Wilson's Weight Gain Comic Watch

From time to time, I'd like to apprise you of any new instances of comic art weight gain that I come across: this latest pops up as a back-up in the first issue of Paul Dini's current Jingle Belle (Dark Horse). Dini is best-known as an animation scripter who has worked on The Animaniacs and oversaw the first and best Batman cartoon series, and he also does the occasional comic series, many of which feature perky/sexy heroines. (Several Animaniacs toons included cartoon WG sequences, I should, add, but I don't know if Dini was directly responsible for any of 'em.) His Jingle Belle has appeared in several holiday comic book mini-series, but the primary figure in the book's back-up is a Halloween witch named Polly Green.

Polly lives in a spooky old magical tower on the side of her family’s split-level suburban home. Her family consists of two parents, a teenaged sister and a younger brother – and all four of 'em are inordinately greedy, constantly demanding that Polly conjure up presents for them. Because they're her family, Polly can't cast any direct spells on 'em, so to teach the acquisitive brood a lesson, she turns their split-level into "one big oh so Christmasy gingerbread house." Predictably, her mundane family members go to town on the house ("The best thing about gingerbread houses is they grow right back," she explains.) And in no time at all, all four Greens are roundly super-sized. "You really should have read the nutrition facts before pigging out," Polly sez and she points to where they're posted on the side of the house ("Calories: Zillions!")

Artist Stephanie Gladden (whose style is frankly more appealing than Jose Garibaldi, who tackles the main story in this issue) makes the newly fattened figures cartoonishly believable (mother and daughter are especially nice). Even if the fat Greens' appearances are limited and their primary poses bawlingly tearful, I'm suspecting that FAs into WG fantasies will find the panels appealing. Hop over to a comic book shop and check out the last two pages of Jingle Belle #1 to see if you agree. . .