I'm back! Didja miss me? I'm still swamped with work but it's not so ridiculous at this point that eating and sleeping are unattainable luxuries. We'll start back off with the Editor & Publisher mystery strips starting with the letter "N". If you don't know what I mean by mystery strips, or how to get your free goodie boxes by providing proof of the existence of them, go back and read the first mystery list post. (SORRY - as of 2018 goodie boxes
are sadly no longer available - I now live in Canada and our postal
rates are so outrageous that I cannot afford to send out goodie boxes -
SORRY!)
Nanny O'Twinkle, 1948, Larry Reynolds, Press Alliance, daily
Nature Notes, 1939, J.N. Meissner, KNM, thrice weekly panel
Nature's Notebook, 1929, Frank Thorne, Science Service, daily (found by Ray Bottorff Jr
, but it is a text column with minor illustration)
Nature-Tomes, 1970, Ficklen and Raynor, Avalon Features, daily panel
The Newlyweds, 1993-96, Mike Brown and Charlie Michaels, Family Matters Publications, weekly
Nehi and Skyhi, 1937, Joe Buresch, Thompson Service, daily strip
Nellie's Notebook, 1966, Art Gates, Chicago Tribune, daily panel (found! by Ray Bottorff Jr. in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Orlando Sentinel)
Nelly Newcook, 1938, Jessie A. Knox, Our Family Food, weekly strip (found by Ray Bottorff Jr. but it is a text column with vaguely cartoony illustration)
The Nerve of Some People, 1945-46, Ed Sullivan, Associated Features, daily panel
The Nest, 1985, Mario and Nancy Risso, Mercury Features, daily strip
The Neutrons, 1980-81, Stan Meritakis, self-syndicated, weekly
Never Land, 1980, Eddie Pipe, Allied Press International, daily panel
New Dialogue For Old Movies, 1967-68, uncredited, C-K Special Features, daily panel (found by Ray Bottorff Jr., stills from old movies with 'funny' captions, no credits and found only in a Canada paper, Edmonton Journal, on a few widely dispersed occasions.)
New Jersey Subjects, 1969, Gar Schmitt, self-syndicated, weekly panel (editorial cartoons, not eligible for SG)
New Outlook, 1949-50, Jack Fitch, A.S. Curtis Features, daily panel
Newbies, 2000-present, John Kovalic and Liz Rathke, Shetland Productions, weekly strip (web only?)
Next of Kin, 2000-present, Clinton Harmon, Clintoons, weekly strip
Nextdoor Neighbor, 1947, Bill Nickel, Editorial Services, weekly panel
Nice Weekend, 1978, Joe Mahoney, Community & Suburban Press Service, weekly panel (found! in Berwyn Life)
Nick Ryan - The Skull, 1993-94, Kevin Miller and David Watkins, Suzerain Group, daily strip
Night Riders, 1940, Ralph Matz, Miller Features, daily strip
Nightlife, 1983-84, Georgeson, Superior Features, weekly panel
Nimon's Island, 1997-99, Kevin Donahue, Ctoons Studios, daily and Sunday strip [apparently a web-only strip according to comments below]
Nimrod, 1990-2003, Morrie Turner, Worldwide Media, daily strip
Nip and Tuck, 1936-39, Bess Goe Willis, Ledger Syndicate, weekly strip [do have the version that was apparently a local strip in the Boston Post 1942-43]
Nip and Tuck, 1963-69, Fred Treadgold, Singer Features, weekly strip
No Rodeo, 2001-present, Robert Berardi, self-syndicated, daily and Sunday strip (probable web-only feature)
The Noob, 1994, uncredited, LA Times Syndicate, daily (now a webcomic)
Noodles, 1978-79, Robert Righetti, Danny Ball Productions, weekly panel
Not Too Smart, 1993-94, Charles McDonel, Comic Art Therapy, daily
Nully Fy, 1971, M. Sitton, Winford Company Features, daily strip (never published according tto Alter Ego article - see comment below)
Nutty Nature, 1983-99, Fallon and Pracy, BP Singer Features, weekly strip
Nimon's Island appears to have been web-only and animated as well. The Ctoons site it was on appears to be dead...
ReplyDeleteSee
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/comic_strips/6796
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine does have old pages archived...
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ctoons.com
Unfortunately, while libraries have mostly tossed out their newspapers volumes, but at least you have microfilm. Web-based comics seem to just disappear forever when the website goes away...
my best
-Ray
Doc Vasallo told me that his interview with fifties comic book artist Marion Sitton is in the next issue of Alter Ego and mentions Nutty Fy, showing samples from Mr. Sitton's promotional package. He couldn't tell if it actually sold anywhere.
ReplyDeleteMan, I remember Ctoons. It was one of the first websites to post daily comics in color. There was also a sister site, Toonville, which lasted longer.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember "Nimon's Island," tho...
Thanks, Ger, I'll be on the lookout for that issue of Alter Ego. Really should get a sub but since the coverage is 95% about comic books I just have a hard time justifying the price. Just an ol' skinflint...
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, Ray, for the heads-up on Nimon. I suspect most of these oddball items from about 2000 on in E&P are web-only features.
--Allan
Re: Nully Fy and Alter Ego#78.
ReplyDeleteIn Doc's interview with Sitton, Sitton says Nully Fy was "a modern-type humor strip with much simpler artwork, about the Space Age." He goes on to say that the guy promoting it (unclear if this was the guy running Winford) "had some financial reversals" whereupon Sitton tried some self-promotion for awhile. But eventually"the strip collapsed...and I gave up on it".
So the strip never appeared.
Sitton did try some other attempts at syndication (also sampled in Alter Ego #78), but only his, and W.C.Fabell's, Nature Was First ever got into any papers.
Nature Was First, he says, peaked in about 39 papers. Not enough to make a living and after a year and a half he gave up on it.
Alter Ego #78 also has an interview with Harold LeDoux from about 2005.
His memories of Dan Heilman are not fond: "he'd be a [s.o.b.]" and assisting him "was just hell on earth." Unlike his affectionate tales of Stephen Douglas and Harold Anderson.
Hey DD -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info! I don't suppose the Alter Ego article has exact start and end dates for "Nature Was First"? All I have is 47-48.
--Allan
Nah, they reproduce one of the panels and say copyright "circa 1948". That's as close as they come to giving a date for the feature.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sitton does give his birthdate as
April 1, 1920 though.
Hey, I use that for my records.
RE: Nick Ryan and David Watkins...
ReplyDeleteI asked Mr. Watkins about this strip and he graciously replied, which I quote:
"Wow....The Skull, I haven't even thought about that in ages. It was one of my favorites but never caught on. Man, that was 16 years ago? Where does the time go???? Geez, 16 years....I feel so old now. Thanks, ha ha!
Frankly, I have no idea where it appeared, that was too long ago. I know it wasn't more than 5 papers, thus the quick death. I think Juno, Alaska, (some city in Alaska) and there was some crime weekly in Detroit I think. There was a monthly paper called The Funny Pages (or The Funny Papers) that ran nothing but comics and had us. A couple other places I simply don't remember. What I most remember is that our home paper refused to run it (we were both from Minnesota even though I was living in NY at the time and Miller was in Florida). The only thing physical from back then that I know of is the comic book we did after the strip folded.
http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?minyr=1990&TID=554661 The comic did not reprint the comic strips, they were new adventures. Sorry, I can't be of more help."
So I figured, what the heck, I'll ask him about his other strips and panels listed in Strickler's E&P Index. The strips I asked about were
"Saint Paul and Duncan"
"Extenuating Circumstances"
"Judge Pudge"
"Ol' Sully"
"And Bob Created Woman"
"Different Blokes"
"Alias the Skull"
And again he kindly responded to my bothersome requests:
"Ha ha, I'm happy someone is talking about these, I just wish I could be more help but it's just too long ago.
Saint Paul & Duncan ran in just one paper for five months, no idea where.
Alias The Skull was the comic book Skull chopped into a Sunday format, however, it never sold. The Funny Pages carried the first one when the dailies dried up, but I dropped it soon after.
Legal comic strip Extenuating Circumstances ran in four or five crime papers I don't recall BUT it did have one paper big enough for me to remember, it ran about six months in The National Law Journal (I think '92)...I remember that one because I made some friends there and it was national.
Nothing else made it into any papers, unfortunately. Suzerain was my self publishing outfit. When the comic strips died I turned to comic books for the next decade or so."
So it seems that "Nick Ryan" may have run in a Juneau newspaper and Saint Paul and Duncan possibly in another newspaper. The others don't sound like real newspapers in the Strippers Guide sense; and there is no hard proof yet of the above two named strips.
Anyway I appreciated David Watkins answering my questions and thought I'd share them with this crowd.
"
I worked for Ctoons back in 1997-1999. Nimon's Island was completely web only, and animated occasionally. The writing was all Kevin Donahue and the art and animation was all Kevin Lane. I'd love to connect with anyone who's a Ctoons fan!
ReplyDeleteNature Notes has nothing to do with the Parrish Chicago Tribune Sunday strip of back in the day?
ReplyDeleteAnd Nature's Notebook has no connection with an occassional 1 page text story feature seen in the line of Archie comic book titles (later reprinted in the Archie comic digest line) from circa 1950's-early 1960's.
Joseph Parrish's Nature Notes is well-documented; these are definitely something different.
ReplyDeleteNo telling if this Archie series you mention is any connection; I'm not familiar with it. But of course this one was being offered to newspapers.
--Allan
Back to another 13-year gap on my search of the letter N this time because I don't have a life (at least tonight).
ReplyDeleteNature's Notebook, 1929, Frank Thorne, Science Service, daily
Found! And so not a comic.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), Thursday, November 20, 1930, p.20:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85470215/natures-notebook-by-dr-frank-thone-b/
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Nellie's Notebook, 1966, Art Gates, Chicago Tribune, daily panel
ReplyDeleteFound!
The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida), Monday, September 5, 1966, p.11:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85470541/nellies-notebook-starts-in-sentinel/
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), Thursday, October 27, 1966, p.20-G:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85470890/nellies-notebook/
Latest I found:
April 20, 1967, p.12-A:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85470977/nellies-notebook/
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Nelly Newcook, 1938, Jessie A. Knox, Our Family Food, weekly strip
ReplyDeleteFound! But is it a comic? I shall leave it up to Allan to judge.
Earliest I found:
The Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), Friday, July 21, 1939, p. 8:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85471133/nelly-newcook/
Latest I found:
The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana), Friday, December 8, 1939, p.19:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85471191/nelly-newcook-by-jessie-a-knox/
I found four examples of the feature of these two newspapers.
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
New Dialogue For Old Movies, 1967-68, uncredited, C-K Special Features, daily panel
ReplyDeleteFound! But in Canadian newspapers only. It seems to be a Fumenti panel, without the word balloons.
Edmonton Journal, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Thursday, November 2, 1967, p.15:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85471509/new-dialogue-for-old-movies/
December 29, 1967, p.25:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85471575/new-dialogue-for-old-movies/
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
New Jersey Subjects, 1969, Gar Schmitt, self-syndicated, weekly panel
ReplyDeleteConfirmed? There is a 1970 article about the cartoonist that mentions they've been publishing it since 1967. Looks like it is his syndicated weekly editorial cartoons.
The News (Paterson, New Jersey), Tuesday, April 21, 1970, p.23:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85471789/top-award-for-news-cartoon-gar-schmitt/
An example of his editorial cartoons, April 22, 1970, p.18:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85472142/overmatched/
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Thanks Ray! Listings updated with your findings.
ReplyDelete--Allan