beautiful art, produce
s a comic experience that is worth celebrating. Thank goodness Canton Street Press has brought Canteen Kate back to a waiting world.

Classic Comics CavalcadeJason Sacks

Share On:
Tweet
Helix 1.04 “Single Strand” & 1.05 “The White Room”
The Guardians of the Galaxy full trailer is here!

About The Author

Jason Sacks
Publisher Emeritus

Jason Sacks has been obsessed with pop culture for longer than he'd like to remember. Jason has been writing for Comics Bulletin for nearly a decade, producing over a million words of content about comics, films and other media. He has also been published in a number of publications, including the late, lamented Amazing Heroes, The Flash Companion and The American Comic Book Chronicles: the 1970s and 1980s. Find him on Facebook and Twitter. Jason is the Owner and Publisher of Comics Bulletin.

Related Posts

  • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

    Mark Stack
    January 2, 2019
  • Top 10 Thoughts About Jack Kirby

    Jason Sacks
    August 28, 2017
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders