So just before Stanley and his Monster debuted in Fox and the Crow #95…
…the Brat Finks were already there, beating Stanley and said monster by one issue:

Okay, that panel actually is from #95, and not their first appearance, but I was collecting SAHM stories, not Brat Finks stories, so I don’t have #94 in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives.
…Mostly I’m just posting this here for the sheer 1960s-ness of the title “Brat Finks.” Also, for that one Brat Fink wielding the axe:

Out of context like that, we’re just one brief leap away from a funny animal EC horror comic. Tales from the Habitrail, with your host The Old Hamster Wheel Keeper.
…Sorry, gang, I think Christmas is getting to me.
I fell in love with DC’s funny animal comics due to those FUNNY STUFF digest size reprints (and Capt. Carrot, of course). Such a great, forgotten genre.
“Well, kiddies, I guess the CAT got his TONGUE! It’s a real CAT-astrophe! HEEEEHEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEE!”
The hatchet probably had a lot to do with my initial impression being that that was a severed cat’s head nailed to the wall, rather than a picture.
Yeah, I agree with Fechtenberger – and I’ll add that a lifetime of reading strangely tame Code-approved violence in books like PUNISHER and WOLVERINE made me initially read those black ink spots as black “blood.” So, taking a second look was valuable in that regard.
Oh geez; same here. Being a Punisher fan in middle school makes me see a room full of gore.