The Return of Rudy the Ostrich. What About Pony Boy?
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Cartoonist John Rose brings Rudy the Ostrich back to the funny pages, and, yeah, Rudy is going to need an introduction as he hasn’t been seen in the newspaper funny pages for nearly 90 years.
Rudy the Ostrich first appeared in the Barney Google comic strip on January 14, 1924 in the strip that was officially titled Barney Google and Spark Plug.
As Rose explained Rudy was more trouble than he was worth as far as Spark Plug was concerned. But that comic pairing kept Rudy around through the 1920s, then Rudy disappeared returning once or twice. The last time was for five Sundays in January and February 1932 where Rudy spreads some grief to Barney and Spark Plug. He is last seen with Sunshine, Spark Plug, and Pony Boy in a single panel as Barney has decamped to Palm Beach.
And then Rudy becomes a memory as he appears one final time as, literally, a memory because Snuffy Smith had become the star and them days of Barney and Spark Plug at the race track was gone forever for a long long time.
Today, 89 years and a month and half later, Rudy makes an unexpected reappearance for a week.
But wait! Pony Boy?
Pony Boy was a long shot at the track and as a character and after 7 months he disappeared without a trace. (That half growed Puny Boy from 1939 was a different breed of horse.)
But wouldn’t Pony Boy make a nice playmate for Li’l Sparky?
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