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''Fearless Fosdick'' is a long-running parody of Chester Gould's ''Dick Tracy''. It appeared intermittently as a strip-within-a-strip, in Al Capp's satirical hillbilly comic strip, ''Li'l Abner'' (1934–1977). ==Li'l Abner's "ideel"== Fearless Fosdick made his debut in an August 1942 ''Li'l Abner'' Sunday sequence, as the unflappable comic book idol of Abner's (and of every other "100% red-blooded American boy!") An object of undying hero worship, hayseed Abner mindlessly aped his role model—even going so far as submitting to marriage against his will. Cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979) would often use ''Li'l Abner'' continuity as a narrative framing device, bookending the offbeat ''Fosdick'' sequences. Abner himself serves as a rustic Greek chorus—to introduce, comment upon and (sometimes) comically sum up the ''Fosdick'' stories. Typically, an anxious Abner would race frantically to the mailbox or to the train delivering the morning newspapers, to get a glimpse of the latest cliffhanger episode. The next panel would reveal Abner's POV of the feature under an iconic logo: ''Fearless Fosdick by Lester Gooch.'' Subsequent installments would reinforce Abner's obsessive immersion in the unfolding ''Fosdick'' continuity while at the same time recapping the story-within-a-story. While oblivious to the surrounding "real" world (e.g., walking off a cliff or into the path of an oncoming train, or inadvertently ignoring one of Daisy Mae's perilous predicaments), Abner would be, as ever, fully engrossed in the ''Fosdick'' adventure. Eventually, Capp would dispense with Abner's introductory panels altogether, and the strip would carry a subheading reminding readers they were now reading ''Li'l Abner's "ideel," Fearless Fosdick.'' Occasionally Fosdick's adventures would directly affect what happened to Abner, and the two storylines would artfully converge. The story-within-a-story often ironically paralleled and/or parodied the story itself. Also, by having the comically obtuse Abner “explain” the strip to Daisy Mae, Capp would use ''Fearless Fosdick'' to self-reflexively comment upon his ''own'' strip, his readers, and the nature of comic strips and "fandom" in general, resulting in an absurd but overall structurally complex and layered satire. "Capp's ''Fearless Fosdick'' sequences proved over the years to be some of his most popular," according to M. Thomas Inge. "''Fearless Fosdick'' remains the only comic strip-within-a-comic strip to achieve its own following."〔''Anything Can Happen in a Comic Strip: Centennial Reflections on an American Art Form'' by M. Thomas Inge (1995) University Press of Mississippi, pp. 19–20〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fearless Fosdick」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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