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, 3 of 5

Happy Sunday, kiddoes!  Welcome to week 3 of Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's 1078 treasure-trove, The Sunday Funnies, this week spotlighting the decade that America got plugged in and began feeling it's oats.

Electricity was a common thing and seeping into rural areas.  Phone service and network radio (1925) and the rough pubescent age of the cinema all served to open communication and make us all more sophisticated.  Whether we liked it or not.  Paved roads outside our cities and Route 66 traipsing across this country bringing us all together.  Just a few decades out of the cowboy era, and our frontier was all pioneered out.  Our world was smaller thanks to communication and transportation, and with the Jazz Age it was louder and sexier, too.

At least the physical nature of it.  The possibilities of the humor, adventure, continuity and story-telling in the comic strip was just being tapped into.  And a wellspring was struck.

This week we get to bask in the talents of George McManus ("Bringing Up Father"), Billy DeBeck ("Barney Google"), John Held Jr. ("Joe Prep", "Merely Margie"), Harold Gray ("Little Orphan Annie"), Cliff Sterrett ("Sweet-Heart's and Wives", "Polly & Her Pals"), Martin Branner ("Winnie Winkle"), C.W. Kahles ("Hairbreadth Harry") and Frank Willard ("Moon Mullins").

The comics were growing up a little, and se were we, America.

Dig in!

Next Sunday: The Dirty Thirties!

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies - a Retrospective, 2 of 5

Week two of Richard Marshall and Bill Blackbeard's "The Sunday Funnies" from 1978, this week celebrating the newspaper comics giants of the 1910's!  

As I tried to express last week, a good part of the fun of this publication was that it was printed FULL size as you would have read it in 1915 as a supplement in your Sunday paper.  Never-the-less, I trust the fun and enjoyment comes through, even in this humble blog.

This week our eyes are treated to the grand works of Winsor McCay ("Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend"), Rube Goldberg ("Boob McNutt"), Carl E. Schultze ("Foxy Grandpa"), Bud Fisher ("Mutt & Jeff"), George McManus ("Their Only Child"), Harold Knerr ("The Katzenjammer Kids"), James Swinnerton ("Little Jimmy") and some lesser-known, under appreciated but no less deserving, Raymond Crawford Ewer "Slim Jim") and Johnny Gruelle ("Mr. Twee Deedle").

Dig in kids.  Sunday is the most nutritious meal of the week.

Newt Sunday:  Those Roaring Twenties you're all heard about.

Talk to you soon!

The Golden age, Origins and Early Masters of the Comic Strip

As reviewed by the Whitney Museum of Art for their exhibition back in the 1980's. For part 1 of this booklet, see here.

Enjoy!

More next Sunday!

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies...in the middle of the week - Nemo issue #14

...or hell...even the middle of the week!

Connectivity problems here seem to be on the ebb, though it's still a mystery as to what was causing me the troubles. So I thought I'd post Nemo: the Classic Comics Library issue #14 that was scheduled for this Sunday last, I know y'all need yer classic comics fix! It's much more reliable, though still a trifle slow, so I'll break this issue up over today, tomorrow and Thursday.

It's a feature packed issue for sure, and I want to give y'all time to drink it in!

Here's a glimpse of what's to come in the next couple of days!


First Up! A look at Frank Willard's sometime overlooked lowbrow farce, "Moon Mullins"...glorious comic stuff from the seedier side of us all...

AND the long-awaited, much-anticipated (at least since my teaser post a few days ago) look at the art-deco design work of George McManus, sometimes even featuring Maggie and Jiggs and the world of "Bringing Up Father"...

A little bonus here...this was featured on the inside front cover of this issue...

I'll be back tomorrow and the next day with the rest of this issue and by Sunday we'll be back on track with the Sunday Funnies as they should be...

Though, doesn't it feel good to sneak in the nonsense behind your stuffy official papers at work mid-week?

I think so too.

Talk to you soon!