Friday, February 03, 2006
Lost And Found
I have some good news today from the exciting world of comic strip research.
A month or so ago I reported to you that the San Francisco Bulletin ran their own 'homegrown' Sunday comic strips in 1904 - I knew this because of some auctions for a few pages on eBay. However, I ordered the microfilm of the 1904 Bulletin and found no evidence of the strips. That led me to assume that those pages had been stolen out of the bound volumes before they got filmed (unfortunately not that rare an occurrence). I bemoaned the apparent conclusion that the Bulletin's strips were probably lost forever.
But hold on there, all was not lost. I ordered the Bulletin microfilm for 1903 just to see what was going on that year, and lo and behold, the Bulletin's comics are all there, including the very ones I saw advertised on eBay as being from 1904. That just goes to show you why I have to see things with my own eyes (or those of trusted advisors and researchers) before information goes into the Stripper's Guide index.
Most of the 1903 Bulletin material is one-shot strips, but there are two series. The one shown today, Race Track Expressions by the great Tad Dorgan, ran three times between 2/22 and 5/24/1903. I'll show the other tomorrow.
Please excuse the image quality, it's the best I can do from microfilm.
