Wayback Whensday with This Week’s Comics

D. D. Degg Published: January 21, 2026 Updated: January 22, 2026 1 minute 6 comments

Today’s cartoonists paying homage to the cartoonists of yesteryear.

Bushmiller and Cash, Nancy and Sluggo

*Nancy by Caroline Cash – January 19, 2026*

On Monday Caroline Cash celebrated the debut appearances of Nancy and Sluggo down to the minute. Not sure about that last measurement being accurate but the years and days were right on.

*Fritzi Ritz by Ernie Bushmiller – Nancy’s first appearance January 2, 1933*

*Fritzi Ritz by Ernie Bushmiller – Sluggo shows up January 24, 1938*

By the time Sluggo showed up Nancy was the undisputed star of the Fritzi Ritz comic strip which later in that year of 1938 would be officially renamed Nancy. Not an uncommon occurrence. For example when Nancy first showed up Captain Easy was the star of Wash Tubbs and Popeye headed the cast of Thimble Theater.

Cheese Dreams – Hagen and McCay

While Cash’s strip was an intentional throwback I’m not sure the same could be said for Sunday’s The Barn.

*The Barn by Ralph Hagen – January 18, 2026*

I doubt Ralph Hagen was thinking of one of his most famous predecessors when he dreamt up Sunday’s The Barn, but the combination of cheese and nightmares brought an old comic strip to my mind.

*Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay – December 26, 1905 (Knoxville Sentinel)*

Comic Strip Taboos

A 1930 newspaper article described some things not allowed in the syndicated comic strips of that time.

*The Enid Morning News – February 14, 1930*

As all those “Don’ts” are regularly featured in today’s comic strips I’m wondering just how old those “really old newspaper comics” are that Brewster Rockit is reading.

*Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard – January 17, 2026*

Were those the very early comic strips? Certainly The Katzenjammer Kids were full of violence and Mutt of Mutt and Jeff was getting divorced in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. Maybe those old newspaper comics were later in the 1930s when the “Adventurous Decade” had taken hold and Dick Tracy was brutally violent.

Barney & Clyde and Fosdick

Barney & Clyde today remembers a very violent comic strip, or a parody of a violent comic strip anyway.

*Barney & Clyde by Gene and Dan Weingarten and David Clark w/ LaBadie – January 21, 2026*

Unfortunately Duane is correct about who to ask. Few fathers probably know about Al Capp‘s ultraviolent parody of Chester Gould‘s violent Dick Tracy, the “who” question would have to be asked of grandfathers.

More Fearless Fosdick at Hairy Green Eyeball and Animation Resources.

Little Zippy and Little Lulu

Bill Griffith‘s Little Ulul seems a bit violent in today’s Zippy the Pinhead.

Zippy by Bill Griffith – January 21, 2026

While I remember seeking revenge as a part of Little Lulu comic book stories, the cleaver part is a bit extreme. I like the hat tip to Little Lulu comic book cartoonists John Stanley and Irving Tripp. Extra points: Little Zippy being dressed in ~~Alvin~~ Annie blue (see comments).

Comments ⁶

K. White

So, Fosdick wouldn’t look out of place in an ICE uniform, just sayin’…

Mark Marderosian

My father thought “Fearless Fosdick was an inspired riot. He loved the character. Still does.
I, on the other hand, didn’t appreciate one of my favorite characters being lampooned. Dick Tracy was for real!

Brad Walker

That’s not Little Zippy, that’s a pinhead version of Lulu’s chum Annie. You can tell by the buck teeth.

Eric

I seem to recall that Fozdick took over the last year or so of Li’l Abner, and Capp only brought the title character back for the final strip.

Angus McGill and Dominic Poelsma’s CLIVE comic strip (originally British but syndicated in the United States) was taken over by the hero’s sister, Augusta, who became the title character for the last ten or so years of its run.

I’m sure there are others.

Ted Dawson

It may be that the writer’s name is wrong for the “comic strip rules” article. It says “Amran Schoenfeld,” but it looks like he was actually “Amram Scheinfeld,” a cartoonist and writer. I did a little searching to see who wrote it, wondering if it was serious or satirical.

https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/archives/cul-4079305

Carol

Nancy is boring and most of the characters are ugly. I’ve felt this way since I was 5 years old, and 71 years later, my opinion hasn’t changed. I have no idea why anyone would give this strip “new” life.

Comments are closed.