Tubby Tompkins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tubby Tomkins
Cover of Dell Comics' Four Color #461, featuring Marge's Tubby by John Stanley
Publication information
Publisher	Dell Comics
Created by	Marjorie Henderson Buell, John Stanley
Voiced by	Arnold Stang
In-story information
Full name	Thomas "Tubby" Tompkins
Team affiliations	The Fellers
Notable aliases	"The Spider"

Tubby Tompkins, usually called Tubby, is a fun comic book character. He was created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. Tubby first showed up in the Little Lulu comic strip in The Saturday Evening Post. Later, he appeared with Lulu in comic books, ads, and cartoons. He even got his own comic book series starting in 1952.

Tubby is always super hungry and thinks he's the best. His big ideas and not really knowing what's going on around him lead him into lots of funny problems. He often has small, epic adventures in his neighborhood. Tubby is best known as Little Lulu's friend, who is sometimes her boyfriend. He is also her rival, often causing trouble in her stories. Tubby leads a group of neighborhood boys called The Fellers. They have a strict "No Girls Allowed" rule at their clubhouse. This is often where he gets into arguments with Lulu, who is very smart.

How Tubby Changed Over Time

Marge started adding boy school friends for Little Lulu in her comic strip around 1937. These boys often wore similar clothes. They had short pants, big collars with bow ties, suit jackets, and tiny sailor caps. Slowly, a fatter version of these boys appeared more often. He became a regular character, usually as a friend or playmate for Lulu. Marge called this character "Joe."

But when the character became animated in short films for Paramount, his personality started to show. He was first called Tubby then. Tubby appeared silently in two Lulu cartoons in 1944. In "Beau Ties" (1945), Tubby was called "Fatso." He was Lulu's boyfriend, but she caught him with another girl. The voice for Fatso was done by Arnold Stang. In "Bored of Education" (1946), he was finally named "Tubby." This is when the Tubby we know today really started to take shape.

After the films and with the comic strip ending, Marge licensed Lulu to Dell Comics. Lulu and Tubby appeared together for the first time in a comic book in 1945. This was in Dell Comics' Four Color #74. The story was called "The Costume Party." It was written and drawn by John Stanley. Stanley had created similar characters before. He started to give some of their traits to Marge's fat school friend.

In the beginning, both Tubby and Lulu were a bit wild. But Stanley slowly changed them. Lulu became the voice of reason. Tubby became a force of nature, not caring what others thought. The success of these first comics led to a long-running Little Lulu series in 1948. Tubby eventually got his own solo series, Marge's Tubby, starting in 1952. It ran in different forms until 1964.

What Makes Tubby Tick?

When Tubby's comic book adventures began, he was a simple character. This allowed John Stanley to explore many ideas with him. Tubby became a special character in kids' comics, like Uncle Scrooge in stories by Carl Barks. Stanley wrote hundreds of stories. Through these, Tubby showed a group of traits that often caused his adventures.

Comics expert Bill Schelly described Tubby's main motivations:

• Tubby always wants to be important. He acts like he knows everything. He believes his ideas are right, even if they don't make sense in the real world.
• He knows how people are supposed to act. But he's so focused on himself that he often ignores these rules to get what he wants. Yet, if others don't think about his feelings, Tubby complains.
• He wants to be "what a man is supposed to be." From a kid's view, this means being a fireman, a detective, or a mountain climber. He tries to act brave when there's danger. But he screams "MAWWWW" if he gets even a little hurt or scared.
• Tubby uses "kid logic" to understand the world and solve problems.
• He strongly believes boys are better than girls. He needs to feel like he's in charge with Lulu. Even though, most of the time, Lulu is clearly in charge.
• He doesn't feel bad about being fat. Instead, he thinks it means he should get more food than others. Food is the most important thing to him, even more important than being important.

With Tubby as the main character, John Stanley could add more to their world. He created other characters and common situations. These ideas were used to tell funny stories with wild actions and jokes. Most of these stories happen in Tubby's small town. Sometimes, they go into fantasy or science fiction. Common situations include:

• Romance: Tubby might be in a love triangle with Gloria, Lulu, or Wilbur.
• Battle of the Sexes: Tubby and The Fellers have a conflict with Lulu.
• Crime or Mystery: Tubby, as "The Spider," investigates a supposed crime. He always suspects Lulu's father.
• Fantasy or Science Fiction: Tubby might have a dream or meet aliens.

Tubby's Friends and Foes

• Lulu Moppet: Tubby's girlfriend and friendly rival.
• The Spider: Tubby's secret identity. He's a detective like Sherlock Holmes. His biggest enemy is Lulu's father.
• The Fellers: Tubby's gang. Tubby is usually their leader. Their clubhouse is hidden in the woods. It has a big "No Girls Allowed" sign.
• The West Side Gang: A group of tough kids who are rivals to The Fellers.
• The Little Men from Mars: Small aliens with amazing science powers and mind-reading abilities.
• George and Martha Moppet: Lulu's parents. Martha is a great cook. George works with Tubby's dad. Tubby always suspects George when he's playing detective.
• Jim and Ellie Tompkins: Tubby's parents. Tubby calls them "Maw" and "Paw."

Where to Read Tubby's Stories

You can find Tubby's adventures in the book John Stanley Library: Tubby. This book was designed by Seth and published in 2010. It collects issues 9-12 of the Dell Comics series.

Tubby also appears in many Little Lulu stories, and many of these have been reprinted.

Tubby in Cartoons and TV Shows

Besides the original Paramount Pictures animated films, Tubby and Lulu have been in many television series.