The self destruction of Al Capp

 

 

By DERF BACKDERF

The only self-destruction comparable to the Dilbert guy in comics history was Al Capp. In the 1950s, L'il Abner was the biggest strip in the land. Film, broadway, wildly popular, adding phrases to the national lexicon. Capp was a celebrity w/ regular spots on the Tonight Show.

10 years later he's overcome with hatred for the Sixties counterculture and went full Nixonian rightwing. No Youtube, of course, so he destroyed himself live on stage, going from campus to campus ranting at 20somethings to a cascade of boos.

Concurrently, it turns out he's serial sex predator, and attacked dozens of young co-eds on the lecture circuit. It all came out in court in 1971, and his career & rep were destroyed.

Abner limped along in a handful of papers & ended pathetically in 1977.

But this took years. Dilbert guy did it in a single day! Incredible. The power of the almighty internet.