First and Last

[D.D.Degg]

January 7 is a very important date in comic strip history.
A number of famous comic strips started on that date.

In 1929 newspapers published the first Tarzan comic strip,
which also happened to be the first Hal Foster comic strip.

January 7, 1929 begins Tarzan of the Apes by Hal Foster:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag16/1603.html

To read the entire 60 strip adaptation go to
http://www.null-entropy.com/2013/07/hal-foster-edgar-rice-burroughs-tarzan/

That sequence ended March 16, 1929.

Three months later (on June 10, 1929) the Tarzan strip was again
syndicated adapting The Return of Tarzan, this time by Rex Maxon
(but he was busy, so Hugh Hutton drew the first week of the return):
http://www.erbzine.com/mag20/2011.html

Tarzan has remained in syndication ever since.

But...
the dailies have been in reruns since 1972.

The last four and a half years of the daily strip
featured the slick lines of Russ Manning.
Here's the last week ending with the last strip of
July 29, 1972 (as rerun during March 1997):
http://www.erbzine.com/mag29/2965.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

70 years ago, on January 13, 1947, Steve Canyon
began appearing in the daily newspapers.

His only appearance in the first week of dailies
was in a "photograph" held by other characters.
http://tinyurl.com/hro24ys
or you can see the first couple weeks as part of
an Amazon preview of Steve Canyon Vol. 1 at
https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Canyon-1947-1948-Hc/dp/1613771258#reader_1613771258

Canyon makes his first real appearance halfway
through the first Sunday page on January 19:
http://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_exhibits/miltoncaniff/Site_Images/150-Rez/d_2288.jpg
or as seen in as a tab page at
https://joshreads.com/images/07/01/i070128canyon.gif

This was a time when comic strip cartoonists were big news.
Milton Caniff leaving Terry and the Pirates for a new
comic strip that he would own made the cover of the
Time newsweekly dated the same as the first daily strip:
http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19470113,00.html
(click on those previous and following covers links to
see Caniff in between Time's Man of the Year and Senator Taft!)

The strip lasted 41 years.
Caniff died in 1988 and so did the strip.

The last couple of months of Steve Canyon was done
by long-time Caniff assistant Dick Rockwell.
Rockwell finished the Canyon storyline on a Friday
and used the last daily (Saturday, June 4, 1988)
to honor his Friend and boss:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0g6MtyTFtkY/Ua1Wstyv96I/AAAAAAAAEqk/n_RQxaH6Lv8/s1600/Steve+Canyon+June+4+1988.jpg

The next day, June 5, 1988, saw the last Steve Canyon Sunday -
Bill Mauldin honored his friend with a nice tribute to Caniff
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VHrBtgwkKQs/Uaqjhs8mZOI/AAAAAAAAEpw/mYcJaOSbjbc/s1600/Last+Steve+Canyon+Sunday.jpg
with a number of Milton Caniff's National Cartoonist Society
members signing on to honor their comrade.

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Some firsts.

January 17, 1929 - the first appearance of Popeye:
http://www.firstversions.com/2015/06/popeye-comics.html
(with a couple other Thimble Theatre firsts)

January 18, 1970 - the first Friday Foster strip:
http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2016/06/friday-foster.html

January 19, 1970 - the first Friday Foster daily:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/01/19/page/35/
(scroll down an inch or two)

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

> January 7 is a very important date in comic strip history.
> A number of famous comic strips started on that date.
>

> In 1929 newspapers published the first Tarzan comic strip...

That same January 7, 1929 date also saw the debut
of another milestone in comic strip history:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QuwvjlThkqA/VvEtyrn1_TI/AAAAAAAAD_w/X-Ut-4nU-1ca_OrAX8-6yM-r7B6UhBhDw/s1600/buck_rogers08.png

The first week of Buck Rogers can be read at
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U7DOeyRubF8/S-nn6HhVwdI/AAAAAAAAFFg/liXF2V5kaVY/s1600/1+buck+bloque6+gris+1030.jpg

For an extended read of the early strips go to
http://rolandanderson.se/comics/buckrogers/buckstrips.php
and click on the "following strips" links.

The strip lasted until July 8, 1967,
with George Tuska doing the art for the last eight years.
Couldn't find the last strip of that run but here's
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=899757
a strip by Howard Liss and George Tuska from 1963; and here
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=53347
is a great undated Tuska piece that looks to be well after 1967.

During the great space strip explosion of the late 1970s
(Star Wars, Star Trek, Star Hawks, Jeff Hawke)
Buck Rogers was brought back from September 9, 1979 - December 25, 1983.
Here, from the second week of that run is a daily
by Jim Lawrence and Gray Morrow:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=514598

From December 1983 is one of the last Sundays of
that second run by Cary Bates and Jack Sparling:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=596002&GSub=92710

I was introduced to Buck Rogers through this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Works-Buck-Rogers-Century/dp/0394419804
and loved it despite the primitive Calkins art.

Ray Bradbury, in his youth, also loved the strip:
In Bradbury’s words –
I had a thing happen to me when I was 9 years old,
which is a great lesson.
That was in 1929. A single comic strip in the
newspaper sent me into the future.
The first comic strip of Buck Rogers.
In October 1929 I looked at that one comic strip,
with its view of the future, and I thought,
“That’s where I belong.”
I started to collect Buck Rogers comic strips.
And everybody in the fifth grade made fun of me.
I continued to collect them for about a month,
and then I listened to the critics. And I tore up
my comic strips. That’s the worst thing I ever did.
Two or three day later, I broke down. I was crying,
and I said to myself, “Why am I crying? Whose funeral am
I going to? Who died?” And the answer was, “Me.”
I’d torn up the future.
http://file770.com/?p=32747

D.D.Degg

[edmun...@gmail.com]

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 9:05:39 PM UTC-8, D.D.Degg wrote:

> The first week of Buck Rogers can be read at
> http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U7DOeyRubF8/S-nn6HhVwdI/AAAAAAAAFFg/liXF2V5kaVY/s1600/1+buck+bloque6+gris+1030.jpg
>
> For an extended read of the early strips go to
> http://rolandanderson.se/comics/buckrogers/buckstrips.php
> and click on the "following strips" links.

> . . .
> D.D.Degg

Wow, thank you, DDD. I had never seen the beginning of Buck Rogers. The subsequent movies and TV shows should have stuck with that!

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <9c014955-4e42-45e7...@googlegroups.com>,

While the start of the strip was pretty faithful iirc, you are still
at one remove too far.

Here is the original Rogers in


http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32530

in Philip Francis Nowlan's 1929 classic _Armageddon-2419 A.D._

if they had stuck to *that* (minus the 1929 racism..) the movies & TV
shows would have had a real story..
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[D.D.Degg]

> > January 7 is a very important date in comic strip history.
> >

> > In 1929 newspapers published the first Tarzan comic strip...

> That same January 7, 1929 date also saw the debut of [Buck Rogers].

The success of Tarzan and Buck Rogers as comic strips
prompted William Randolph Hearst and King Features to
start the process of offering like strips to their clients.

Five years later, to the day, King Features began their
versions of space and jungle heroes.

January 7, 1934 was a Sunday and saw the debut of
Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon by Don Moore and Alex Raymond:
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Flash-Gordon-Jungle-Jim-first-page.jpg

Jungle Jim lasted 20 years, ending August 8, 1954, as a Sunday
only strip the whole time and never approached Tarzan's popularity.
Couldn't find the last strip online, but this book
reprints the last three months of the strip
https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/2833880.jpg
and the cover gives a look at the strip toward the end.

Flash Gordon, of course, became world famous.
Erbzine presents the better part of the first year
of Flash Gordon; you can see Alex Raymond begin
to break free of that rigid 12-panel grid and begin
the road to his fame as a comic strip ARTIST.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag33/3394.html

Here's a Sunday page from 1938:
http://loac.idwpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Flash380814.jpg

The last writer/artist of Flash Gordon presented his
version of the world famous polo player beginning
a journey to Mongo:
http://www.jimkeefe.com/archives/8755

Flash Gordon's last strip (March 16, 2003) was also by Jim Keefe:
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/03.16.jpg

Years ago Russ Cochran, in one of his auction catalogs,
presented a rejected version of that first Flash Gordon
Sunday strip (still by Alex Raymond), but I can't find it
on the world wide web.

However, thanks to Jim Keefe, I can find the original
version of the last Flash Gordon, as rejected by the syndicate.
Keefe: "Granted originally, in collaboration with Mutts artist
Patrick McDonnell, I had planned a slightly more surreal ending."
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mutts.jpg
Keefe: "King Features rejected it as a Flash Gordon page,
but Patrick pulled some strings and it eventual saw print
on March 23, 2003 as a Mutts page."

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

"Hey! It's the Funny Pages!
Howzabout some 'comic' comic strips?!!"

Okay, I hear ya.
And to make up for the overabundance of adventure strips,
here's not only the first and last of some comic strips
but everything inbetween.

HIPPY AND POP by Peter Murphey
Here's the first strip from January 7, 2002:
http://geocities.ws/hippyandpop/jan9.html
(I keep telling you
> > > January 7 is a very important date in comic strip history.)

The last Hippy and Pop strip from March 31, 2002:
http://geocities.ws/hippyandpop/march31.html

Yes, the strip was syndicated for three months!
as Peter Murphey explains:
"Most syndication contracts are formulated with a clause
where either party is free to walk away (from what is otherwise
a ten or fifteen year contract) if for any eight week period
sales drop below a predetermined minimum figure. At the two month
mark of Hippy and Pop’s run it was still not generating this
minimum number. Towards the end of that month the King sales
staff met and assessed the potential for any new sales in the
next few months and decided they had a better chance of unloading
shares of Enron stock to the editors. Shortly there after I got
the phone call announcing Hippy and Pop’s demise. I was consoled
by the fact it may have set a record of some sort for shortest-lived
daily strip in history."
http://www.oocities.org/hippyandpop/thehistory.html

Clicking on "The Strips" at that last link will
get you all three months of Hippy and Pop.

BIRCH AND FINCH by Mike Marland
From the September 7, 2013 Concord Monitor:
http://www.marlandcartoons.com/uploads/1/2/6/2/12628113/6905455_orig.gif

The last Birch and Finch from the last Saturday of last year:
http://www.marlandcartoons.com/uploads/1/2/6/2/12628113/published/1231birch-finch.gif?1483556113

And every strip inbetween:
http://www.marlandcartoons.com/birch--finch-archive.html
Go here to see the December 2016 strips:
http://www.marlandcartoons.com/birch--finch.html

SILVER LININGS by Harvey Kurtzman
The great Harvey Kurtzman had a Sunday strip that ran
on occasion in the New York Herald Tribune;
a total of nine strips - the first ran March 7, 1948
and the last ran June 20, 1948.
Comiccrazys posted six in color and really good condition at
https://comicrazys.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/silver-linings-harvey-kurtzman/
(click on the strips to enlarge into readable versions)
and the other three strips not there
can be read at Ger Apeldoorn's site:
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2009/05/hurray-for-harvey-kurtz-tuesday-extra.html
(again, click to embiggen)

FLIP RHODUN by Jeremy W. Eaton
Very early in Jeremy Eaton's https://www.lambiek.net/artists/e/eaton_j.htm
he created a newspaper comic strip.
Flip Rhodun ran from June 22, 1981 until August 13, in The Butler Eagle.
He has posted the entire run of the strip at
http://earlyjwe.blogspot.com/2008/05/flip-rhodun-space-marine-in-23rd.html

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

So, Hippy and Pop had to be the shortest lived comic strip ever (Not counting Christmas month strips by King Features and UFS that ran about 4 weeks)? I hope Allan Holiz features it as an OBSCURITY OF THE DAY in his Strippers Guide blog someday.

[D.D.Degg]

Friday the Thirteenth comes on a Monday this month!
So let's Go Pogo!

The Pogo comic strip first appeared in the New York Star on October 4, 1948.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEDLssdrzlQ/UBLbfbld0hI/AAAAAAAAAjs/1ZH2ifNoPy0/s1600/Pogo+first+local.jpg
It ran until January 28, 1949 as a local strip.

It began national syndication on May 16, 1949,
reprising what had run in the New York Star:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F84JWaXPpVU/UBLbfh6vqBI/AAAAAAAAAj0/GHfyvxUdKYs/s1600/Pogo+first+national.jpg
Here the turtle is identified as Churchy.

[Of course Pogo and Albert first appeared in a 1942 comic book:
https://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2013/06/number-1389-enter-albert-and-pogo.html ]

Walt Kelly died in 1973, the strip lasted almost two more years
ending on July 20, 1975. Here's that last strip courtesy of
our very own Darryl Heine via YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyy37fzpdo

Years later the strip was revived as "Walt Kelly's Pogo".
The first strip from January 8, 1989:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1989/01/08/page/205/
The next day saw the first daily of the revival:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1989/01/09/page/70/

Can't find the last strip (November 28, 1993) of the revival.
http://strippersguide.blogspot.de/2008/12/obscurity-of-day-walt-kellys-pogo.html

Animation Resources showcases some Walt Kelly/Pogo stuff at
http://animationresources.org/category/walt-kelly/

Also go to Whirled of Kelly:
http://whirledofkelly.blogspot.com/

But Walt Kelly wasn't alone in bringing politics to the
funny pages in the 1950s, there was also Al Capp's Li'l Abner.

Li'l Abner first appeared August 13, 1934
http://www.gocomics.com/lil-abner/1934/08/19
GoComics has rerun the first episodes a number of times
over the past few years (don't know why they date the
first one for August 19, a Sunday in 1934).

The strip lasted until 1977.
Here's the last three dailies:
http://www.tcj.com/reviews/al-capp-a-life-to-the-contrary/capp0028/
The last Sunday came out on November 13, 1977:
http://pdxretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LilAbner-771113-H-M-LastSunday-XL1.jpg

Though apparently more Sundays were produced to
appear after that November 13, 1977 strip:
http://sekvenskonst.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-last-lil-abner.html

Unlike Kelly, who maintained a liberal bent for life,
Al Capp became more conservative as he aged. By the
mid 1960s he was satirizing the progressive movement.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VMEELKqWwkw/TqSLydpy2bI/AAAAAAAAQZQ/FO9BuXeQTak/s1600/Al+Capp+-+Al+Capp+On+Campus.JPG
Some, today, recall his depiction of students
and compare it to today's protests on campuses.
http://natedsanders.com/Lil-Abner-Comic-Strip-From-10-April-1966----H-LOT22716.aspx

Like Pogo a revival was set up,
unlike Pogo the revival never got into newspapers.
http://potrzebie.blogspot.com/2012/01/al-capps-lil-abner-came-to-end-on.html

Animation Resources showcases some Al Capp/Li'l Abner at
http://animationresources.org/category/al-capp/

D.D.Degg

[Jimmy Delach]

>
> Years later the strip was revived as "Walt Kelly's Pogo".
> The first strip from January 8, 1989:
> http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1989/01/08/page/205/
> The next day saw the first daily of the revival:
> http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1989/01/09/page/70/
>
> Can't find the last strip (November 28, 1993) of the revival.
> http://strippersguide.blogspot.de/2008/12/obscurity-of-day-walt-kellys-pogo.html

I clipped the last Pogo on newspapers.com (via Florida Today):

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8887849/florida_today/

And Darryl also did a video with the first new Pogo strip (interestingly it was from the Orlando Sentinel and not the relative local Chicago Tribune)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxqe4OC0Lls

Locally here was the history of the new Pogo in Central Florida...

Tampa Bay Times: replaced "Beetle Bailey", ran until 4/2/1989 when it was replaced by "Curtis" which is still in the paper (and the Times brought back "Beetle" last year when the Tampa Tribune died. Speaking of...)

Tampa Tribune: Can't remember what strip got the boot offhand (possibilities are either "Spider-Man", "Mary Worth" or "Funky Winkerbean" - Brian Henke is cringing that I mentioned two of his favorites here). Like the Times, "Pogo" didn't see the end of 1989 in the Tribune either (although it's run was a bit longer). It ran until 11/5 when it was replaced by "Batman" (which would be dropped by the end of 1990 in favor of "Sally Forth").

As for the Orlando Sentinel, "Pogo" did make it to 1990 but not by much. It's last appearance was on 1/28/1990. It ran only on Sundays.

[D.D.Degg]

> January 7, 1934 was a Sunday and saw the debut of
> Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon by Don Moore and Alex Raymond:
> http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Flash-Gordon-Jungle-Jim-first-page.jpg

So let's finish the Alex Raymond strips.

Alex Raymond's Sunday page of Flash and Jim was soon
followed by an Alex Raymond daily strip. Collaborating
with Dashiell Hammett (and Don Moore?) the Secret Agent X-9
comic strip began appearing in newspapers January 22, 1934:
http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2014/01/16/ask-the-archivist-secret-agent-s-debut

The strip lasted 62 years ending on February 10, 1996
when writer/artist George Evans retired. The last strip:
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/1996_02_10.jpg

As the KFS Archivist noted above there were a number of
artists inbetween Raymond and Evans - Flanders, Graff,
Lubbers, and more. But the most respected team on the
feature was probably Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.
Here, from a 1967 King comic book, was their debut/tryout
story for Secret Agent X-9 (soon retitled Secret Agent Corrigan):
http://thebristolboard.tumblr.com/post/147820118535/forgotten-masterpiece-complete-original-art-by-al

There was a proposal to bring Secret Agent X-9 back
with art by the incredible Eduardo Barreto
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_LjIooFsveg/TupRa8HZIII/AAAAAAAAFug/dlVI94-6C_M/s1600/X-9--line-art-small.jpg
but that came to naught.

Secret Agent Corrigan (and George Evans) did return to
the comics pages four years after the end of the strip,
this time as a guest star in the Flash Gordon strip of 2000:
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Evans.Flash_.jpg

While Raymond bailed on the daily strip fairly early,
he stayed with the Sunday page for ten years;
leaving that in 1944 to join the Marines of WWII.

After the war he returned to the comics pages, but with a new strip.
Rip Kirby by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene began March 3, 1946:
http://images.tcj.com/2016/08/Alex7-e1472765207634.jpg
and
http://images.tcj.com/2016/08/Alex8-e1472765244860.jpg
shows the first six dailies.

Raymond stayed with this until his death in 1956.

The strip itself lasted until 1999 when Frank Bolle
drew the last week of dailies (it was never a Sunday strip):
http://www.jimkeefe.com/studio/prentice/Bolle.html

That, of course completely bypasses 50 years of
John Prentice drawing the strip. For a taste of that go to
http://www.comicartfans.com/searchresult.asp?PM=3&txtSearch=John+Prentice&Order=&PI=18

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Well, finally got Michael Tisserand's new George Herriman biography
https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061732997/krazy

So...
Let's Get Krazy!

Krazy and Ignatz first appeared on July 26, 1910
as a bit of side action to the main Dingbat Family strip:
http://images.tcj.com/2016/12/Krazy2.jpg
As R. C. Harvey notes in the above link, within a month (August 15)
the Kat and Mouse antics had become separated from the above action.
[Which is not to say there hadn't been prototypes of a sort:
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2016/11/herriman-saturday_26.html ]

Herriman's Kat took over the daily Dingbat Family spot
for a week in 1911 (November 16 - 21). The big strip
was even retitled "Krazy Kat and I. Mouse" for a couple
of weeks the following year (July 2 - 16, 1912).
http://images.tcj.com/2016/12/Krazy15.jpg

But the first official daily Krazy Kat strip debuted October 28, 1913
(here running ten days later on the other side of the country):
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1913-11-07/ed-1/seq-11/
and, yes, it was set up to run vertically on the
fairly new Hearst daily comics page.

The Sunday page came along on April 23, 1916
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/6

The Sunday page ran in black and white, and not in the
Sunday comics section, until June 1, 1935 when it
began appearing in full color.
note: From January to March in 1922 Herriman produced
the Sunday black and white strip and another colored
(tinted) strip for Hearst's Saturday editions.

Herriman died April 25, 1944.

The last Sunday Krazy page was published
two months later on June 25, 1944.
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_2305/subcat_24137/Herriman-6-25-44-low-res-II.jpg

The last daily strip had run a bit earlier - June 3, 1944.
http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/1058_page2_original.png?1398872693

Notice that neither of those last strips are signed by Herriman.

R. C. Harvey shows a last unfinished daily strip:
http://images.tcj.com/2016/12/Krazy9.jpg

sources:
Mark Johnson, the KFS Archivist, posted most of the above at
http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2014/05/01/ask-the-archivist-krazy-s-first-and-last

R. C. Harvey posted a Herriman/Krazy Kat article at The
Comics Journal site: http://www.tcj.com/krazy-love/

The Comic Strip Library has posted a number of early strips:
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/browse/results?title=1

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Margaret Blaisdell Anderson has passed away at age 96.
The obituary says "she was the daughter of Viola Hull Fisher
and E. Warde Blaisdell, noted illustrator and cartoonist"
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/rrstar/obituary.aspx?n=Margaret-Anderson&pid=184281871

From Allan Holtz we have Elijah Warde Blaisdell's "Bunny Bright":
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/search?q=bunny+bright

The Barnacle Press site then give us the first (May 27, 1906) strip
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Bunny%20Bright/bunnybright060527.jpg/

and the last strip:
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Bunny%20Bright/bunnybright061202.jpg/
(Holtz says it ended on November 11, 1906
but Barnacle puts this strip down as December 2, 1906.)

Jumping from an early strip to current strips...

Here's a page giving some (comparatively) recent first strips
along with current strips to see their evolution:
http://www.amreading.com/2016/09/18/6-beloved-comic-strips-and-their-evolution-throughout-the-years/

The page gives the last Calvin and Hobbes strip,
but not the last Peanuts - so here it is:
http://assets.amuniversal.com/8c6821b0fbb20130177f001dd8b71c47

Of course every Peanuts strip from first to last is now available
since Fantagraphics The Complete Peanuts series is complete.
http://www.fantagraphics.com/series/the-complete-peanuts/

Here's something related to that first (and current) Garfield above;
the last daily U. S. Acres strip from Jim Davis and Brett Koth:
http://www.gocomics.com/us-acres/2014/04/12
Going forward on that page will show the last Sunday U. S. Acres,
and continuing forward it goes to the beginning of that strip.

Let's see...
Hey, I haven't posted a January 7 debut strip for awhile, so:
http://babyblues.com/2015/01/07/a-milestone/

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Story and Art
A First, Last, and Everything Inbetween edition

Lance by Warren Tufts
is what got me thinking about doing this series.

The first Lance June 5, 1955 (full broadsheet page)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kEmQZzRFa9M/TG2B2IjireI/AAAAAAAAAAM/rYC7dLf4ybM/s1600/Lance+001.jpg
(click on image to enlarge)

The last Lance May 29, 1960 (Full tab page)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DqjtHRw2ddk/UM4qLFwKhGI/AAAAAAAAAqg/DHVEEYIxwUM/s1600/261.jpg

Start with this page for the entire (including dailies) run:
http://lance-by-tufts.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-08-19T20:21:00%2B01:00&max-results=10&start=290&by-date=false

Before Lance Warren Tufts had done another western strip,
Casey Ruggles ran 1949 - 1955.
Casey Ruggles began as Sunday only and here are the first two Sundays:
https://www.prismnet.com/~norwoodr/ocasey.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

With the forthcoming death of The 21st Phantom
http://comicskingdom.com/phantom/2017-03-13

Let's look at the beginning.
The Phantom comic strip first appeared February 17, 1936,
though The Phantom didn't appear until February 21, 1936:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cUWoUXFvodQ/Td4OvRzGcnI/AAAAAAAAEd8/GbG1H85Q2lA/s1600/phantomdaily01.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzdphIyzIhs/Td4O994T9JI/AAAAAAAAEeE/785GBjyjAkU/s1600/phantomdaily02.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1pHev6SXlo/Td4O_86eyJI/AAAAAAAAEeI/vbscFxlf2ZM/s1600/phantomdaily03.jpg

The Sunday Phantom began on May 28, 1939
with The Story of The Phantom:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U7DOeyRubF8/S-xLGxbhjaI/AAAAAAAAFGo/Z41NVTSE2FM/s1600/1+phantom+1%C2%AApag+wp19390528.jpg

Lee Falk's other comic strip, Mandrake the Magician,
first appeared a couple years earlier than The Phantom - June 11, 1934:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WYZ3WuWwAPE/Vwls27_tfgI/AAAAAAAAFQE/WjO2kgyOVpUHec6AU-lS0kMnrtewNQjTA/s1600/Capture.JPG

Like Falk's later strip, the title character
didn't appear until later in the debut week.
Here is the first appearance of Lothar, Mandrake and magic:
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2013/09/mandrake_page1.png

The Mandrake the Magician Sunday page started on February 3, 1935:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pyG9ZH24j6U/VwlwjhqJSsI/AAAAAAAAFQk/KnYZPhllM48wL9inPmqS7fMIj_6isOS6Q/s1600/Capture.JPG

The last Sunday Mandrake was December 29, 2002:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iaDkuGeQac/VwlxarH5OfI/AAAAAAAAFQ4/tGR85lVdHFE8zgJgNdWZMlS60mjJA2u8g/s1600/Capture.JPG

The last Mandrake daily strip was July 6, 2013:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eb7a06QEslQ/Vwlt5duM9EI/AAAAAAAAFQQ/HdxGSUTe1ysvpzMSyMm6ZdqNHwC_8etVg/s1600/Capture.JPG

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

There's going to be a 22nd. Phantom in the comic strip soon? I hope the Lee Falk estate doesn't put an end to the Phantom if Phantom #21 gets killed off...

[John W Kennedy]

Last I heard, it’s still a hot property world-wide.

--
John W. Kennedy
"The blind rulers of Logres
Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."
-- Charles Williams. "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"

[D.D.Degg]

This week came the news that Lynn Johnston's
For Better or For Worse comic strip will get
The Complete Collection treatment from IDW:
http://www.newsarama.com/33641-lynn-johnston-s-for-better-or-for-worse-the-complete-library.html

For Better or For Worse first appeared on Sunday October 9, 1979
http://fborfw.com/stripcatalog/strips/79/FB090979.gif
(do not know why this strip is dated "8-5")
Dailies began the next day - October 10, 1979
http://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/1979/09/10

The last new daily ran August 30, 2008
http://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2008/08/30
with the last new Sunday running the following day
http://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2008/08/31
I believe all (but the first Sunday) the strips from
first daily to last Sunday are available on GoComics.

Of course the reprints running after the original run
were rejiggered by Lynn, retouching art and rescripting
strips upon occasion.
According to Wikipedia:
"This began what Johnston called "new-runs", restarting her
storyline with a roughly 50/50 mixture of reruns of early strips,
and re-workings of 1980s strips that featured the original artwork
(sometimes slightly retouched) with new dialogue...
"For the next 22 months, the strip ran in this format.
On July 12, 2010, without fanfare, the strip quietly switched to
straight reruns of material from the 1980s. However, these straight
reruns have had slight alterations as well. The daily strips,
which were originally inked, have been digitally colorized..."

Wikipedia goes on detailing more changes to include updating
strips that use dates or obsolete/dated toys and attitudes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Better_or_For_Worse#Reruns


Fifty-five years before For Better or For Worse was the
similarly titled For Better or Worse strip by Tad Dorgan.
That Sunday-only strip first appeared on January 7, 1922.
Can't find that first strip, but here's one from March of 1922:
https://www.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/comic-strip-art/thomas-tad-dorgan-for-better-or-worse-comic-strip-original-art-dated-3-26-22-king-features-syndicate-1922-/a/88022-91870.s

It ran until the April 11(Saturday)/April 12(Sunday), 1925 weekend:
http://www.coollinesart.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=177703&ArtistId=709&Details=1&From=Room

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

"On The Wing" by Zack Mosley first appeared on Sunday October 1, 1933
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1933/10/01/page/62/

Three months later it was retitled "Smilin' Jack" on December 31, 1933
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1933/12/31/page/36/
(scroll down that page to see the strip)

It first saw print as a daily on June 15, 1936
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1936/06/15/page/24/

The last Smilin' Jack strip was Sunday April 1, 1973
http://www.opinionarlington.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-04-19-2a.jpg

The above last Sunday comes from this page
http://www.opinionarlington.com/?p=2358
which gives more information about Smilin' Jack.

For even more about Zack Mosley and Jack Martin
see their homepage: http://www.smilinjackart.com/sales.htm

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Fake News!
Fake News Papers!
Fake News Reporters!

Comic strips and newspapers a symbiotic relationship?

But there haven't been a lot of
comic strips about newspapers.

The Treetop Tattler was one,
it was/is featured in Shoe by the great Jeff MacNelly.
Shoe first appeared September 12, 1977,
and that strip can be read at the bottom of this page:
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2013/07/Shoe_promo3.png

(click on image to enlarge)

The strip was more focused on the newspaper environment
early on in its existence.
A couple more early ones courtesy Charles Brubaker:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JJVmonOSHsc/T9v4-2d8sKI/AAAAAAAACD0/PlcY02y2QzI/s1600/shoe2.jpg
Shoe continues by other hands so no last strip.

An early effort at comic strips and reporting was Hap Hopper.
Created by Drew Pearson, Bob Allen, and Jack Sparling
it first appeared January 29, 1940. The first strip and adventure:
http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/2017/03/hap-hopper-jack-sparling-1940.html

By 1946 a new character, Barry Kent, had been introduced
and was overshadowing the titular star of the comic strip
(kinda like photojournalist Steve Roper ousting Big Chief Wahoo).

On May 22, 1947 it turned out that Barry Kent was Barry Noble
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pm2qWkul1VM/T8eu3WpiuwI/AAAAAAAAyJ8/mqmmIF1K-ko/s1600/Barry%2BNoble%2B1947-05-22.jpg
and on May 26, 1947 the strip was retitled Barry Noble
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zClaHIHNUZA/T8evLNBkxdI/AAAAAAAAyKk/DBLRMy5L7aY/s1600/Barry%2BNoble%2B1947-05-26.jpg

Strips during that transition can be read at
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2012/05/ghost-story-thursday-story-strip-day.html

Barry Noble, now no longer with Drew Pearson credits,
lasted until May 21, 1941. The last week of strips at
http://fultonhistory.com/newspapers%207/Fredonia%20%20NY%20Censor/Fredonia%20NY%20Censor%201948-1949%20Grayscale/Fredonia%20NY%20Censor%201948-1949%20Grayscale%20-%200710.pdf

Of course the fairer sex also ha careers as newspaper reporters.
There was one particularly famous "girl reporter" in comic strips.
No, not that one. This one:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gLJ87aUMYE/UtRr-RsYVZI/AAAAAAAARko/-9Uy-pwxa8g/s1600/LoisL1.jpg
That Sunday topper enjoyed 12 installments.
The topper ran "10/24/43 through 2/27/1944.
The strips were numbered 1-12, undated,
and didn't run every week"
The other 11 can be read at
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/obscurity-of-day-lois-lane-girl.html
and
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/02/lois-lane-revisited.html

Oh, the other famous female was just referred to as "reporter".
Beginning June 30, 1940
http://peur-evol.blogspot.com/2013/07/as-one-of-earliest-female-cartoonists.html

End January 2, 2011
https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/comics/brenda-starr/
Those strips are a little fuzzy, here one that's smaller but clearer:
https://thedailyfunnies.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/01-02-10-brenda-starr.png

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

> Barry Noble, now no longer with Drew Pearson credits,
> lasted until May 21, 1941.

That date should read May 21, 1949!

>The last week of strips at
> http://fultonhistory.com/newspapers%207/Fredonia%20%20NY%20Censor/Fredonia%20NY%20Censor%201948-1949%20Grayscale/Fredonia%20NY%20Censor%201948-1949%20Grayscale%20-%200710.pdf

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

April Firsts - no foolin'

April 2, 1990 - First Pickles by Brian Crane
http://www.tcj.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/HarTon0052.jpg

April 6, 1936 - Mickey Finn by Lank Leonard debuts
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2021/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201936/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201936%20-%202523.pdf
(scroll down)

April 7, 1935 - Bill Holman gives Spooky his own Sunday topper
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-zuCaeA7No/T5bmrS8kvtI/AAAAAAAAFic/n0gPYVR82PU/s1600/smokey19350407+Smokey+Stover+First+Spooky+Bill+Holman.jpg

April 10, 1988 - Nerd Alert! First Foxtrot
http://gocomics.tumblr.com/post/47709366122/throwback-thursday-the-first-foxtrot-strip-ever

April 10, 1904 - First The Newlyweds by George McManus
--- sorry, couldn't find this one ---

April 14, 1924 - Washington Tubbs II by the great Roy Crane shows up
http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/previews/hurisl-preview.pdf
(scroll down)

April 14, 1947 - Grandma by Charles Harris Kuhn
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9X9P6TUQAEPoR1.jpg

April 15, 1946 - Ed Dodd's Mark Trail debuts
http://www.negahc.org/fullpanel/uploads/files/12a-history-center-special-section-2012.pdf
(scroll down)

April 16, 1984 - Rose is Rose by Pat Brady
https://tinyurl.com/lnottyg
(via googlebooks, scroll down)

April 16, 1989 - Scott Adams' Dilbert
http://dilbert.com/strip/1989-04-16

April 18, 1977 - Sam and Silo by Jerry Dumas and Mort Walker
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2012/09/sam_silo1_daily.png
(the top strip)

April 19, 1930 - Ham Fisher's champ Joe Palooka enters the ring
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=66533
(scroll down)

April 19, 1970 - Broom-Hilda's first appearance, by Russell Myers
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/04/19/page/330/
(Broom-Hilda's first daily April 20, 1970 on page 1 of The Chicago Tribune
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/04/20/page/1/
scroll down)

April 19, 1999 - Aaron MacGruder's The Boondocks shakes up the neighborhood
http://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/1999/04/19

April 20, 1942 - Barnaby by Crockett Johnson appears
http://www.philnel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/barnaby-flyer-1.jpg

April 22, 1990 - The Buckets by Scott Stantis
--- sorry, couldn't find it ---

April 23, 1917 - E. C. Segar's Barry the Boob first appears
--- couldn't find this one either ---

April 27, 1958 - Rick O'Shay by Stan Lynde debuts
http://stanlynde.net/images/site_graphics/scan_900px.jpg
(the daily would show up in May)

April 29, 1906 - First appearance of The Kin-der-Kids and Your Uncle Feininger
https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_images/enlarge/82/102082.jpg
The Kin-der-Kids - first, last, and everything inbetween
https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_ge/objbytag/objbytag_tag-vo65437_sort-5.html

April 29, 1940 - Boody Rogers' Sparky Watts strip appears
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tnnLMpzO3M0/UryItc_z2GI/AAAAAAAAVGE/aa7Gdea2KhA/s1600/newspaper+2.jpg
The second strip
https://newspapercomicstripsblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/sparky01.jpg
Sparky Watts origin as seen in a comic book reprint
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17270

D.D.Degg
mega-thanks to http://cartoonacy.blogspot.com/p/cartoonists-calendar.html

[D.D.Degg]

Last week I did Uncle Feininger's The Kin-der-Kids,
so now the original full-page artistic masterpiece.

The first Little Nemo in Slumberland (October 15, 1905)
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/111

The last Little Nemo in Slumberland
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/663

Winsor McCay was then hired away from The New York Herald
by Wm. Randolph Hearst for the New York American;
but they could take the comics title with them.

The first In the Land of Wonderful Dreams
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/664

The last In the Land of Wonderful Dreams (July 26, 1914)
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/784

Everything inbetween the first Little Nemo
and the last Wonderful Dreams can be had at
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/browse/results?title=2

McCay revived Little Nemo in Slumberland in the 1920s
(August 3, 1924 - December 26, 1926),
for these he used a static 12 panel grid.
Some of those can be seen at
https://picclick.ie/LITTLE-NEMO-SUNDAY-Color-Strip-9-5-1926-WINSOR-McCAY-111469949373.html

While justly praised McCay's Little Nemo has
become commonplace over the past few decades.

What impressed me (fairly) recently was when
Peter Maresca featured 'Naughty Pete' on his
Origins of the Sunday Comics gocomics page.

The first Naughty Pete - August 10, 1913
http://www.gocomics.com/origins-of-the-sunday-comics/2015/08/21

The last Naughty Pete - December 7, 1913
http://www.gocomics.com/origins-of-the-sunday-comics/2015/09/20

All the strips inbetween can be enjoyed by using the
forward and/or backward arrows on the above pages.

Lambiek's Charles Forbell page at
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/f/forbell_c.htm

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Space Cowboys
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QtVeqFwpFNk/UYX659dz3hI/AAAAAAAAglo/7lyVrTNwwJs/s1600/a+(213).jpg

Well, I picked up IDW's first volume of the Star Hawks comic strip today.
I've seen/read these first strips in a few different formats -
originally in the newspaper, then as a mass market paperback,
as reprinted in The Comic Reader, and Hermes Press' Complete collection.
But here the strips are printed large enough to really
enjoy the Gil Kane art for the first time.
Here's a preview with the first five dailies (October 3, 1977 - ):
http://13thdimension.com/exclusive-preview-kane-and-goularts-star-hawks-vol-1/

Star Hawks had been created and set up and then put on hold.
With the success of the 1977 Star Wars movie, it was dusted off
and put into syndication.

Star Wars itself took a year and a half to get comic stripped.
The comic strip Star Wars debuted on Sunday March 11, 1979:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-44UEF5cB4R8/TZwsmk_GnaI/AAAAAAAABwg/hAVHxdwQRGU/s1600/050309.png
The daily began the next day:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-516WSxNci1I/TZwnFC5fKUI/AAAAAAAABvg/sy-FqKQhcCQ/s1600/050409.png
The first couple years of the Star Wars strip can be read at
http://www.hassleinbooks.com/pages/resources.php#manning

Later in 1979 (December 2, 1979) came the Star Trek comic strip:
http://www.startrekcomics.info/images/misc/usstrips/19791202.jpg
An index of the Star Trek comic strip can be found at
http://www.startrekcomics.info/ustosstrips.html

Back to Star Hawks...
Star Hawks was created by science fiction author Ron Goulart
who placed the strip in his Barnum System, a popular location
in many of his previous books.

But Ron Goulart wasn't the first science fiction author
to write comic strips. Among those who preceded him was
Jack Williamson who, with Lee Elias, created Beyond Mars.
Beyond Mars debuted February 17, 1952 as a Sunday only strip
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/TFSp20rn8OI/AAAAAAAAIBg/e2KeRpWoM2Y/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Nemo+12032.jpg
The first episode was presented in an issue of Nemo:
http://jeffoverturf.blogspot.com/search/label/Beyond%20Mars
(scroll down)

Another science fiction author had his character adapted to
a Sunday only comic strip - adapted by his son.
John Carter of Mars by John Coleman Burroughs ran
December 7, 1941 to April 18, 1943. The entire run can be read at
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2288.html

Coming soon...
more science fiction comic strips.

D.D.Degg

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <84992d0a-abdb-4c51...@googlegroups.com>,

D.D.Degg <ddde...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>But Ron Goulart wasn't the first science fiction author
>to write comic strips. Among those who preceded him was
>Jack Williamson who, with Lee Elias, created Beyond Mars.
>Beyond Mars debuted February 17, 1952 as a Sunday only strip
>http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/TFSp20rn8OI/AAAAAAAAIBg/e2KeRpWoM2Y/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Nemo+12032.jpg
>The first episode was presented in an issue of Nemo:
>http://jeffoverturf.blogspot.com/search/label/Beyond%20Mars
>(scroll down)

I've always heard that Williamson got the job because a book reviewer
compared one of his books to a comic strip as an insult, and a comic editor
read the review and thought "Well, hey!"

And don't forget Philip Francis Nowlan

[D.D.Degg]

Ted Nolan wrote

> >Jack Williamson who, with Lee Elias, created Beyond Mars.

> I've always heard that Williamson got the job because a book reviewer
> compared one of his books to a comic strip as an insult, and a comic editor
> read the review and thought "Well, hey!"

"[New York Sunday News] Editor Ama Barker sought out noted
sci-fi author Jack Williamson after reading a review of one
of his books [in the New York Times]which had (unfavorably)
compared his space opera to a comic strip adventure."
http://cinemasentries.com/review/book-review-beyond-mars-the-complete-series-by-jack-williamson-and-lee-elias/

And here is a bit more on Williamson's comic strip career:
"It is said Chester Gould suggested many of the story lines
and helped Williamson from time to time on a proper way to
present a comic-strip plot."
A decade before the Dick Tracy freak out in a Moonage Daydream, oh yeah!
http://davekarlenoriginalartblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-greatest-adventure-beyond-mars.html
(A comment here also mentions the Ama Barker story,
calling her "Ana" (as does the Wikipedia Beyond Mars entry).

> And don't forget Philip Francis Nowlan

Buck Rogers was noted upthread; but you're right,
as part of the science fiction writers doing comic
strips message, Nowlan should have been mentioned.

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Space Cowboys - part two
http://www.jimkeefe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Flash.flyer_.jpg

How else to start part two than with...
Twin Earths by Oskar Lebeck and Al McWilliams
First daily (June 16, 1952) and the story that follows:
http://hairygreeneyeball3.blogspot.com/2015/09/twin-earths-science-fiction-comic-strip.html
First Sunday (March 1, 1953) and the story that follows:
http://98.130.146.204/twin_earths/twin_earths_sunday_strips_1.html
More Twin Earth dailies at
http://98.130.146.204/twin_earths/twin_earths_sunday_strips_1.html

An early space adventure, even before Flash Gordon (but after Buck Rogers),
was Brick Bradford by William Ritt and Clarence Gray.
Brick Bradford debuted August 21, 1933. Here are the 1st 3 dailies:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_0J4q8WYAASfMt.jpg
It ended on Sunday May 10, 1987 by Paul Norris:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/la-bd-de-journal-au-quebec/images/f/f0/Brick_Bradford_10-5-1987_final.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161213233356&path-prefix=fr

Drift Marlo by Phil Evans and Tom Cooke began May 29, 1961.
The first strip and story at
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2013/01/whats-cookin-thursday-story-strip-day.html

Chris Welkin, Planeteer began November 5, 1951:
https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=13960&page=1
The dailies only lasted a few years, the Sunday until April 18, 1965:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WPnvwRhZrHU/VtqQGzHszwI/AAAAAAABiwE/UxH3DJYOjFg/s1600/Chris%2BWelkin%2B1965-04-18.jpg
The strip was by Russ Winterbotham and Art Sansom;
yes, the Art Sansom who created The Born Loser in 1965.
A sampling of Chris Welkin Sundays at
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Chris%20Welkin%20Planeteer

The Spaceman Spiff Saga by Bill Watterson
Spaceman Spiff first appeared November 29, 1985
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/29
and last appeared October 1, 1995
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/10/01
All(?) episodes inbetween can be accessed from
http://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/search.php?phrase=spaceman+spiff

Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America.
SPACE CONQUERORS! ran there from Sep 1952 to October 1972
by Al Stenzel (although ghosts were used).
September 1952:
https://books.google.com/books?id=0GvRa3prw9kC&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false
October 1972:
https://books.google.com/books?id=0GvRa3prw9kC&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false
All the strips are linked at
http://planettom.livejournal.com/294248.html
And if you scroll up and down after clicking on the links
you will be able to read many other Boy's Life strips.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Also available from GoogleBooks is a nice selection
of the He-Man comic strip as presented in the Dark Horse collection.
From the first strip (a Sunday) of July 20, 1986
to the last strip (also a Sunday) of February 17, 1991.
https://books.google.com/books?id=RIvmDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=comic+strips&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSvOmhhdPTAhUFhlQKHWmMAEcQ6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q=comic%20strips&f=false
or http://preview.tinyurl.com/mwzeokt

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet first appeared as a comic strip
on Sunday September 9, 1951 by Paul S. Newman and Ray Bailey:
http://www.solarguard.com/tcimages/strip/tc-first-sunday.jpg
Dailies, by the same team, followed the next day:
http://www.solarguard.com/tcimages/strip/tcdaily-1951-0910.jpg
The better part of the first two weeks can be found at
http://www.solarguard.com/tc-strip/tcstrip-adv-intro.htm
and even more from the same people at
http://www.solarguard.com/tcstrip1.htm

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Space Cowboys - part three
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lLty2mhmdE0/Tvqdgav5SfI/AAAAAAAARAU/ApxrV9td4Ec/s1600/20_kirby_skymasters_wallywood.jpg

I was going to move on but since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
is remaining on top of the box office this weekend...

Captain Galaxy by Frank O'Connor
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-16Yy0TCbmDw/VJrp9vrx8_I/AAAAAAABT6s/wBaCOQCqIjY/s1600/Captain%2BGalaxy%2B1953-10-29.jpg
In 1953 a comic book insert called Arrow, the Family Comic Weekly
appeared in a few Sunday newspapers, one of the strips was
Captain Galaxy. It seems Captain Galaxy never got past the moon.
More at http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Captain%20Galaxy

Toward the end of The Fifties Dick Wood, Jack Kirby and Wally Wood
brought Sky Masters of the Space Force to newspapers.
The first week of dailies can be read at
http://stendekkk.blogspot.com/2011/12/sky-masters-hero-tale-by-jack-kirby.html
I don't have the last of Sky Masters, so here is the first,
last, and everything inbetween (except two panels) of Jack
Kirby adapting Walt Disney's The Black Hole movie in 1979.
http://sundaycomicsdebt.blogspot.com/2016/06/black-hole.html

Orbit by Bruce Hammond debuted September 1, 1985.
Here's the first month and more of Orbit:
http://sundaycomicsdebt.blogspot.com/2014/03/back-in-orbit.html

From the British Daily Express of February 15, 1955
comes the first Jeff Hawke strip:
http://jeffhawkeclub.myzen.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/JH-1.jpg
The strip ran for a couple decades,
some stories from 1960/1961 can be read at
http://hairygreeneyeball3.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+hawke

Tim Rickard's Brewster Rockit began July 5, 2004
http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/2004/07/05
and still continues to this day.
The entire archive is at the above gocomics site.

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

I know Brewster Rockit still runs in the Chicago Tribune since its 2004 launch (From 2009-2013 it was never run on Sundays).

You didn't mention one other galaxy related strip: Star Hawks (late 1970's).

[D Heine]

And for Galaxy strips late 1970's-early 1980's there was Star Wars and Star Trek in newspaper comic strips.

And for years we had in the Galaxy strip world Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Brick Bradford.

[D.D.Degg]

D Heine wrote:
> > You didn't mention one other galaxy related strip:
> > Star Hawks (late 1970's).
>
> And for Galaxy strips late 1970's-early 1980's there was
> Star Wars and Star Trek in newspaper comic strips.
>
> And for years we had in the Galaxy strip world Buck Rogers,
> Flash Gordon, and Brick Bradford.

Star Hawks, Star Wars, and Star Trek were all in the April 28 post.
Brick Bradford made it into the May 7 posting.
Buck Rogers had its own post early on - January 20th,
while Flash Gordon, paired with Jungle Jim,
was featured in a January 27 entry.

These recent Space Cowboys listings were not meant
to cover every comic strip based on outer space exploits
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/search/label/Adam%20Chase%20Sci-Friday
much less all those who, at some point, had outer space adventures
https://www.amazon.com/Connie-Catpives-Pirates-Masters-Pacific/dp/B004KEWYYM

And earth-bound science fiction tales
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Mr.%20Skygack%20From%20Mars/
were not included.

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

Sorry I didn't recognize...

[D.D.Degg]

Firsts that weren't.

Everyone knows that Mutt and Jeff was the first DAILY
comic strip when it first appeared on November 15, 1907
in the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/S7dtXuV2KmI/AAAAAAAAEjg/9qnwKanuegE/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Mutt+%26+Jeff003.jpg

And that when Fisher decided to switch papers he snuck
in a copyright notice into his last strip for the Chronicle
published on December 10, 1907:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/S7dtW06A_wI/AAAAAAAAEjY/4MSo_ZNDKe0/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Mutt+%26+Jeff004.jpg

The strip really began its road to fame with the
introduction of Jeff Jeffries on March 27, 1908:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/S7dtB_2n8AI/AAAAAAAAEjI/Q4UK0j5fIIw/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Mutt+%26+Jeff005.jpg
The phrase "Mutt and Jeff" would become part of the English language.

But that first statement above is false.
Clare Briggs' "A. Piker Clerk" was the first daily - or not!
Seems "The Importance of Mr. Peewee" has been discovered:
http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-importance-of-mr-peewee.html
More Mr. Peewee at
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Importance%20of%20Mr.%20Peewee/

Well, at least we know that the first comic strip was
Hogan's Alley starring the Yellow Kid in the N. Y. World:
https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_albums/yellowkid/1895/1895.htm
May 5th is even celebrated as National Cartoonists Day
to celebrate The Yellow Kid's first newspaper appearance
on May 5, 1895.
Only it wasn't.
May 5, 1895 was the first COLOR appearance of The Kid in the
New York World. The first cartoon had appeared a few months
earlier (on February 17, 1895) in black and white in The World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Kid#/media/File:Outcault_4th_ward_brownies.jpg
and was itself a reprint from Truth magazine.

But the history books will tell you that other regularly
published features with continuing characters appeared
earlier in the Gay Nineties:
Charles Saalburg's Ting-Lings
http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2016/08/charles-w-saalburg-man-who-washed-kid.html
and
Jimmy Swinnerton's Little Bears (aka Little California Bears)
http://www.bluecoyotegallery.com/images/LittleCaliforniaBears1892.jpg
--not many images of this feature--

But two decades earlier, in the 1870s, was Livingston Hopkins'
newspaper comic strips (yes, sequential art with continuing characters)
of Professor Simple and Professor Tigwissel:
https://web.archive.org/web/20111012040731/http://superitch.com/?s=%22Tigwissel+Tuesdays%22&paged=2
and
https://web.archive.org/web/20111005195306/http://superitch.com/?s=%22Tigwissel+Tuesdays%22
also see
https://web.archive.org/web/20131206192325/http://superitch.com/?s=%22Tigwissel+Tuesdays%22


Mutt and Jeff lasted until June 26, 1983,
a strip I could not find.

The last Yellow Kid appearance in a newspaper strip
by creator R. F. Outcault was in a 1910 "Buster Brown" page:
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2017/03/on-strips-first-crossover.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

The Katzenjammer Kids

The Katzenjammer Kids first appeared December 12, 1897
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2012/12/1897_Katzenjammer2.png

Rudolph Dirks was The Katzenjammer Kids cartoonist, with
help from his brother Gus and other Hearst cartoonists, until
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2013/05/kk_omaha_bee.png

Dirks then went on vacation and soon
a legal fight twixt Hearst and Pulitzer over rights
to the strip put the strip on hold for a while.

Hearst's Katzenjammer Kids returned May 17, 1914.
After 6 months of ghosts they found their man and
H. H. Knerr began his run on the Katzenjammer kids
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2013/05/kk_ny_american.png

After Knerr a number of cartoonists continued the
comic strip until 2006.
http://www.yodaslair.com/dumboozle/katzies/artists.html

Rudolph Dirks returned to his Kids in Pulitzer's paper
(and syndicated to others) the following month
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Captain%20and%20the%20Kids/captainkids140607.jpg/

So now there were two versions of The Kids;
like The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown earlier.

Dirks did his version, eventually called
The Captain and the Kids, until June 16, 1968
http://cartoonician.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/U.jpg
Well, he signed the page until then,
his son had been ghosting the strip for a while.
John Dirks' first signed strip was June 23, 1968
http://cartoonician.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/V.jpg
The Captain and The Kids ended April 15, 1979.


A bunch of early Captain and The Kids strips at
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Captain%20and%20the%20Kids/

A bunch of early Katzenjammer Kids strips at
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Katzenjammer%20Kids/

Some more Katzenjammer Kids firsts:

The Captain first appeared August 31, 1902
http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/Katzenjammer%20Kids/kk020831.jpg

A year later is this August 2, 1903 Katzenjammer strip
http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/Katzenjammer%20Kids/kk030802.jpg
That SUPPOSEDLY shows the first example of "zzzzzzzzzzz"
being used in a comic strip to indicate sleeping/snoring.

And for #*@%'s sake also see
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2457

Some Katzenjammer Kids' NOT firsts:

The Katzenjammer Kids Wikipedia page states that
"Dirks was the first cartoonist to express dialogue in
comic characters through the use of speech balloons."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids
But over 200 years earlier, in 1974, was
http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/50200/50288r.jpg

That same Wikipedia page states that The Katzenjammer Kids'
last new page was on the first day of 2006.
2006 has been established as the last year that new
Katzenjammer Kids strips appeared, but I don't think
January 1, 2006 has ever been proven to be the last one.

Hey! More Katzenjammer Kids strips courtesy Hogan's Alley:
http://cartoonician.com/web-extras-hogans-alley-20/
(scroll down past a bunch of other web extras)

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

It's Wonder Woman Weekend!

From May 8, 1943 to December 1, 1944
Wonder Woman ran as a comic strip by
William Moulton Marston (as Charles Moulton)
and Harry G. Peter (and his studio).

The first strip
https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/wonderwoman/images/1/14/Wonder_Woman_1st_newspaper_strip_May_8_1944.png/revision/latest?cb=20161209005132
(okay, a long url but a really crisp view)
A clear but smaller repro with a shorter url at
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_Tr0isXUAAStac.jpg

The last strip
http://talkingcomicbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/WWstrip001.jpg

Lasting only a year and a half the
Complete Collection fit in one volume:
http://www.idwpublishing.com/product/wonder-woman-the-complete-newspaper-comics/
(notice their start date is May 1, 1943,
was there an introductory week no one else is mentioning?)

Some of the Origin strips from that book at
https://blurppy.com/2014/06/26/idw-dc-partner-up-to-bring-fans-some-golden-age-wonder-woman/

Another Wonder Woman first - the first drawing:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/10/birth-of-wonder-woman.html

Another Wonder Woman last - Peter's last WW comic book story:
https://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2012/01/number-1092-h.html

But Wonder Woman came back to the newspaper comics,
as a member of The Justice League (of America) she
co-starred in The World's Greatest Superheroes!
http://randomactsofgeekery.blogspot.com/2014/01/fandom-library-worlds-greatest-super.html
This strip started April 3, 1978 and was retitled
The World's Greatest Superheroes presents Superman
on October 14, 1979.
Wonder Woman appeared in some of the stories,
Wikipedia's list says she last appeared in April of 1982.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Greatest_Superheroes

That Superman story guest-starring Wonder Woman begins with
http://kupps.malibulist.com/2013/02/02/look-up-in-the-sky-its-superman-saturday-or-sunday/
Wonder Woman appears the next week:
http://kupps.malibulist.com/tag/worlds-greatest-superheroes/page/16/
(scroll to bottm of the page)

Wonder Woman's last appearance in a newspaper comic strip
(I don't think she appeared in the later Superman or Batman strips)
comes at toward the end of this story on April 16, 1982:
http://kupps.malibulist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sman-04_12_82-2.jpg
(I don't think she appeared in the later Superman or Batman strips.)

Wonder Woman would later appear in a pseudo-comic strip section;
she had a one page strip in DC's Wednesday Comics in 2009.
As Wikipedia explains: The twelve issues of the title were
published in 14" x 20" broadsheet format,
deliberately similar to Sunday newspaper comics sections.

Here's a couple sample pages:
http://www.the-isb.com/images/WCWW.jpg
and
https://www.brightestyoungthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/21642598.jpg

(click on image to enlarge)

Finally, just because I find it adorable, here's a cosplaying Wonder Tot
https://browsethestacks.tumblr.com/image/157393830259

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

> From May 8, 1943 to December 1, 1944
> Wonder Woman ran as a comic strip by
> William Moulton Marston (as Charles Moulton)
> and Harry G. Peter (and his studio).

https://theamericanscholar.org/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-08-at-1.35.20-PM.png

Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics
William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman,
published this essay in Winter 1943-44 issue of The American Scholar
"Approximately 1,500,000,000 copies of four- or five-panel
comic strips are circulated every week in the daily newspapers.
Only two of the nation’s 2,300 sizable dailies—the New York Times
and the Christian Science Monitor—are without comics. On Sunday
morning some 40,600,000 children read 2,500,000,000 comic strips
in more than 50,000,000 comic sections of Sunday newspapers, with
far greater concentration than the progeny of our Puritan ancestors
read the Bible."

"The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all
the strength of a Superman plus all the allure of a good and
beautiful woman. This is what I recommended to the comics publishers.

"My suggestion was met by a storm of mingled protests and guffaws."
https://theamericanscholar.org/wonder-woman/#

"So there’s the latest formula in comics—super­ strength, altruism,
and feminine love allure, combined in a single character."


D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Bada dada dada dada
dada dada dada dada
dada dada dada dada
BATMAN!

The Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939)
and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
It took three and a half years for him to get a daily comic strip.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZRLOsEdtl0/UBLNRHFWnmI/AAAAAAAAAbc/guDaEELSD_I/s1600/Batman+frist+dailies.jpg
Batman and Robin ran from October 25, 1943 - November 2, 1946,
Finger, Kane and a bunch of ghosts contributed
but (contractually) only Kane gets a credit.
https://bmj2k.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/c87jf.jpg?w=1000&h=

Batman next appeared in newspapers in September 1953 as part of
a newspaper comic book insert called Arrow the Family Comic Weekly
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Bruce%20Gentry
Batman and Robin September 7, 1953 - September ??, 1953
A promo at the top of page one:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/y7mtgqha
It is thought that the people doing this didn't have legal rights
to Batman and the Sunday only strip was quickly shut down.

The Batman TV show debuted January 12, 1966 and was an instant pop
phenomenon, so a comic strip was rushed into newspapers.
Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder May 29, 1966 - 1973?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/SxLyJr91-nI/AAAAAAAAIvQ/BD1VLbC2cBs/s1600/br660530.jpg
And yes, the POW!, ZAP!, WHAMM of the TV series
was incorporated into the comic strip.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nqDViCCmlIQ/UBLNRiHC8cI/AAAAAAAAAbk/4gdRBsD3ajk/s1600/Batman1a+1966.jpg
The comic strip lasted longer than the TV series and the comic strip
quickly adopted The NEW Batman persona of the comic books.
http://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Batman71_0201-week.jpg
While Bob Kane had nothing to do with the '66 - '72
comic strips his name (contractually) appeared on all of them.

This series ended strangely. The Ledger Syndicate and DC Comics
had some misunderstanding/disagreement and the syndicate took
over the strip and it morphed into something else:
http://13thdimension.com/galexo-the-strange-lost-chapter-of-batman-lore/
More of this strangeness at
http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2016/11/galexo-and-batman.html
Notice the "Batman with Robin and Galexo" title continues into 1973.
Even more about Galexo at
http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/search?q=galexo

Batman (and Robin) next appeared in the World's Greatest
Superheroes/Superman comic strip that ran from 1978 - 1985.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6512/558/1600/File0904.jpg
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Greatest_Superheroes
has Batman appearing in three Superheroes episodes
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_2165/subcat_29794/mOKzZZon_1609152151521.jpg
and guest=starring in two Superman stories.
https://www.hakes.com/Image/HighRes/111068/1/image.jpg

Batman returned to the movie theaters and the newspaper pages in 1989.
Batman November 6, 1989 - August 3, 1991
The first story was by Max Allan Collins and Marshall Rogers
http://about-faces.livejournal.com/32340.html
(notice John Nyberg inks come in toward the end)
Collins editors at Tribune Media, where he was doing Dick Tracy,
objected to him even ghost-writing the Batman strip, so he quit.
The rest of the strip was written by William Messner-Loebs
and drawn by Carmine Infantino and John Nyberg.
The last story can be read at
https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2790654.html
the entire 1989-91 strip can be accessed from this page:
https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/tag/creator:+william+messner-loebs
This time no Bob Kane signature in the strips,
but he gets a creator credit in the Sunday title panel.

And that's it (so far) of the Batman comic strips,
though he, like Wonder Woman did appear in a faux
comic strip as part of DC's 2009 series Wednesday Comics.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/rando-ems/Wednesday-Comics-1-Large.jpg
and
http://www.comicshopservices.com/images/wednesdaycomics/batman1.jpg

Wikipedia's Batman comic strip page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(comic_strip)
and various original art at ComicArtFans:
http://www.comicartfans.com/searchresult.asp?PM=2&txtSearch=batman+comic+strip&PI=18

D.D.Degg RIP - Adam West

[Jimmy Delach]

Locally where I live, the Tampa Tribune ran the 1989 Batman strip from 11/6/1989 (replacing the new "Pogo" comic strip - lasting seven more months than its' Times run) until 12/31/1990 (replaced by "Sally Forth").

[D Heine]

Where I lived, the Batman revival 1989 comic strip ran in the Chicago Sun-Times from November 1989 until December 1990 when it was replaced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strip.

[Jimmy Delach]

> Where I lived, the Batman revival 1989 comic strip ran in the Chicago Sun-Times from November 1989 until December 1990 when it was replaced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strip.

Another (extinct) paper I was once familiar with: The Pittsburgh Press added Batman on 11/6/89 (replaced "Nancy") and it ran until 8/6/1990 (replaced by "Grizzwells").

Similarly, "TMNT" replaced "Pogo" on 12/10/1990 and ran until the paper's 1992 end.

[D.D.Degg]

Look!
In the newspaper!
It's Superman!

May as well finish off the DC Triumvirate
of syndicated comic strips with the Big Guy.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5a/43/94/5a43947d7387d75064f703c5e99ca0a6.jpg

A failed attempt to get a Superman comic strip going
led to Superman's first appearance in the debut issue
of Action Comics (cover dated June 1938).

Instantly popular Superman got his comic strip within a year.
Superman began appearing in newspapers January 16, 1939.
The first two weeks (#s 1-12)gave newspaper readers an origin story:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/69/93/9f/69939f0d129867ca2bd8590d6d5e54b4.jpg
Scrolling down on this page will give you an edited version
of the first five weeks, but they can be enlarged to decent size:
https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=3013&

November 5, 1939 brought on the Sunday Superman page
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9UoAAOSwCU1YrjFP/s-l1600.jpg
although a week earlier (October 29, 1939) was a preview page:
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/superman1A.jpg
Both of those strips can get way bigger at
https://comics.ha.com/itm/memorabilia/comic-related/joe-shuster-superman-sunday-comic-strip-tear-sheets-group-of-2-dated-10-29-39-and-11-5-39-mcclure-syndicate-1939-/a/7163-94327.s?ic3=ViewItem-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction-120115

This Superman strip series lasted almost 27 years,
the Sunday until May 1, 1966; the daily until April 9, 1966.
Can't find the last Sunday but the last daily story is at
http://www.brooklyneagles.com/id63.html
(the last seven years of dailies can be accessed at the left of that page)

An occasional topper to the early Superman featured supporting
characters, but The Man of Steel never made an appearance:

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/obscurity-of-day-lois-lane-girl.html
and
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/02/lois-lane-revisited.html

Twenty-two years later Superman returned to newspaper comic pages,
this time in a comic strip featuring DC's Justice League of America.
It began April 3, 1978 and was titled The World's Greatest Superheroes.
http://randomactsofgeekery.blogspot.com/2014/01/fandom-library-worlds-greatest-super.html
Superman was the star of this comic strip and was soon (October 14, 1979)
retitled The World's Greatest Superheroes Present Superman.

That lasted until August 8 (August 14?), 1982
http://kupps.malibulist.com/2013/08/24/superman-saturday-or-sunday-30-2/
when the strip became just Superman
http://kupps.malibulist.com/2013/08/31/superman-saturday-or-sunday-31/

The Sunday Superman comic strip lasted until January 2, 1983
https://www.dropbox.com/s/856syq5t2qbqtwr/WGSH83-01-02a.jpg
after which it became The Superman Sunday Special and ran as such
until February 10, 1985. Here's the penultimate Sunday page:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=191554

The dailies ran until February 9, 1985 - the last week of dailies:
http://kupps.malibulist.com/2016/01/02/superman-saturday-or-sunday-153/
(clicking on tags at the bottom of this post will get you
the last 3 years (the Kupperberg years) of the strip.

Most of DC's comic strips have been collected by IDW:
http://marvelmasterworksfansite.yuku.com/topic/30282/IDW-Batman-Superman-and-WW-Newspaper-dailies-and-Sundays#.WUXNnumQyM9

Oh -
Like Wonder Woman and Batman upthread, Superman also had a comic
strip run in that 2009 weekly Wednesday Comics tabloid. Examples:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/40/768645-1superman.jpg
and
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/rando-ems/Wednesday-Comics-2-Large.jpg

Signing off with some Justice League featuring Superman Funnies:
http://kerrycallen.blogspot.com/search/label/Super%20Antics

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

A buncha firsts courtesy Hogan's Alley magazine's twitter

Davy Crockett June 20, 1955
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCxBVn7UMAYkSrB.jpg

Flying to Fame June 18, 1928
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCmvAOmUQAI-I5s.jpg

Hazel June 16, 1969 (1st KFS syndicated panel)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCcdh8QXUAApixs.jpg
Hazel first appeared decades earlier in the Saturday Evening Post

Over The Hedge June 12, 1995
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCH3ck6VoAIvQer.jpg

Famous Last Words June 11, 1956 (first newspaper syndication)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCCqphOVoAAI286.jpg
Like Hazel it earlier appeared in the Saturday Evening Post

Ella Cinders June 1, 1925
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBPOplZVYAAKX9v.jpg

The Nebbs May 22, 1923
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAbq6FNXkAAABvY.jpg

Tailspin Tommy May 21, 1928
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAWsr41V0AA-zgP.jpg
Tailspin Tommy May 22, 1928
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAWsv5YUQAAFvni.jpg

The Strange World of Mr. Mum May 5, 1958
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_EM3jsXsAA65QQ.jpg

The above and so much other comics history stuff
(this is where the Reuben winners were first posted)
on Tom Heintjes' Hogan's Mag Twitter site at
https://twitter.com/Hoganmag

D.D.Degg
https://twitter.com/Hoganmag

[D.D.Degg]

> A buncha firsts courtesy Hogan's Alley magazine's twitter

Some more that did make the previous post.

1st Grandma by Kuhn
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9X9P6TUQAEPoR1.jpg

1st Funky Winkerbean
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C77WsugV4AAi2SV.jpg

1st Bull Tales by G. B. Trudeau
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtmnixPUsAEdA4j.jpg

1st Sunday Doonesbury
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7cdk3AXQAATcnH.jpg

1st The Little Woman
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4OxPvzUcAMDaQ9.jpg

1st Pearls Before Swine
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C07e8xlUQAAwjRA.jpg

1st Abe Martin
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz4vghiVIAAgOWu.jpg

1st Conrad
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cwv0xmpVQAAVq-W.jpg

1st Sunday Little Orphan Annie
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwQoFxTUIAAkZ6h.jpg

1st Momma
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cvso-UrW8AAek2r.jpg

1st New Yorker Little King
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cr6lpPdVIAABDlr.jpg

1st Lil Folks by Schulz
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBE9fRGUAAAQ3RI.jpg

1st Andy Capp
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpGSQSNVYAAtYNb.jpg

D.D.Degg
hat tip: https://twitter.com/Hoganmag

[D.D.Degg]

Today we get the Tina's Groove farewell strip,
http://tinasgroove.com/comics/july-1-2017/
the last daily where Tina and Rina say goodbye.
(My understanding is the very last strip,
tomorrow's Sunday, will not be a "farewell" strip.)

Here are some other last (farewell) strips...

Keeping Up With The Joneses
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S4IMlx--r2Q/TVvgQ85coRI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/CqwUjNJrVfU/s1600/Keeping+Up+with+the+Joneses+Farewell.png

Modesty Blaise
http://images.tcj.com/2015/09/Modesty6.jpg

The last DAILY Stone Soup
http://www.gocomics.com/stonesoup/2015/10/17

Cathy
http://www.gocomics.com/cathy/2010/10/03/

The FAKE final Calvin and Hobbes
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-story-behind-the-fake-final-Calvin-and-Hobbes-strip

The REAL final Calvin and Hobbes
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/12/31

Life In Hell
https://i2.wp.com/www.poynter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/life-in-hell.jpg?w=800

Gordo
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Last_Gordo_comic_strip.jpg

Dondi
http://www.goldbergcoins.com/images/lot/794863/0/lot794863.jpg

Pokemon
http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/worstcomixever/pokestrip22.jpg

Heaven's Love Thrift Shop
https://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/ck3/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9IZWF2ZW5zTG92ZVRocmlmdFNob3AvMjAxNi8wNy9IZWF2ZW5zX250Yi4yMDE2MDczMV8xNDQwLmdpZg==

Berkely Breathed stretched out the end of Opus to four strips
and then we still had to go elsewhere for the "farewell"
October 12:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj309/Burnkittypicture/OpusFourthToLastComicStrip.gif
October 19:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj309/Burnkittypicture/OpusThirdToLastComicStrip.gif
and
http://the-unmutual.blogspot.com/2008/11/goodnight-opus.html

Ollie and Quentin
http://rabbitsagainstmagic.blogspot.com/2011/12/saddest-of-all-lugworms.html

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

Tina's Groove and Chuckle Bros. ended the same July 1-2, 2017 weekend. Now could the next newspaper comic strips to end in 2017 be Get Fuzzy and/or Doonesbury which both have been in daily rerun mode/first run mostly Sunday mode the last few years?

[D Heine]

On Saturday, July 1, 2017 at 8:20:36 AM UTC-5, D.D.Degg wrote:

I hope you post more farewell strips in the future for the following:
Pogo (original and 1989-1990's runs)
Lil Abner
King Aroo
Brenda Starr
Winnie Winkle
Apartment 3-G
Steve Roper/Mike Nomad
Steve Canyon
Grin and Bear It
Citizen Dog
Cow and Boy
Circus of P.T. Bimbo
Eek and Meek
Kudzu
Liberty Meadows
My Cage (original 2007-2010 newspaper run)

Of course, everyone knows the final first run Peanuts comic strip in 2000 and the last first run For Better or For Worse strip in 2008 before these strips went to all reruns. And did Gordon Bess do a proposed Redeye farewell strip before his 1988 retirement and death that got published even before Bill Yates and Mel Casson took over to keep Redeye going for 2 more decades?

[D.D.Degg]

D Heine wrote:
>
> I hope you post more farewell strips in the future for the following:

> Pogo (original and 1989-1990's runs)

Shown upthread
Your YouTube video for the original (a "farewell" strip):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyy37fzpdo
Jimmy Delach gave us the last of the revival:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8887849/florida_today/

> Lil Abner
Again upthread:
Here's the last three dailies (the last being a "farewell" strip, kinda):
http://www.tcj.com/reviews/al-capp-a-life-to-the-contrary/capp0028/
The last Sunday came out on November 13, 1977:
http://pdxretro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LilAbner-771113-H-M-LastSunday-XL1.jpg

> Brenda Starr
Upthread, and a "farewell" strip:
https://thedailyfunnies.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/01-02-10-brenda-starr.png

> Apartment 3-G
This one hasn't come up, but the "farewell" strips
(daily and Sunday) are at
http://ladiesofapartment3g.blogspot.com/2015/11/

> Steve Canyon
Upthread, daily and Sunday "farewell" strips:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0g6MtyTFtkY/Ua1Wstyv96I/AAAAAAAAEqk/n_RQxaH6Lv8/s1600/Steve+Canyon+June+4+1988.jpg
and
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VHrBtgwkKQs/Uaqjhs8mZOI/AAAAAAAAEpw/mYcJaOSbjbc/s1600/Last+Steve+Canyon+Sunday.jpg

> Steve Roper/Mike Nomad
> Winnie Winkle
I remember looking for these and not finding them.

> Citizen Dog
> Cow and Boy

> Liberty Meadows
> My Cage (original 2007-2010 newspaper run)

I would imagine these are on the GoComics site somewhere,
but I haven't looked for them.

> King Aroo
> Grin and Bear It

> Circus of P.T. Bimbo
> Eek and Meek
> Kudzu

I have yet to look for these,
but Jack Kent and Howie Schneider are favorites; so...

> ...And did Gordon Bess do a proposed Redeye farewell strip
> before his 1988 retirement and death that got published...
The last strip in this block:
http://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2012/07/redeye5_dailies3.png
I remembered Mark Johnson doing a blog about Redeye
and including that nugget of information among more:
http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2012/07/11/ask-the-archivist-a-shot-of-redeye

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

♫Spider-Man, Spider-Man♪
♪Does whatever a spider can♫

The Amazing Spider-Man first appeared in
Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

14 and 1/2 years later, on January 3, 1977,
The Amazing Spider-Man began as a newspaper
comic strip by Stan Lee and John Romita.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dRFwBOzEbYA/UBLNdZhp8xI/AAAAAAAAAd0/X8XenDUU_B4/s1600/Spiderman+dailys+1977.jpg
And, amazingly, after 40 years it continues as a syndicated comic strip.

But Spider-Man also made other newspaper appearances
during the early years of his comic strip.
Partnered mostly with The Incredible Hulk, who also had
a syndicated comic strip (and tv show) at the time,
Spider-Man appeared in a number of 36(?) page comic books
that were given away as newspaper inserts from 1979 - 1983.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?SeriesID=2871
A look-see at one such comic at
https://blogintomystery.com/2011/01/30/hey-spidey-go-long-the-dallas-cowboys-and-spider-man-danger-in-dallas/

A somewhat similar project of newspaper giveaways happened
ten years ago when reprints of the first dozen Spider-Man
appearances were reprinted in 16 page comic books:
https://atomicavenue.com/title/24145/SpiderMan-Collectible-Series
More details of this 2006-07 item can be seen at
https://www.comics.org/series/19041/

Four years after the 1962 debut of Spider-Man saw
John Romita take over the comic book from Steve Ditko.
Within a few years the Lee-Romita Spider-Man became a
comic book phenomenon. It was then that they first envisioned
a Spider-Man comic strip. That attempt didn't sell, but the
two weeks of dailies from the late 1960s are available:
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2016/11/black-and-white-wednesday-amazing.html

Didja know? Dept.
33 years before the Lee and Romita comic strip,
and six years before Superman debuted in newspapers,
Spider Man appeared in a newspaper comic strip!

Here's the April 30, 1934 strip announcing the beginning:
https://tinyurl.com/y788xrfu
and the May 1, 1934 beginning:
https://tinyurl.com/y8xa6xep
This installment of Ed Wheelan's Minute Movies
ran until August 4, 1934:
https://tinyurl.com/y8te9mmn
***hat tip to Barry Pearl for discovering this bit of comic strip trivia***

But back to Romita's Spider-Man...
If you'd bought a 1972 lp called
The Amazing Spider-Man A Rockomic: From Beyond the Grave
you would have opened up the album to find
five excellent John Romita comic strips featuring Spidey:
http://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/asm-rockomic-3.jpg

D.D.Degg

[Brian Henke]

As I have mentioned over the years here, the E-----r dropped the strip on Thanksgiving weekend in 1983 (with Spidey in mid-air, about to dispatch the villains) to run the Disney Christmas comic, Christmas Comes to Neverland.

Cincy...@yahoo.com

--------

Judge Parker, One Big Happy, comics you can read

- Name three things that used to be in Cincinnati you can now find in Atlanta

[D.D.Degg]

> ...on January 3, 1977

> The Amazing Spider-Man began as a newspaper
> comic strip by Stan Lee and John Romita.

Followed by a few more Marvel syndicated comic strips,
all distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate.

After Spider-Man fan favorite Howard the Duck
by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan debuted on June 6, 1977
http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2015/02/howard-duck-newspaper-strip-pop-syke.html

The strip lasted less than a year and a half,
ending on October 29, 1978 with a Sunday continuity
by Marv Wolfman and Alan Kupperberg
http://peur-evol.blogspot.com/2010/04/sunday-funnies-howard-duck.html

The life and hard times of the Howard the Duck
comic strip is described by R. S. Martin here:
http://rsmwriter.blogspot.com/2016/04/all-quacked-up-steve-gerber-marvel.html

An index of the Howard strip and a newspaper roll call at
http://www.nemsworld.com/howard/
(I actually subscribed by mail to a newspaper to get this strip)

With Howard ending October 29, 1978 Marvel and
The Register and Tribune Syndicate filled that slot
the very next day, October 30, 1978, by introducing
The Incredible Hulk comic strip by Stan Lee and Larry Leiber
https://bigglee.blogspot.com/2012/05/incredible-hulk-comic-strip-1979-marvel.html
Continuing that first story arc:
https://bigglee.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-rare-incredible-hulk-newspaper.html
The end to the first story:
https://bigglee.blogspot.com/2012/05/return-of-1978-hulk-newspaper-strips.html

The Incredible Hulk comic strip lasted almost 4 years.
https://www.picclickimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMDgz/z/5pEAAOSwr~lYoYnf/$/Incredible-Hulk-by-Larry-Lieber-and-Alan-Kupperberg-_57.jpg
The dailies ended September 4, 1982 and
the Sundays ended September 5, 1982
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_23392/subcat_87889/hulk%20s%2009051982.jpg
Both dailies and Sundays ended with story and art by Alan Kupperberg

Apparently the end of The Incredible Hulk comic strip
was a somewhat sudden decision as the next two Sunday strips,
featuring Cobra and Mr. Hyde as villains, were prepared:
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_23392/subcat_87889/hulk%20s%2009121982.jpg
and
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_23392/subcat_87889/hulk%20s%2009191982.jpg

Before The Incredible Hulk started as a comic strip,
while Howard the Duck was still running,
there was an age undreamed of...hither came Conan the Cimmerian.
Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas and John Buscema
debuted September 4, 1978
http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2014/09/conan-barbarian-newspaper-strip.html

That opening story was reprinted in a Marvel Treasury edition
with dailies in four colors and better-than-newspaper printing:
https://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2016/03/grooves-faves-conan-comic-strip.html?m=1

By the time Conan ended, on April 12, 1981, the strip was being
done by Doug Moench and Tom Yeates (the current Prince Valiant artist):
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_24615/subcat_163135/ikmflHVM_231016221731lola.jpg
Seems that, like the Hulk, more strips were planned before the end.

Just to keep a Kupperberg meme going here's Kupperberg Conan:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z7Tupa2Ufjo/TlWMpaMiMjI/AAAAAAAAFcM/GZhtojVhB-U/s1600/810101conan.jpg


Archives of the above strips, from beginning to end, can be read at
Howard
https://ilovecomixarchive.app.box.com/v/Archive/folder/6486392069

Hulk
https://ilovecomixarchive.app.box.com/v/Archive/folder/6470057797

Conan
https://ilovecomixarchive.app.box.com/v/Archive/folder/6486371589

But...Marvel and the Reg & Trib Syndicate had
more entertain planned for superhero fans.

At the same time as Conan the Barbarian comic
strip started so did a puzzle feature called
Marvelous Fun and Games by Owen McCarron.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/68EAAOSw44BYdouG/s-l1600.jpg
The Sunday only feature began on either (sources vary)
September 3, 1978 (my old notebook) or on
September 10, 1978 (American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s).
Owen McCarron was doing a similar page for newspapers
in Canada, when he approached Stan Lee and the Reg. & Trib.
about it they agreed that a Marvel version would work.

The earliest sample I can find online is October 8, 1978
https://68.media.tumblr.com/c3ef9fa0f199ecd4532cb011504d12d2/tumblr_orueriYCnd1t1cmybo1_1280.jpg

The puzzle page lasted until November 9, 1980
http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/images/marvelous_fun_games/nov_9_1980.jpg

Addenda

In 1980, while The Incredible Hulk comic strip was running
a boxed set of Hulk coloring strips was marketed:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1980-Incredible-Hulk-Comic-Strip-Art-Book-/272746385326?hash=item3f80f38fae:g:QAMAAOSwdIFX0eQl
Sean Kleefeld offers more at
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2014/10/on-strips-extra-hulk-strips.html

In 2010 Marvel produced a "lost" Captain America comic strip
from the 1940s and put it online (and later collected in a book).
http://abbracadabbling.blogspot.com/2010/04/captain-america-1940s-newspaper-strip.html
More at
http://comicsalliance.com/preview-captain-america-the-1940s-newspaper-strip-3-exclu/

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

Besides Captain America, have there been plans for Marvel to release these other superheroes in their own newspaper comic strips but never did like the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the X-Men?

[D.D.Degg]

Well, after those DC and Marvel Superhero posts
let's finish off the superhero comic strips.

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939),
the superhero debuted as a newspaper comic strip on January 8, 1940.
https://tinyurl.com/y9z2xp9w
Credited to Charles Nicholas, the art for the first couple months
was ghosted by Jack Kirby. He got his super powers from Vitamin 2 X
https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=25189&page=10
Louis Cazaneuve is credited with the art for the above strip
and (I guess) for the rest of the dailies that lasted until
November 26, 1940. The Sundays were reformatted comic book pages.

What may be the first costumed and masked comic strip superhero
appeared April 15, 1935 in The Adventures of Patsy. That is when
The Phantom Magician, as created by Mel Graff, first appeared.
Seen here as presented in Famous Funnies #32:
http://images.furycomics.com/viewer/5c/5cdcf67800d1babd1521507c51902661/25.jpg
(though he was first heard in the daily of April 13, 1935:
http://images.furycomics.com/viewer/ef/eff2fd6b0d4ad7355b79a9e2826959ca/26.jpg

To compare the comic book version to the original comic strip
here is the daily strip of April 29:
http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/4021_page1_original.png?1454449552
and the strip as presented in the comic book:
http://images.furycomics.com/viewer/ab/ab66d9d5f075adb526e01c9d97d0c6bc/25.jpg
(third strip down)

The Phantom Magician appeared in only this one episode,
at the end of which he gives up his costumed persona and
remains with Patsy as Phil Cardigan
http://images.furycomics.com/viewer/bc/bcb333448d80564619c358e55a2fdecd/25.jpg
The entire adventure as edited for the comic book can be read at
http://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1140 (issues #32 - #42)

Russell Stamm's Invisible Scarlet O'Hare debuted June 3, 1940
http://www.invisiblescarletoneil.com/images/history/scarlet/firststriplarge.jpg
The strip lasted over 15 years though after 1954 it was
retitled "Stainless Steel" on October 24, 1954.
Stainless Steel was "a Texas sheriff with blonde hair
and superhero physique. He possessed no powers..."
http://www.invisiblescarletoneil.com/index.asp

The first super powered superhero appeared in the Sunday
comics sections of 1902 - September 7, 1902 to be exact:
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Hugo%20Hercules/hugoherc020907.jpg/
Hugo Hercules used his super strength to mostly aid damsels in distress
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Hugo%20Hercules/
though he saw his way to help more than just fair lasses.
The strip by William H. D. Koerner ran until January 11, 1903.
All(?) the strips are available at the Barnacle Press link above.

Another early super powerful hero of comic strips
was the 1905 Samson the Strong Man by Thorndike:
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Samson%20the%20Strong%20Man/

Sometimes clothes make the superhero.
Tony Stark has no super powers, though his alter ego is a super hero.
Such is the case with Billy Bounce:
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Billy%20Bounce/bounce011110.jpg/
Billy Bounce by the famous W. W. Denslow began on November 10, 1901 (above)
and ran til December 3, 1905, then being done by Charles W. Kahles.
A number of the strips, courtesy of Barnacle Press:
http://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Billy%20Bounce/
(Billy Bounce predated, by 60 years, Legion of Super Heroes' Bouncing Boy.)

Super heroes can be aliens (Superman) or maybe animals:
http://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/assets/TMNT-Comic-Strip_Book-I_Page_001.jpg
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic book,
the comic strip began December 10, 1990 (above)
and ran until December 30, 1996. Samples at
http://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/memorabilia/scrapbooks-tmnt-comic-strip-scrapbook-volume-i/

Phil Dunlap's Ink Pen featured cartoon characters and
eventually mostly concentrated on the super powered ones.
It began November 7, 2005 and ran until October 14, 2012.
The entire run is available on GoComics:
http://www.gocomics.com/inkpen/2005/11/07

And then there is Evil, Inc. by Brad Guigar
http://evil-inc.com/comic/monday-3/
Super villians.

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Modesty Blaise, by Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway, debuted
as a daily strip in The London Evening Standard on May 13, 1963.

The first adventure, part one:
http://hairygreeneyeball3.blogspot.com/2011/03/la-machine-part-1.html
the first adventure, part two:
http://hairygreeneyeball3.blogspot.com/2011/03/la-machine-part-2.html

Three years later, in 1966, the "origin" of Modesty Blaise was revealed:
http://images.tcj.com/2015/09/Modesty2.jpg

Peter O'Donnell's retirement that brought on the strip's end —
the last episode was published April 11, 2001, O'Donnell's 81st birthday:
http://images.tcj.com/2015/09/Modesty6.jpg

Wikipedia image without the scripting -
which seems to work just as good:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modesty_Blaise#/media/File:Modestyblaise10183.jpg

Modesty Blaise was one of very few comic strips
that successfully transfered to paperback novels:
https://dirtyriver.tumblr.com/tagged/Modesty-Blaise

A really nice look at the first three Modesty Blaise strips at
https://68.media.tumblr.com/240eb26021e56392255ad73a392617ce/tumblr_n3vgiqizMc1sqbawso2_1280.jpg

But Jim Holdaway wasn't the first choice as artist
http://www.frankhampson.co.uk/modesty.php

Don Markstein's Toonopedia entry on Modesty Blaise at
http://www.toonopedia.com/modesty.htm

A longer look at Modesty Blaise courtesy R. C. Harvey:
http://www.tcj.com/modesty-blaise-and-peter-odonnell-and-the-last-great-adventure-strip/

Prof. Mendez's appreciation of Jim Holdaway (via The Wayback Machine)
part one:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070720185200/http://profmendez.tripod.com/html/modesty1.htm
part two:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070804003159/http://profmendez.tripod.com:80/html/modesty2a.htm
part three:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071121085250/http://profmendez.tripod.com:80/html/modesty3a.htm

D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

In the late 1970's some American newspapers (like the Washington Star) carried the Modesty Blaise comic strip.

[D.D.Degg]

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear!
From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the
great horse Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!

The Lone Ranger first appeared as a radio show in 1933.
Within in a few years the character was also available
in novels and Big Little Books.

Sunday, September 11, 1938 saw the debut of the comic strip
by Ed Kressy (with assistance by Dick Sprang and Norm Fallon).
https://ia802302.us.archive.org/19/items/LoneRangerSundayNewspaperComics/LoneRangerS001-s002-theLoneRangerRidesAgainAndTheSmugglers.pdf
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2015/10/were-week-black-and-white-wednesday.html

That creative team lasted for a few months,
then Jon L. Blummer took over for a short while,
and then Fran Striker and Charles Flanders became the regulars.
The first few years of Sundays are available at
https://archive.org/details/LoneRangerSundayNewspaperComics

Dailies started September 12, 1938, by the same teams (more or less).

Here's a 1940 daily sample, when Flanders was reaching his peak
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F4%2F8%2F2%2F5%2F14825012%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D

By the 1960s Flanders was still doing the strip.
http://d1k217qge1tz5p.cloudfront.net/img/Items/6000/5094.jpg

This is the period I was familiar with the strip.
The Sunday Lone Ranger was appearing, in black and
white, in the weekly Grit newspaper.
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F3%2F1%2F3%2F3%2F13133815%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D

In the 1960s Charles Flanders produced a short
How to Draw the Newspaper Adventure Strip tutorial
http://25m2oh3xnqyj3i3gq43gv3m4.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/How-to-Draw-the-Newspaper-Adventure.pdf

By the later 1960s some have concluded Flanders
was tiring of the strip with much of the art
featuring silhouettes, long shots, and back shots.
http://texwillerblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Este-trabalho-de-1967-marca-j%C3%A1-o-decl%C3%ADnio-total-de-Charles-Flanders..jpg

The Lone Ranger comic strip ended in September or December 1971
(sources vary).

Ten years later:
http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_24615/subcat_156064/CJ1D4V6G_1903151220361.jpg

The Lone Ranger, this time by Cary Bates and Russ Heath, returned
to newspaper comics pages on September 13, 1981 (a Sunday).

I believe not sure) this is the first panel of that first Sunday
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/loneranger/images/b/b9/LR81Strip.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20090806192047

An appreciation and backstory of Heath's Lone Ranger years:
http://davekarlenoriginalartblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/russ-heaths-lone-ranger-rides-again.html

This incarnation of the strip ended April 1, 1984 (a Sunday)
http://bdzoom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Ruth-Heath.jpeg

On a related topic, because - Russ Heath!
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2015/10/were-week-black-and-white-wednesday.html
Who was that masked man?

"Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!"
D.D.Degg

[D Heine]

Besides the Lone Ranger comic strip, was there ever a comic strip of the Lone Ranger nephew offspring called The Green Hornet? Both The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet got their start as radio shows originaating from WXYZ Radio in Detroit, Michigan.

[D.D.Degg]

D Heine wrote:
> Besides the Lone Ranger comic strip,
> was there ever a comic strip of the

> Lone Ranger [grand]nephew offspring
> called The Green Hornet?

There was an attempt but ultimately it turned
into a comic strip that-never-was.

Here are the four weeks of dailies made for the proposal,
and the story of why and when and why not.
http://martingrams.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-green-hornet-newspaper-strip.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Almost forgot about this weekend's First and Last entry.

Let's go Back to those glorious daysof full page Sunday comic strips.

The Explorigator by Harry Grant Dart
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--vW7sISMzGI/U-kp6ZEv4YI/AAAAAAAAHPY/pQtyoSoVYRE/s1600/explorigator1.jpg

The Sunday comic ran May 3, 1908 - August 9, 1908
A mere 14 episodes.
Comics historian Rick Marschall's quick run-down of the strip:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/TB-dlOg6WbI/AAAAAAAAGyM/Uu30mf_e5w4/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Nemo+5+Explorigator001.jpg

The first, last, and every strip in between can be read at
http://hairygreeneyeball3.blogspot.com/2015/07/early-comic-art-explorigator-1908.html

A couple years earlier George McManus
had not yet created Jiggs and Maggie.
In 1906 he was busy with Nibsy the Newsboy.
http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/Nibsy.jpg

Like The Explorigator above, Nibsy the Newsboy
had a short run - May 20, 1906 - July 22, 1906.
Also like above, here's a Rick Marschall introduction to the strip:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pVCiTA86umk/TDoFlePHZbI/AAAAAAAAHXM/td_6_51Hhek/s1600/Jeff+Overturf+Nemo+9+Nibsy+the+Newsboy001.jpg

This time the entire run of the strip, eight pages,
can be read courtesy Peter Maresca and GoComics:
http://www.gocomics.com/origins-of-the-sunday-comics/2014/10/05

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Speed Jaxon by Jay JAckson
November 28, 1942 - August 2, 1947
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/jaxon421128.jpg

Speed Jaxon, an African-American taking post-graduate
work at Oxford during World War II, is drafted by
British Intelligence for a spy mission in Ethopia.
Thus, despite the segregation of the times, Jaxon
must work with white men against the Axis powers.

Racism and discrimination are examined in the strip.

The strip appeared in the weekly
Chicago Defender and other papers.

The first 18 installments, where he deals with
racism from Nazis and U. S. soldiers alike,
can be read, courtesy of Thrillmer, at
http://www.thrillmer.com/archives/speed_jaxon/
(scroll to bottom to read chronologically)
- - bonus: see Jaxon referred to as "Black Panther"

The Speed Jaxon entry from Pioneering Cartoonists of Color
(via GoogleBooks): https://tinyurl.com/y9kg9tfd

More Speed Jaxon strips and more about Jay Jackson at
http://museumofuncutfunk.com/2014/03/22/speed-jaxon-by-jay-jackson-circa-1933/

I couldn't find the last strips but here's a few more from 1944,
where the strip has seemingly been reduced to third page format
(again via Google Books): https://tinyurl.com/y8nya8aj

More on Jay Jackson and his career:
https://www.artslant.com/la/articles/show/40444

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Filling in some holes from earlier on this thread.

Flash Gordon Sundays were done earlier this year;
Flash Gordon dailies came and went at different times.

The dailies started May 27, 1940
(six years after the Sundays)
http://flashgordon.marianobayona.com/austin12.jpg

Yeah, I could only find foreign samples of the first two dailies.
Here's the next two (May 29 and 30) in English:
http://flashgordon.marianobayona.com/abrigs2.jpg
and
http://flashgordon.marianobayona.com/abrigs4.jpg

Austin Briggs is the artist.
This version lasted until June 3, 1944.

Seven years later (November 19, 1951)
the daily Flash Gordon started up again,
now with Dan Barry in charge.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/cmx-images-prod/Item/517827/Previews/d8e7f6d93c4eda6b7e7e84c90b9463a4._SX1280_QL80_TTD_.jpg

The last Flash Gordon daily appeared July 3, 1993.
That strip, and the entire last story, is available at
http://bookscomics.blogspot.com/2011/04/d2-152-bean-men-of-mumbo-10592-to-7393.html

The closest to the end I can find independently of the above
is this daily that ran two months before the end (May 1993):
http://flashgordon.marianobayona.com/warkentin.jpg

Doing a reverse spin Tarzan began as a daily in 1929,
the Sundays began two years later in 1931.
Here's the first story with art by Rex Mason:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag8/0819.html

The Daily Tarzan stopped putting out new strips in 1972,
but the Sunday Tarzan continued with new stories for four more decades.
The last couple adventures were by Eric Battle and Alex Simmons.
http://www.erbzine.com/mag34/3492.html

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. has kindly put
quite a few of the Sunday adventures online.
The early Hal Foster Sundays, plus later
Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin and Gil Kane,
Mike Grell, and Gray Morrow at
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2292.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

The greatest adventure comic strip (yes - arguable)
had its origins when Dickie Dare premiered July 31, 1933:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U7DOeyRubF8/S-nmUb9csoI/AAAAAAAAFFI/D4oRxTt8oPE/s1600/1+dd+1+31jul1933+bloque6+.jpg
Dickie Dare reads a book and fancies
himself as part of the story.

That conceit lasts for the better part of a year
when Dynamite Dan Flynn is introduced and the
adventures turns from fantasy to "real life".
The first Dickie Dare/Dan Flynn story can be read at
http://jeffoverturf.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunday-funnies-nemo-15-dickie-dare-and.html

That is the prototype for Milton Caniff's masterpiece.
On Sunday October 21, 1934 newspapers carried a teaser:
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/terryteaser.jpg

October 22, 1934 saw the debut of Terry and the Pirates:
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/terry1022-2534.jpg
With the first Sunday coming on October 28, 1934:
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/tp341209.jpg

To read the first adventure (dailies only)
scroll to the bottom of this page:
http://www.thrillmer.com/archives/terry/index.php

Caniff's writing and and staging and sequential layouts
were great from the beginning, then, with the help of
friend Noel Sickles, the details of his art evolved.
A story from 1935 at
https://oldtales7.wordpress.com/milton-caniff-terry-and-the-pirates/

Characterization was a hallmark of Caniff storylines;
his women became especially popular.
Normandie Drake, The Dragon Lady, Burma, Raven Sherman.

The Art of Caniff's Terry
http://rocket-prose.tumblr.com/post/158901155329/milton-caniff-original-art-for-very-possibly-my
and
http://thebristolboard.tumblr.com/post/70893857003/original-terry-and-the-pirates-daily-strip-art-by
and
http://thebristolboard.tumblr.com/post/37941053653/panel-from-terry-and-the-pirates-by-milton-caniff
and
The Death of Raven (it took most of two weeks):
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VPxxntqLM3w/VAOl9qL1YwI/AAAAAAAADWs/j8bw7LpoStI/s1600/Raven.JPG

An appreciation of Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff;
http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/09/caniff-momentum/

Terry and the Pirates for October 17, 1943,
this Sunday comic strip was read into the Congressional Record.
http://www.thrillmer.com/comics/terry101744.jpg

Milton Caniff was not given the contract concessions
he wanted from the Chicago Tribune-N. Y. News Syndicate,
so he accepted an offer from Marshall Fields and
switched syndicates creating a new comic strip - Steve Canyon.

Caniff's last Terry and the Pirates was December 29, 1946:
http://comicsalliance.com/files/2016/02/CA_CaniffTerry2.jpg

George Wunder WON the unenviable and impossible task
of following Caniff on Terry and the Pirates.
"In 1946, when Milton Caniff left Terry and the Pirates,
there were about 100 artists who applied for the job,
according to Caniff. Wunder submitted samples, and the
Tribune-News Syndicate chose Wunder as Caniff's replacement"
https://alchetron.com/George-Wunder-1374905-W

Wunder tryout strips:
http://sekvenskonst.blogspot.com/2007/05/wunders-terry-try-outs.html

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

Bonus post this weekend.

Thirty years ago, on August 31, 1987,
saw the first Crankshaft comic strip
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIj3TyfUIAcC3av.jpg

The second strip
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIj3Ty-VoAAcrCB.jpg

[D.D.Degg]

Fred Harman, you betchum!

Cowboy cartoonist Fred Harman created
the Bronc Peeler comic strip in 1934.
No one seems to know when it first appeared.

The Sunday appeared later in 1934, on October 7, 1934.
Here's the first Sunday as adapted for comic books:
https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=1629&page=32

The daily was western adventure,
the Sunday was humorous at the beginning.

The strip ran until mid-1938, by which time grizzly Coyote Pete
had been replaced with a young indian sidekick named Little Beaver.

Allan Holtz has an entry for Bronc Peeler at
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2008/09/obscurity-of-day-bronc-peeler.html

Later in 1938 saw the debut of Fred Harman's famous Red Ryder.

Appearing first as a Sunday on November 6, 1938:
http://images.furycomics.com/viewer/e3/e3ca49667d756b2d4466692f9add360f/6.jpg

Seen above, again, as adapted to to be read as a comic book page.
Less than 6 months after his debut Red Ryder was famous enough
to get the cover spot http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=21794
And, as you saw, Little Beaver was along for the ride from the beginning.

The dailies began March 27, 1939, also with Little Beaver.
Read the first week and a half of dailies at
http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/04/forgotten-book-red-ryder-by-fred-harman.html
where Little Beaver's famous "You betchum" quote is on display.

The Red Ryder comic strip lasted until 1964,
but Fred Harman had given it up years earlier.

Red Ryder comic books, movies, toys, clothes,
and, of course, BB rifles were very popular.

Red Ryder even made personal appearances:
https://www.abqjournal.com/1061222/cowboy-known-as-red-ryder-dies-at-84.html

D.D.Degg

[Jimmy Delach]

> Red Ryder comic books, movies, toys, clothes,
> and, of course, BB rifles were very popular.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid! :)

[D.D.Degg]

Frank O'Neal's Short Ribs began on November 17, 1958
https://tinyurl.com/y929f3mj (via Fulton History)

A brief profile of Frank O'Neal at
http://hoosiercartoonists.blogspot.com/2011/06/cartoonist-of-month-june-2011.html

The last daily Short Ribs by Frank Hill ran on May 1, 1982.
https://visualhumor.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/final-strip.jpg

(The Sunday edition ran June 14, 1959 - May 2, 1982,
I couldn't find either of those strips.)

That last daily came from this page:
https://visualhumor.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/short-ribs-by-frank-oneal/

Ger Apeldoorn serves up a healthy portion of Short Ribs at
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Short%20Ribs

D.D.Degg,
who could have sworn that among the cast of characters
were a couple of American astronauts exploring nearby
outer space; but didn't find any samples of such a situation.
False memory?

[Jimmy Delach]

On Sunday, September 17, 2017 at 11:42:59 AM UTC-4, D.D.Degg wrote:
> Frank O'Neal's Short Ribs began on November 17, 1958
> https://tinyurl.com/y929f3mj (via Fulton History)

>

> (The Sunday edition ran June 14, 1959 - May 2, 1982,
> I couldn't find either of those strips.)
>

June 14, 1959

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13821570/the_orlando_sentinel/

May 2, 1982

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13821435/the_tribune/

[D Heine]

Did Frank Hill, who succeeded Frank 'O Neal as Short Ribs artist in 1973, also work on Fawcett's Dennis the Menace comic books in the mid-late 1970's as well as doing for foreign markets a Tom and Jerry comic strip in the 1990's?

[D.D.Degg]

Jimmy Delach kindlt posted:

> > (The Sunday edition ran June 14, 1959 - May 2, 1982,
> > I couldn't find either of those strips.)

> June 14, 1959
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13821570/the_orlando_sentinel/
> May 2, 1982
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13821435/the_tribune/

Fantastic! Great! Thank You!

D Heine wrote:
> Did Frank Hill, who succeeded Frank 'O Neal as Short Ribs
> artist in 1973, also work on Fawcett's Dennis the Menace
> comic books in the mid-late 1970's as well as doing for
> foreign markets a Tom and Jerry comic strip in the 1990's?

Those were only a few things Hill did in a long career:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/hill_frank.htm

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

With the end of the print Village Voice,
comes the end of the print Normel Person.

Normel Person by Lauren R. Weinstein began
in The Village Voice on October 5, 2016.
http://www.laurenweinstein.com/#/normel-person/

The last (print) Normel Person appeared in
this week's Village Voice (September 20, 2017):
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKRQMlkW4AAg_gE.jpg

Between that link above and this one:
https://laurenrweinstein.tumblr.com/
you should be able to read most (all?)
of Lauren R. Weinstein's Normel Person.

Notice, in that last link, Lauren says this week's
is the last printed strip - so continued as webcomic?

Also...
Last year saw the debut of Karl Steven's Penny:
https://www.villagevoice.com/2016/10/26/cartoon-penny/

The last Penny strip I can tie to
The Village Voice was March 7, 2017:
https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/03/07/cartoon-penny-14/

Don't know if that actually was the last Penny strip.
Were there more after that issue?
Has Stevens contributed a Penny to the
last (September 20, 2017) Village Voice?

Going through The Village Voice's comics page
should bring up all(?) the Penny strips.
https://www.villagevoice.com/tag/comics/
Notice that Karl Stevens' Penny did not make
it in every issue. It was, shall we say, an
occasional strip, not a true weekly strip.

D.D.Degg

[D.D.Degg]

October 9, 1922
95 years ago today - the first Fritzi Ritz by Larry Whittington
http://cartoonician.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/oct091922cropped.jpg

The history of Fritzi Ritz Before Bushmiller
(including the better part of the first three months of Fritzi Ritz)
http://cartoonician.com/fritzi-ritz-before-bushmiller-shes-come-a-long-way-baby/

January 2, 1933
11 years later, and now by Ernie Bushmiller, Nancy appears:
http://nancyishappy.tumblr.com/post/25436548493/first-appearance-of-nancy-on-january-2-1933-in-the

January 24, 1938 - Sluggo introduces himself
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/16/c2/ed/16c2ed23e726199ec14274a0f18df3c9--nancy-dellolio.jpg

Much more Nancy by Ernie Bushmiller courtesy of Ger Apeldoorn at
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Nancy

D.D.Degg