Friday, June 01, 2007
Obscurity of the Day: Norse by Norsewest
If you thought Hagar the Horrible was the only humor strip to feature Vikings you'd be close to right. But Hagar was prefigured by this obscurity, Norse by Norsewest, a comedy featuring a troop of mod Norsemen.
The strip was written by John Brinkerhoff (perhaps a relative of R.M. Brinkerhoff?) and cartooned by Bob Campbell, neither of whom have any other syndication credits. Both art and gags bear the indelible marks of the late 60s. The art was good, but influenced by the 1960s pop art craze it looks a little dated today. The gags were on the weak side, relying a bit much on the Laugh-In style when they weren't strictly jokebook material.
The strip, syndicated by McNaught, first appeared in a very small number of client papers on November 17 1969. I can only vouch for the strip lasting a mere month and a half, to December 27. If it lasted longer I can find no evidence for it. Perhaps a strip so tied to late 60s sensibilities just couldn't bring itself to tackle the 70s.
UPDATE 12/15/2023: Lots more digitized papers now, and it can be safely stated that the end date was 2/28/1970 based on Austin American-Statesman and several others.
Labels: Obscurities
www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/campbell_robert/index.htm
: 7/25/2022 8:13 AM https://www.ebay.com/itm/176104048686
