“There Oughta Be a Law!”

“There Oughta Be a Law” was a newspaper panel strip that ran for many years. It was inspired by — actually, it looks more like an exact replica — of the popular King Features panel, “They’ll Do It Every Time” by Jimmy Hatlo.

“Law” was done by cartoonist Al Fagaly and Harry Shorten. Fagaly and Shorten had worked together in comic books, for the company that publishes Archie comic books. Shorten went on to other enterprises, including publishing (Tower Books, Tower Comics, etc.) Fagaly died in 1963, Shorten in 1991.

I think there oughta be a law against people who say there oughta be a law, because in too many cases they pass stupid laws. Right now there is a law on the books in Utah that says if a person is target shooting outside of city limits and causes damage he can’t be held liable. (It’s part of that old Second Amendment “right to bear arms” thing, promoted by the NRA, that has been extended to include idiots who should be facing the other end of the gun, if you know what I mean.) So far over twenty wildfires have been started by people shooting in the hills. That’s a case where “there oughta be a law” should read, “there ought nota be a law!” The governor recently said he’s thinking of calling a special session of the legislature to rescind the law.

These are original panels being sold by Heritage Auctions for about $40.00 each. In many cases they represent an America no longer in existence, where doctors made house calls, or people used public telephones. There are others, though, that are still right on the mark even after forty, fifty or even sixty years.

I’ve downloaded over sixty of these panels, but I’m only showing twenty today.

Scans Copyright © Heritage Auctions