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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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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/28/2018 10:07 PM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allan Holtz3/31/2018 7:58 AM

    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

    ReplyDelete
  3. Badin4/01/2018 2:36 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?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Allan Holtz4/01/2018 7:02 AM

    Hi Badin --
    \Those images are from the US comic strip Don Patrol by Gary Patterson. It ran here 1975-76.

    --Allan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Badin4/09/2018 7:16 AM

      Hi Allan, thank you very much!

      Delete
  5. Badin4/09/2018 7:23 AM

    Following your clues, I found out that Eli Bauer also worked on it.

    ReplyDelete

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