The hillbilly humor comic niche was filled with ‘Lil Abner, Hickory, Ozark Ike and Babe “Darling of the Hills.” Artist Boody Rogers (so named for his ability to “boot” a football in high school) created the hayseed blonde Babe Boone.
In Babe’s rather unusual case, she was a female sports star who gained superhuman playing abilities by drinking “lighting juice,” a concoction distilled from the bark of trees that had been struck by lightning – down there in the town of Possum Holler y’all. The character is interesting in that she competed on the field with men and was very sought after by talent scouts, team managers and owners alike.
Artist Boody Rogers himself was one of the very earliest contributors to comic books, via Dell’s “The Funnies’” as far back as 1929. He gained considerable success with the superhero spoof character Sparky Watts from 1940 to 1949 (temporarily leaving the series while serving in WWII). That series ended around the time he started Babe. He took a stab at the teen humor genre as well with the short lived Dudley. Both Dudley and Babe were published by Prize/Headline. Rogers retired from the industry after eleven issues of Babe to open two art supply stores in Phoenix, AZ.
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