Happy New Year’s Post


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Happy New Year, everybody! As we ring out the old one, let’s welcome the new year with some old comic strips. Here is Barker Bill from 11-15 to Sunday, 11-28-1954. The first six dailies were sent to me by Yowp and were culled from the Winnipeg Free Press. The second batch of six dailies and the Sunday page are by courtesy of the Glendale Public Library and the ProQuest collection of the Boston Globe. Barker Bill and Puddy try to exhibit the money-eating Gelt as a circus attraction, but he literally eats up all the profits. The Sunday page from 11-28 was the earliest one that the Boston Globe carried, featuring Ironhead the Invincible. The Globe ran Barker Bill for only about 6 months and used the Sunday page infrequently, but it’s a revelation to me that Barker Bill even HAD a Sunday page. I have no idea if this is the first Sunday or not, perhaps one of my readers can fill us in.

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Felix (from 4-29 to 5-5-1935) continues the “Ape” saga, as Danny notices that Felix has been catnapped and pursues the Ape to the island, only to be caught himself. The Sunday page continues the adventures of Felix in Dreamland, using lots of cherce puns as Felix uses doughnuts and playing cards (“When it comes to gliding, I’m an ace!”) to elude the Giant. I like the gag in the “Laura” topper as the hapless parrot sings “I Cover the Waterfront” to a corpulent lady bather.

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In Krazy (3-10 to 3-15-1941) the handsome Don Jose Kiyoti cuts a wide swath through the women of Coconino. He flirts with Krazy, Mrs. Ignatz Mouse and Mimi, the Poodle. The Don hides under Mimi’s table in the 3-15, after all, she’s the lady nearest in size to the “Dawn”.

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In Patrick (1-9 to 1-15-1967), Elsa predicts the future in the 1-11 strip. Ronald Reagan became the Governor of California in 1966, and won the Presidency in 1980. It might have seemed silly and funny that a little star-struck girl was wowed by a MOVIE STAR as Governor in 1967, but she was certainly accurate in anticipating what would happen to that STAR. In the 1-15, we have the first appearance of Patrick’s alter ego: “Superkid”. Over the next few months, you’ll see Patrick use and abuse that alias. A little side note, I was attending the Kansas City Art Institute in 1967 and had no access to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, so my “kid brother”, Kurt, was kind enough to clip these strips for me, and ultimately, you! We all owe him big time. It’s been another year of hopes and delayed hopes, let’s give several Elmer Blurt imitations for 2012. See you then.

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