Yesterday saw the release of Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story and tomorrow will be the 30th anniversary of the Mutts comic strip. The Daily Cartoonist is splitting the difference and celebrating both today. First the book. From the award-winning syndicated comic strip Mutts, the long-awaited “Guard Dog” story is now collected and presented in […]
Fifty years ago today former football player Tank McNamara made his debut as a TV news sportscaster.Seven days later, August 12, 1974, Tank McNamara by Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds made his first Sunday appearance. Tank McNamara was one of the first dozen comics distributed by the new(ish) Universal Press Syndicate. Ten years ago, on […]
The world’s oldest cartooning organization, the Australian Cartoonists Association, celebrates 100 years of existence today. (Well, yesterday because, you know, Australia.)The Dictionary of Sydney gives us A Short History of the Black and White Artists’ Club by Lindsey Foyle: The Dictionary of Sydney also notes the various name changes of the organization through the years: […]
Among the newly added journals at newspapers.com is a 10 month run from May 1880 to February 1881 of The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper which ran from 1873 to 1889 and is legendary for its, well, graphics.The cartoon and comic strip covers include work by Livingston Hopkins (top), Edward W. Kemble (bottom), Charles […]
Though in my mind Rose Gumbo is around thirty years of age, she turns forty today. At least her comic strip does. above: the first three dailies and the first SundayRose Is Rose began on April 16, 1984 with the title character portraying the life of a homemaker. Within a couple years creator Pat Brady […]
One hundred years ago one of the greatest adventure comic strips by one of the greatest cartoonists debuted – Washington Tubbs II by Roy Crane first appeared on April 14, 1924. While the promo above tells us to “Watch For The Adventures” there was no thrilling action at the start. Don Markstein explains that Washington […]
April 5, 1999 saw Grand Avenue by cartoonist Steve Breen appear in newspapers around the country. Mike Thompson began helping on the strip in 2005 and began co-signing the comic strip on January 1, 2009. In 2016 Mike Thompson took full control of Grand Avenue – April 4 for the dailies, May 1 on the […]
Georgia Dunn uses her Sunday page to celebrate ten years of Breaking Cat News today. Let’s compare – here’s the March 12, 2014 debut comic strip of Breaking Cat News: As for the future? Yes, cartoonist Georgia is going there, covering real news! More previews at Georgia’s Patreon.
Cartoonist Kevin Fagan grew up idolizing Charles M. Schulz and “Peanuts.” Now that his own comic strip, “Drabble,” is turning 45 this week, Fagan is contemplating his long run in the funny pages and once again has Schulz on his mind. “I knew Charles M. Schulz pretty well,” Fagan says from his home in Mission […]
Lemont Brown was created by Darrin Bell in 1993 as a comic strip in UC Berkeley’s Daily Californian. Ten years later, on October 19, 2003, the character began his national syndication as the star of Candorville. above: the first Candorville comic strip as reprinted in Thank God for Culture Clash.below: the first three dailies (October […]
Fred Basset by Alex Graham debuted in The Daily Mail on July 9, 1963.* From that Daily Mail newspaper celebrating the birthday: There’s a big birthday ambling our way this week — and it belongs to someone with long floppy ears, short waddly legs and a tail wagging in anticipation. Not that Fred Basset, 60 […]
In the 1990s Dave Blazek and John Gilpin were working for the Philadelphia Inquirer when they thought it would be a good idea to combine their talents, Gilpin as artist and Blazek as humorist, and try out a comic panel. According to sources the panel began 25 years and a couple weeks ago. I couldn’t […]
The original December 12, 2022 item:The Katzenjammer Kids first appeared December 12, 1897.Above: the first issue of The Katzenjammer KidsThe comic strip was created by Rudolph Dirks and New York Journal editor Rudolph Block. Various cartoonists (Harold Knerr, Oscar Hitt, Doc Winner, Joe Musial, Mike Senich, Angelo DeCesare, Hy Eisman) continued it’s Sunday run until […]
Portrait by Pete McDonnell for The Petaluma Argus CourierFrom NPR: Cartoonist Charles Schulz died in February 2000, the night before his final comic strip ran in the Sunday paper. But the characters he created and developed over the course of five decades still endure, in the form of reruns, beloved TV specials, a movie and […]
Was thinking to hold onto these Charles M. Schulz/Peanuts articles until the actual 100th anniversary of his birth (November 26), but the items are coming in faster than Snoopy in a Sopwith Camel. So… The white-spotted dog, who became “the first beagle on the moon” in a series of Peanuts comic strips in 1969, is […]