Barks Does Lena The Hyena

In 1946 Al Capp held the now infamous contest to see who could conjure the true image of the world's ugliest woman, Lena Hyena from Lower Slobbovia. Amongst the 500,000 + submissions was this ghastly beaut by Carl Barks.

Lena The Hyena by Carl Barks

The, ahem, judges for this contest were three of the worlds ugliest men: Salvador Dali, Boris Karloff and Frank Sinatra and as you may know, they aptly awarded Basil Wolverton's warped rendering "The Champ."

Li'l Abner and Lena The Hyena

Here we have Lena by Basil Wolverton as colored by Jim Woodring from Wolvertoons.

Lena The Hyena by Basil Wolverton

I think it's worth noting and more than a coincidence that Carl Barks, Basil Wolverton and Jim Woodring all hail from the great pacific northwest, a region rife with grotesque power drawers, past and present.

Side note: It's rumored that Jack Cole sent in a drawing of the wonderful Lena. What I'd give to see that!