Wednesday, March 28, 2018

 

Obscurity of the Day: The Treasure of San Mateo


Based on only two examples in my collection, and one more I found online as original art, The Treasure of San Mateo shows a lot of promise as an historical adventure set in the early days of Spanish rule in Florida. My tearsheets are just clippings and therefore anonymous as regards the source newspaper, but the credits to writer Ken Cruickshank and artist Chris Armstrong are enough to pretty well guarantee that this strip ran in the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union. Both fellows were employed there in 1981, the year in which these strips saw print in their Sunday comics sections.

I have no idea how long this strip ran in the Times-Union or whether it was syndicated to other papers. Unfortunately artist Chris Armstrong, who later made a prominent name for himself as a fishing magazine illustrator, has since passed away, and I have been unable to determine the present whereabouts of Ken Cruickshank. Any information you strippers can share about The Treasure of San Mateo would be gratefully appreciated.

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# posted by Allan Holtz @ 8:00 AM
Comments:
Hello Allan,

I found an end date for Tom Forman and Ben Templeton's "Elwood" in the September 29, 1990 edition of the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph (between "Frank & Ernest" and "Funky Winkerbean")

https://imgur.com/a/4byZD

Sincerely,
Ben Ferron
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3/28/2018 10:07 PM
 
Thanks Ben, I'll update the Elwood post. From that last strip you found, it looks like Elwood may have become a little more 'soapy', a la Funky Winkerbean, in its last years. I'd like to see more.

--Allan
# posted by Blogger Allan Holtz : 3/31/2018 7:58 AM
 
Hello, greetings from Brazil. What an amazing blog!

Reading your discoveries of obscurities, it reminded me of a comic strip released here in 1976, translated as "Don Piloto". The strip appears to be from the US and it was distributed by the United Feature Syndicate. There is no author and its origin remains a mystery to this day.

Here are some pictures of the comics:

http://guiadoscuriosos.uol.com.br/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/don-piloto-300x198.gif

http://guiadoscuriosos.uol.com.br/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/tirinha2-300x190.gif

http://rockquadrinhosscans.blogspot.com.br/2014/06/don-pilotoideia-editorial-fevereiro-de.html

Any clues?
# posted by Anonymous Badin : 4/01/2018 2:36 AM
 
Hi Badin --
\Those images are from the US comic strip Don Patrol by Gary Patterson. It ran here 1975-76.

--Allan
# posted by Blogger Allan Holtz : 4/01/2018 7:02 AM
 
Hi Allan, thank you very much!
# posted by Anonymous Badin : 4/09/2018 7:16 AM
 
Following your clues, I found out that Eli Bauer also worked on it.
# posted by Anonymous Badin : 4/09/2018 7:23 AM
 
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