A sign of progress: less than a month after I receive that copy of DC comics' Lois Lane #5 (with its cover story, “Fattest Girl In Metropolis”) discussed in last month's “Pick,” I found a more recent graphic rendering of fatness, courtesy of onetime Dimensions artist Ned Sonntag and the folks at DC. Quite an improvement over the Lois Lane story.

Source of this comic art gem is DC's “grown-up” book division, Paradox Press, which has been producing a series of trade paperback collections of comic art on all sorts of arcane subjects under the banner title Big Book of. . . A recent title in this series, edited and written by cartoonist Gahan Wilson, is Big Book of Freaks (Paradox Press, 1996, $14.95). As its name suggests, the book is a series of comic art renderings of the lives of famous (and infamous) side show 'n' carny stars.

The entry most intriguing to FAs, of course, is Wilson and Sonntag's three-page depiction of the life of Baby Ruth Pontico.

Ruth is one of the most famous of the circus fat ladies and for good reason. A second generation fat lady, she was one of the largest ever to grace that profession. At top form, Ruth reportedly weighed 815 pounds, and while side show banners were prone to exaggeration, she was clearly an impressive woman to see. She outweighed her performer mother significantly, who at her peak was advertised at a recorded 600 pounds.

Sonntag's renderings of this fat lady legend are done with his trademark sympathy and attraction to his subject. It's not for nothing that Ned bills himself “King of the FA's” in his men's mag graphics for Juggs and BUF: the man clearly is enamored with his subject matter. A panel recreating one of Ruth's trademark poses (holding up her hands, to show off her impressive upper arms) is especially choice. Sonntag's Baby Ruth is by turns womanly, nurturing and girlish - a charming figure.

Wilson's script (which stops before Miz Pontico's death at the hands of incompetent medical professionals) is equally sympathetic. It describes her doomed attempt at making a living outside the side show and her successful marriage to Joe Pontico - and ends describing an unfortunate foray by Ruth into the mundane world of Muncie, Indiana. There, she was nearly killed when the floors of her sister's house collapsed under Ruth's weight. Main Street Muncie was not prepared to accommodate a woman Ruth's size.

Not all FAs feel comfortable with the trappings of circus side show, and, to be fair, I can see why. Check out some of the websites devoted to the subject (Shocked and Amazed is a good place to start) - or some of the other graphic offerings in BBoFreaks - and you'll see an unhealthy amount of ridicule and exploitation. Too many modern day sideshow connoisseurs seem to approach the subject with the jaded artschool trendiness of a bad gothic rock band. Push those chumps aside, say I, and focus on what's important: the sheer sensual wonder of the great circus fat ladies.

A few other pieces in BBoF give us isolated images of fat ladies, incidentally, (Alex Wald in his piece on Zip the Pinhead does several nice renderings of another big name in the field, Jolly Irene Siebert). But only the Wilson/Sonntag tale fully focuses on this near-and-dear subject. According to her biographers, Ruth Pontico was a kind-hearted soul loved by her fellow circus performers, and she appreciated the shelter afforded her in the side show world. In the circus, the simple amenities that many super-sized adults have difficulty finding in the real world (seating that fits, fat friendly housing, and so on) weren't considered unusual impositions - they were part of the show. Small wonder that so many side show performers considered it their only real home.

November, 1996