Saturday, April 15, 2023
Herriman Saturday: May 24 1910
May 24 1910 -- The Vernon Tigers, a team in just their second year, has managed to make it to the top of the PCL standings here in the early going of the 1910 season. They'll dip later on, ending the season in 4th place.
I can't imagine many 1910 households being thrilled at their daughter's homecoming, when she's dressed like that and wearing a "naughty, naughty twinkle in her eye." And the less we think on little brother's thoughts the better. Yer creepin' me out Garge!
Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons
Friday, April 14, 2023
Obscurity of the Day: Old Mr. Crapehanger
J.C. "Hen" Henderson produced a lot of material for Associated Newspapers in the 1910s (perhaps from a home base at the Providence Journal, jury's still out on that question), but his very first known syndicated comic is Old Mr. Crapehanger, the one and apparently only feature he did for NEA.
What the heck is a crapehanger, you ask? Well, first of all it's often spelled 'crepehanger', and it is slang for a gloomy, negative person, especially one who enjoys sharing their dire outlook with others. The term originated because in the old days an undertaker would sometimes drape black crepe on the windows and mirrors of a house where someone had recently died, as a way of making the home dark and mournful inside. The term is so very apt to be made into slang, don't you think? How in the world this wonderful term has fallen into disuse I can't imagine. Granted, I suppose undertakers haven't done this sort of thing in a hundred years, but that certainly doesn't keep us from using other archaic slang -- "stool pigeon", "on the wagon", etc.
Anyhow, the above sample strip is practically a dictionary-worthy definition of the term. But just as the slang didn't last, neither did the strip. Old Mr. Crapehanger is not present in the NEA Archives, so we are left checking newspapers, which were notoriously cavalier about running NEA material on the intended release dates. The Denver Express and Chicago Day Book, my best sources, ran it sporadically in January and February 1913.
Labels: Obscurities
: 4/18/2023 2:27 PM Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The 300 for 1992 -- Results
This year’s survey we did not lose any newspapers but we were missing 3 paper’s information, so this survey covers 265 papers.
It has taken 14 years for the top 2 strips to change. Garfield added four more papers knockeing Blondie down to position #3. With For Better or For Worse adding 13 papers the strip moved up two spots from 10 to 8. Also, Cathy with its 13 added papers moved up one spot to 11. Calvin & Hobbes joined the 200 papers club joining Peanuts, Garfield and Blondie. Fox Trot joins the Top 30 this year with 8 new papers. Funky Winkerbean falls out of the Top 30.
|
Title |
Place |
Movement |
Plus or Minus |
Total Papers |
|
Peanuts |
1 |
Same |
1 |
219 |
|
Garfield |
2 |
Up 1 |
4 |
215 |
|
Blondie |
3 |
Down 1 |
-4 |
208 |
|
Calvin and Hobbes |
4 |
Same |
6 |
204 |
|
Beetle Bailey |
5 |
Same |
-4 |
185 |
|
Far Side |
6 |
Same |
5 |
181 |
|
Hagar The Horrible |
7 |
Same |
-2 |
165 |
|
Doonesbury |
8 |
Same |
1 |
150 |
|
For Better or For Worse |
8 |
Up 2 |
13 |
150 |
|
Family Circus |
10 |
Down 1 |
0 |
144 |
|
Cathy |
11 |
Up 1 |
13 |
134 |
|
Wizard of Id |
12 |
Down 1 |
1 |
125 |
|
Shoe |
13 |
Same |
-1 |
113 |
|
B.C. |
14 |
Same |
2 |
110 |
|
Frank and Ernest |
15 |
Same |
2 |
109 |
|
Hi and Lois |
15 |
Same |
2 |
109 |
|
Born Loser |
17 |
Same |
1 |
96 |
|
Dennis The Menace |
18 |
Same |
-4 |
82 |
|
Marmaduke |
19 |
Up 1 |
-5 |
62 |
|
Andy Capp |
20 |
Down 1 |
-8 |
61 |
|
Ziggy |
21 |
Up 3 |
2 |
57 |
|
Mary Worth |
22 |
Down 1 |
-2 |
55 |
|
Mother Goose and Grimm |
22 |
Up 1 |
-1 |
55 |
|
Herman |
24 |
Down 3 |
-5 |
52 |
|
Sally Forth |
25 |
Up 1 |
1 |
49 |
|
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith |
26 |
Down 1 |
-4 |
47 |
|
Rex Morgan |
27 |
Same |
-1 |
45 |
|
Fox Trot |
28 |
Entering |
8 |
44 |
|
Marvin |
29 |
Down 1 |
-1 |
42 |
|
Arlo and Janis |
30 |
Down 1 |
-3 |
38 |
|
Funky Winkerbean (Drop Out) |
|
|
|
|
Since Garfield moved into 2nd place the universal comic section had it biggest gainer in the top 2 strip position.
Top 2 – 197 (Up 12)
Top 3 – 167 (Up 3)
Top 4 – 153 (Up 5)
Top 5 – 125 (Up 1)
Top 6 – 102 (Up 2)
Top 7 – 80 (Up 2)
Top 8 – 63 (Up 1)
Top 9 – 48 (Same)
Top 10 – 36 (Down 1)
Top 11 – 30 (Up 4)
Top 12 – 25 (Up 4)
Top 13 – 20 (Up 3)
Top 14 – 18 (Up 3)
Top 15 – 5 (Down 7)
Top 15 – 3 (Up 2)
Top 17 – 1 (Up 1)
The Galveston Daily News (TX) won this year’s universal comic section newspaper.
Here is how the remaining strips did in 1992:
|
# of Papers |
Feature (+/- from last year) |
|
37 |
Funky Winkerbean (-3), Gasoline Alley (-2) |
|
34 |
Winthrop (-5) |
|
33 |
Lockhorns (0) |
|
32 |
Tank McNamara (0) |
|
31 |
Alley Oop (-4) |
|
30 |
Grizzwells (-2), Heathcliff (-3) |
|
29 |
Eek and Meek (-3), Geech (1) |
|
28 |
Rose is Rose (+2) |
|
27 |
Kit N Carlyle (+4) |
|
25 |
In The Bleachers (+4), Judge Parker (-3) |
|
23 |
Snafu (+1) |
|
21 |
Crankshaft (0) |
|
20 |
Nancy (-3) |
|
18 |
Curtis (-1), Jump Start (+5), Luann (+1) |
|
17 |
Amazing Spider-Man (-1), Robotman (-4) |
|
16 |
Berry’s World (-7) |
|
15 |
Fred Bassett (0), Mark Trail (0), Phantom (-1), Tiger (-1) |
|
14 |
Apartment 3-G (-2), Dick Tracy (-12), Pogo (-5), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (-12), Tumbleweeds (-2) |
|
13 |
Archie (+1) |
|
12 |
Adam (0), Bizarro (+2), Buckets (R), Drabble (0), Ernie (0), Walnut Cove (R) |
|
11 |
Dunagin’s People (-1), Mr. Boffo (0) |
|
10 |
Baby Blues (+2), Broom Hilda (-5) |
|
9 |
Gil Thorp (-1), Overboard (+4), Safe Havens (-2), Willy N’ Ethel (-2) |
|
8 |
Brenda Starr (-2), Donald Duck (-3), Herb and Jamaal (-1), Kuduz (-5), Middletons (+1), Momma (0), Rubes (-2), They’ll Do It Every Time (+1) |
|
7 |
Crock (-3), Hazel (-2), Hocus-Focus (-1), Mickey Mouse (-2), One Big Happy (+1), Steve Roper and Mike Nomad (-3), Sylvia (+1), Zippy (-1) |
|
6 |
Animal Crackers (0), Big Nate (R), Dilbert (+1), Farcus (R), Fusco Brothers (0), Horrorscope (0), Lyttle Woman (R), New Breed (+1), Phipps (0), Real Life Adventures (R), That’s Jake (+1) |
|
5 |
Little Orphan Annie (-1), Motley’s Crew (0), Off The Leach (0), On The Fastrack (0), Redeye (-1), Suburban Cowgirls (-2), When I Was Short (-8), Word for Word (0) |
|
4 |
Bent Offering, Betty, Duffy, Our Fascinating Earth, Single Slices, Small Society |
|
3 |
Agatha Crumm, Amy, Better Half, Chubb & Chauncey, Francie, Heart of Juliet Jones, Love Is, Moose Miller, Rip Kirby, Sherman’s Lagoon, Trudy, Winnie Winkle |
|
2 |
Belvedere, Catfish, Ferd’Nand, Flintstones, Laff-A-Day, Miss Peach, Nooz, Outcasts, Out of Bounds, Pickles, Ryatts, Smith Family, Sports Hall of Shame, Wit of the World |
|
1 |
Ballard Street, Ben Wicks, Boners Ark, Bringing Up Father, Cross The Line, Dad’s Eye View, Dillion, Family Business, Flash Gordon, Gunion, Jasper, Kaleb, Laff Break, Modesty Blaise, Mr. Luckey, Pavlov, Popeye, Pop’s Place, Potluck, Pot-Shots, Queen of the Universe, Quigmans, Sam and Silo, Sibling Revelry, Southpaw, Spellbound, Tom and Jerry, What A Guy, Wild Life |
Labels: Paper Trends
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The 300 for 1992 -- Biggest Gainers and Losers
1991 could be called the year of girl power. Both the top gainers added 13 papers to their list and both were by female cartoonists. The strips are For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnson and Cathy by Cathy Guisewite. Fox Trot was the third biggest gainer with 8 papers and both Calvin & Hobbes and Far Side continued their growth with 6 papers going to Calvin and 5 to Far Side. Also, the battle of who will have the most successful African American strip begins with Jump Start gaining 5 papers.
Top Gainers
For Better or For Worse – 13
Cathy – 13
Fox Trot – 8
Calvin and Hobbes – 6
Far Side – 5
Jump Start - 5
The continuing pattern of a last year’s rookie winners having big losses continues with Teenage Mutant Turtles losing 12 papers. Also, the Dick Tracy movie did not help the strip’s slow decline over the years; now it was falling off the cliff losing 12 papers which was almost a 50 percent drop from last year. Andy Capp continues its yearly decline with another 8 papers leaving the tavern. Also, we have a drop of 8 papers for the new strip When I Was Short. Here are the biggest losers of the year and their paper losses:
Dick Tracy – 12
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 12
Andy Capp – 8
When I Was Short – 8
Berry's World – 7
Marmaduke – 5
Herman – 5
Winthrop – 5
Pogo – 5
Broom Hilda – 5
Kudzu – 5
The adventure strip again continued its downfall with both Turtles and Tracy losing 12 papers and Batman ended with 7 papers. Almost of the adventure strips are losing papers this year. Alley Oop is still the most popular adventure strip. Is this a real success or is it because of being the NEA blanket comic strip section?
Adventure (-48) – down 25.6%
Alley Oop – 31 – (-4)
Amazing Spider-Man – 17 (-1)
Mark Trail – 15 (0)
Phantom – 15 (-1)
Dick Tracy – 14 (-12)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 14 (-12)
Brenda Starr – 8 (-2)
Steve Roper and Mike Nomad – 7 (-3)
Mickey Mouse – 7 (-2)
Little Orphan Annie – 5 (-1)
Rip Kirby – 3 (-1)
Flash Gordon – 1 (-1)
Modesty Blaise – 1 (0)
Popeye – 1 (-1)
Ended
Batman – 7
Soap strips continue their slow decline again.
Soap (-9) – down 5.6%
Mary Worth – 55 – (-2)
Rex Morgan – 45 – (-1)
Judge Parker – 25 – (-3)
Apartment 3-G – 14 – (-2)
Gil Thorp – 9 (-1)
Heart of Juliet Jones – 3 (0)
Winnie Winkle – 3 (0)
Labels: Paper Trends
Monday, April 10, 2023
Jeffrey Linenblatt's Paper Trends: The 300 for 1992 -- Rookies of 1991
We have a tie this year for most successful rookie strip. One is still running and that is Scott Stantis’ The Buckets. According to Wikipedia this strip should not be a rookie because it says the strip began in 1990*. The other strip is Mark Cullum’s Walnut Cove which would have a 9 year run. Both strips got 12 papers in our survey.
The second tier batch all started with 6 papers. Two were trying to go in the The Far Side vein, Farcus and Real Life Adventures. The other two were Lyttle Women and Big Nate. Big Nate would make a big success as a book series in the style of Diary of the Wimpy Kid.
1991 was a good year to start a comic strip; of 13 new features surveyed, 5 are still running today. A 38% survival rate after over 30 years is really quite amazing.
Here’s the complete list of surveyed rookies for 1991:
Buckets – 12
Walnut Cove – 12
Big Nate – 6
Farcus – 6
Lyttle Women – 6
Real Life Adventures – 6
Betty – 4
Sherman’s Lagoon – 3
Ballard Street, Crossing The Line (Canadian sports cartoons), Mr. Lucky, Southpaw, Spellbound – 1
* Note from Allan: This is definitely a Wiki error. The Buckets strip started on April 22 1991.
Labels: Paper Trends
Sunday, April 09, 2023
Wish You Were Here, from Little Nemo
It's time once again for a Little Nemo card, the Raphael Tuck postcard series in which some unnamed artist simply copied a Winsor McCay panel as well as he was able. The game here is to find the strip that originally had this scene. Should be an easy one, we can see they're in the ice palace, one of the most famous sequences of the strip.
Labels: Wish You Were Here
https://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/161
https://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/188
https://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display/203
