Friday, November 14, 2008
Yet More Opper Overflow from the New Happy Hooligan Book
NBM's latest entry in their Forever Nuts series of classic comic strip reprints is Happy Hooligan by Fred Opper. I provided a biographical essay on Opper for the book as well as a number of raw scans of Opper material. You can purchase your copy at Amazon.com.
I supplied a great many Opper cartoons that didn't find their way into the book, so here's a potpourri of bonus Opper items for you.
Today we have a wonderful editorial cartoon from 1919 wherein Opper gives us his interpretations of a few of Hearst's other star comic strips. Then we have a Cousin Willie daily strip from 1916. Willie was a member of Opper's cast of country folk who popped up in many of his strips. Finally we have a pair from my personal favorite Opper series, Our Antediluvuan Ancestors. Opper really seemed to get a kick out of drawing weird dinosaurs and used them to good effect in commenting on modern problems. The example from the short-lived Sunday version is from 1904, the daily-style one is from 1913.
Comments:
Hello, Allan---I get the impression that Opper didn't read other strips much. That's an awfully tiny Captain in the Katzie panel, and since when did Boob McNutt have big wet-dog whiskers?---Cole Johnson.
# posted by 
: 11/14/2008 1:24 PM
: 11/14/2008 1:24 PM
Maybe Opper was trying to show those amateurs Goldberg and Knerr how their characters should be drawn to be REALLY funny.
--Allan
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--Allan
