Redartz: Once upon a time, many of us started the day off with a newspaper. For years the daily paper was part of my morning routine, providing an entertaining and educational accompaniment to breakfast. And the paper came with a reward for wading through pages of news, disasters, politics, editorials, and weather reports: the comics.
Newspaper comic strips served as an origin for comic books themselves: the first comic books were composed of reprinted newspaper strips. And they also provided an entry into sequential art for this reader: I was following the adventures of "Mandrake the Magician" long before I ever heard of "Dr. Strange".
So, it's long past due that we give some love to these daily strips; old and new. Adventure strips and gag strips. Dailys and Sundays. And to start off, here's a few of my personal favorites; from 'then' to now...
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| Peanuts |
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| Pogo |
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| Mandrake the Magician |
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| The Phantom |
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| Popeye |
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| Calvin and Hobbes |
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| Luann |
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| The Far Side |
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| Tumbleweeds |
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| Mutts |
Well, it's almost a paper's worth. So, what strips were your favorites? Which ones did you skip over? What effect did new creators have on the strips when replacing the original (say, Bud Sagendorf following up on E.C. Segar's "Thimble Theatre")? Do you still follow any newspaper strips? Do you read any online? What strips would you recommend to others? The column is now yours...
