Cartoons and Comics

Depictions of the cancan in mainstream comics tend to be few and far between, but they turn up every now and again, sometimes in the most unexpected of places. Our first example comes from Archie Comics, where Veronica visits the Yukon and is mistaken for a chorus girl (my apologies for the low resolution scans, they're the only ones I could locate on the web).

I think the sequence was drawn by Dan DeCarlo, the artist who more or less defined the Archie Comics' "house style". DeCarlo also drew gag cartoons for various adult magazines and was well-known for his risque sense of humor outside of his mainstream work.

Next, we have  Le Petit Spirou by Tome and Janry, a popular Belgian/French comic strip, (though practically unknown outside Europe). While the main protagonists are mostly young children, the humor is more squarely aimed at adults:

One might think that French comics would be literally bursting with the cancan, but once again, such images are comparatively rare. Chorus girls sometimes turn up in Maurice De Bevere's Lucky Luke, though their costumes often lack the distinctive skirts and petticoats common to the classic ensemble:

On the other hand, a more traditional outfit can be found in some of the animated adaptions of the character, as suggested by this hand-painted cel from 1971's Daisy Town:

And of course, there's the famous Royal Flash gag from 1944's  Stage Door Cartoon (OK, I admit to cheating here a little; I used photoshop to edits Bugs out of the picture):

PS: Will post more as I find 'em. If anyone knows the original source of those Archie Comics pages, please leave a message; I'd be very interested in posting some high-res scans.