By Brett Matthew West
(The entries for this brief history of Comics will be short. Enjoy!)
Except for the Comics many people will not read a newspaper. Are you aware the first commercially successful Comic strip began in the New York World newspaper in 1895?
The most popular character in "Hogan's Alley" was a boy called Yellow Kid. He was a jug-eared street urchin in a yellow nightshirt. He also had a bald head shaved to prevent lice.
Richard F. Outcault's Comic created big scenes of street kids making fun of things rich people did. Some things never change much, do they?
Filled with lots of slapstick, "Hogan's Alley" was chaotic and humorous.
(NEXT TIME: The Colorization Of Sunday Comics)
| Author Notes | Yawn, by cleo85, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
(NOTE: The postings in this series about comics intentionally kept short. Enjoy!)
Beginning in the 1880's, newspapers had published what became known as proto-comic strips. They also published editorial cartoons. Something new occurred on November 18, 1894. That was the first time a Sunday comic section was published in color by the New York World newspaper. This unique act also created an enormous leap in the sales of newspapers.
Back in those days even small towns produced multiple newspapers. The Sunday supplement became a huge factor in the competition to sell them. Before color comics came along, most newspapers were either thrown away or used for fish wrappings.
These Sunday supplements were chocked full of things for kids and the popular family-friendly comic strips of the day. They also provided an opportunity to create a new part of popular culture that never existed previously.
And, that is how the colorization of comics began.
(Next Time: Mutt and Jeff - how comics went daily)
| Author Notes | Lace Butterflies, Silk Flowers, artwork by helvi2, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
(NOTE: The postings in this book intentially kept short. Enjoy!)
Potentially the first water cooler talk probably centered around the 1907, San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Bud Fisher's comic he called (Augustus) A. Mutt.
Mutt would bet on a racehorse every day. Readers could find out the next day if Mutt's horse won the race or not. This allowed readers to not only follow Mutt and his horses, but to live with a character each day. (We're all writers here, so am sure you will agree it is one thing to create a character, but it is a completely different thing when you live with such a character every day. In my case, as you all know, his name is Cody Jaxon Schroder.)
In 1908 Mutt's life changed, so did his comic strip. He hooked up with Jeff, an inmate from an insane asylum. Known as Mutt and Jeff, this new comic became the first successful daily comic strip. This occurred because William Randolph Hearst, the recognized Grandfather of Newspaper Comics syndicated Mutt and Jeff.
Because newspaper syndicates were scattered around the country, the same comics could be published across the USA on the same day and everybody could read the same comics.
As Paul Harvey famously said, "Now you know the rest of the story."
Next Time: How Comics Broke The Color Barrier
| Author Notes | Running Free, by lynnkah, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
(NOTE: The postings in this book intentionally kept short. Enjoy!)
Aside from offensive caricatures and stereotypes, prior to the Civil Rights Era comics were an incredibly segregated artform with a limited number of Black cartoonists meddling in the craft. In response to this discrepancy, the Black population of society established their own newspapers and comics.
Black cartoonist Morrie Turner talked to his friend Charles M. Schulze about the situation. The Peanuts comic strip creator advised him to write his own strip. Turner's first comic strip was the unsuccessful all-Black "Dinky Fellas."
Later, Turner renamed the comic "Wee Pals." The gist of which was a group of friends from different ethnic backgrounds, who also possessed various physical capabilities, interacting. "Wee Pals" became the first syndicated strip of its kind with Black characters. Only five newspapers agreed to carry "Wee Pals."
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 changed society's viewpoint on that topic. In addition, "Wee Pals" was further syndicated into more than one hundred newspapers around the country. In response, Turner sang the blues it took King's murder for "Wee Pals" to gain more recognition and wider syndication.
In the summer of 1968, after corresponding with the Los Angeles teacher Harriet Glickman, Charles Schulz introduced the Black character Franklin Armstrong into his popular comics. Glickman had told Schulz she thought Peanuts could positively influence race attitudes.
In various strips, Charlie Brown and Franklin Armstrong did things together like meet on a segregated beach. They also attended a movie theater when such venues were still segregated. Several Southern newspapers were more than slightly uncomfortable publishing these comics, but they made a contribution to desegregation occurring.
Next Time: Comics Effect On Cancel Culture (HInt: consider "Doonesbury" and "Dilbert.")
| Author Notes | The Writer, by VMarguarite, selected to comp.ement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
(NOTE: The chapters in this book intentionally kept short. Enjoy!)
Without becoming too political, which I try to avoid as much as possible in my writings, there have been occasions when comic strips and sociatal views clash head-on. The results of these crashes have usually affected comic strips much more.
Take for instance the outrage caused by cartoonist Scott Adams' "Dilbert" in early 2023. This strip was a satirical office humor piece about a white-collar engineer and his micromanaged office. Several newspapers, particularly those in the USA Today network, as well as "Dilbert's" own distributor, Andrews McMeel Universal, cut ties with Adams.
Why? A political fiasco ensued after Scott Adams made remarks on his online video program in which he referred to Black people as part of what he called a "hate group". Adams also advised White people should, in his own words, "get away" from them. Sparks flew. "Dilbert" went bye-bye. Not to be outdone, Scott Adams relaunched the strip as a webcomic on Locals under the new name of "Daily Dilbert Reborn."
"Dilbert" is not the only comic to run afoul of the political side of society. "Doonesbury" is another example of this classic phenomenon. One shining example of headbutting between "Doonesbury" and the norms of society occurred in 1973. (Oh, but, far and away this event was not "Doonesbury's" single such brouhaha.)
In its more than fifty years of existence, "Doonesbury" has been booted out of newspapers on multiple occasions. In 1973, Watergate was one prime occurrence. When cartoonist Garry Trudeau declared the conspirators to be "guilty, guilty, guilty," he ticked off several newspapers that yanked "Doonesbury" out of their publications. Among them were the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Soon thereafter, "Doonesbury" would be relegated to the Editorial section of newspapers that would carry the strip. This action isolated "Doonesbury" and disconnected the strip from the host newspapers.
Next Time: "Doonesbury" Revisited (You will see why "Doonesbury" needs its own chapter.)
| Author Notes | dire warnings!, by Renate-Bertodi, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
"Doonesbury" began its life on October 26, 1970 when cartoonist Garry Trudeau started to chronicle the adventures of several characters of various professions and backgrounds. These included real life United States Presidents, to nerdy freshman college student turned Senior Citizen Michael Doonesbury, who the strip was named after.
Often political in nature, the comic was created in the middle of the 1960s and 1970s anti-establishment counterculture, and has provided a well noted Liberal viewpoint. The "doone" in the strip's title is American slang for someone who is clueless, careless, or inattentive. "Doonesbury" was a daily comic for most of its existence. Since February 2014, "Doonesbury" has run repeated strips from Mondays to Saturdays, and a new strip on Sundays.
Originally a continuation of "Bull Tales," the Yale University student newspaper, "Doonesbury" made its debut in 28 newspapers on October 26, 1970. "Doonesbury" was also recognized as the first comic strip from Universal Press Syndicate. "Doonesbury" began Sunday strips on March 21, 1971. Many of these early strips were reprints of Bull Tales cartoons, with adjustments to their drawings and plots. By the 2010s, about 1,400 newspapers around the world carried "Doonesbury" strips.
"Doonesbury" became the first daily comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize, in Editorial Cartooning to be exact. This occurred in May 1975. Then-President Gerald Ford told the Radio and Television Correspondents Association, "There are only three major vehicles to keep us informed as to what is going on in Washington : the electronic media, the print media, and "Doonesbury," not necessarily in that order."
For one year, from 1983 to 1984, the "Doonesbury" characters comprised a group of college students who lived in a commune near Walden College, where they attended classes. During this time, Garry Trudeau assisted in the creation of a Broadway musical of his comic strip involving the graduation of "Doonesbury's" main characters. With Opening Night on November 21, 1983, the adaptation performed 104 times at the Biltmore Theatre in Midtown Manhattan.
After this hiatus, the "Doonesbury" characters began to grow older and were portrayed as baby boomers. Their careers included law enforcement, the dot-com industry, advertising, and other such jobs. Real life current events, with fictional results, became mirrored in "Doonesbury" through the characters, their children, and periodic new characters. In 1994, Trudeau received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award. In 1995, Trudeau received the society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.
Personal symbols of political figures have often been displayed in "Doonesbury" Comic strips. For instance:
-Arnold Schwarzenegger as a large hand due to accusations he groped women
-Ronald Reagan as "Ron Headrest" a Max Headroom computer-generated, video character imitation
-George W. Bush as a disembodied voice in a Stetson hat because he had been the Governor of Texas. This gave way to an asterisk after his controversial election, and finally a Roman military helmet, which became steadily worn during the War on Terror following September 11, 2001's attacks on the United States
-George H. W. Bush as a disembodied voice to indicate his lack of personality
-Bill Clinton as a talking waffle because of his triangulation strategy where he placed himself above both sides of the political spectrum
Next Time: "Doonesbury" Controversies (there have been several over the years)
| Author Notes | A Dog called None, by Cleo85, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
Running the gamut from pioneering to being highly criticized, over the course of the last fifty years "Doonesbury" has created somewhere around the neighborhood of twenty-nine seperate incidents of controversy pertaining to political and social issues.
The first of these occurred in November 1972. A Sunday strip depicted the character known as Zonker. He told a young boy playing in a sandbox a fairy tale. Zonker's reward? "His weight in fine, uncut Turkish hashish."
One of "Doonesbury's" most famous comics was a Watergate Era strip showing the character Mark on the radio with a "Watergate profile" of then Attorney General of the United States John Mitchell declaring him "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" Several newspapers dropped the strip. Not to be outdone, when Richard Nixon died, the same "Doonesbury" strip reran. All the instances of "Guilty!" were crossed out and replaced with "Flawed!"
In September 1973, the Lincoln Journal, in Lincoln, Nebraska, became the first newspaper to place "Doonesbury" on its Editorial page. By far, it would not be the last.
In November 1976, the romance between the characters Rick Redfern and Joanie Caucus, a four day strip, ended in the two of them engaged in premarital sex. This instance became the first time a nationally-run comic strip portrayed premarital sex in this fashion. On more than one occasion, "Doonesbury" has proven itself to be a real trendsetter. Hasn't it?
The first time "Doonesbury" was yanked out of a newspaper because of "deference to a corporation" happened in December 1988 when its strip in The Winston-Salem Journal featured the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, and one of its executives, not able to deny the link between smoking and cancer without laughing. "Doonesbury's" claim for this was "it would be personally offensive to its [RJ Reynolds] employees.
A February 1998 strip dealt with Bill Clinton's well documented sex scandal. It was removed from newspapers because the words "oral sex" and "semen-stained dress" had been included. Wanna talk about censoring?
The final example of "Doonesbury's" controversial strips happened the week of March 12-17, 2012 when the comic lampooned changes in abortion laws. This resulted in "Doonesbury" being permanently relocated to the Editorial page of most newspapers. Some, such as the Tulsa World, and the Orlando Sentinel, displayed "Doonesbury" on their Opinions page.
Over the years, "Doonesbury" has irritated, angered, pissed off, and been rebuked by many of the politicians who have been portrayed, or referred to, in the strip. Poor little crybabies. WAAAGH! Wonder if they want their ba-bas?
George H.W. Bush complained, "Trudeau is coming out of deep left field!"
Charles M. Schulz, of "Peanuts" fame, referred to Trudeau as "one of the country's Most Overrated People in American Arts and Letters."
An equal opportunity insulter, Conservatives, Liberals, Democrats, and Republicans alike have all bitched about "Doonesbury." The comic must have done something right.
(Next Time: Comics In The Modern World)
| Author Notes | No News is Good News, by avmurray, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
(NOTE: The postings in this series about comics intentionally kept short. Enjoy!)
The vast majority of the younger generations continue to turn more and more to the internet for their comics. Among many circles there remains a current, howbeit misguided, sense Millennials do not read comic strips. The truth is, they do...online.
Modern technology is also changing how comic strip creators establish their craft, particularly over the course of the last two decades. Several have converted entirely to digital art. This has created few "Originals." Bits and bytes have replaced them. Another factor dramatically affecting the style of comics art is what is going on in other popular artforms and how those incidents are being reflected.
Historically, comic strips have informed readers and been influenced by current events. They have also reflected happenings in the culture of the day to illustrate how people of those times thought, what they were concerned about, and what made them laugh.
When comics first began they fit the bill at the crossroads of entertainment and popular art for the masses. Many people have considered comics were only for the young, or a means to sell newspapers. In reality, comics remain a vibrant and relevant form of art with a life of their own.
Next Time: "Blondie"
| Author Notes | Camel Comics, by eileen0204, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
As coined by Denis Lebrun, who drew the strip from 1997 to 2005, "Blondie" contains a caption of being "America's Family in the Comics." In terms of longevity "Blondie" trails only "Gasoline Alley" (1918 to present), and "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" (1919 to present), as the third-longest continuously running newspaper comic strip still in production. However, no other strip has come close to beating "Katzenjammer Kids" (1897 to 2006), and its 109 years of life, as the longest continuously running newspaper comic strip of all time.
Chic Young created "Blondie" as a pert, curly-haired, woman. "Blondie's" first print in a newspaper occurred on September 8, 1930 as a four-frame strip. At that time, with a last name of Boopadoop, "Blondie" was a gold-digger flapper who vaguely resembled "Betty Boop," another comic strip character released for the first time in 1930. Flappers were women of the 1910s and 1920s notorious for bobbed hair above their ears. They wore skirts skimming their knees and smoked cigarettes. They drank alcohol, danced in jazz clubs, and were always surrounded by admiring male suitors.
In 1930, Dagwood Bumstead, the son of a billionaire, was a wiry-bodied playboy with dark, plastered hair on top of his head. His father was a railroad tycoon, as well as a love-smitten, blustering blowhard. Dagwood married Blondie on February 17, 1933. They became Middle Class after his father disinherited Dagwood.
Since 1973, "Blondie" has been written by Dean Young, the comic strip originator's son. He first assisted his father with the "Blondie" strip in the 1960s.
In an October 8, 2023 interview, Dean Young stated, "[My] dad and I had the same creative sensibility for funny stuff."
Visually, it often appears time has stopped for "Blondie." Although Dagwood and Blondie utilize modern electronic devices, and refer to portions of the digital world, their hair styles, apparel, and furniture from the 1940s and 1950s are still used in current strips.
Dean Young explained, "I did a strip on artificial intelligence. I do lots of strips about what's going on in the world today. I want to keep [those issues] new and relevant."
"Blondie's" readership has been increased by the website blondie.com and other social media sources Dean Young uses. However, he claims newspapers are his favorite modes of publication.
Young remarked, "We are in global papers in 35 languages with 280 million readers."
During the Great Depression, Blondie changed from a gold-digger into the Bumstead family's domestic rock. Blondie also worked for a short while for the Bumstead family. In 1991, Blondie began her own catering business. Dagwood became more of a goofy, sandwich-devouring dad and office worker. In fact, the word "Dagwood" has become an entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary meaning a many-layered sandwich.
Young does not confess to being a sociologist or a political statement maker. However, he strives to make Blondie a well-respected and complete woman. He also strives to shun controversy in his strips.
He stated, "I like to deal mainly with domestic situations and I primarily stick with eating, sleeping, raising children, and making money. I don't want Blondie just to be stuck at home with gags involving her to be limited to that setting alone. I want readers to respect Blondie as a complete woman, and for her ability to maintain a home, as well as for her mind and being her own person."
Born in 1934 and 1941 respectively, Dagwood and Blondie's children Alexander and Cookie were allowed to reach their teenaged years. Since the 1950s, little has changed about their physical appearances or their personalities. Daisy, the family dog, remains the same as she has always been, except she did have a litter of puppies once.
Dean Young was quoted as saying, "I have them growing up somewhat. Now they're in high school and going to college. They do things that teenagers do."
"Blondie's" overall appearance remains almost the same as it was when Chic Young died in 1973 though Jim Raymond, Alex Raymond, Mike Gersher, Stan Drake, Jeff Parker, Denis Lebrun, and currently John Marshall, have all drawn the strip. John Marshall began assisting with "Blondie" in 2002. He became the head artist in 2005.
Dean Young said this about John Marshall, "I do the gags and I know how to do a little rough draft of the cartoons. John gets the roughs and he interprets them and puts them into his own form, which is beautiful."
"Blondie" has spawned its own pop-culture industry. From 1938 to 1950, more than two dozen B movies were filmed starring Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton as Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead. Several books about "Blondie" have also been written from 1943's "Blondie and Dagwood's Snapshot Clue" to 1996's "Blondie's Cookbook." Other books have included comic strip collections from 1968 to 2012. Periodic television and radio shows featuring "Blondie" ran from 1939 to 1969.
Running gags, architectural sandwiches, frequent naps by Dagwood, slapstick humor, card-playing, family quarrels, and one-liners all help provide comforting sameness to "Blondie's" legions of loyal readers. Strong supporting characters, such as Mr. Dithers, who is Dagwood's boss, and Lou, who owns Lou's Diner, do the same.
Next Time: Zits
| Author Notes | It's Monkey Business!, by seshadri sreenivasan, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
Created in 1977, "Zits" follows the antics of an ever-eating, ever-confused, ever-complaining high school student named Jeremy, who's general form of rebellion is a well-calculated and dramatic shrug.
His desperate-to-be-relevant-and-relate-to-him parents' attempts to decode Jeremy's behaviors, and those of his friends, are most frequently frustrated sociology experiments.
"Zits" is highly regarded for the end results of these confrontations being a mix of "Jeremy's parents just don't get it" and "how do parents relate to their kids these days" better than just about any other comic strip in circulation. "Zits" also provides equal time to the quirky teenagers and the parents featured.
The Pulitzer Prize-awarded editorial cartoonist Jim Borgman, and the Reuben Award-winning cartoonist and writer Jerry Scott, are the brain trust behind "Zits". Jim Borgman began displaying artwork when he was a mere five-year-old kindergartner. He submitted a drawing to "The Uncle AL Show," a Cincinnati, Ohio WCPO Television program for children. The broadcast ran for 35 years and displayed Al Lewis, the station's first Art Director, as "Uncle Al." The "Uncle Al Show" maintains the unofficial record for the longest-running, regularly-scheduled series with the same host for the show's entire run.
In an October 8, 2023 interview, Jim Borgman explained, "I sent in my stuff and I saw my crayon drawing there on "Uncle Al". It was a moment for me. That little thrill that you get - maybe we all have it in our own version - what it would be like to have other people see our stuff [as a writer sure all reading this post can grasp what Borgman referred to here. If not, what are we doing writing?]"
Borgman went on to admit he loved the political cartoons he read in his younger days in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspapers. He also claimed to like "Calvin and Hobbes," "Pogo," and "Peanuts." While a student at Kenyon College, Borgman was shown by a friend how he could make a career out of his artwork, and drew weekly cartoons for that college's newspaper.
To this, Borgman stated, "I'm not a person who seeks the spotlight in any other way but through my drawings. I was excited to be in people's conversations."
A week after graduating from college, Borgman became the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper's editorial cartoonist, which placed him on stage in front of a major city's audience. He possessed approximately fifteen sketches at the point. Two weeks later he had doubled the output.
Borgman explained, "It was a thrilling and scary start. I guess people [in Cincinnati] saw someone paying attention to their town and trying to draw something lighthearted and thought-provoking about their world. I had a feel for just how life looked through those windows. I think people picked up on that."
One extremely special cartoon Borgman drew epitomized his feelings for the Cincinnati Bengals NFL Football team's mascot. Borgman drew the tiger sitting dominantly on the playing field. He called the cartoon "Next". It became a symbol of their 1989 Super Bowl run. A game they lost 20 to 16 to the San Francisco 49'ers.
Borgman's comments about "Next" were, "It's kind of become iconic, and it was everywhere the rest of that season. Suddenly, it just felt like ok, we're really connected here."
Borgman's 1990 cartoon portfolio for the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper included Cincinnati Reds' baseball player Pete Rose's legal woes for betting on baseball games (for which he was permanently banned from Major League baseball). He also drew a cartoon of Cincinnati Bengals' head coach Sam Wyche barring a female reporter from their locker room, and the death of Kokomo, Indiana teenager Ryan White from AIDS. Contracting the ailment through a blood treatment in December 1984, and barred from attending school because of the condition, Ryan White became a poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States. Borgman also drew a controversial art display of American Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose work featured nudes, celebrities, and still life images. Mapplethorpe documented the gay male BDSM scene of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Awarded annually in twenty-three categories, the Pulitzer Prize is administered by Columbia University in New York for outstanding achievements in newspaper, literature, musical composition, and online journalism. The Pulitzer Prize considers distinguished cartoons or cartoon portfolios. These must be characterized by originality, quality of drawing, pictorial effect, editorial effectiveness, and be published as a still drawing, animation, or both.
Borgman said this about winning the Pulitzer Prize for Cartooning, and his 1990 editorial portfolio, "All these things were happening, and I felt in the zone. I was certainly over the moon for being a Pulitzer finalist, but in a sense I had a feeling that maybe the stars had aligned and this was my year. The aftermath was just so much fun. Everyone you've ever known is calling and congratulating you."
Next Time: "Zits" - Part Two - Jerry Scott
Coming Attraction: "Zits" Comic Strip
| Author Notes | Pick One, by eileen0204, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
One of only four cartoonists to have multiple comic strips appearing in over a thousand newspapers worldwide, Jerry Scott is an American cartoonist and writer. He co-created the comic strips "Baby Blues" and "Zits". Scott has been a professional cartoonist since the middle of the 1970s, when he submitted cartoons to various magazines, and sold one to the Saturday Evening Post.
In 1983, Scott was chosen to succeed the deceased Mark Lasky, who wrote the comic strip "Nancy" between 1982 and 1983. Lasky died at the ripe old age of 29 from cancer. Scott modernized "Nancy" to his own liking, then passed the strip off to Guy Gilchrist in 1995.
On January 7, 1990, Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman co-created "Baby Blues," a comic strip based on American family life with young children. Thirty-nine Scrapbooks have been compiled from "Baby Blues," so have 8 Treasuries, 2 Compilations, 3 Gift Books, and a television adaptation. "Baby Blues" appears in 1,200 newspapers, in 28 countries, and in 13 languages worldwide. A total of 43 "Baby Blues" collections are still in print.
In March of 1997, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman co-created "Zits" during a trip to Sedona, Arizona, where Scott pitched his Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper acquaintance his idea.
In his previously detailed October 8, 2023 interview (see Part One of this series on "Zits"), Borgman explained their conversation, "He [Scott] said 'I've been thinking about a comic strip about teenagers. Here's what I've got so far.'"
Scott had drawn his sketches in a style similar to the "Peanuts" characters. Big heads on little bodies. Upon seeing them, Borgman redrew the teens of "Zits" as lanky individuals taking up space. The comic strip follows the family life of 17-year-old Jeremy Duncan.
About Scott seeing his drawings, Borgman remarked, "Scott said that was the way the strip should look."
Widely circulated today, "Zits" debuted in July of 1997 in more than 200 newspapers.
Borgman stated, "The newspaper industry was changing so much. I feel like we slipped in the door right as it was closing. It's been a really magical ride."
"Zits" now appears in 1,700 newspapers, in 45 countries, and in 18 languages. A total of 37 "Zits" collections are still in print.
Scott has been awarded the National Cartoonists Society's Silver Reuben Award for Best Comic Strip of the Year in 1995, 1998, and 1999. He also received that organization's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2001.
(Next Time" "Zits")
Coming Attraction: "Baby Blues"
| Author Notes | the blue moon, by supergold, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
Set in Cincinnati, Ohio's suburbian living, "Zits" is often filled with a heavy dose of surrealism. This contributes to the cartoon standing out from being just another typical teenager strip.
"Zits" centers on 17-year-old Jeremy Michael Duncan as he attempts to balance his family existence, his social happenings, his high school academic demands, and his plans for the future.
The cultural movement known as Surrealism began in Europe after World War One concluded. Surrealist artists depicted unnerving, illogical, scenes in their artworks. They further developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Surrealism produced mostly paintings, writings, theatres, filmmakings, and photographs.
Andre Robert Breton, a French writer and poet credited as the leader of surrealism, defined the movement's aim to be "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality, or surreality."
Surrealism displays elements of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions, and non sequitur. This is a literary device used for comedic purposes. These statements are something said that lacks apparent meaning relative to what preceded the comment, making it sound so absurd it becomes humorous or confusing.
As detailed in my previous posting entitled Zits-Part Two: Strip Writer, in 1996 "Zits" writer Jerry Scott became dissatisfied with the character sketches he had drawn for his newest strip. After several months, "Zits" illustrator Jim Borgman redrew them to Scott's preferences.
In 1997, King Features, who published Scott's editorial cartoons, and his "Baby Blues" cartoon strip, began posting "Zits". The new strip debuted in July of 1997 in more than 200 newspapers. "Zits" has grown to become extremely popular and has received several awards of recognition.
The "Peanuts" comic strip writer Charles Schulz enjoyed "Zits," but referred to the cartoon as, "Zits is the worst name for a comic strip since Peanuts." In the "Zits" compilation book entitled Humongous Zits, there is a piece of paper containing multiple different names considered for the strip. These include Jeremy, Yo, and My So Called Life And Stuff. A circled "Zits" was the final choice for the strip's name.
Intelligent, Jeremy aspires to become a famous Rock musician. The source of his name has been attributed to at least a couple possibilities. One is English actor and musician Jeremy Clyde of the 1960s Rock duo Chad and Jeremy. They were part of the British Invasion. Their style was a soft, mellow, Folk-inspired one characterized by hushed and whispered vocals. An early "Zits" strip showed Jeremy's parents named him after a "Joy To The World" lyric by Three Dog Night. That being "Jeremiah was a bullfrog."
Jeremy spends the vast majority of his time socializing with friends or attempting to impress his part-time girlfriend Sara Toomey. He is also frequently being embarrassed or lectured by his parents. Jeremy's mother once told him he was conceived to the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway To Heaven."
Jeremy possesses a unique talent of being able to tell who calls on the telephone, and for what reason, when the phone rings, or even before it does. Extremely tall, Jeremy's attire is frequently a purple shirt over a black tee shirt, fat-tongued sneakers on his overly large feet, and blue jeans. Jeremy spent a huge amount of time restoring a 1962 Volkswagon van with his best friend Hector Garcia. In a strip during the Spring of 2023, a speeding garbage truck flattened the van.
The Lead Singer, and guitarist, of his many-named garage band, Jeremy's first professional gig was a six-year-old's birthday party. Among the band's names have been "Chickenfist" and "Goat Cheese Pizza".
Possessing a high sense of integrity, Jeremy was shown in a strip stealing a signpost with his name on it. Later, Jeremy returned the post to the police to free himself of the guilt he felt for the theft of the post, although he used Hector's name when he did so.
Running gags for "Zits" have included Jeremy's bedroom being so messy his mother had to dig a tunnel to reach him (what teenager do you know of who's bedroom isn't like Jeremy's?). Others have been Jeremy's many growth spurts, and his ability to consume large amounts of food in seconds, usually by inhaling it or shoveling the food inside his mouth. Once, Jeremy unhinged his jaw to swallow a large sandwich.
Old-fashioned, and an Orthodonist who has difficulty holding a conversation with Jeremy, Walter and Connie are Jeremy's parents. Four years older than him, Chad, who is Jeremy's brother, attends college. An over-achiever, Chad is also the object of much of Jeremy's jealousy. Chad makes rare appearances in the "Zits" Comic Strip.
There appears to be somewhat of a slight disagreement between Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman as to the future direction "Zits" should go. Borgman is on record saying he prefers to see complicated issues like AIDS, premarital sex, and drugs covered in the strip. On the other hand, Scott prefers, as he stated, "Not to see the 6 o'clock news on the funny pages."
So, who knows? Stay tuned...
Next Time: "Baby Blues"
Coming Attraction : "Family Circus" Writer Jeff Keane
| Author Notes | Play with me!, by cleo85, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
Launched on January 7, 1970, "Baby Blues" is an American cartoon created by the writer Jerry Scott, who's biography I depicted in Zits - Part Two: Strip Writer, Chapter 11 of my Funny Pages book, and cartoonist Rick Kirkland.
Receiving the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1995, Rick Kirkland also garnered their Reuben Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2012 for his efforts with "Baby Blues." In addition, Kirkland served as the co-executive producer of the animated television series Baby Blues on The WB television channel aired from July 28 to August 4, 2000.
Another five episodes of the animated Baby Blues were shown on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network in 2002. The Canadian Rock band known as Barenaked Ladies provided the theme song "It's All Been Done" for the animated Baby Blues television adaptation.
A humorous illustrator prior to "Baby Blues," Kirkland's work appeared in multiple magazines including the Saturday Review, Good Housekeeping, the Saturday Evening Post, Parents Magazine, Redbook, Money Magazine, and on the Children's Television Workshop. Some of Kirkland's past clients were the Bic Corporation (known for their lighters, shavers, and stationary), America West Airlines, Campbells Soup, Best Western Motels, and Ramada Inn Motels.
Focusing on the MacPherson family, consisting of Darryl, Wanda, Zoe, Hamish (Hammie), and Wren, the first "Baby Blues" strip took place in the hospital room soon after Zoe's birth. "Baby Blues" was first syndicated by Creators Syndicate from 1990 to 1995. This publisher was the original syndicate to allow cartoonists ownership rights to their work. "Baby Blues" was then syndicated by King Features from 1995 to 2022, and by Andrews McMeel from 2022 to the present.
Additional families "Baby Blues" centers around are:
-Bunny, who all main adult characters dislike because she is viewed as self-seeking and tasteless.
-Butch, who is Bunny's divorced husband
-their three children Bogart, Wendell John, and Wendell Jon (these two are twins who strip characters can not tell the difference between, including their own mother Bunny)
-Yolanda, and her husband Mike, who are close friends of Darryl and Wanda MacPherson
-their two children Keesha and Dziko (better known as Dizzy)
Sally, and Snoopy, from "Peanuts" have made a cameo appearance on "Baby Blues."
To date, there have been forty scrapbooks, eight treasuries, two compilations, and three gift books featuring "Baby Blues."
Next Time: "Family Circus" Writer Bil Keane
Coming Attraction: "Family Circus" Writer And Main Character Jeff Keane
| Author Notes | The Brightest Star in the Sky, by MoonWillow, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
American Cartoonist William Aloysius "Bil" Keane is probably most noted as the originator of "The Family Circus" comic strip. Now drawn by his son Jeff Keane, who figured prominently in "The Family Circus" as a young child, the cartoon began in 1960 and remains in syndication today.
As a schoolboy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bil Keane taught himself to draw by copying the style of the cartoons published during the time in The New Yorker. The weekly magazine was known for essays, fiction, satire, commentary, journalism, poetry, and cartoons.
Keane's first cartoon was published on May 21, 1936. It appeared on the Philadelphia Daily News, a tabloid newspaper's, amateur page. While still in high school, Keane spelled his in-comic signature as Bill Keane. Early in his cartooning career, he changed the spelling to Bil Keane to make his name distinctive.
While in the Army from 1942 to 1945, Keane drew cartoons for Yank, the Army's weekly magazine of World War Two. However, his best known cartoon of the era was "At Ease With The Japanese" for the Pacific edition of Stars And Stripes, a daily military newspaper emphasizing those serving in the military outside the United States.
Bil Keane launched his first comic strip, known as "Silly Philly," while a staff artist for the Philadelphia Bulletin's daily evening paper from April 27, 1947 to September 3, 1961. This was a Sunday strip featuring the quirky, goofy, juvenile William Penn. The gist of the strip had the lad jump down from his 37 foot tall statue on the tower of the Philadelphia City Hall and become a scamp. Keane's strip often displayed jokes submitted by readers of the newspaper.
"Channel Chuckers," a television-themed comic strip, appeared from February 15, 1954 to the end of 1976. Bil Keane received the National Cartoonists Society's 1976 Special Features award for this strip.
A couple standouts from "Channel Chuckers" were a caricature of Mr. Spock, of Star Trek fame, receiving letters from television watchers requesting advice on child-rearing. This was a reference to Pediatrician Benjamin Spock, the author of Baby And Child Care, which remains one of the biggest selling books of the 20th Century.
Another showed a young boy watching a General Electric commercial and his father told him, "And progress is our most important product. Do your homework!"
On February 29, 1960, "The Family Circus" debuted in nineteen newspapers. According to King Features Syndicate, "The Family Circus" is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world and appears in 1,500 newspapers, with more than 100 million daily readers.
For 16 years, Bil Keane was the emcee of the National Cartoonists Society's annual awards banquet. He served as the organization's president from 1981 to 1983. During those same years, in collaboration with his son Jeff, Bil Keane published the comic strip "Eggheads." Jeff Keane also served as the president of the National Cartoonists Society for four years in two 2-year terms.
Thelma Carne, Bil Keane's wife, became the "Mommy" character of "The Family Circus." Their children Gayle, Neal, Christopher, Jeff, and Glen were the inspirations for the children in "The Family Circus." Glen Keane was a character animator for Disney. His credits included The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Tangled, and Pocahontas.
Bil Keane received the National Cartoonists Society's award for Best Syndicated Panel in 1967, 1971,1973, and 1974. In 1982, Keane won their Cartoonist of the Year Reuben Award, and their Elzie Segar Award for unique contribution to the cartooning profession. In 2002, he received their Silver T-Square Award for outstanding dedication to the cartooning profession.
Beginning in 2011, Bil Keane's youngest son, Jeff Keane, has been the Inker and Colorist of "The Family Circus, a comic strip he has assisted with since 1981.
Jeffy, the main character of "The Family Circus," was based on Jeff Keane when he was a youngster.
At the 2015 Reuben Awards, Jeff Keane was presented the Silver T-Square Award by the National Cartoonists Society for outstanding service to the cartooning profession.
There have been some eighty books, five Special Compilations, seven Collections, and six Illustrated books of "The Family Circus" published to date.
Next Time: "The Family Circus"
| Author Notes | Circus Tiger, by Cindy Sue Truman, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
In an October 1, 2023 interview, Jeff Keane detailed why it made sense he would one day take over "The Family Circus" strip originally created by his father Bil Keane. After all, as a youngster, Jeff Keane was the main character of the comic. In fact, all of the children in "The Family Circus" were modeled after Bil Keane's offspring. However, Jeff Keane was the only one whose character carried his name.
Jeff Keane laughed when he explained, "Jeffy, he was always the hero. As far as I was concerned he was the savior of the strip."
In a big way, so was the real life Jeff Keane, who started working part-time on "The Family Circus" comic strip with his father in the 1980s. This effort began soon after Jeff Keane graduated from the University of Southern California. But, working on "The Family Circus" was not Jeff Keane's plan at that time. Having studied theater at USC, Jeff Keane intended on becoming an actor and spent most of his time auditioning for roles to perform.
In regards to how Jeff Keane's career plans started to change, he said, "He [his father] asked if I wanted to help maybe answer mail, do some ancillary things, put together books, and sort of free my time so I could do auditions, because I could work at home and do that stuff."
On the surface it may appear Jeff Keane's transition to taking over "The Family Circus" had been a life-long natural progression. He verified the Keane children grew up reading comics, and not just those created by his father.
Pressed for an answer, Jeff Keane responded, "I can't remember specifically what cartoons were my favorites on the comics page at the time. I read all sorts of cartoons, and we read comic books and we read the old Mad magazine. We read all the various cartoons."
Published from 1952 until about 2018, Mad magazine began as a comic book series created by the editor Harvey Kurtzman. Mad magazine was widely imitated and influential as satirical media and strongly affected the cultural landscape of the 20th Century.
Perhaps, growing up, the Keane kids were provided a little "gentle persuasion" to read those comics?
Jeff Keane elaborated, "We were reading the Sunday papers all the time, and somehow they always managed to be open to the comics page whenever we walked out into the kitchen. I think that was my dad's little hint to read them."
Was Jeff Keane aware of his exalted status as the central character of "The Family Circus?"
He stated, "I guess I really kind of knew it all along. Although I wasn't really aware of what that meant."
As Jeff Keane continued to grow older, he learned. Sometimes, situations became awkward.
Jeff Keane bemoaned his fate, "It wasn't the best thing in high school to be having cartoons about wetting the bed and trying to get a date."
Emphasizing family life, and unabashedly wholesome, "The Family Circus" remained on a different chartered course than most other comics of its day.
Explaining his thoughts on this topic, Jeff Keane said in talking about his father, "That was his genius, to create something that is so relatable for families and not worry about having to do a joke, so to speak. He created something that has real heart to it. And, I'm so happy to continue on with that."
In regards to his mother, Jeff Keane added, "[She] was always the heart of "The Family Circus" I think she gave him [his father] the observation that he didn't necessarily have to do a cartoon that had a laugh all the time, which is pretty much what comics were at that period, unless they were story strips or whatever." Jeff Keane went on to say, "Cartoons can have a tug at the heart or a lump in the throat, and people can relate to that. So I think that's why it [The Family Circus] became successful."
Eventually, Jeff Keane increased the amount of work he did on "The Family Circus."
He best told the story, "I was doing penciling, and then I started to color the cartoons. I would watercolor for certain products or whatever. And eventually I was doing everything, and over time learning to draw the characters. I didn't really have any particular style to begin with. So I just learned from him [his father] what the characters should look like."
To say the least, the Keanes' creative process was unique.
Jeff Keane clued the interviewer in by elaborating, "I would send him my pencil drawings, and then he would put a piece of paper over it and overlay that and redraw it, and show where, you know, the arm should be a little shorter here, or this perspective doesn't look quite right. And then he'd send it back to me. So he was critical in what it should look like. But he wasn't critical in his criticism."
Jeff Keane does not believe "The Family Circus" is his strip.
He said, "Oh, I always think of it as his [his father's] cartoon. I don't have a problem with doing the cartoon. It's our family, is really what it is when I'm doing the cartoon. I think of it as this is my mom, this is my dad, this was me, my brothers, my sister. And it brings me great memories when I'm doing that. I'm nothing but proud of the opportunity to continue something that he created that I really think is a special cartoon in the newspaper. I think it has a unique place on the comics page."
Next Time: "The Family Circus"
| Author Notes | O Happy Days, by MKFlood, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
"The Family Circus" comics launched on Monday, February 29, 1960. The strip was originally known as "Family-Go-Round," as well as "The Family Circle," a name used because of the comic strip most often being drawn in a single-captioned panel with a round border, as the daily strip generally is.
Other methods include the circle being split in two halves. Occasionally, both speech balloons are inside the picture and their captions are outside the circle. Normally, the daily strip does not follow a weekly story arc, unless the family is on vacation.
The Sunday strip format varies with several recurring themes. For instance, a single picture surrounded by multiple speech balloons. These represent the children's responses to the scenarios. The first of these appeared in the strip on May 30, 1965.
The comic's name had to be changed to "The Family Circus" because Family Circle magazine objected to the strip's originator, Bil Keane, calling his comic "The Family Circle." One of the so-called Seven Sisters traditional female-oriented magazines, Family Circle was published from 1932 until 2019. Other magazines included in this group included Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, Better Homes And Gardens, Woman's Day, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping.
"The Family Circus" remained the brainchild of William Aloysius "Bil" Keane until his death in 2011. (See Chapter 14 - The Family Circus Cartoonists, of this book, for an indepth and detailed biography of Bil Keane). Since that time, Keane's son Jeff (the central character of "The Family Circus" comic) has colored, inked, and written the strip.
According to King Features Syndicate, "The Family Circus" is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world and appears in some 1,500 newspapers. To date, "The Family Circus" Compilations have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.
Billed as "The West's Most Western Town," Scottsdale, Arizona is the setting for "The Family Circus" comic strip. A real life, and popular attraction, ice cream parlor known as the Sugar Bowl, the Scottsdale [Tennis] Racket Club, and Paradise Valley, have all been prominently featured in "The Family Circus" over the years. In addition to these elements, Bil Keane added aspects of his Pennsylvania boyhood home into "The Family Circus."
Containing many resorts, Paradise Valley is a desert and mountain town east of Phoenix. Camelback Mountain, and Mummy Mountain, dominate the scenery. Paradise Valley is also Arizona's wealthiest municipality. Bil Keane lived about the last fifty years of his life there.
Christian imagery and themes have been frequent aspects included in "The Family Circus." Bil Keane was Roman Catholic. As a youngster his family attended St. William Parish. Keane stated he included religious content that reflected his upbringing and family traditions. In addition, he contributed frequently to his high school newspaper, The Good News, at Northeast Catholic High School for Boys, in Philadelphia. Keane graduated from the school in 1940.
Thick dotted lines became one of the best-known quantities of "The Family Circus" comic strip. These showed a character's path through the neighborhood, or the family's house. An example of their use was a family vacation to Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, "The crookedest street in the world."
Jeffy, Jeffy and his grandfather walking in the park, Jeffy running around wildly, and Barfy, have all been displayed in thick dotted line strips. Calvin and Hobbs, Lio, xkcd, Marvin, Pearl's Before Swine, Fox Trot, and For Better Or Worse, have all parodied Keane's use of thick dotted lines.
Full of out-of-the-mouths-of-babes humor, "The Family Circus" family could not be simpler. The parents are (Bil Keane and his wife Thel Carne), and their children Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, and PJ (Peter John), who never seemed to grow any older in the more than sixty years the strip has been circulated. The exception is PJ. he has grown to the age of one and seldom speaks. Billy mentioned these clues in his August 26, 2013 strip when he referred to "Grandma Keane" and "Grandma Carne" as the surnames of the author's family.
The character "Bil" was first named "Steve" in the early years of the comic. Bil is an office worker, and strip hints over the years have indicated he is a cartoonist who draws large circles on the paper he writes upon. These have often been considered to be cartoon versions of "The Family Circus." Bil has also been referred to as a veteran of World War Two.
An interesting sidenote would be in 1996, Bil Keane updated Thelma's hairstyle. This prompted the LA Times newspaper to run a Feature article on her.
Modeled after Keane's eldest son Glen, who is a prominent Disney Animator with several major motion pictures to his credit including Tarzan, Tangled, Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, as well as Aladdin, Billy is seven years old. He is the oldest "The Family Circus" child. Occasionally, Billy has been a Substitute Cartoonist for Sunday strips. Crudely drawn, these reflect Billy's views of the world and his sense of humor.
Billy's strips were first used in the 1962 This Week magazine, which was the oldest newspaper supplement in the United States when it ceased circulation in 1969. "Life in Our House" was the comic strip Billy's first rendition appeared in. It attributed the childish drawing to Bil Keane's six-year-old son Chris.
"Drawn by Billy, Age 7" are strips perputedly drawn by Billy. In them, he would do things like explain vocabulary, but since he does not understand the right word, he mixes the words, and their meanings, up. Hysterical and historical is one such case. Acquire, to mean a group of singers in church, is another.
The "Billy, Age 7" drawings often showed more detail of one of Bil Keane's strips. A well known one had the father away on a business trip. Billy explained his absence with several childish reasons including an alien abduction, and his father baked into a witch's pie. The story arc ended with Billy's father back home and the kids asking such preposterous questions as to where he'd been, their father was befuddled by them.
Dolly was modeled after Bil Keane's daughter and oldest child, Gayle. Thelma Keane called little girls "Dolly". Florence, who is Bil Keane's mother, appears regularly in "The Family Circus" comic strips as "Grandma". Al, his father, who the kids refer to as "Granddad," is dead but appears occasionally as a spirit watching over the family from Heaven.
On December 18, 1979, Al played a major role in the NBC television Special known as A Family Circus Christmas. Other "The Family Circus" television Specials included A Special Valentine With The Family Circus on February 10, 1978, and A Family Circus Easter in 1982.
The family owns two dogs, a Labrador named Barfy, and a shaggy-haired Mutt named Sam, who the children dragged home on January 26, 1970. They also possess an orange tabby named Kittycat.
Bil's boss, Mr. Horton, and Morrie, a playmate of Billy's, and the strip's only recurring Black character, make recurring appearances. Morrie was originally created in 1967 as a tribute to Bil Keane's close associate, and fellow cartoonist, Morrie Turner, who wrote the Wee Pals comic strip.
So entrenched in everyday culture, "The Family Circus" has offshooted more than a dozen tributes. One of them is known as "Nietzsche Family Circus". This version combines random editions of "The Family Circus" with quotes from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The philosopher became famous for his criticisms of traditional European morality and religion, as well as his conventional ideas, social, and political pieties associated with modernity.
Bill Griffith, the creator of the "Ziggy," comic strip, described "The Family Circus" as, "The last remaining folk art strip. It's supposed to be the epitome of squareness, but it turns the corner into a hip zone."
Next Time: Beetle Bailey Cartoonist Mort Walker
| Author Notes | Clowning Around, by Cindy Sue Truman, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
Born on September 23, 1923, and the creator of "Beetle Bailey" in 1950, as well as "Hi and Lois" in 1954, Addison Morton Walker was an American comic strip writer. He would occasionally sign his strips with the psuedonym "Addison." His father was an architect, and his mother a newspaper staff illustrator. Walker had an early claim to fame in that one of his ancestors was a doctor on the Mayflower.
While in elementary school, Walker drew for a student newspaper. Later, at Northwest High School in Kansas City, Missouri, Walker was the editor of his school's newspaper, the art director of its yearbook, and a radio show performer.
His first comic was published when he turned eleven years old. Walker sold his first cartoon when he was twelve. At fourteen, he regularly sold his cartoons to Child's Life, Flying Aces, and Inside Detective magazines.
The bi-monthly Child's Life magazine began publication around 1921 and ceased to exist about 2007. The magazine featured stories, articles, and activities for children ages 9 to 11.
The Flying Aces monthly periodical of short stories about aviation was popular from October 1928 to April 1945. Many of their stories, by authors of the day, were set against the background of World War One. Later issues of this magazine added non-fiction aviation articles, and those concerning model airplanes. The magazine renamed itself Flying Models, and catered exclusively to aeromodeling hobbyists, as a result of the popularity of its model airplane articles.
With a tagline of "Every Story True," the Inside Detective magazines contained true crime stories and real-life mystery stories.
When Walker reached the ripe young age of fifteen, he drew "The Lime Juicers" comic about British sailors. This strip became a weekly feature of the Kansas City Journal newspaper. He was also a staff artist. At eighteen years old, Walker became a Chief Editorial Designer for Hallmark Brothers/Hallmark Cards. He heavily influenced Hallmark's change in cards from cuddly bears to gag cartoons more suitable for soldiers.
While Walker atended Kansas City Junior College, and the University of Missouri, a local hamburger hangout called The Shack became an influencer of his. Images from the restaurant appeared with some frequency in Walker's "Beetle Bailey" cartoons. The September 14, 1950 "Beetle Bailey" strip mentioned the eatery by name.
The Shack was destroyed by a fire in 1988. Walker returned to the site in 2010 for a special dedication of a replica of the building, with a dining area called Mort's. A life-sized bronze statue of "Beetle Bailey" stands erect in front of the University of Missouri's Alumni Center, near The Shack's old location.
Walker graduated from the University of Missouri as the editor, and art director, of the college's humor publication Showme. He started his cartooning career drawing "Spider" for The Saturday Evening Post. "Spider" was about a lazy college student that morphed into "Beetle Bailey," which was eventually distributed by King Features Syndicate to 1800 newspapers, in more than 50 countries, with more than 200 million daily readers. The Bailey surname is a nod to a supportive editor Walker had at the Post.
"Beetle Bailey" was banned at one time by the United States military's Stars And Stripes newspaper because they felt the strip disrespected officers. With a warning for smut, which Walker sometimes dabbled in during the early days of "Beetle Bailey," the strip's Swedish edition once contained "Knasen: Varning for Snusk."
In 1954, Walker and Dik Browne created "Hi And Lois," a spin-off of "Beetle Bailey." Lois is Beetle's sister. Walker's sons Brian and Greg, along with Robert "Chance" Browne, now produce the "Hi and Lois" comic strip. Brian Walker was the Founder of the International Museum of Cartoon Art. Greg Walker is now the official co-writer of "Beetle Bailey." He previously wrote episodes of the "Bugs Bunny" newspaper comic strip, and was a co-writer of "Betty Boop and Felix" from 1984 to 1988. Robert "Chance" Browne is the main cartoonist of "Hi and Lois."
Under the name "Addison," Mort Walker created "Boner's Ark" in 1968. He also created the comic strips "Sam's Strip," "The Evermores," "Gamin and Patches," and "Mrs. Fitz's Flats."
Containing a title which was a direct reference to Noah's ark, Walker debuted "Boner's Ark" under his "Addison" pseudonym. The strip began on March 11, 1968. It concluded on May 27, 2000 when the ark reached dry ground. The comic depicted a menagerie of animals trapped on the ark helmed by Captain Boner. A hippo ran the restaurant and a hyena its complaints department. The hyena also operated a marriage counseling service and staged frequent mutinies against Captain Boner. Main animal characters included a male penguin named Duke, a dinosaur called Rex, a Kaola bear named Cubcake, and Aarnie the aardvark. He was also the ark's First Mate. Other animal characters featured included the duck known as Dr. Quack, Priscilla the pig, Dum-Dum the gorilla, and Lookout the giraffe. He was in charge of searching for land.
Debuting on October 16, 1961, Mort Walker, and the Greenwich Times daily newspaper columnist Gerald John "Jerry" Dumas, co-created the "Sam's Strip" comic. This strip relied heavily on metahumor, or self-reflective humor, and appearances by famous comics characters. Blondie, Charlie Brown, Krazy Kat, Happy Hoolihan, Tillie the Toiler, and Ignatz Mouse were among them. Strip readers did not always grasp what "Sam's Strip" attempted to convey. "Sam's Strip" never reached publication in more than sixty newspapers and was cancelled on June 1, 1963. However, "Sam's Strip" did lead Walker and Dumas to co-create "Sam and Silo" about two bumbling cops in a quaint little town.
Walker co-created "The Evermores" comics with cartoonist Johnny Sajem. The strip ran from 1982 until 1986. "The Evermores" was about a family that Walker placed in different time periods with each new episode. These included being knights, cavemen, cowboys, pirates, musketeers, and Ancient Egyptians. Readers did not like the constant changes. Eventually, Walker placed them in Ancient Rome based on a poll of the strip's readers.
About a street urchin and his dog, Walker co-created "Gamin and Patches" with his assistant Bill Jamocha. The strip ran a year or so, from 1987 to 1988.
Published from 1957 to 1972, Walker co-created "Mrs. Fitz's Flats" with his first assistant Franke Roberge. The strip featured a little old lady who ran an apartment building.
Originally located in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Museum of Cartoon Art was established in 1974 by Mort Walker. This museum was the first museum devoted to the art of comics. In 1989, Walker was inducted into the museum's Hall of Fame.
Mort Walker received the Reuben Award in 1953 for "Beetle Bailey." He garnered the 1966 and 1969 Humor Strip Awards from the National Cartoonists Society. He also received their 1999 Gold T-Square Award, and their Elzie Segar Awards in 1977 and 1999 for outstanding contributions to the profession of cartooning. These name a few of Walker's many crowning accomplishments.
Walker was presented the Charles M. Schulz Museum's Sparky Award. This distinction is provided "In honor of the lifetime achievement of prominent creators in the fields of cartooning and animation who embody the talent, innovation and humanity of Schulz." This award includes a statuette of Snoopy holding a pen and leaning on an inkwell. In 2000, Walker was presented the US Army's Decoration For Distinguished Civilian Service.
Next Time: Carl James "Beetle" Bailey
| Author Notes | Freedom, by MKFlood, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
On September 4, 1950, Carl James "Beetle" Bailey was a student at Rockview University. Holding a scholarship for the sport, he was the star of the school's track team. Beetle owned a broken down jalopy and smoked a pipe. He stopped smoking when he joined the military service.
Beetle had four friends at Rockview who were modeled after fraternity brothers Cartoonist Mort Walker, who originated the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip, had at the University of Missouri. They were known as Bitter Bill, Freshman, Sweatsock, and Diamond Jim.
Beetle Bailey stopped attending college on March 13, 1951 during the first year of the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip. His reasons for joining the Army were because he ran away from his angry and jealous girlfriend "Buzz," as well as a second girl who chased him.
As lazy in college as he proved himself to be in the Army, inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy provide most of the humor for "Beetle Bailey. Camp Swampy was inspired by the real life Army's Fort Crowder, that was located south of Neosho, in the southwestern portion of the state of Missouri, from 1941 to 1956.
Fort Crowder was named in honor of Major General Enoch H. Crowder, the primary author of the Selective Service Act of 1917. This law raised an American army during World War One. At that time, General Crowder held the positions of Judge Advocate General of the United States Army and Provost Marshal.
Some famous Personalities were stationed at Fort Crowder in their military days. These included Carl Reiner, who created The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was televised from 1961 until 1966. Reiner acted in the big-named movies It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are coming, and the Oceans Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Eight film series. Reiner directed the Hit movies The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, All Of Me, The Man With Two Brains, Oh, God!, and others. In addition, Reiner penned more than two dozen books.
American Author Jean Shepherd, Junior, who narrated and co-scripted the A Christmas Story movie, and Cartoonist Mort Walker, who created the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip, were others stationed at Fort Crowder during their Army time.
Perpetually stuck in time in their infantry unit, the characters of "Beetle Bailey" never appeared to see any actual combat. However, they did participate in combat drills and mock battles. Consisting most often of green fatigues, and patrol caps, the military attirement in the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip were of the real world US Army uniforms of the late 1940's to the early 1970's. An open jeep was the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip's basic military vehicle.
Beetle's food-obsessed Platoon Sergeant, and arch nemesis, Sergeant First Class Orville P. Snorkel, frequently wore a green battle dress uniform and a heavily wrinkled garrison cap that could be folded flat when not worn. The officers in the comic strip sported M1 combat helmet liners painted with their insignias on them. These were real world liners worn by the US Army from World War Two until 1985. These helmet liners inspired the armies of several other countries around the world to adopt similar ones. Modern military weapons and equipment made rare appearances in the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip.
Company A is where Beetle Bailey was assigned. However, the unit's functions periodically changed throughout the history of the strip. These included being armor, artillery, infantry, and paratrooper outfits.
Some of the "Beetle Bailey" characters had dreams in which they were seasoned combat veterans. For instance, Sergeant Snorkel once dreamed he was General "Storming Snorkel" who gave a briefing on Operation Desert Shield (which this author happened to be a combat veteran of in Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.)
Beetle dreamed he left the Army and returned back to Rockview University on the G.I. Bill. Female students there knew him as "Bombshell Bailey," a famous war hero. In a March 27, 1966 dream sequence that parodied "Batman" of the 1960's, Sergeant Snorkel appeared as "Fatman," and Beetle as "Slobber." They had to stop the infamous "Pizza Pete." In this strip, Beetle wore a mask but his eyes could not be seen.
A hat, or helmet, always covered Beetle's eyes and his forehead. Even while on Leave, Beetle's civilian clothes included a pork pie hat, with a flat crown, worn in the same manner as his military hat or helmet. Only in the original "Beetle Bailey" comic strip, while he was still a college student, had Beetle been shown without a hat of some kind. This original strip was pulled and never ran in any newspapers. It has been printed in multiple books about the history of "Beetle Bailey." The only acknowledged picture of Beetle's eyes was published in a 2000 strip. They were shown as two black dots on a piece of paper held by Beetle and Sergeant Snorkel.
From 1950 to 1952, the first two years of the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip, Mort Walker wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered the strip. In 1952, Cartoonist Fred Rhoades became Walker's first assistant. Fred Rhoades also contributed to the comic strips "They'll Do It Every Time" by Jimmy Hatlo and "Barney Google and Snuff Smith" by Fred Lasswell. Perhaps Fred Rhoades most well known contributions to comic strips were his efforts on "Sad Sack" by George Baker. Several other cartoonists have served as assistants to Walker over the years. Since 1982, Walker's sons Greg, Neal, and Brian Walker, along with Jerry Dumas, have drawn the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip.
Gerald John "Jerry" Dumas was well known for his "Sam and Silo" comic strip. He was also a columnist for the Greenwich Time newspaper in Greenwich, Connecticut. About the misadventures of a porkpie hat-wearing sheriff and his deputy in the small town of Upper Duckwater, a place so peaceful they spent most of their time napping in their squad car or eating at the local dining hangout. There, Rosie, who is regarded sort of like the Mother Hen of Upper Duckwater, dispensed one-liners. The lawmen also contended with Mayor McGuffey, who frequently saw crimes where there were none or invented red tape for the fun of it. "Sam and Silo" began on April 18, 1977.
One of the most famous "Beetle Bailey" comic strips had Sergeant Snorkel dangling helpless from a small tree growing out of the side of a cliff. Sergeant Snorkel had never been shown falling off a cliff or walking close to the edge of one. However, he always appeared to hold onto that same branch, yelling for help. This strip first ran on August 16, 1956.
Mort Walker's extensive comic strip portfolio included the popular "Hi and Lois," which he co-created with "Hagar the Horrible's" cartoonist Dik Browne. "Hi and Lois" was a spin-off comic strip of "Beetle Bailey." The strip featured Beetle's sister, his brother-in-law, and their family. "Hi and Lois" is now drawn by Chance Browne, the son of Dik Browne, and Mort Walker's sons.
While stationed in the United States Army during World War Two, Richard Arthur Allen "Dik" Browne drew the "Ginny Jeep" comic strip about the Womens' Army Corps. This strip appeared in Army and Air Force newspapers.
In the 1940's, Dik Browne worked as an illustrator for the Johnson & Cushing advertising company. In 1944, he created the Birds' Eye frozen foods bird logo, a Mounds candy bar advertisement, the Carmin Miranda-inspired Chiquita bananas trademark, and a Campbell Soup kids redesign.
From 1950 to 1960, Dik Browne drew "The Tracy Twins" comic strip for Boys' Life, the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1973, Dik Browne created the "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip about an ill-mannered, red-bearded, medieval Viking. "Hagar the Horrible" was a caricature that commented on Modern-day life in the United States through the interpretation of Viking Age Scandinavian life.
King Features syndicated "Beetle Bailey" in 2016. The comic strip appeared in about 1800 newspapers around the world.
Next Time: "Beetle Bailey" - Part Two: The Censorship Of "Beetle Bailey"
| Author Notes | The Soldier and his dog, by avmurray, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
The "Beetle Bailey" comic strip faced censorship on three separate occasions. The first incidence occurred in 1962 because, shock of all shocks, that strip showed a belly button. Yikes!
The second manifestation of censorship happened in 2006 when the description of Rocky's criminal past was replaced with a non-criminal past. Introduced in 1958, the "rebel-without-a-clue" known as Rocky, was Camp Swampy's long-haired, disgruntled, former bike gang member. Rocky also had a side hustle as a shady used car salesman, and was the editor of the "Camp Swampy Muckateer" publication.
Mort Walker's self-censoring was the third installment of the actions previously mentioned above. Sometimes, Walker drew strips with raunchy subject matters for self-amusement. Drawn in the sketch stage, these strips were not meant for US publication.
They were, however, published in Scandinavia with translations underneath the strips. In addition, they appeared in the Norwegian version of the "Beetle Bailey" comic book entitled Billy. The covers of these comics were marked to indicate they contained censored materials. They were published in the middle of the 1990's by scrambling the strips. A de-scrambling plastic card was required in order to view these comics. Not long afterwards, the strips were no longer scrambled before being printed.
In regards to these censorships Donald David Markstein was quoted as stating, "For the most part, Walker's relationship with the real-life US Army has been cordial. But not always. [For instance,] During the early 1950's the strip ("Beetle Bailey") was dropped from the Tokyo edition of Stars and Stripes because it allegedly encouraged disrespect for officers. The civilian press made a huge joke of that, and the ensuing publicity gave the young strip its first big boost in circulation."
Donald David Markstein was the writer and editor of the go-to online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animations. With a subtitle of A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge, this publication was originally known as Don's Cartoon Encyclopedia. Markstein changed its name to Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
According to Markstein, his online encyclopedia was "The world's first hypertext encyclopedia of toons." Markstein defined his encyclopedia's intent as "The basic idea is to cover the entire spectrum of cartoonery."
Markstein's encyclopedia gained a reputation of being a vast warehouse of information about comics. Additionally, the encyclopedia provided information on almost any comic strip.
Some of Markstein's other writing projects included:
-being on staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper
-the Feature story writer for that newspaper's Sunday magazine
-weekly restaurant review writer for the Phoenix Business Journal
Markstein edited, designed and produced several publications including:
-Arizona Living
-Arizona Women's Voice
-Comics Interview
-Comics Review
-Phoenix Resources
-Louisiana Weekly Employer
-Scottsdale
-Sun Tennis
Markstein also penned the books A Prince Valiant Companion and Hot Tips From Top Comics Creators.
In 1988, a musical based on the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip premiered at the Candlewood Playhouse in New Fairfield, Connecticut. Neil and Gretchen Gould wrote the music and lyrics for the musical. The plot involved a wayward computer that promoted Beetle Bailey to the rank of a three-star General.
Co-written by Mort Walker and the Emmy-winning television writer Hank Saroyan, in 1989, a thirty minute animated television Special for CBS was produced of the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip. This Special, and the 1960's "Beetle Bailey" comic strips, have been released on DVD.
In 1963, an animated television Series consisting of fifty six-minute Cartoon Shorts were produced by the King Features Syndicate. These Shorts were animated by Paramount Cartoon Studios in the United States, and by Artransa Film Studios in Sdyney, Australia.
On October 7, 1972, Beetle Bailey and Sergeant Snorkel were prominently featured in the animated television film Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter. This was an episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. General Halftrack and Lieutenant Flap appeared in the movie's Chinese Restaurant scene.
"Beetle Bailey" characters have been licensed over the years for many things ranging from dolls to telephones, handpuppets, lunchboxes, paperback books, bobbleheads, greeting cards, and several other trinkets.
In 1964, the Multiple Plastics Corporation manufactured a Camp Swampy playset.
Dark Horse Comics issued collectible figurines of Beetle Bailey and Sergeant Snorkel in 2000. To commemorate "Beetle Bailey's" fiftieth anniversary, they produced a boxed PVC figurine set of Beetle Bailey, Sergeant Snorkle, Miss Buxley, General Halftrack, Otto, Lieutenant Flap, and Cookie.
As part of their animated All-Stars series, BCI Eclipse released twenty episodes of "Beetle Bailey" on a two-DVD set. Rhino Home Video released another ten episodes on a DVD. In 2007, Beetle Bailey: The Complete Collection was released on DVD. This included an un-aired 1989 television Special.
Bloomingdales, and fashion designer Dr. X, released a limited edition retro/punk rock style clothing line that involved Beetle Bailey-themed Chuck Taylor sneakers, t-shirts, and leather jackets. These came out in 2010.
In 2012, Rolex, and Bamford Watch, released a Beetle Bailey Rolex watch.
Next Time: "Hagar The Horrible's" Christopher Browne
| Author Notes | The Soldier and his Dog, by avmurray, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
American Cartoonist Richard Arthur Allen Browne was best known as the creator, writer and drawer of the comic strips "Hagar the Horrible" and "Hi and Lois".
Known as Dik Browne, he was born in Manhattan, New York. Browne labored as a Copy Boy, as well as a map and chart drawer, for the New York Journal American daily newspaper that operated from 1937 until 1966. One of the New York Journal American's most prominent features was Dr. Joyce Brothers penning front page articles in February of 1964 analyzing The Beatles.
The Charles "Lucky" Luciano compulsory prostitution trial in 1956, in which Luciano was convicted of operating a prostitution racket and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison, barred photographers and artists from the courtroom. Somehow, Dik Browne managed to slide in undetected. His courtroom sketches provided the New York Journal American a news exclusive on the trial.
Interestingly, Luciano would strike a deal with the Department of the Navy during World War Two in which he would provide naval intelligence. In 1946, Luciano's sentence was commuted because of his wartime cooperation. Luciano's reward for his efforts? Lifetime deportation to Italy.
Dik Browne enlisted in the Army in World War Two. There, he drew maps and charts for an engineering unit and created the "Ginny Jeep" comic strip about the Womens' Army Crop. This comic strip appeared in Army and Air Force newspapers.
An Illustrator for Newsweek magazine during the late 1940s, and the Johnson & Cushing Advertising Company, Dik Browne created the Carmen Miranda-inspired Miss Chiquita Banana trademark and the Bird's Eye bird logo. Browne also established a Campbell Soup kids redesign and an advertisement for the Mounds candy bar. This ad, and Browne's "The Tracy Twins" comic strip he drew from 1950 until 1960, brought him to the attention of King Features Syndicate.
In 1954, Cartoonist Mort Walker enlisted Dik Browne's assistance in co-creating the "Hi and Lois" comic strip spin-off of Walker's "Beetle Bailey" comic strip. "Hi and Lois" unveiled Beetle Bailey's sister, his brother-in-law and their family.
In 1973, with a character named after himself, Dik Browne created the "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip.
1963 saw Dik Browne serve as the President of the National Cartoonists Society. He received their 1959,1960, 1972, 1984, and 1986 Best Humor Strip awards. In 1962, Dik Browne was presented their Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for his efforts on "Hi and Lois". Browne received a second Reuben Award for "Hagar the Horrible."
In 1972, Dik Browne received the National Cartoonists Society's Elzie Segar Award for outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning. Elzie Segar was the recognized creator of the Pop culture character known as Popeye the Sailorman.
Hagar the Horrible is an ill-mannered, medieval Viking with a red beard, who was drawn by Dik Browne's son, Christopher Kelly Browne from 1989 until his death in 2023. Chris Browne had contributed to the "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip since its beginning in 1972. He also authored the 1985 book entitled Hagar The Horrible's Very Nearly Complete Viking Handbook.
In addition, Chris Browne created the short-lived autobiographical comic strips "Chris Browne's Comic Strip" (1993-1994), and "Raising Duncan" (2000-2004). Both of these strips included a Scottish terrier as a central character.
Next Time: "Hagar the Horrible"
| Author Notes | Viking, by jesuel, selected to complement my posting. |
By Brett Matthew West
A caricature of Modern-day existence in the United States, as told through the loose interpretation of Viking-age Scandinavian living, "Hagar the Horrible" first appeared in Sunday newspapers on February 4, 1973, and in daily newspapers on February 5, 1973. The Dik Browne-created comic strip became an immediate popular success.
Dik Browne's sons pet named him Hagar the Terrible. For the purposes of alliteration, Browne adapted the name to Hagar the Horrible. When Dik Browne perished in 1988, his sons changed the strip's name to "Dik Browne's Hagar the Horrible" in tribute to their father's legacy.
Bristly, overweight and scruffy, Hagar the Horrible possesses a red beard. He sports a big round nose, a flea-infested bearskin, and a horned helmet. Hagar spends much of his time raiding England. On occasion, he will invade France.
According to the animator Terrence J. Sacks, these contrary qualities endeared Hagar to strip readers. These same attributes made Hagar seem like a caveman, or an Opera-Viking. Henpecked, where his wife Helga was concerned, Hagar also possessed an occasionally exposed "soft underbelly".
The comic strip "Hagar the Horrible" is set in the Middle Ages. This was a period of population decline, counter-urbanism, invasions, the collapse of centralized authorities, and mass migrations. Hagar resides in an unnamed coastal Norwegian village. His lineage in Norway was revealed in the July 18, 1984 strip when Hamlet, his son, asked him if he could tell people they were Norweigian?
Hagar's prompt response was a bodacious, "It might sound like bragging."
The layout for "Hagar the Horrible" follows the standard gag-a-day daily format. On Sundays, the strip contains extended colored sequences. Known as anachronism, the chronological inconsistency in arrangement, and the juxtaposition of people, objects, events, and language terms of different time periods, are infrequently sprinkled in "Hagar the Horrible," but are not deliberate mainstays of the strip.
The majority of "Hagar the Horrible's" humor focuses on his interactions with his longship crew, particularly Fastitous Eduardo, as Lucky Eddie was originally named. These events occur during looting raids, in castle sackings, or on voyages. Other bits of humor center around Hagar's collaborations with other Vikings in the local tavern, or his family who are not stereotypical Vikings.
Balbar the Barbarian was the original name of Hagar. This nomenclature was suggested by Dik Browne's co-creator of "Hi And Lois," Mort Walker of "Beetle Bailey" fame.
In 1989, Hanna-Barbera created a 30-minute Special called Hagar the Horrible: Hagar Knows Best.
Hager appeared in the 2014 "Wizard of Id" comic strip when the two characters encountered each other at sea.
Hagar made a cameo appearance at "Blondie's" 75th birthday party in 2005.
Hagar has an overbearing, nagging and jealous wife named Helga. He has an intelligent and sensitive son named Hamlet, and a domestically-challenged daughter named Honi. Helga's pet duck Kvack, who sounds German, a clever and loyal dog named Snert, and other such characters recur in the "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip.
Reportedly the real-life inspiration for the intellectual Private Plato in the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip, Dik Browne based his "Hagar the Horrible" character on his family, including his own red beard he transposed onto Hagar.
One of Hagar's largest personal problems is he only bathes once a year, whether he needs it or not, on July 14th. National rejoicing and celebrations occur when Hagar bathes.
In the 1970s, "Hagar the Horrible" had its own brand of sponsored soda called Sunday Funnies Cola. "Hagar the Horrible" comic strips were printed on the sides of each can.
In England, during the 1980s, Hagar was used to advertise Skol Lager beer brewed in Alloa, Scotland. Hagar featured on billboards and popular television commercials for the lager.
From 1989 to 1991 Mug Root Beer used Hagar to market their soft drink. Uniquely, those television ads used colored versions of the Skol Lager ads redubbed to refer to root beer instead of beer.
In the 1990s, Hagar was used in print ads by the IBM RISC system 16000 desktop workstation.
Broadcasted on CBS TV on May 15, 1980, the Fantastic Funnies became Hagar's first animated television appearance.
Hagar appeared on the May 8, 1983 NBC TV's Mothers Day Sunday Funnies Television Special.
The 1989 animated television Special entitled Hagar the Horrible: Hagar Knows Best, that CBS TV aired, used the first plotline of the "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip of 1973. This was when the comic originally began.
There are currently 67 mass-market paperbacks printed featuring "Hagar the Horrible."
Florida's Universal Studios theme park features a "Hagar the Horrible" attraction at its Islands of Adventure location. The attraction can be observed on top of Toon Extra in Toon Lagoon.
Next Time: Dennis the Menace's Hank Ketchum
| Author Notes | King Kong, by Lynnkah, selected to complement my posting. |
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