Old Comic Randomness

Thank you to all of our supporters who have encouraged us at the DCR to keep going. Since I didn't quite know what we were going to do, I did a Sunday post over at my site which you can check out. A few weeks ago, I said I was going to post some older comics and I never got around to it with the Garfield debacle and such but I got the strips scanned and ready to go so let's get on with it. If any comics are cut off, just click them.

The Katzenjammer Kids 1906

The main problem I see with why The Katzenjammer Kids is not funny anymore is because child abuse is no longer funny. In my book of Katzenjammer comics most of the strips end with the kids being spanked or beaten and it is hilarious.


Anyone else notice how much Sandy, the Butcher Boy looks like The Yellow Kid? And because I am twelve-years-old, I chuckled pretty good at the "don't never try to get gay wit me" line.

Blondie

1933: Blondie and Dagwood get married. And as we know they would never be happy. As the look on Dag's face in the last panel shows.

Buster Brown 1903

Buster Brown was created by Yellow Kid creator Richard F. Outcault and lasted much longer.



I love Buster's deranged look in the first panel. I also wish comic strips were still the size of the entire newspaper page. The panels are all so expressive and you could have more than one plot in the strip. The only problem I could see is the problem we have now where strips that have run its course are still published and keeping fresh, new strips from making it.

Thimble Theatre

1923: Thimble Theatre debuted December 19, 1919 and starred Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl. Popeye would make his debut on January 17, 1929. This strip shows Ham's love for Olive because he would rather have a children's hospital go out of business than anyone else kiss his girl.

While Olive initially didn't like Popeye, she eventually left Ham to be Popeye's girlfriend and Ham vanished from the strip.

Krazy Kat

1937: Krazy Kat, along with Pogo, Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, is considered one of the best comic strips of all time. Krazy Kat, interestingly, is neither male nor female and Krazy's gender seems to change with each strip. Most contemporary authors refer to Krazy as a 'she' but creator George Herriman has stated that "Kat can't be a he or a she".


1917: Here, Krazy uses a Weeja (Ouija) board to find out if he has any enemies and does not like the results.


1919: Herriman's panels always varied from your normal stacked blocks to vertical panels like these which is a nice change from the bland panels today which are made to be moved around, squeezed together or deleted altogether.


1941: Just like Krazy loves Ignatz, Offissa Pupp loves Krazy however I think it is safe to say that Krazy only likes Offissa Pupp as a friend.

Bringing Up Father

1912: One strip that has grown on me over the last couple of years is Bringing Up Father. Created by George McManus in 1913, the strips featured Jiggs, an Irish immigrant, and his wife, Maggie. Maggie was constantly trying to drag Jiggs into upper-class society while Jiggs was satisfied right where he was. McManus passed away in 1954 and the strip was continued by numerous other writers and artists until coming to an end May 28, 2000.

Also, I don't know why the book this strip is from dated it 1912 when Bringing Up Father debuted in 1913. My only guess is that this strip appeared with another McManus strip since McManus said that he'd been using Maggie and Jiggs since 1911 in his other strips or the book was wrong.

WEBCOMICS WANTED

I am planning a webcomic-centric Sunday entry in the near future so if you know of a lesser known webcomic or if you have a webcomic you'd like to have showcased then let me know either in the comments or you can contact me.

Until next time, have a good week.

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On Katzenjammer

There are a lot of strips out there that should've came to an end years ago. Typically it's because their original creator has passed away and the strip is only a shadow of its former self. Very rarely do strips make a rebound after hitting a low point. We're used to see so-called "Legacy strips" just languish on the vine because comic strips polls in newspapers are mainly filled out by older people who like their comics to remain the same and don't understand why that Mouse is so mean to that cute pig. Typically, sooner or later a strips get what it deserves and is sent off to the comic strips graveyard where comic strips enthusiasts and historians can determine if the strip can hold up to other generations. But what if that strip is 114 years old and shows no sign of ending? The Katzenjammer Kids started in 1897 and continues to this day. When its creator, Rudolph Dirks, wanted a vacation after 15 years, The New York Journal refused to let him go. Dirks left anyway and the Journal replaced him with Harold Knerr. Dirks sued the Journal for his creation and in 1914 was granted permission to continue the strip he created, just with a different title. So from 1914 until 1979, Dirks (and later his son John Dirks) wrote and illustrated The Captain and the Kids. They were essentially the same comic strips just owned by different syndicates.

I bring this up because I've read the recent strips. The Katzenjammer Kids is only syndicated to about 50 newspapers and magazines and its current creator, Hy Eisman (who also does the Popeye Sunday strip), is pushing 90. When Eisman decides to call it quits, will The Kids fade into the comic strips graveyard or will King Features keep it going just continue having the longest-running, still-in-syndication newspaper comic strip in the world?

Here is today's strip which I feel is actually better than some of the other strips I've read.

Daddy's Home

The thought of President Obama stealing someone's wallet and watch made me chuckle.

Baby Blues

I read in OK! Magazine that the Kardashian sisters grocery shop like Zoe and Hammie.

Get Fuzzy

Get Fuzzy lately has been pretty hit and miss. At least they still have the occasional strip (like this one) that can still get me to laugh.

Momma

Now, his face indicates that he is awake and just thinking this but I think he is actually dreaming and Mell just forgot that Francis was dreaming. Either way, it's pretty pathetic that Francis sucks at women both in his thoughts and his dreams.

Blondie

Gotta love a boss who comes over to your house, uninvited, just to fire you and humiliate you in front of your family, friends and neighbors.

Mark Trail

Yeah. Peppers are good and all for forcing criminals out of their hideouts but Mark still prefers to use his fists.

Born Loser

My local baseball team is the Kansas City Royals. Interesting fact: Alex Rodriguez makes almost as much as the Royals, combined. A-Rod makes $32 million while the Royals make a combined $36.1 million. It is any wonder that we suck?

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That Crook'd 'Sipp

It's Sunday again so let's get to it.

Curtis

I find it odd that Curtis' dad read "Metal Men" comics but I applaud Ray Billingsley using kind of obscure comic book characters.

Ink Pen

Oreos don't come in sleeves. Where do Oreos come in sleeves?

Between Friends

$5 for a candy bar that is thicker but not quite as big as a King Size bar I could get for $1 at my local grocery store. People asking for money has been cut down a lot since putting up two 'No Soliciting' signs.

Funky Winkerbean

Damn it, Batiuk.

Panels from Dick Tracy

Oh, Dick Tracy. Retail clerks don't read this strip.

Wee Pals

Damn it, Morrie.

Tiger

What?

Blondie

Sounds like the Heminhaws are made up. If the Woodleys didn't want to go camping with the Bumsteads (and who would?) then they should've just said so instead of creating a fictional family, purchasing a house under the fake family name and creating a backstory for the fake family.

Panels from Barney Google

So the people of Hootin' Holler apparently believe that the wind comes from the clouds. This is good to know when the United States of America invades the New States of America for their precious oil aquifers.

The Born Loser

You can't win it if you aren't in it. I'm shocked Gladys is OK with Brutus wasting his money on lottery tickets and even kind of encourages him to buy more.

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Watch Out for Kite-Eating Trees

I know I've been pretty flaky with the Sunday posts but hopefully from this point on there will be a regular stream of Sunday comics.

Ronaldinho Gaucho

Unless eating your vegetables also turns you into a man, this is veering awful close to child pornography.  I guess not drawing the nipples make it okay.

That's Life

Wouldn't this work better with Batman considering the 1960s Batman TV show had all the "POW!" and "ZOW!" and "BORT!" graphics?  Also considering Superman would be impervious to being stabbed by an action bubble makes this comic not work.

Funky Winkerbean

"Yeah, that Class of '11 just isn't as good as the Class of '10.  I hope they all die."

"Well, considering this is 'Funky Winkerbean' that is a plausible storyline."

Blondie

I love how Dithers hit Dagwood so hard with a pillow that it knocked Dag's shoe off.  Now that's a wallop.

Mary Worth

Sweet Jesus.  First Wilbur takes his fake son fishing and then takes his real daughter kite flying?  Does Wilbur not know how to have a good time?

Zits

I love Bazooka Joe comics.  I kind of wish there a book that reprinted the thousands of strips that have been produced.  I also hope somewhere in those strips is the story of why Joe wears that eyepatch.  Some horrible marble accident I assume.

Gasoline Alley

Hmm, considering birds could give a flying fig about our timekeeping methods I don't think they really notice our time change because they still wake up at the crack of dawn.

Now you all need to go over to my site and follow me on Twitter.

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It Was the Best of Comics. It Was the Worst of Comics

Let's get going on today's (and a couple from last week) comics.

Mallard Fillmore

Mallard has been yammering on about this stupid study for a week--possibly more.  Mallard also apparently doesn't know how this study works.  This is an article about the study and it says that only 2,300 college students were followed at two dozens universities.  45% of those 2,300 students “demonstrated no significant gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communications during the first two years of college.”  How many people are in college?  Why does Mallard hate education?

Mary Worth 2/20/11

I have been loving this recent Mary Worth storyline where it's Wilbur vs. Dawn vs. Mary vs. technology. Only one will win!

Mary Worth 2/27/11

"How dare Sarah 'like' my relationship status. I'll show her. I will untag her in all of my pictures and write a Twitter diatribe about how much of a bitch she is."

Here are couple strips that I just found really funny.

Pickles

In the Sticks

Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

Momma

In Francis' defense, he did read "A Tale of Two Cities" and anyone from my generation and younger that can read an entire book by Charles Dickens deserves praise.

Blondie 2/20/11

Twitter has really been making the rounds in the comics lately (psst.  you can follow the DCR and it's authors on Twitter as well) so of course it has to make its way into the Bumstead's lives as well.  Whereas Mary Worth just seemed skeptical about the Internet and all of it's shiny flashy ads, Dagwood is overreacting and is afraid that if he says or does something stupid that a pair of Internet goons will drag him away to be "rehabilitated".

Gasoline Alley

That's not how 3D TVs work. Also, is 3DTV really going to become the next big thing? Somehow I doubt that because there is not enough stuff being broadcast in 3D--ESPN has an entire channel dedicated to 3D but I'm already paying enough for ESPN through my cable bill.

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