“News” is up for debate in some entries below, but we will start with actual news.
Mike Manley has revealed that he is scheduled to return as daily artist on The Phantom June 10, 2024.
Grawlix Illustrated
Zits today; Beetle Bailey tomorrow.
Let’s stay at King Features for another news item.
I’m not in the habit of including digital-only books in my monthly Hey Kids! Comics! listing so let’s put it here. Barney Google and Snuffy Smith Turn 100! is available from the Comics Kingdom shop. I like John Rose‘s Facebook description:
This special collection includes:
* Barney Google’s Bodacious 100th Birthday Celebration comic strip storyline featuring lots of comic strip character crossovers!
* All of our Sunday comic strips from 2019 in chronological order!
* Many character sketches and cartoon illustrations created by me especially for this digital book!
* Special commentary from me, the cartoonist!
Two weeks of the iconic Dick Tracy comic strip that recently ran in newspapers nationwide last month were drawn by the hand of an Oil City artist.
Dee Fish, who among other projects is the senior graphic designer for GBS Web Services of Franklin, had been inking for Dick Tracy since early last year, starting with a strip that ran in May.
I would dearly love to link to this Oil City Derrick article about Dee Fish doing a Dick Tracy Minute Mysteries installment recently as well as inking the strip last year; but it’s behind a paywall.
Speaking of Dick Tracy, I have a problem with today’s edition.
Gray’s first wife, Doris C. Platt, died in late 1925. He married Winifred Frost in 1929, and the couple moved to Greens Farms, Connecticut, spending winters in La Jolla, California.
Since Annie was “born” in 1924 shouldn’t that be Doris instead of Winifred?
Pearls Puns/Future Funnies
Punster Stephan Pastis goes a generation later and gets more involved with the musical mischief in tomorrow’s Pearls Before Swine.
“It was an early morning yesterday
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on”
The adventure hero’s cavalier approach to women, romance, and all that icky girly stuff is clear in Jungle Jim’s caddish handling of two rival gal pals Lil and Kitty in this late 1941 interstitial between two episodes. Jim has no time for romance, and writes to Dear Jane letters, excusing himself from commitment. Lil gets the I’m-just-a-ramblin’-sorta-guy” brush off and Kitty gets the mock magnanimity ploy. “Find a nice substantial businessman… .” What a gentleman.
Steve Smith at Panels & Prose looks at a Jungle Jim strip which reminds us of Supertramp’s song.
Maybe, MAYBE, more appropriate for International Women’s month is DC Comics joining Bazooka Bubble Gum for a digital comic strip series; and kicking it off with a Wonder Wmoan/Jane partnership.
Nerd Stash delivers the details:
The comic universe is expanding as DC Comics collaborates with Bazooka Bubble Gum for a brand-new series. This crossover will produce a new digital series consisting of eight action-packed issues. Each issue brings a hero of DC together with a familiar face of the Bazookaverse. All eight issues will release through Bazooka’s Instagram, Facebook, and on BazookaJoe.com. The first of these planned digital comics is out now and it brings Wonder Woman together with Jane…
Keep up-to-date with The Bazookaverse here.
For those who follow Apartment 3-G on Comics Kingdom the missing strips:
At least Michael Eisner is no longer involved with the character. He once said he’d make Joe ‘the next Mickey Mouse’.
I am referring to Bazooka Joe, not that other Joe. Sorry.
Bless you for providing the missing Apartment 3G strips, including the Sunday. Where did you find that?
The half page Sunday Apartment 3-G came from Newsday via newspapers.com.
Thank you very much for printing the missing Apt 3-G strips. And also the link to the Kotzky strips. I couldn’t figure out how to navigate to them on the new CK page and was stuck on the 2015 strips. Huge difference.
I had finally got the available vintage strips coming across in my daily feed from the new Comics Kingdom when up popped the “does not exist in our archive” notice. Went looking for them and found it to be a(nother) traumatic week in Jessica’s life. That combined with restrained use of captions and so highlighting the black and white art (not by the unsigned Alex Kotzky?) convinced me to make the strips available here.
As yet Apartment 3-G has not returned to my “favorites” daily download, I’m hoping it will soon.
I personally wouldn’t mind seeing notices of official digital only books here. How else would I find out about this Snuffy Smith book?
Thank you so much for mentioning our brand new Barney Google And Snuffy Smith digital book collection! I really appreciate it!