Captain Tootsie -- "Battles Monster Man" August 1943

I knew that Bazooka Gum had it's own little comic, called Bazooka Joe.

I didn't realize that in the 1940's Tootsie Roll candies came up with the same idea for a comic mascot, Captain Tootsie!

He showed up starting in 1943 in comic-style ads, created around artist C.C. Beck (famous for Captain Marvel) and writer Rod Reed, with Pete Costanza and Bill Schreider credited as well.

The strips worked like mini adventure comics that just happened to sell candy. They were usually one-page, action-focused ads, and the sales pitch was simple: Tootsie Rolls meant a quick burst of energy when someone needed it. Captain Tootsie ran regularly for years, with sources commonly placing the run into the mid-1950s.

Early on he teamed up with a boy named Rollo, and the ads often used a kid gang called the Secret Legion, including kids like Fisty and Fatso, plus other recurring kids depending on the strip.

The stories kept things light and “kid-safe,” but Captain Tootsie still got his share of weird opponents. His enemies were characters like Dr. Narsty, Hans & Schmanz, Red the Terror, Monster Man, and even aliens from Venus. Oh the horror!

He graduated from “just an ad” to his own short comic run. Captain Tootsie headlined a two-issue comic book in 1950 published by Toby Press.

Good times. I may, or may not, bring him back to life in comics of my own. :)