Dagwood and Blondie are celebrating 75 years of comic stripping together.
I was once a big fan of Dagwood and Blondie and the rest of the Bumstead family, so I wish them a very happy anniversary. It looks like the party is going to be a big one, with all kinds of characters getting invites and The official anniversary date is September 4th. The current strip and all the dailies leading up to the big day are filled with visits from other comic characters; the other invited strips are also making note of it on their own pages. News from Me offers a helpful list of which invited characters appear on which day.
I notice that many of those going to the party are from strips that I used to read as a child, but gave up on at some point. Heck, I gave up on newspaper comics all together many years ago.
Back in the day (yea, I just said back in the day, I'm a geezer like that) I waited at the front door for the newspaper boy in the morning so I could be the first to see what new adventures awaited Dondi. You don't remember Dondi, do you? He was a big-headed orphan kid who got into all kinds of adventures. I was a kid when I read Dondi, so I related to his stories. Of course, being a kid didn't stop me from reading Apartment 3G, most of which I didn't understand but followed like a soap opera anyhow. I half-heartedly followed the Peanuts gang, but my image of that whole crowd was ruined forever by an hysterical parody of the strip in Mad Magazine sometime in the 70's, with the gang as hippies. I used to read Broom Hilda and Gasoline Alley and the Amazing Spider Man and, yes, I followed the trials and tribulations of Brenda Starr right up until the moment Brooke Shields ruined the glamour for me.
Comics were thrilling back then. You really don't have to pick up a paper today to know what's happening on the comics page. In fact, I will boldly predict what today's full-paneled, full-colored strips will bring: Cathy goes on a diet! Garfield eats Lasagna! Jeffy does something precious! Dagwood makes a sandwich and/or takes a nap!
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Good lord, I think I remember Dondi: an Italian little orphan annie, I think, who had his origins in post WWII comics. I miss Pogo most of all, and after that Lil Abner. Gary Larsen, Calvin & Hobbes, For Better Or Worse I enjoy also. Family Circus, Cathy, Garfield & the like I don't waste my time on; they're strictly one-joke lames, IMO. A lot of the best old cartoons like Blondie had their origins so long ago, I wonder if it would be an interesting proposition for the papers to do 're-runs', altho maybe that's too specialized, w/costs being the way they are. Brenda Starr...lordy, she's old enough to be a grandmother and then some now, & they've still got her running around as a babe. Well, hey, Lena Horne is still a beautiful woman in her 70s or so, too, so maybe...but what always got me about Brenda Starr was that she has all these 'twinkies' all over her. Puh-leese. I guess that was meant to indicate glamor or something.
2 - Mark S.
Good article, Michelle.
I will say, however, that the problem with comic sections these days are strips like Blondie. The original artists died long ago, and their work has been picked up by non-related others for the sake of revenue and recognizability. New strips often cannot get into papers because the recycled dinosaurs are clogging the entryway.
Give these two a look for something fresh if you haven't already: Brevity and Pearls Before Swine.
3 - DrPat
Then there's Prince Valiant, the 1950's metrosexual, who's been around since Hearst was a major political force in America. For some inane reason, this comic is still in my local paper, but a great strip like Rose is Rose is gone.
Go figure.
Sure, RiR had its twee moments, but I was in love with the Biker Rose who could transition from her alternate housewife ego at the drop of a hat. (See, honey, I LOVE strong women! Especially ones with legs like Biker Rose's...)
4 - JR
If you want to read a couple of interesting new strips, go to comics.com and click on 9 Chickwood Lane and on Pibgorn, both by Brooke McEldowney.
5 - Margaret
there used to be a reference to a friend of Mr. Young's in the strip. He had a funny name. The person was from Louisville.
6 - Margaret
in the Dagwood comic strip