Sunday Funnies - March 12, 1960 - part 4 of 4!

Good Sunday morning to ya, and the last of my postings from the Toronto Star March 12, 1960.

This batch has some more classics/after they were classics.  More of the syndicate squeezing out every penny they could from a once successful strip.  Much of the blame lay with the local editors though, for demanding the syndicates keep the strips on life support.  And of course the audience.

Still, kind of comforting waking up to find the same four-color pals and gals every week...Henry, Nancy, Sluggo and the rest were certainly respites from the daily bombardment of cold war news stories filling the rest of the papers in 1960.

And Blondie and Scamp were enough to forget the sweaty five-o-clock shadowy face of Tricky Dick wanting to beat JFK.

The Sunday Funnies did their job, dangit!

Enjoy!!!

Sunday Funnies - Library of Congress - 1 of 3!

Back in 1995, The Library of Congress hosted an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the American newspaper comic strip.  I never got to see the thing as I live on the other coast, but I did make sure to grab this nifty little commemorative booklet.

There's a lot of great reproductions, informed (if brief) articles and nice history in this little 24 pager, so I'll post it in parts over the next 3 Sundays to give you kids plenty of time to drink it ALL up.  This week we've an introduction by Mort Walker and then snippets focusing on "The Birth of 'The Yellow Kid'" and family strips like "Blondie", "For Better or For Worse", "Gasoline Alley", "Snookums" and "Li'l Abner".

Enjoy your Sunday, eat a BIG bowl of cereal and feed your eyes and head with some classic 4 color art.

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies - A Retrospective, 4 of 5

Well!  If last week's tramp into pubescence didn't blow your mind, this weeks full-flex-their-wings-and-see-what-these-teenagers-can-do sampling from Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's glorious "The Sunday Funnies" from 1978 WILL!

This week we look at the comics greats from the 1930's.  That grand era when no one had anything thanks to the Great Depression, and yet only great things ever happened.

We get to glimpse some beautiful pages (yes, comic strips used to take up whole pages) by Alex Raymond ("Jungle Jim", "Flash Gordon"), George Herriman ("Krazy Kat"), Frank King ("Gasoline Alley"), Fontaine Fox ("Toonerville Folks"), Chic Young ("Blondie"), Roy Crane ("Captain Easy"), Phil Nowlan/Dick Caulkins ("Buck Rogers"), E.C. Segar "("Sappo", "Thimble Theatre") and Frank Godwin ("Connie").

All's I can say is Zowie!

Get a double bowl of cereal today kids...yer gonna need it.

Next Sunday:  The Fabulous Forties!

Talk to you soon.