From the Archives of the Idyll-Beast Research Center

     From time to time we like to poke around in the old archives and dust off a bit of evidence from the more or less distant past. This week's gem reminds us how one Idyllwild old-timer, Ernie Maxwell,  imagined the Beast.

     We could discuss probable height and weight, the length of the arms, the articulation of the knees and hips, all in the name of trying to dismiss the possibility that the cartoon depicts a man in a fur suit. We could present expert opinions as to the state of the art in fur suit making the year the cartoon was published, and the possibility of an Idyllwild resident (perhaps even Maxwell himself) having such a suit.

     But all this misses the point. Emax was a credible artist, and although his cartoons of people were described by one editor as "grotesque," his Idyll-Beast is quite sleek. It's hairstyle correlates well with modern sightings. He seems to have outdone himself with realism, to have pushed the self-imposed limits of the cartoonist's medium to bring the reader face to face with the Beast. And for that we salute him.