Several years ago, my mom gave me a wonderful book for Christmas: a history of cats in comics. The book included all the usual suspects—Garfield, Mooch, Krazy Kat—but also cats I’d never heard of before, including the Pussycat Princess.
The Pussycat Princess was created by Grace Drayton (originator of the Campbell Soup Kids—you’ll notice a chubby-cheeked similarity) and later taken on by Ruth Carroll.
If there were ever a comic book character who deserved resurrecting, it would have to be this lovely lady. She occupied just one page in the anthology I originally found her in, and although I’ve looked high and low, I’ve come up with only a handful of references to her. Always the lady in full princess garb, she was nonetheless an adventuress as well, exploring uncharted lands and facing dangers bravely. In the panel above she’s on an expedition to find new rarities for the royal zoo. One of her finds—the scowling hyena.
Hello Kitty (of whom I am quite fond) may have all the powers of modern merchandising behind her, but she pales in comparison to the Pussycat Princess.
In spite of the obscurity of the Pussycat Princess, I now believe whole-heartedly that Master Damian should cast aside his Pirates of Penzance Halloween costume in favor of Sir Ironpants. If there ever was a real-life embodiment of Ironpants it would be Mr. D.
Hi,
I’ve posted some scans of 1936 Turkish editions of Drayton’s Pussycat Princess from 1935, including, I believe to be its debut: http://kayaozkaracalar.blogspot.com/
Cheers