Thursday, June 30, 2011
Obscurity of the Day: Earl
One that I just discovered recently is Earl, a very funny panel that was sold mostly to rural weeklies out west. The star of the show is a modern day cowboy who suffers the trials and tribulations of ranch life in a way that can produce laughs even for a city slicker like me. Some of my favorite Earl cartoons are those featuring the 'Cosmopolitan Bride', Earl's newly wedded wife from the big city. There's also the unusual motif of 'branding' many of the animals with descriptive names, a cute little conceit that works surprisingly well. The art is a little rough, but I think the humor more than makes up for it.
The creator, a real life cowboy, is Wally Badgett, but he signs his work M.C. Tin Star (the M.C. stands for Miles City, Montana, of which he was sheriff for a time).
The only newspaper samples I have of the feature are from 1997-99 in the Circle (MT) Banner paper, but the series must have started earlier as the first reprint book of the feature was out by 1995. Reprint books of Earl must sell pretty well because there have been a total of fourteen of them, the latest published in 2004. I don't know if Badgett is still actively selling Earl as a newspaper feature, but he does still have a website for selling books and calendars.
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
Hi there! Just discovered your site. I'm Wally's daughter - and wanted to share that he's just started releasing new remastered books and has calendars and notepads as well. The new website is : www.cowboyinwithearl.com
He's got thousands of cartoons in his library and still draws daily - and usually still has a wreck or two a week.
Thanks for your post!
He's got thousands of cartoons in his library and still draws daily - and usually still has a wreck or two a week.
Thanks for your post!
# posted by 
: 11/05/2023 12:51 PM
: 11/05/2023 12:51 PM
Thanks for the update. Maybe you could tell us some history of the newspaper feature -- like when it started and ended? Thanks, Allan
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