After Segar there was Tom Sims writing Popeye. Harry Haenigsen drew the Penny and the teen scene. Tom Sims, Popeye Writer Kelly Kazek for AL.com profiles the local writer who took over the Popeye comic strip after E. C. Segar died (or here). If not for a new folklife marker in Gadsden, Alabamians may have […]

Rolling Stone has published an excerpt of the upcoming biography Trudeau & Doonesbury: A Biography (non-paywall link). The subtitle of the article would make me read it, even if I wasn’t already interested: “How cartoonist Garry Trudeau embraced the counter-culture, became a Rolling Stone writer, and pissed off Hunter S. Thompson so much that the gonzo journalist mailed […]

Statues of famous people are not unusual in the United States: There is a statue of “Rocky Balboa” in Philadelphia and a slew of statues of real-life athletes as well. However, Wednesday’s dedication of a statue of Donald Trump on the grounds of his private club in Florida has drawn both praise and criticism, much […]

In the June 5, 1926 issue Editor & Publisher presented their “Third Annual Directory of Press Features.” The Newspaper Art section listed “Cartoons, Comic Strips, Magazine Covers and Sketches” available to, well, editors and publishers of newspapers and other publications. Note: most of the cartoons listed in the other sections are listed here under “Cartoons.” […]

Clover Press made its name in comic strip circles by publishing “The Master Collection” of Milton Caniff‘s Terry and the Pirates. Then there is The Complete Tom the Dancing Bug series. The publisher has recently switched their comic strip endeavors to affordable softcover editions of previously published hardcover collections. There was Dick Tracy Collection 1941-1944 […]

This week saw Marshall Ramsey officially take on the writing chores of the Prickly City comic strip. From Prickly City creator Scott Stantis: The extremely talented and very nice Marshall Ramsey, the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, is taking over Prickly City. It has been a grand 22 years, and I know I am leaving Carmen […]

Big Nate’s relief pitchers, a true comic strip crossover, not a boring Van Boring collection, the comic strip bad guys, and valuable comic strip art. Relieving Big Nate This past weekend it was noted that Wallace the Brave had replaced the discontinued Big Nate daily comic strip in The Washington Post. Mike Rhode at Comics […]

Well That Would Explain It, If Only… On the last Sunday of 2002 a Mandrake the Magicain adventure ended and so did the Mandrake Sunday page. And today we learn why. Mandrake was kidnapped by Sea Hag’s witch sister and kept in her dungeons until now. Which would be a great reveal except Mandrake continued […]

In 1995 not-yet Prince Valiant scribe Mark Schultz partnered with never-official Flash Gordon artist Al Williamson to create a two issue Flash Gordon comic book for Marvel Comics. Though he was never the official artist of the comic strip Al Williamson famously drew Flash Gordon at various times from 1966 to 1995 for comic books, […]

Recently while reading a review of Hal Foster’s Tarzan—The Complete Sunday Comics 1931–1937, I was dismayed to see a young Tarzan’s derrière directed directly in my direction. And it wasn’t just a delineation of a duff, but a full double-wide. With a dimple. If I did a double-take, did readers in the 1930’s? When did […]

Early last year Mark Buford put an ash stake in his Scary Gary comic strip. Now Julie Lineback for the University of West Georgia brings us up-to-date with Mark. “A Major in Minds, a Minor in Mischief.” As the U.S. recognizes National Cartoonist Day on May 5, University of West Georgia alumnus Mark Buford ’86 […]

John Freeman at downthetubes reviews a new history book of British comics – it comes with a warning. The rise of AI has led to some bilge-filled books in recent years times, and now it’s becoming the bane of British comic fans interested in exploring the history of our medium. A case in point is […]