Lil' Eightball is a Walter Lantz character voiced by Mel Blanc, who made his first appearance in the cartoon "The Stubborn Mule" in 1939.

[6] Lil' Eightball then appeared in Lantz's monthly anthology comic book New Funnies starting with issue #65 (July 1942).

[8] Responding in 1947 to a group of eight-year-old schoolchildren who had complained about the character, Dell's managing editor Oskar Lebeck wrote: Dear Boys and Girls:Aren't you a little unfair to imply that our editors discriminated against the colored people in our Li'l Eight Ball stories?

Should we leave out the Irish cop or the funny Italian organ-grinder or the fat German delicatessen man, etc., etc.

?However, in order that there should be no doubt in anyone's mind, I have decided to discontinue the Li'l Eight Ball stories effective with the September issue.