That's the year I started reading them for myself, but my parents and grandmother had read them to me before that. My first memory of being read to was when I was 3 in 1940.

My favorites right now are "Crankshaft" that curmudgeonly busdriver who underneath his grouch is a softy at heart, "Cathy", who reminds me of myself lots of times, "Curtis", who makes me think of lots of little boys I've taught (I'm nothing like his dreaded teacher!). And of course, "Peanuts" will always be a favorite.

One cartoon I hate and think should be on the editorial page is "Mallard Fillmore". He is so anti-Democratic party that he upsets me. However, I like "Doonesbury". Trudeau seems to agree more with my thinking and is more subtle in his negativity. "Mallard" just hammers it in.

I could go on and on about favorites. I miss some of those earlier ones I first started reading. I'll wait to see what others say in this new discussion. Sue

You've done another great heading job. Congratulations! Sue

My favourite comic strip is Rose is Rose because it is so imaginative. It is followed closely by For Better or Worse. One comic -if you could call it that - which I loved was Harold Foster's Prince Valiant.

Nellie, I can understand your liking Prince Valiant! It's still running,isn't it? Rose is Rose? No, I don't know that one...I wonder if it's nationally syndicated? For some strange reason, I'm a Zippy fan!

I think that strip appeared in our paper on Sunday's only. I loved the purples, reds, and blues that predominated the strip. I haven't seen that strip in years. It isn't published in this area now. Sue

I just read it while watching the debate...Lots of greens, Sue. one great big rectangle and two little squares...

This is for Nellie:(this will be sketchy because I haven't been following it, just recognize it as something from long ago...

Our Story: Val has just ordered repairs on the Old Saltworks, which Alfred? notes are similar to saltworks near Camelot. "Tin Tagel(?) will never lack salt again. (How old is Val now?)

Meanwhile, Aguar's(/) merchant ships laden with ice have been turned away from Camelot now that Sal Gelidus conterols the trade once more, the shopes must barter for supplies before sailing home.

Back to Prince Valiant...riding in the land controlled by Tintagel...from atop a knoll, he concludes that an attack by Ehterbert is inevitable...He perceives the old saltworks, the swift river draining into the broad valley, the systen of ditches bringing water to the crops - he perceives an opportunity.

Hey Nellie, this does nothing for me! Tell what you like, or used to like???

I remember the wife...she was tough. Aleta...and those twin daughters...and a little boy baby - I marveled that Aleta never seemed to age - like Blondie and Dagwood (until Blondie went to work!)

I always felt though, that the overall adventure was more of interest to boys. Did you feel that?

Ok Louise they are all here from the Amazing Spider Man to Zits. If you scroll down under the cartoon is a history of the cartoon and how it came to be. This will link to Prince Valent with the index of all the others. And the History of the Newspaper Comics.

My all time favorite was Pogo!! "We have met the enemy and "they" are "us"!!" What a true comment!

BARBARA: Thanks for that link. I have saved the link in the heading in my favorites and there were some comics people mentioned that are not in the link in the heading. The ones not there are: Prince Valiant, Curtis, Pogo, and Millard Fillmore.

NELLIE: Thanks for mentioning Rose is a Rose. This morning on clicked on the index and read it for the first time. I enjoyed it. I may get back in the habit of reading the comics. I haven't received a newspaper in years because I always "intend" to read it and never do.

Marjorie

Does Ripley's "Believe It or Not" come under this heading?

Robby

Joan, I haven't seen Prince Valiant for a long time and did not realize it was still around. Yes, it would appeal more to boys but I was always one who tended to like stories like that.

Another comic strip I like is Betty.

Oh, I am so delighted to see a discussion on The Comics! I have been reading "the funnies" since I first learned to read, probably in 1939! And today I read EVERY single one, no matter how absurd, on all three pages of comics in the daily Cleveland Plain Dealer.

I really think they reveal, better than any other medium, the cultural and sociological mindset of our nation. They are an art form. And they're FUN! What more could we want?

Jeryn very quietly stated a most powerful statement:--

"The comics reveal, better than any other medium, the cultural and sociological mindset of our nation."

Sun - I must confess there are few "comics" that I find funny anymore. Mary Worth is no more the old Mary Worth than Superman. We do have Prince Valiant and I do scan that, but if you lose the train of thought it takes a while to pick it up. I's like to see a come back of Major Hoople, Joe Palooka, and Lil Abner!

Major Hoople, Joe Palooka, and Lil' Abner, too. I also miss Dick Tracy, Nancy, the Phantom and Little Orphan Annie. However, my paper still carries Gasoline Alley which features tributes to the "oldies but goodies" several times a year. We also have Snuffy Smith and Dagwood and Blondie which are old strips. However, I think some of the newer ones are great. Some which I didn't mention in my previous posts are The Family Circus, For Better or Worse, Zits, Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, and Ziggy. I never miss a day of reading all the comics unless the paper delivery doesn't arrive on Sunday at the boxes in town. Sue

This discussion came up at just the right time. Does anyone else read "Rex Morgan, M.D." ? That's the only strip I've been reading since probably around 1939 (me, too, Jeryn!). The others I remember, Brenda Starr, Mary Worth, etc. etc. are no longer carried here.

BUT, what I wanted to mention is that good ol' Rex (he doesn't look much like the old Rex) is now tackling something current and controversial - health care! It blows me away. Right now he's en route to D.C. to participate in a discussion, or panel, or something. Anyone else following this?

Makes one to wonder if some people don't vote or take other actions based upon what Rex Morgan and similar characters do!!

Robby

I remember Rex Morgan, M.D. but it has been a looong time since I read that cartoon. I went and found it on the net. Here is the home page for King Features and you will find comics, puzzles, political cartoons, etc. there. These are different than the ones in the clickable in the heading.

King Features

I think the one thing wrong with the funnies that their creators die and they are never the same.

Louise? I think it's pretty faithful to the first cartoonist's work. At least I think the first one is dead. Skeezix was left on Uncle Walt's step when my Daddy was young and although my Daddy is gone 15 years, Skeezix lives on, looking older, but he and Nina and Uncle Walt and Phyllis just keep on truckin'. Sue

It IS sad when the original creator of a comic dies or retires. It's invariably a disappointment thereafter. But, I too, am a follower of Rex Morgan MD and, even though the good doctor looks like a different man, the commentary we're getting is ve-ry interesting and very timely! Where he goes with this line, I can hardly wait to see! Is he getting ready to skewer the lobbyists? Or the medical profession? Or, or?

The all-time positively THE best comic strip, no others come close, to me was L'il Abner! The biting satire and political commentary Al Capp hid among those homespun characters has not seen an equal yet. Who can forget J. Roaringham Fatback? Anyone recall The Schmoo?? Where in the world was Lower Slobovia?! NO ONE tried to prolong that strip when Capp was done with it; I can imagine that no one felt adequate to the job!

And the poor little guy who always had a cloud over his head!!

Robby

Yeh, Robby, wish I could remember how to spell his name... Joe blksptuv? blkptvrw?? Something like that. And who was the character who introduced the word "whammy" into the language? The little geek in the zoot suit and with the bulging eyeballs? And remember "Fearless Fosdick"?

In all due respect to Rube Goldberg (and I was the one who brought his name up), I would like to see Li'l Abner in the Heading, too.

Robby

was Bltspk. But your guess is as good as mine, Jeryn. I can't remember the name of the zoot suit character, either. Sue

Bltspk sounds fine to me. Were there a few #@* in there too?

I'd love to see L'il Abner honored in our heading. Somehow, I doubt there is a website?

Take a look.

http://www.lil-abner.com/

Jeryn: Now you know it's Joe Bfstplk.

I laughed myself silly just looking at the characters!! Al Capp was the tops!!

Robby

Lil Abner is listed in the index in the heading...

But I think my favorite was Terry and the Pirates... and he isn't in the index.

PAT: Until this discussion started, I had no idea how many different comics there are. Someone earlier in the discussion posted a link to a different group of comics. I don't know if Terry and the Pirates is in that group or not. It is probably somewhere on the Internet.

Rammell, Thanks for that Link. I have sent it to my favs folder.

I, too, liked Terry and the Pirates. I remember when that and Sargent Preston of the Yukon and, of course, his dog King were on the radio.

Gosh, that's GREAT! Now I can relive the glory days of L'il Abner. Hey, it was Evil Eye Fleegle--the little guy in the zoot suit that put the "whammy" in the language! General Bullmoose! Oh I love it!! Added to my Favorites for sure!

Does anyone remember Hanz, Fritz, Rollo?

That sounds like the Katzenjammer Kids

You hit it on the head. I can remember as a small kid this was my favorite and every sunday would head for the comics to see what they were up to. Always into some mischief, - hope it's not a mirror of my past

Rollo was Nancy's boyfriend... or was that Sluggo?

<<Rollo was Nancy's boyfriend... or was that Sluggo?>>

Nancy and Sluggo were an "item"
Rollo was the AK in the Katzenjammer Kids. Fiar haired kid that was always neat and clean. A snitch. The kid we all hated

I was browsing the index that's in the heading tonight and saw the name "Nancy" and said to myself "I remember that one." It was Nancy and Sluggo as RAMMEL said. This is a neat discussion. I am going to go back to reading the comics every day.

Here's a pretty good Pogo website for our "index" above, I think: Pogo article

It's a 1998 article, and besides Pogo and Kelly, it throws in a dandy plug for Milton Caniff (creator of Terry & the Pirates and Steve Canyon).

Something interesting happened locally in regard to the line up of the daily comics. Our paper, in someone's infinite "wisdom" decided to transfer several of the more popular ones to their website. At the time I said to my husband - that is fine for those of us with computers, but what about people not using one. After one day of this, the paper received so many EMails, letters and calls, they put them all back, plus added a couple new ones! Victory for the little people!

Some I like are: For Better or Worse; B.C.; Ziggy; The Plugger (don't we all recognize him at times); and of course, Peanuts.

Marilyn

Anybody remember Smokey Stover? If anyone knows where I can find any sites with the famous firefighter of Foo, please let me know.

Also, would like to find Major Hoople at Our Boarding House.

In 1988 Scancarelli, today's "Gasoline Alley" artist, published a one-page Wallet Family Tree. I still have it, but I don't have a scanner or other means of sharing this page here. Instead, I'll try to describe it:

• In lower right, Walt is holding a baby (Skeezix), showing it to his Gasoline Alley bachelor friends Avery, Bill, and Doc
• In lower left, the Wallet family's "tree" trunk is emerging
• First on its trunk are faces of Walter Weatherby Wallet and Phyllis Blossom; married 6/24/1926
• Above them on trunk is (Allison) Skeezix, left on Walt's doorstep 2/14/1921 (born 2/9/21)
• First Wallet tree-branch: Skeezix marries Nina Clock, 6/28/44
  • Thomas Walter "Chipper," born 4/1/45
  • Clovia, born 1/1/54
  • Clovia marries Slim Skinner, 5/31/77
  • Gretchen, born of Clovia & Slim, 4/13/78
  • Rover Bump, adopted by them, 12/1/83
• Second Wallet tree-branch: Corky, born to Walt & Phyllis, 5/2/28
  • Corky marries Hope Hassel, 10/1/49
  • Nubbin, born of Corky/Hope, 1/1/54
  • Adam & Eve, twins born of Corky/Hope, 4/21/60
  • Adam marries Teeka Tok, 11/28/86
  • Ada, born of Adam and Teeka, 8/5/88
• Third Wallet tree-branch: Judy, left in Walt's car 2/28/35
  • Judy marries Gideon Grubb, 5/4/61
  • Gabriel, born of Judy/Gideon, 6/27/68

Above was an accurate 1988 compilation of Walt Wallet's offspring. But there's likely been many 1989-2000 comic-strip additions to his family tree.

I've been looking for Smokey Stover and Majoe Hoople... both of them I remember well... They were in every Gannett Paper and our local paper awas Gannett owned.

Still haven't found anything.

These characters reflect the insecurities in all of us. How I love them. Think they will live on as great classics. Grandaughter (3) and I watch together! I love Margaret. My mum says as a child I was Margaret! Yikes was I really! (eldest of five)

Carolyn

Here's a website I found tonight dedicated to Smokey Stover, the Foolish Foo Fighter.

In my first scan I didn't see much there I'd recommend to my online friends here. But its maintainer does proffer his valid email address (so seems to me well-worth Stover fans' further pursuits here).

Thanks, JimVA... I have been searching for something like that..

There are some new ones that are great! "Sally Forth" and "Foxx Trot" are both funny, which is what funnies should be, shouldn't they? Our paper does not run any of the "continual plot" comics, like "Mary Worth" or "Rex Morgan." We do get "Prince Valiant" on Sunday, of course, and I take lots of time looking at it because the art work is so beautiful! No wonder it is a once a week comic strip! It must take forever to draw it.

Something I never realized till I saw an auction of Cathy once is that those original cells are HUGE? At least the Cathy ones are just gigantic, not little tiny squares. I wonder why that is?

Easier to draw a little one, no?

ginny

Yes, the ones I've seen for sale...on QVC..the Warner Brothers things, etc. are large....and expensive! Apparently a whole world of serious collectors of those things. I always feel so stupid when I realize what others collect that I didn't even know there was a market for.

š...jane›

Ginny:--It's easier for an artist to draw a larger cell -- technology then reduces it to whatever size is required -- varies according to the newspaper.

Robby

Well, I'll tell you what, I would KILL for a Guisewite, does anybody know where they are selling them?

Robby, I would have thought just the opposite! But then again, I'm not an artist.

Guisewite lives in CA, that might be a good thing to remember if we venture out there in 2002 in the Books.

ginny

Ginny:--Neither am I but try drawing a very large smiley face and then draw the same face in an exceedingly small space.

Robby

ROBBY...I'm with GINNY on this one. I think it's much harder to draw..or write on a blackboard...large than small. I guess you would need to make it easy for some executive to read, tho.

I'm still trying to find a quality Smokey website. I guess my curiosity...got 'roused. And what fans the flames even more for me, is that I'm finding conflicting info about Smokey Stover.

One 'source' of info was a website dedicated to WW II and Korean war oddities. Official records of "Foo-Fighter" reports have recently been released...mysterious air observations by USA fliers. But the term for these observances was borrowed from Smokey Stover's fireman comic strip, he being a "Foo-fighter." That website claims that Smokey's artist was one Basil Wolverton. That website was of interest to me in its own right (Foo-fighters being 2nd item cited there).

But another source, a 1970s Smithsonian comics reference book at my public library, says this innovative strip was by artist Bill Holman. I trust this source more, it being in more depth. That earlier website described Smokey only as an incidental to its info about war-phenomena. Here's my paraphrase of Smithsonian's history on Smokey Stover:

Started as a Sunday feature and distributed by News-Tribune Syndicate, 3/10/1935; penned by the zany Bill Holman.

Smokey is rides to fires in a buggy car and, with his boss, Chief Cash U. Nutt, turns the firehouse into a madhouse.

One source of fun is the strip's innumerable puns Holman regularly inflicted on readersc: "carrying colds to Newcastle"; "the bottle of Bunker Hill"; "for whom the belles toil"; etc., etc., etc.

Also, Holman liberally scattered cryptic signs throughout the strip, such as: Notary Sojac; or Foo; or 1506 nix-nix.

Holman maintained a high level of spontaneity and hilarity--over 40 years. Occasional clinkers and duds in the strip were more than compensated by his consistent rapid-fire delivery and iconoclastic asides.

For a long time Holman wrote a companion strip, "Spooky," about a cat as nutty as his master. When Spooky was discontinued, the cat became a permanent character in Smokey.

The one strip Smithsonian chose to accompany their narrative isn't anything special; just a typical daily strip. "Foo" is indeed used in it once...as a noise from Smokey's car radiator. Also, the sample strip has an often-used last-panel feature, "Foo-mous People." On this day's strip it was:

Hey folks! Don't give the colt shoulder to Buckboard W. Whipsocket (small drawing of a pompous blow-hard), the barnstormer who raises all the gift horses that people never look in the mouth.

Hmmm...now I recall reading this strip in my youth. And now I appreciate it. I wish Holman (born 1903) was still with us, sharing his wit and humor--via Smokey.

Here is an interesting article from yesterday's NYT on the Web. The link may not work if you are not a subscriber - but subscription is free: Comic Books Not Quite Comic I haven't been following this discussion so please excuse if this has already been posted.

Charlie

Charlie, thank you for that fabulous article, I can't BELIEVE this, is this a whole new genre? I looked up

Ethel and Ernest: A True Story Raymond Briggs







I can't believe all this: LOOK at this:

Poignant, funny, and utterly original, Ethel & Ernest is Raymond Briggs's loving depiction of his parents' lives from their chance first encounter in the 1920s until their deaths in the 1970s.

Ethel and Ernest were solid members of the English working class, part of the generation that lived through the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. They met during the Depression--she working as a maid, he as a milkman--and we follow them as they court and marry, make a home, raise their son, and cope with the dark days of World War II. Briggs's portrayal of how his parents succeeded, or failed, in coming to terms with the events of their rapidly shifting world--the advent of radio, television, and telephones; the development of the atomic bomb; the moon landing; the social and political turmoil of the sixties--is irresistibly engaging, full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.

Briggs's illustrations are small masterpieces; coupled with the wonderfully candid dialogue, they evoke the exhilaration and sorrow, excitement and bewilderment, of experiencing such enormous changes. As much a social history as a personal account, Ethel & Ernest is a moving tribute to ordinary people living in an extraordinary time.

The cover illustration alone makes you long to hold it in your hand! A new world of books.

---

And look at THIS one, also mentioned: The Jew of New York by Ben Katchor, are they saying this is NON Fiction??

This is unreal, I feel as if I have discovered a new continent!!!!!!

A graphic novel about a group of newly arrived immigrants who attempt to establish a Jewish state on an island near Buffalo. From the creator of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer."...the fevered dream of an amateur historian in which the 'real' lives of New York Jews, circa 1830, are fleshed out and given the breath of poetic truth"--New Yorker

From the Publisher In 1825, Mordecai Noah, a New York politician and amateur playwright possessed of a utopian vision, summoned all the lost tribes of Israel to an island near Buffalo in the hope of establishing a Jewish state. His failed plan, a mere footnote in Jewish-American history, is the starting point for Ben Katchor's brilliantly imagined epic that unfolds on the streets of New York a few years later.

A disgraced kosher slaughterer, an importer of religious articles and women's hosiery, a pilgrim peddling soil from the Holy Land, a latter-day Kabbalist, a man with plans to carbonate Lake Erie--these are just some of the characters who move through Katchor's universe, their lives interwoven in a common struggle to settle into the New World even as it erupts into a financial frenzy that could as easily leave them bankrupt as carry them into the future.

Gotta see that one, too!

ginny

Do any of you remember Stan Kean? Have I spelled that correctly? He used to do comic books which had futuristic designs of cars in it? Do any of you remember those?

He'd have contests where people sent in drawings of the cars of tomorrow, what the cars would look like. I often think of those now, because as futuristic and fantastic as they look, some of what's on the road today looks suspiciously like what we saw in those drawings.

I wonder if those artists grew up and became designers.

Was also sort of surprised and disappointed yesterday to see not one comic on Sunday dealing with Thanksgiving, even tho it was only a couple of days later, for some reason that surprised me.

I wonder how far in advance a cartoonist works, it must be very difficult to always be thinking up new things.

I used to like Joe Palooka, and...what was the name of the guy who pedalled around with his little house or shack behind him? Was it Humphrey? Thought that was such a unique idea.

ginny

I do remember Joe Palooka but I don't remember Stan Keane. It seems as though I remember a comic strip called Jiggs and Maggie. I also rmember Billy the boy artist. It always fascinated me the way he used art to solve a problem.

Stan Kean? Just doesn't sound familiar but it would be fun to dig up some of his old strips and compare cars of today with some of what he came up with.

Oh yes, Maggie and Jiggs, Joe Palooka - haven't thought of them for years.

But tell me, is anyone else following Rex Morgan, M.D.? This is the one strip I've gone through life with. When I was young, real young, I'm sure I had a crush on Rex. Then as I grew older (but he didn't!), I saw that he was actually kind of a wimp. But, out of habit I've continued to follow his life - even through what was apparently a change of artists - neither Rex nor June (his now wife - thought they'd never marry) resemble the way they started out.

But, good ol' Rex has taken on the pharmaceutical industry and I could hardly believe it. What a kick and wouldn't it be something if this little strip were to actually be a motivation for some much-needed change. Oh my, life is funny.

I used to read Dr. Rex, but I liked Mary Worth more. Is she still on? Maybe it was Bill Keane, now you have me curious, let me go see what I can find.....I can't even remember what comic book it was in.

Is this a good place to admit I collected Donald Duck comics for years? I used to read them in Philadelphia as a child in the late 40's. They used to be a nickel then they cost a dime then they went up to the unheard price of 15 cents!!!

I wish I had them now, but I think some of the reprints are about as valuable. I got them for my children in the late 60's and put them in their Christmas stockings and kept them all, the digests, everything. And the children did, too. I bet you they are worth a fortune.

You could learn a lot from those old Disney comics, and enjoy yourself at the same time. And the VOCABULARY! Definitely on two levels, those were.

I think if you visit any of these...comic artists pages you find people who are dead serious about what they're saying, especially the ones in the Sunday papers.

Diane, we don't get Rex Morgan in our papers any more, nor the Phantom, let us know what he's up to and we can watch along and see if he makes any difference?

I know they moved Doonesbury off the comics page onto the Op Ed pages because he got too political.

ginny

Louise, wasn't Joe Palooka the strip with the guy with the house on his bike, that he would pedal with the house on the back or do I have that confused? What was his NAME?

Going crazy here trying to remember!

ginny

with the little house on the bike was named Humphrey, I think. I forget the rest of his name or how he and Joe became friends. Sue

LOUISE: That was very funny. Thanks.

I decided that I wanted to look at some more of the cartoons here. I found that there are 98 comic strips listed. Only two can be viewed.

They are as follows:

1. Dilbert
2. Peanuts

LOUISE: Thank you for pointing out the problem. I changed the link. I was able to get to a couple that I couldn't when I first tried it. See if you can get to the ones you want from the link in the heading now.

I was able to get "Born Loser" and "Fat Cats". These were the only two I tried at this time. Use the "DropDown" list.

First time here--Love it..Sure makes for a whole lot of memories..I first knew that I could really read, when I realized that my Dad had made a mistake while reading the comics to me!---And. MANY years later, I was on the living room floor, reading the comics, when the radio announcer said Pearl Harbor had been bombed---Talk about diverse connections!!

Welcome, Putney. So glad you found this site. Come back often and share your memorieswith us. My first memory was waking up Monday morning and my parents saying we are at war. I looked out of the window and didn't see anything different. But then I didn't know what war was and that was Pre TV days.

Welcome PUTNEY. I remember looking out of the window. I think it was afternoon. I remember the house we were in at the time of Pearl Harbor. I don't remember if the radio was on or how we heard the news.

This has nothing to do with cartoons although if I were an artist it would be fun to make one. In Coral Gables at 2 a.m. this morning their old air raid siren went off. No one could figure out how come and it took 45 minutes to turn it off. I had no idea we still had such things. I also had no idea what to do if it were real and not a false alarm. We don't have shelters or cellars.

Well I followed Tillie the Toiler and really liked that comic strip. It was the first I would read then I would read Orphan Annie and then all the rest in order they were printed. I went crazy every Sunday it seemed, waiting for big sis, then big brother to read them then I got them before the little kids. Mom would read to the littlest non readers after all the readers were done. When I was really little I always cried out I can too Read let me have a turn and at kindergarden age I got a turn though I learned to read that year. What memories. When we were all bigger and reading it got so we traded around all the paper. Mother often said she would be glad to have a nice neat paper to sit down and read someday. She told me once when about 80 that she remembered that as one of a mothers wishes when the kids are little and has no meaning when they are gone. Faith

Louise - I loved the story of the mysterious air raid siren (sounds more like one of the old radio thrillers!). Please keep us posted as things unravel (if they do).

Actually, this being the weekend nothing more about that siren has been said. You know what the big news is and that's not taking the weekend off. We've had hurricanes sneak up on us on weekends but not the currant potical news. The news photographer who got out of his bed to investigate ran into the city's vice mayor. I live in West Miami so I didn't hear it.

West Miami? Good Lord, I thought you lived in Coral Gables. Oh brother.

I recognize it, Louise. It's the yeller rose of Texas!!!

my favorite comic strips are Hagar the Horrible, and Crock which I have to read on the Internet. My local paper doesn't carry them any more. Curtis, and Mother Goose and Grimm are also favorites of mine. I sort of like Zits too.

The old ones I would like to see again are some of the old Mickey Mouse cartoons for kids, and Right Around Home where everything in the extended family was dated before or after the dog got his tail caught in the screen door. I'll have to admit I've gotten sort of tired of Cathy.

one cartoon that I saw about 30 years ago I would like to find again. Don't know the name of the cartoonist. The title was the ascent of man. It showed man as a sort of apelike creature on his hands and knees, then standing partly bent at the waist, then standing up as Neanderthal man, then as homo sapiens.Then it showed the ascent of woman:she is on her hands and knees with a scrub brush and a bucket of water in all four sections--so while man is standing erect woman is still on her knees with the bucket and brush.I saw it in the New York Times.

Two comics my Mother (1909-1970) loved. In WW II years this age 6-9 kid then growing up on her folks' mid-Missouri farm would diligently daily clip, save, and mail in a weekly letter to my Mother--who had opted to move to St Louis, live in a one-room 3rd-floor walk-up, and work as a "Rosie the Riveter." My 5'1" 95-lb Mom's nickname at her "Mines Equipment" plant wasn't Rosie tho--it was "Power House" (after the candy-bar).

Boots and Her Buddies. This Abe Martin strip began in 1924. In the 1920s flapper-era, Boots was a hep college chick who was atypical: stylish, respectable, cleancut. As the flapper era devolved into Depression times, Boots changed into a working girl. In 1945, Boots married (another major change). When Martin died in 1960, his 36-yr daily feature stopped. Sunday's Boots was continued by others until 1969.

"Brenda Starr." This 1940s strip by Dale Messick (real name Dalia, but in 1940 gender meant much) was about a glamourous "star-reporter" working girl. For awhile it was titled "Brenda Starr's Trash Alley." And in those STL WW-II years, my Mother identified with both 'working girl' and 'rotten living conditions.' Also, the ongoing romance/mystery between Brenda and Basil St John (her mystery suiter with an exotic illness only Black Orchids could stem) was...for her then, Romance escapism.

So I wish to nominate "Boots" and "Brenda" comics to our group discussions here.

I got both a wonderful coffee cup, and a night shirt, with Snoopy and woodstock on them..Love it !!!So glad I never grew up ...

Is there anyone besides me who likes the Piranha Club?

I do remember Brenda Starr, but I don't remember Pirana Club, can you refresh our memory a bit Scooterlady?

I love Peanuts, too.

Did you all notice the sweet New Year's Eve comics this time? I loved the one about the couple, he's a dentist? What IS the name of that thing, it's the one that created such a controversy when the dog died?

Anyway, there they were talking about New Year's Eves past and reflecting while lying in bed on all the big times they had had and how the latest New Year's Eves at home were best (because they couldn't stay awake past 10 pm), it was sweet and two strips used that theme, I guess great minds run together. One strip had the couple getting up....it was Dagwood, and falling asleep on the stroke of Midnight and the other had the couple falling asleep at 10 pm.

Funny and so true!

ginny

I remember Brenda Starr. I used to like that comic strip.

SCOOTERGIRL...No fair! "Piranha Club" most likely appears in the Ann Arbor paper, which has the world's worst comic page! I never saw one there that I had ever seen anywhere else. I do hope "Paranha Club" is the exception to the rule and that it has started running in the paper since I last read it. Can you tell us about it?

Ginny...That strip is For Better or For Worse..I really love that too..The have touched on many many "delicate" subjects, with, I think, very good taste and humor..

The Piranha Club is currently available on King Features Comics on the Web and also in some newspapers. It's hilarious but it's also about a bunch of mostly middle-aged, mostly male people who are liars, crooks, schemers, slimeballs, slanderers,and just plain rotten people who usually get theirs in the end. Recently the chief character wanted a doctor to do CPR on a dead frog--the doctor said but that's a dead frog--i'm not gonna bother--very few frogs have health insurance. The doc is smoking like crazy with a belly as big as Lou Costello's. You have to see it to laugh over it. The main character is always wanting to con his mother, and she usually cons hims instead because she's smarter than her son.

Katie, I hate to tell you this, but almost all the comics in the Ann Arbor News are also in the Detroit Free Press--both owned by the same company. Almost all the rest are in the Detroit News. Of coure, the Free Press rarely makes the kind of typos that are found in the AA News. One of the funniest in the AA News was about an auction to be held in Monroe. The notice gave directions--on the corner of Elm and Monroe streets across from the custard statue. Is there a frozen custaard stand with a statue of a frozen custard, I wondered, or as I suspected a statue of General George Armstong Custer? The guy who got offed by the indians at the battle of the Little Big Horn? A friend who lives in that area say many people in Monroe call the gen'l: Custard--they haven't the slightest idea his name was Custer. So I don't know if that was a gaffe made by the person who sent in the notice or the Ann Arbor News. ButI still laugh about it.

Brenda Star is in the Kansas City Star...

SCOOTERGIRL...I used to read the Free Press a lot when I first moved up here, but the restaurants I frequent now don't have the paper lying around from the breakfast customers. And it's been 5 or 6 years since I've seen the A² paper, so "Piranha" is not one I'm familiar with. Sounds like one I'd like, tho. I sure am sick of "Beetle Bailey" and "Dagwood" and "Garfield".

Katie Sturtz: if you want to read the Piranha Club just log onto King Features Comics and then click onto Piranha Club--you'll love it. What did you think about the custard statue? I think that's hilarious.

SCOOTERGIRL...that was hilarious! Toledo is so close to Monroe that we know all about George's hometown, but I haven't been there often enough to know where the statue is. I can tell you where the Frozen Custard statue used to be in Toledo! It was a Polar bear on his hind legs! It was THE place to go before, after, and during dates. We had two hot dogs, two cokes, and two frozen custards for $2.00!

The Washington Post newspaper has carried The Piranha Club for, maybe 5 years now. However, the title of the strip began as "Ernie" (one of the characters). Here, it only changed to Piranha Club last year, to reflect the fact that Ernie had become only one of several hilarious characters in the daily strip. But all the men in the strip belong to The Piranha Club...so the title served to reflect its broader contents.

And by-the-way, one of the characters does have a pet Piranha fish, name of Earl. Sometimes Earl is even the featured subject for a few days. I'll agree that it's a favorite strip of mine. The cartoonist's sense of humor is...weirdly hilarious. I believe his name is Bud Grace.

JimVA--glad to hear about the Piranha Club--Neither the Detroit Free Press nor the Detroit News carries it, so I have to log onto King Features Comics on the Internet to read it. Of course,Dilbert is another favorite of mine. Dilbert's boss reminds me of a former boss of mine--talk about incompetent--I was a librarian in a big public library--and my boss used to have the clerks type up enough book orders to take the dept's whole budget for the next 5 years--then he would sit at his desk and put them first in alphabtical order by author, then by title, then by price--then it was lunch time, so he would open a desk drawer and sweep them all into the drawer and start all over again after lunch. He was a perfect example of the Peter Principle: every man rises to his own level of incompetence.

Hello:

I haven't read any mention of The Plugger. It's a favorite of my husband and mine. Maybe we often recognize ourselves at times.

What is interesting is that readers can submit ideas for cartoons, and they are then credited when published.

We also like For Better or Worse, Fred, B.C. and Ziggy.

Marilyn

mjbaker--Can you perchance give us here further info on a cartoon strip called "The Plugger"? So far, I've come up empty on any such strip. And I've tried...pretty hard.

If you could tell more about it...its general character, and maybe its appearance in which newspapers...?

Jim....Here's the website:

http://www.pluggers.com/



http://www.pluggers.com/daily/index.html

š ...jane›

Well, thanks Jane. I saw those websites early-on during my searches, of course. But I didn't think they were what poster meant. I'll check them out again, more carefully.

Does anyone remember "Butch" the burglar. In our paper it was a one picture item. Haven't seen it lately, but I'm not much of a newspaper reader either.

Rammel: just looked on the Internet and didn't find Butch --just the usual: Butch Cassidy and lesbian stuff. There is a web site called the big cartoon data base and it doesn't show Butch either. There must have been more to the title than just Butch.

It's been quite a while since I even thought about it, but all I can remember was "Butch" at the top of the cartoon pic.. We were talking here about what the kids today are missing in the line of good humor and that's when Butch came up, along with many of the others that have been mentioned here.

Butch the burglar used to do things like put a blanket over the home owner he was pilfering from because he thought they looked cold while sleeping. Or he would stop for a large snack in the kitchen while doing his thing.

My most-admired comic strip--bar none! This 1922-1957 James Robert Williams daily took a (then) nostalgic look back at how a variety of Americans lived, looked, felt, and thought--ca 1900-1950s. To me his daily comics panel is about equal to Norman Rockwell's great Americana genre paintings depicting that same era.

Williams (1888-1957) drew on his earlier years as a cowboy, machine shop laborer, depression era survivor, etc. He used irregularly recurring themes. Sometimes, just the theme-title was enough; other times, he'd add a sub-comment. Some of his recurring theme-titles:

• "Why Mothers Get Gray" (kids mis-behaving)
• "Born 30 Years Too Soon"
• "Heroes Are Made - Not Born"
• "Moments We'd Like To Live Forever" (i.e., a 5th-grade group photo)
• "Vanishing Americans" (often, a cowboy scene)
• "The Worry Wart" (misadventures of an ill-fated, unkempt younger-brother)
• Machine Shop set...often titled "Bull of the Woods" (the shop foreman)

Not all his panels used recurring themes...but many did. His strip was homely realism in style and content, and ALWAYS original and witty in its execution by Williams.

In mid-1920s "Why Mothers Get Gray" theme went Sunday too, its characters identified as the Willets, a large family (typical in early 1900s). But Williams didn't do that Sunday strip. He did monitor its storyline, making his daily's about them coincide. And of course, all "Out Our Way" daily's 1957-1977 after Williams' death were others' creations.

There's as yet no book of collected "OUT OUR WAY" Williams' Americana panels 1922-57. A shame! He and Rockwell are greatest early 20th-century Americana depicters I know of.

If others recall Williams' strip, I'd love to hear your recollections of it here (pro or con).

Just found my way to this discussion and am enjoying it no end! One thing puzzles me, though. I went back to the beginning and could not locate a posting on Calvin & Hobbes! One of the saddest moments in comic history was when Bill Watterson quit doing the strip. For those who might not have found it yet, here's a site that will let you click to all the Calvin & Hobbes strips as well as a few others. (Hope I'm not giving you something you already knew or had posted.)
http://www.ucomics.com/index.htm
bookie

Lloyd: I'm sure Calvin and the First Tiger have been mentioned here; I sure agree with you. I dearly miss that little guy and Hobbes. I occasionally sit down and go through my Calvin & Hobbes books...and enjoy them all over again.

šjane›

I wonder how many of us raised a "Calvin". I think this is why he was so popular.

I don't think Calvin was raised--I think he just "growed" like Topsy.I never was very fond of Calvin, I'll have to admit.My all time favorites still are Gary Larson's "Farside" cartoons.

Calvin and Hobbes were the greatest! Like JANE, I have the books, and look at them every once in awhile with much pleasure. Gary Larson had his moments, but I never thought he was as consistently funny as some of the other cartoonists. My DIL, on the other hand, would most definitely agree with SCOTTERGIRL! Probably 'cause she grew up in A²!

Al Capp added much to our Culture and Language. Some of his Characters were Moonbeam Mcswine, Hairless Joe, Lonesome Polecat, General Bullmoose, Softhearted (someone) Salome the Pig (Hamus Alabamus) Marrying Sam, and many others that I cannot recall right now. He also added words and terms to our language. Lena the Hyena Ready for Freddy, Dogpatch, Kikapoo Joy Juice, Sadie Hawkins Day, and many others. I grew up with the strip and loved it dearly.

Some other old comic strips were: Captain Easy Alley OOP Red Ryder Smiling Jack Popeye Henry (Sunday) Denny Dimwit (Sunday) Toonerville Trolley Dixie Dugan (Later Nancy) Harold Teen Little Annie Rooney Moon Mullins Mandrake the Magician Buzz Sawyer Just a few that came to mind last night.

Hi, T Tom...what an interesting listing of the old comics. I don't remember those...except for Nancy. I think the earliest one I can remember is my Dad reading the Sunday "Maggie and Jiggs," I think it was called, and "Little Orphan Annie"to my sister and me.

š ...jane›

Scuze lack of commas. I had stacked the list but when I posted the thing it was no longer stacked. The name of the strip which featured Maggie and Jiggs was "Bringing up Father." Although that name may have been dropped in later years. You know, many of those past strips could not exist in this "Politically Correct" age. Denny Dimwit comes to mind. The title of the strip says it all. The character, Denny, was drawn to look like an idealized idiot. He was pin-headed, slow of mind, etc. His only saving grace was his kindness and innocence. "Henry" never spoke, fact he was drawn without a mouth. In Lil Abner, "Lena the Hyena" was the ugliest girl in the world. Shows how much times have changed.

Yep...it was "Bringing Up Father" now that you remind me!

If you want things to be in a list here, you have to put this code after each one..and then they'll be on separate lines. <BR> is the code for a line break.

š ...jane›

I still like Right Around Home--but no one else seems to remember it. There was a dog named Bingo who got his tail caught in the screen door. Of course, I miss Crock terribly but I can read that on the Internet.

Charles M. Schulz Museum - building a true memorial to Snoopy and the gang.

http://www.charlesmschulzmuseum.org/

Thanks for the link FrancyLou!

I have had a long time liking for the Archie comics. Now I read the one in the Sunday paper comics and I confess to often being tempted by the Archie comics digests like Betty and Veronica, Jughead, and Archie.

Anyone like the Herman cartoons and comics by Jim Unger?

Nellie - the Herman cartoon is the first one I look at. It makes me chuckle out loud more than any of the others. He really just tickles my funnybone. Nice to know of another fan!

the first one I look at in the daily paper is "Get fuzzy," my second is "Curtis."

Haven't read Archie in a number of years. Cannot say that I much cared for the thing. Too many stereotyped characters. Jughead, Moose, The kid with the glasses who was a "Brain" whose name I could never remember, Reggie. I liked Betty but she was wasting her time chasing after Archie because all he seemed to see was Veronica. Between the two, Betty was a far more appealing girl than was Veronica. Of course, that is just my opinion. I cannot say, in my experience, that Archie was a "Typical Teenager." As I say, just my opinion.

A discussion devoted to comics? This is great- I've found some kindred spirits! I'm a dedicated comics reader & am now old enough not to feel weird about it. The following is lifted from my web page "Random Thoughts":

***************************************************************

"Does anyone else read the comic strips faithfully - c'mon now - 'fess up! And if you do, have you noticed that Brenda Starr is reprising Jane Eyre. Remember the moody Mr. Rochester? Well in this case, the moody 'leading man' is named.... Mr. Moody. Great gothics!

This comics aficionado* also wonders if the lad, Alfred, in Prince Valiant is actually meant to be the future King Alfred, the first great king in recorded English history. And is this the end of Camelot?

And in the name of heaven - if Skeezix is 80 - his parents have to be past 100. Once upon a time - this comic strip was touching. Now it's just 'touched' ... or 'tetched'.

And just in case you think I'm actually intelligent enough to know the spelling of this word, I'd like to mention Wordsmyth, a gem that I downloaded (free) from the web & placed on my toolbar - the 4th gizmo from the top that says 'Links'. You don't have to turn cartwheels to access it either. If you want the spelling or pronunciation of a word, just type in a reasonable facsimile and it's instant satisfaction. Check it out at: http://www.wordsmyth.net/"

Hi, printmaker...

Yes, there are a few of us who are still reading some comics, though more than I are unhappy about some of our favorites no longer being around...ie, FarSide; Calvin and Hobbes.

Thanks for sharing that website.

š...jane›

Hey Buzzbye

I forgot about little Iodine, she was great. Believe that the Katzenjammer Kids were also known as "The Captain and the Kids." same characters but different name of the strip. I frankly don't know why it came about, always wondered why there were two names for the same strip.

Today I was standing in line at the grocery store when I noticed a comic book called "Archie's Comics." I didn't notice its price but the booklet is so reciculously small. I couldn't help remembering those comic books that once cost only ten cents. (I wasn't supposed to read them so I had to sneak over to friends' homes to do so.)

Some of the comic books I read were the Superman ones, of which my favourite was the Lois Lane one. I also enjoyed reading the Fantastic Four.

Did anyone else like reading that type of comic book?

When we were little girls, my sisters and I were treated to one comic book each every week at the local news stand. We were limited to Little Lulu, Donald Duck and other Disney comic books, and Richie Rich. There were probably others, but those are the ones that stick with me. I know we had to read the Super Hero comics on the sly at our friends' homes. When we were older we were permitted to buy Wonder Woman and SuperMan. BTW, the comic books then cost 10 cents each. Sue

Tiger Tom..DuringWW2 it was very anti Germanic..Period..So the publishers of news papers were to cancel Katzenjammers..and you were correct in the new name that was given ..Thank You..Our town children in Elementrey Schools wrote pleading letters to keep our beloved little "rascals" so the name was changed..

I remember when Sam Catchum & Dick Tracy..Found Ole BO Plenty a girl friend..Oh boy !!that was good for months..They not only married.. First real idea of (SEX!!scusse me!) Gravel Gerrity, gave BIRTH to Sparkel Plenty!!! We had Sparkle Plenty dolls in the late 40s..Can you imaigne!! I belive G.G. had what we insensitvly referred to as Albinoism! I do not honestly know how to spell the medical term for that disorder..But Darn If Sparkle dident have the same White Flowing hair and protruding eyes..One Ugly Doll!!..No telling what one would be worth on the current market..Haha..

We were urged to read the classics but preffered the Funnies & Comic Books a nickle each..We swapped We traded ..My patents groaned at the stacks of them..Along with Paper Dolls and a sack of jacks and Yo yos..I sent for the "premiums" to show in class..We sang silly ditties such as "Little LuLU I Love Youluou just the same" Oh well that is a long time gone..

Who beside me cut out yesterday 4-15-2001 B.C. strip??A classic..

I didn't cut it out, BzzzBye, but I enjoyed reading it and was glad it was printed in the Montgomery Advertiser. I had seen an article saying that the Jewish Anti-defamation League was trying to get it stopped because of the way the Menorah turned into a Cross.

If I could return once again .. Back to where it all began....

Those printers Press in day's of old.

Cranked out Treasures I stll Behold..

For one small nickel I could escape..





And recharge my brain for lifes rat race!! Ha Ha.... LADYBIRD(BUZZYBYE)

I found an interesting link that has a lot of comics. Click here

Anyone remember ads in the Old Comic Books: Some for Daisey's "Red Ryder" BB gun. Or the ever popular Cloverine Brand White Salve, which promised big prizes for people who sold a certain amount of the salve. I remember my dad telling me of someone in his neighborhood bitin on that ad. He received a large case of the salve and a bill (for the depression era a lARGE bill.) In order to win one of the better prizes, for instance a bike, one would have to sell a numbrer of cases of salve. Funny thing, my dad said the salve was better than Vaseline, but wasn't well known enough to compete with it. Of course the company made its money selling to kids who answered the ads on the back of comic books. Lastly, Charles Atlas and the promise of almost instant strength so one could bulk up and beat the bully who had been making life miserable. I wonder how many 97 pound weaklings answered that ad with dreams of glory. Anyone remember any others>

The old thing I remember is these puzzles. One filled them in and sent them off with some money. You were supposed to win something but I don't think anyone ever did,

The other things I remember are Airplane stamps - Oh these came out of a cereal box - I used to dump the cereal out so I could get to the stamps.

And another thing I got in trouble was this - there were ads that said "stamps on approval." I thought it meant if you approved of them you could keep them - I didn't know you had to pay for them. (this was after my first step mother died and me and my sister were home alone alot of the time and had a lot of creative ideas.)

Yesterday I had really good time. I went to see a play called "Your a Good Man, Charlie Brown." The Peanuts Gang alive in a play. You can be sure the theatre was sold out and this was the third week of its run.

I found this site posted in another discussion http://www.non-sequitur.com/ . I don't know a lot about the site. The comic featured would certainly be classified as a political cartoon.

Yes, Marjorie, he's in our papers...and I think Wiley is (or was, at least) an Iowa City, Iowa, cartoonist.

Louise, over 30 years ago we saw the Charlie Brown play in Los Angeles. We loved it and I still remember the nifty music with great fondness. Kinda nice to know it's still making the rounds.