Greetings DailyINK Comics Fans! The world’s longest running strip almost ended a century ago. In fact, it did for a little while. The final Rudolph Dirks’ KATZENJAMMER KIDS page for Hearst. In the spring of 1913, the KATZENJAMMER KIDS was the pride of Hearst newspapers and the top comic strip in the land. But all was not well concerning the... Read More »
Hello DailyINK Comics Fans! For all you avid BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH fans, you already have seen that this is an unusual week in the strip, where Barney pays a visit. If you aren’t a fan, you may think the appearance by a strip’s lead should hardly be special, but in this case it has been like this for many years. And by “lead,” I am... Read More »
Greetings DailyINK Comics Fans! In keeping with our centennial observation of the milestone strip, BRINGING UP FATHER, today’s post is an anniversary within an anniversary. The first day of BRINGING UP FATHER was covered back in January here. This is the anniversary of the first Sunday page which was 95 years ago. Jiggs and Maggie had become an... Read More »
Greetings DailyINK Comics Fans, The strip, JUST KIDS, joined the Hearst line up 90 years ago this July, and I covered some of its history last week. There is a very memorable part of the story that we will look at today: the Just Kids Safety Club. This was a great early newspaper promotional tie-in with a strip and garnered much goodwill for newspapers... Read More »
TAKE IT FROM THE TINKERSONS is a new comic strip by Bill Bettwy. The strip launched on DailyINK last week, and the first Sunday strip was published yesterday. TAKE IT FROM THE TINKERSONS is a timely comic strip about the hopes and dreams of a modern family, who tend to learn life’s lessons the hard way—usually at their own costly expense or with... Read More »
Hello DailyINK Comics Fans! “Who and what?!?,” you may be asking. These are real obscurities in the Hearst cartoon pantheon, and nobody recalls them firsthand because they are 110 years old. TOODLES of 22 March and 3 May 1903. TOODLES (or “NAUGHTY TOODLES”) first appeared in Hearst comics on March 22, 1903. The comic strip was drawn... Read More »
Dear DailyINK Comics Fans, NUBBIN is a strip that I remember from years ago. It had a very basic gag premise featuring kids’ perspectives on the world, with the children mainly trying to be like adults and doing what they associate with the adult world. NUBBIN started on March 24, 1958. It was written by Jim Burnett and drawn by George... Read More »
Welcome DailyINK Comics Fans, These past few weeks, we have looked at a few panels, both good and bad. Today, we will see yet another long-lasting entry, TRUDY, by Jerry Marcus. TRUDY ran from 1963 to 2005. Jerry Marcus ( 1924-2005) at his drawing board. The two finished cartoons under his hand are the TRUDY panels for the 19th (#2) and 28th of March... Read More »
Hello Comics Readers: Today, I’m going to show off the work of a really great and underrated cartoon craftsman, Stan Drake. His milestone continuity strip, THE HEART OF JULIET JONES premiered sixty years ago this week. Early 1950’s photo of Stan Drake (1921-1997). Original promos including the debut strip, 9 March 1953. THE HEART OF JULIET JONES was... Read More »
Dear Vintage Comics Readers: Sixty years ago this month, King Features launched a panel that never became a classic. But those of us who are old enough will recall it fondly. Don(ovan) Tobin was born in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Long Beach, Calif. and attended UC Berkeley in 1936. His cartooning talents got him an animator’s job at Walt Disney... Read More »