BLONDIE SHRINKS

From Matt Tauber

[click the duplicate pic at the very bottom to get the best enlarged view]

Last month we saw the debut of the Batman and Robin comic strip on May 29, 1966. Here is the 'Blondie' strip that ran below it. 'Blondie' was started in 1930 by cartoonist Chic Young, who built it into one of the most popular strips of all time. Even at the peak of our beloved Milton Caniff, 'Terry & the Pirates' always trailed behind 'Blondie' in popularity polls.

Chic Young is the sole credit and signer of the strip, going uncredited are his son, Dean, as co-writer, and Jim Raymond, the artist. Raymond, brother of Alex, started out as Young's assistant and would not be credited until Dean Young took over after his father's death in 1973. The strip below is from last Sunday, June 7, 2009. Dean Young, at 71, is still writing the feature, with John Marshall as head artist.

The contrast between the two strips is a startling reminder of the shrinking of the Sunday funnies. The comics page used to be an integral part of a newspaper's sales, a drawing card that built paper loyalty. With dwindling newspaper revenue and almost a total absence of competition, they now seem to be an afterthought, kept only because their absence or elimination would raise the ire of longtime subscribers.

The older strip is 12 panels. The strip takes up almost a half page - 6 1/2" high x 13" wide on 14" wide paper. The recent strip is 6 panels. A neat little 5" square on 11" wide paper. After raising the cost of the Sunday paper last year from $1.50 to $1.75, they drastically cut content about a month later. They managed to keep the same number of comics, but in a smaller space.

A look at the online strip below (from Blondie.com) reveals that there are three panels missing. The first is the logo panel. Then there are two "throwaway" panels, which can be discarded by newspapers because they don't effect the story. Note how in the '66 strip the logo panel was also used to begin the story, and if the first three panels were discarded, the entire strip would make no sense. Perhaps I'm living in the past, but the shrinking of the comic strip (a problem comic artists and fans alike have been complaining about for decades) is depressing. But I guess it's better than no comics at all.

A recent B.C. gets the last word on this topic:

CAPPY DICK

May 29, 1966

I was sad when 'Cappy Dick's Young Hobby Club' disappeared from the Sunday funnies, sometime in the late '80s, and I'm not sure why. 'Cappy' gave a weekly dose of tips for making your own fun. Take peanuts and twigs and make your own mini-tomahawks, for example. Paint pasta and make a necklace. Take an egg carton and buttons and make your own tiddly-wink-style game. I have no childhood memory of ever trying anything I read in 'Cappy Dick', but I remember when it was suddenly gone one Sunday, feeling the disappointment you feel when a piece of your childhood fades out.

Unlike some strips, the web is no fount of information when it comes to 'Cappy Dick'. This page has a great overview, as well as a nostalgic dream of a kid wiling away his Sunday with the craft ideas learned from the strip. I did find an obituary for the Cappy's creator, Robert Cleveland. He died in 1985, at which time the strip was being carried in 64 newspapers. Cleveland was no longer drawing the strip at his death, as it had been taken over in the '60s by 'Buck Rogers' artist Rick Yager. The strip ended in 1987, with cartoonist Bob Weber, Jr. transitioning from 'Cappy Dick' to his own Slylock Fox, which focuses on rudimentary drawing tips and "spot the difference" exercises. I think the only way a hobby strip like 'Cappy Dick' would make it today is if it was renamed 'Cappy Dick's Cheats for Nintendo DS'.

SUNDAY FUNNIES 1966 - BATMAN AND ROBIN

I recently obtained a complete color Sunday comics section from the Cincinnati Enquirer, dated May 29, 1966. I’ll try to post all of the strips here eventually. First up is a Batman strip meant to cross-promote the live-action TV series starring Adam West. They seem to really be pushing the strip, with the bat-logo in the banner headline of the comics section and the prime real estate of being the first strip on page one. The strip’s content is introductory, but I’m not certain if it’s the first strip or not.

The strip is signed “by Bob Kane”, but Kane didn’t draw it and likely had nothing to do with the strip. The resources I found give the strip writer as Whitney Ellsworth and the artist as Shelly Moldoff. Kane co-created Batman with writer Bill Finger in 1939. Kane, something of a hack swipe artist didn’t do much comic book drawing after 1943, leaving it all to “ghost” artists, that is, uncredited artists like Moldoff whose work appeared under Kane’s name. Kane’s ghost setup, and Batman’s origin, is thoroughly fleshed out on the excellent Dial B for Blog.

The ‘Batman and Robin’ comic strip exceeded the life of the TV series, running until 1974. There was an earlier strip in the 1940s, which has been collected in these reprint volumes. Another ‘Batman’ strip ran from 1989-91, this time cross-promoting the Batman movies starring Michael Keaton.

DONALD DUCK

Continuing with my plan to post a complete Sunday comics section from May 29, 1966, here is a 'Donald Duck' strip. [earlier strip posts can be found here]

Like most Disney work, even though it is signed 'Walt Disney' it's really the work of other artists - in this case artist Al Taliaferro and writer Bob Karp. Taliaferro had been drawing Donald since the temper-prone duck's comics debut in Disney's 'Silly Symphonies' strip in 1934. It was this earlier strip where we first saw Donald's nephews - Huey, Dewey and Louie - who were the co-creation of Taliaferro and writer Ted Osborne. Donald took the nephews along when he got his own strip in 1938. It was drawn by Taliaferro from then until 1969, so this '66 strip is at the tail end of that historic run. The strip lasted into the late 1990s ('98, maybe? That's the last date I got from the worldwide Disney comics database).

Many of these strips were reprinted in comic book form, though I don't have a good reference for that. Disney currently posts old daily comic strips on their website for fans - D23. Early last year, this Sunday strip made the comics blog rounds, as it shows Donald apparently murdering Goofy!

NOW IN OUR 3RD YEAR!

The second anniversary of this blog on November 9th almost passed unnoticed. Strange that I would pass up an opportunity to pat myself on the back. I've really enjoyed blogging this past year and even though I don't have many readers, I enjoy the creative outlet and I'm proud of the work that goes into these posts (i.e., I try not to half-ass it). Here are some personal highlights -

The posts I'm happiest about are the ones dealing with Milton Caniff. He's the reason I started the blog in the first place. There's not enough Caniff to blog about every week, but I've managed to do about a fourth of my posts about his work. Two of my coups last year were interviews. Dean Mullaney was the editor of The Complete Terry & the Pirates series which ended this year. In addition to Dick Tracy, he's taken on Rip Kirby by Caniff pal Alex Raymond. Lucy Shelton Caswell is the curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Research Library and Museum. Since our interview, the library has gone through many changes, the most recent of which is the addition of Ireland's name. The estate for Ireland, who was Caniff's mentor, has made a generous donation of $7 million, and plans are apace to expand the library on campus.

My favorite post of the year was detailing my adventures in Chillicothe tracking down Noel Sickles' sites with my son Noah in tow. It's the most satisfying, personally, and the one I've had the most compliments on. Even folks who normally have no idea what I'm talking about liked it. I hope to get back there sometime. Here are part one and part two.

I don't like to get political on the blog as there are plenty of other forums for that. Using historical inaccuracy to advance an agenda does draw my ire. I think I'm the only one to expose the Obama inaugural train hoax in which the press went overboard trying to compare the new president to Abraham Lincoln.

Another project I've really enjoyed is presenting, strip by strip, a complete Sunday comics section from May 29, 1966. The 1/3 and 1/2 page sizes of the strips make the Sunday funnies of today dinky and miserable. I'd like to think, even in their reduced state, that the comics are still a big selling point for newspapers. I'm only about a third of the way through as they used to print 8 pages of funnies!


My most-read post this year was my overview of George Harrison compilation albums. Thanks to a link from a Dylan fan site (which I've forgotten), I received hundreds of hits. Sadly, a big chunk of my traffic is courtesy of Google Images and not the actual content of the blog (people love Julie Bowen!). Thanks to everyone who subscribes, follows and checks in on a regular basis. I'm gratified by those of you who found it and stuck with me. My only wish is that more of you leave comments so I know that you're out there!

MORE 'BATMAN AND ROBIN'

Recently we looked at the debut Sunday of the Batman and Robin comic strip. I came across some of my other research on the strip. As I said in the earlier post, it looked like the Cincinnati Enquirer really wanted to promote this new strip, making it the flagship of the Sunday comics section. But what about the daily strip? Well, among the two dozen strips that they had back then, one strip was printed larger than the other. The Enquirer's format was 8 columns wide. The majority of strips were printed 4 columns wide so that you could fit strips side by side on the page. Only one strip was printed 5 columns wide, and 'Batman and Robin' got that special berth on May 30, 1966 -


The 'Archie' strip was taken out to make room for 'Batman', but it wasn't 'Archie' that was in the top spot. It is with chagrin and disappointment that I report to you the strip that was displaced...none other than our venerated 'Steve Canyon'! In 1946, there were two 5-column strips - 'Terry and the Pirates' and 'Blondie'. When 'Canyon' debuted in 1947, it displaced 'Terry'. Now, I don't know this for a fact, but could it be that 'Canyon' retained it's prominent spot for the next 20 years?!?

The buzz and bluster for 'Batman' did not last long at the Cincinnati Enquirer. In a few months they revamped the daily comics section so that no strip was 5-columns wide. 'Batman' was shuffled from top of the page. Maybe it was because of goofy storylines like this one, guest-starring real life hotel magnate Conrad Hilton -

I'm not sure who drew this January 7, 1967 strip. I hope some sharp-eyed reader will comment. In February, 'Archie' returned and 'Batman' was shoved off the daily comics section and shoehorned into another page, where it was the only comic. By March 1967, the Enquirer dropped it all together.

BEETLE BAILEY

Is there much more reliable in our lives than Beetle Bailey? The venerable comic strip is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, a fixture of the funny pages for most of our lives. What's comforting about Beetle Bailey is the endless repetition of running gags performed by the wacky cast of characters based in the Army's mythical Camp Swampy. Some may try to ascribe higher meaning to this...a metaphor perhaps for the dullness of military life or even the sameness of life in general. I think it's more that these are jokes that have always elicited a chuckle, and it ain't broke, keep drawing. Even after 60 years, there's still comedy to mined in new twists or nuances on old gags -

The guiding hand of strip creator Mort Walker is also what makes 'Bailey' special. Though he now relies on a team of five to create Bailey gags and art, Walker is right in there at 87 with writing and drawing and having final say on whatever his collaborators, which include his sons Greg, Neal and Brian, produce. There's a great sampling of strips on BeetleBailey.com. Readers can vote for their favorite to be reprinted in the two weeks surrounding Beetle's anniversary. The strip will also be honored next month with its own postage stamp. The 'Sunday Funnies' stamps will honor five comic strips. The dedication ceremony will take place on July 16 at Ohio State, and guests include Walker, Garfield's Jim Davis and museum curator Lucy Shelton Caswell. More details on the dedication can be found here. While at Ohio State, Walker will no doubt visit the Billy Ireland Cartoon Research Library and Museum, and with good reason.

Few have done more for the preservation of comic strips than Mort Walker. Believing in the medium as an art form equal to others, he founded the Museum of Cartoon Art in 1974, later adding "International" to the front of the name. The museum had several lives, starting in Connecticut and ultimately locating in Florida, where lack of funds forced closure in 2002. The collection has since merged with the Cartoon Research Library's collection, prompting them to add "and Museum" to the title. The recognition and preservation of Walker's own work is currently on display at a different museum, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
There are several 'Beetle Bailey' books out there. The strip was well-represented in the comic strip reprint paperback heyday of the '60s and '70s, with over 100 titles to its credit. Currently, there is a book reprinting the earliest years of the strip, 1950-52. This is from Checker Book Publishing, the same folks who bring us the 'Steve Canyon' reprints, albeit infrequently. I'm not sure if they were planning further volumes, but Titan Books is skipping ahead and reprinting all of the 1965 strips in a book due in October. There's no special 60th anniversary book, but the 50th anniversary book can still be found around, though avoid this guy who wants $185! What you shouldn't avoid, but rather seek out, is the Mort Walker interview in the Comics Journal from last year. Interesting stuff for Bailey fans and fans of comics history in general, conducted by Caniff biographer R.C. Harvey.

At the top is the Sunday strip from May 29, 1966. The Cincinnati Enquirer gave 'Beetle Bailey' a full half page, a testament to its popularity. It's ironic that a strip ideal for the way comics would shrink in the '60s and '70s, with its simple figures and backgrounds, was given so much space. How much space? 13" x 9.5"...almost a full square foot! Contrast that with today's 10 1/8" x 3 3/8", less than a quarter of a square foot. It's the same issue I talked about last year with Blondie. I'm just glad it hasn't gotten any worse.

HI & LOIS

I almost didn't post this, but I'd like to eventually present the complete May 29, 1966 Sunday comics section we began here. 'Hi & Lois' has never been a favorite of mine, but it's usually good for a chuckle and has long been a comforting staple of the funny pages. The payoff in the strip above, however, only tepidly justifies the long build-up.

The strip is relatively young at this point, coming only twelve years after it's 1954 debut. The strip was created by Mort Walker, as writer, and Dik Browne, as artist. It was a spin-off of Walker's 'Beetle Bailey' strip, and if anyone can think of another comic strip spinoff, please let me know. The titular Lois is Beetle's sister. 'Hi & Lois' was more popular in it's early years, earning several peer awards from the National Cartoonist Society, including a Reuben for Browne. Despite it's popularity (it's syndicate website boats 1100 newspapers) it has never migrated much further from it's source, though it did have a short-lived comic series in 1970-71 and was part of the strip reprint paperback boom in the 1970s and early '80s.

The current strip is a true family legacy, as sons Greg and Brian Walker have stepped in for Mort and Chance Browne replaced his late father. I was tickled by this recent daily -

ARCHIE

Continuing our reproduction of a May 29, 1966 Sunday comics section (other examples found here.

I didn't grow up with the 'Archie' strip, so it's one that's always a pleasant surprise. I'm more familiar with the Archie comic books and the Archies cartoon show. The strip finds the familiar 'Archie' gang in a gag-a-day format that's had a phenomenal run from 1942 that continues today. The strip has usually been produced by writers and artists who've also worked on the Archie comic book line. The original, and longest-running, artist was Bob Montana, who set the gold standard for the look of the Archie characters. IDW, which produced the 'Terry & the Pirates' collections, has recently announced a plan to reprint these early strips, edited by our pal, Dean Mullaney.

The strip's remaining roster reads like a who's who of Archie legends - John Goldwater, Dan DeCarlo and Stan Goldberg. The strip has been written by Hamilton, Ohio resident Craig Boldman since 1992. It is currently drawn by Fernando Ruiz, although the Creators Syndicate website still has the bio for the recently retired Henry Scarpelli.

Archie has been in the news recently. Last year it was due to a controversial move by Archie Comics to create a line of new look comics, with more updated, realistic versions of their characters aimed at the tween audience. This past month it was due to the announcement that Archie is marrying Veronica. The story takes place in the future, however, and may or may not happen (also known as an "imaginary story", popularized by the Superman titles of the 1950s/60s). If your looking for a copy of Archie #600, in which Archie pops the question, go see my friend Kendall at Up Up and Away (he ordered too many).

I'm continually amazed by the longevity and success of Archie Comics. There's not much interest in Archie in the insular comics world, so his popularity and success comes from regular, everyday folks. His digest-sized exploits can still be found in grocery store checkout lanes across the country. What is the appeal? Is it Archie as everyman? Is it the eternal love triangle of Archie/Betty/Veronica? Or do people just find the name Jughead funny? Whatever it is, we're about 65 years in, and Archie's not even close to retirement.

The strip presented above is by Bob Montana, who at this point had been on the job for 24 years! Instead of Archie and his pals, this strip features Riverdale High's beleaguered principal, Mr. Weatherbee. I love that first panel. Oh, for the days when secretaries sat on the corners of desks!

DICK TRACY

I haven't read much 'Dick Tracy', which is the only reason I can give for not being a fan. I've heard many raves about it, particularly for the early stuff being reprinted by IDW under their Library of American Comics imprint. Those volumes are being compiled by our pal Dean Mullaney, the man behind 'The Complete Terry & the Pirates' series.

'Dick Tracy' was created by Chester Gould and debuted in 1931. Gould pitted his straight-shooting, square-jawed detective against an array of bizarre gangster villains, including Pruneface, Measles and B-B Eyes (some of whom showed up in the star-studded 1990 movie version).

By this May 29, 1966 strip, Gould was in his late '60s and the strip was 35 years old, it's heyday long behind it. Rick Fletcher, his assistant since 1963, would take over the art when Gould retired in 1977. This decade of strips is most notable for Gould's odd choice of having Tracy in adventures on the moon with the moon people that lived there. This Sunday seems earthbound, however, with Gould poking fun at the staid nature of his character. Tracy is showing off his collection of bullet-ridden fedoras. Note that one of his trademark hats dates back to 1931, the same year the strip debuted.

The strip is currently written by Dick Locher and drawn by Jim Brozman (example below). Locher has a long history with the strip. He was Gould's assitant the four years before Fletcher, then took over from Fletcher in '83 and was also drawing the strip until this year. Here's the link to the current strip. Sadly, it doesn't live up to Gould's quality and the most interesting aspect are the negative comments posted below the strips.