Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Mystery Strips: Misery Is...
I have a batch of 1983 United Feature weekly syndicate books, and I found in one issue two weeks worth of a panel cartoon called Misery Is... by Scrawls (Sam C. Rawls). My run of the books is by no means perfect, but I cannot find this feature anywhere but in the May 16 edition, and I have other weekly books from April, May and June, though not all of them.
In the May 16th book there are two weeks worth of the feaure, slated for publication in papers of May 16-21 and May 23-28.
This is obviously a very short run feature, and I have no printed examples in my collection. I cannot find any mentions of it in E&P or in interviews/articles on Sam Rawls. I checked the online archives of the Atlanta Constitution, where Rawls was the editorial cartoonist at this time, and a spot check did not find them running the feature.
So this one is a misery, er, I mean a mystery. If anyone has a printed example, or knows of a run of it somewhere, don't keep it to yourself. Let's get this one into the books as a feature that made it into papers.
UPDATE 2/23/2024: Paul Di Filippo sends me this article from the Palm Beach Post, dated June 1 1983:
In which the feature is announced to be set to appear "from time to time" in the paper's entertainment section (the section was titled "Poster" for some reason). After this big section-heading article announcing the feature I looked through the next two weeks of the section and found Misery Is appearing exactly zero times.
Labels: Mystery Strips
There's a faintly piscatorial pong about this one. Note there's no dates applied to them, for starters. Also, even as far at single column nuggets of philosophical wisdom panels go, or even knock-offs of Charles Schultz's "Happiness is" device goes...this is really startlingly poor.
This is not clever, or insightful or humourous, it's as stupid as calling it "This bad:"....
Misery is an ingrown toenail. Misery is blackouts. Really, they are. So what? That's it? It's almost like you, the late twentieth century American newspaper reader, are supposed to see a small panel cartoon and your proscribed Pavlovian reaction is to, if not laugh or even smile at it, just take it unconsciously as a piece of comedy, intended to be funny, never stopping to analyse whether it has any point to it at all, instead of an existential statement of fact that goes nowhere.
So what is, "Misery Is?" My guess- This is something the syndicate saw potential for in the name, id est, the trade mark. So if it appears in the weekly book, and it becomes theirs. The "weeklies" are what are entered into copyright for everything inside. It matters not if they ever actually syndicated it or developed anything further with it, they own the name "Misery Is."
: 2/21/2024 4:13 PM : 2/22/2024 4:32 PM Question, though ... I used to be able to buy the NEA and UFS syndicate books through St Marks Comics in NYC, and I've heard that the CTNYNS books were sold at the newsstand in the Daily News building. So did King bother with the ritual of making their books available for purchase somewhere, and if they did, where was it?
--Allan
There were, possibly still are, two weeklies, at least by our syndicate. The one with all the comics, as tall as a proof sheet, about 14", and a second, at 8" x 10", was the one for all the columns, puzzles, specialty items and the retread old stuff and the new obscurities. These came under the collective appellation "The Weekly Service" package. At one time, it meant material we'd set aside, with different rates, for the hundreds of small town once a week papers, and probably expanded to foreign sales, too.
My guess is that maybe UFS has/had a second weekly as well, and that somehow, "Misery Is" might have been a feature in that book, only accidentally appearing in the regular strip book that you have.
That the Palm Beach Post ran a news story about it, yet didn't use any of them, shows that at least it reached a level where some publicity was generated. Note, though, this is not created by UFS, because it comes off as a terrible feature, promising rather than laughs, a few seconds of unpleasant associations, pain, fear, or actual MISERY.
Why do editors dislike controversy in the features they pick up for their paper? They don't want to offend their readers. In this little article, the writer seems to be spending all the gags in some initial sample pages of "Misery Is", and each one makes the panel seems even more repellant. It's like telling the world this will be a feature that will surely offend all readers and editors alike.
: 2/23/2024 11:33 AM Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Mystery Strip: Sonny Boy and Troubles
Here's a real headscratcher from my collection. I have a bound portfolio of these strips, titled Sonny Boy and Troubles. Each full-page colour strip is copyright by Alltone Company and dated 1924. The art, however, is uncredited. The binding, which offers no additional information, is what I might call semi-professional. Probably not something done on someone's kitchen table, but also probably not destined for retail sale, either. The pattern-decorated boards are bound with a gauze strip which covers the stapled spine. The book is 12.25" wide and 16.5" tall. Each of the 12 leaves is printed on one side only.
The Alltone Company that copyrighted these strips may be one I tracked down from this era in Milwaukee Wisconsin. They were some sort of printing concern.
The simple stories vary between fantasies like above and the more mundane. They are all told in rhyme. The writing is good enough for what it is and the stories are imaginative given that they are just eight-panels with no continuity from page to page. The art is sometimes a bit stiff, but the layouts and especially the sumptuous colouring make each page a real beauty.
I can find only one reference on the web to this material: three eBay listings by a single seller offering individual pages of strips that appear in my book. The seller claims that their pages were associated somehow with a grocery store in Minnesota (found there by the seller I assume?). The seller says his are on "cardboard poster" stock. Mine are on slick coated paper. His sheets are a bit taller and skinnier than mine. The skinnier width might be because the stapled binding has been cut away, but the photos clearly show that his pages have a taller top margin than mine.
It seems a shame that no one took credit for these impressive pages, and of course, the mystery of how and why they came to be is tugging at me. But I'm all out of avenues to pursue. Anyone have any ideas?
Labels: Mystery Strips
Here's a few ideas- They are made to show off the abilities of the printing company, in production of advertising mats. This shows what high grade work they could put into magazine or newspaper adverts.
It might also something to show possible clients for some kind of tie-in with a local merchant; an ad every week with a colour comic strip on the back, in a free in-store flyer or junk mail.
: 1/24/2024 4:03 PM Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Mystery Strip: The March of Science
Here's a strip that seems like it ought not to be mysterious. The March of Science was apparently a weekly strip offering of Science Service, with my only examples (above) from mid-1937. Now I will grant you that Science Service isn't exactly King Features, but they were a well-respected smaller syndicate that specialized in distributing science news and offering columns and inforgraphics on scientific subjects. Yes, a strip is a little off their regular radar, but it seems like a natural for them, and with their other material pretty popular, you'd think this strip would have attracted some clients.
However, beyond the two examples above, found in a small Virginia weekly paper, I cannot find any other evidence that this feature ever existed. Nothing on newspapers.com, nothing in E&P. Technically I can list a feature with as little as two known examples, but I would like to hold out for better data on this feature that SEEMS like it ought to be slightly less rare than teeth on a chicken.
If you have any examples of this feature in your collection, or can run some online searches at other archives, please let me know if you find anything!
Labels: Mystery Strips
"Hudson started his career at the Columbus Citizen in 1924, then worked at The Toledo Blade and the Cleveland News."
https://centennial.societyforscience.org/entry/1920s-syndication-broadens-science-services-reach/
Monday, December 12, 2022
Mystery Strips: Whatta Life and Kampus Keeds
Winter is coming on and that means outside projects finally get put on hold and the Stripper gets to spend a lot more time in his archives. And what work awaits him there? Giant teetering piles that must be put under control, itemized, categorized, inventoried and put to bed in their rightful places. And what that means is that he turns up mysteries at a fair clip.
Today that mystery goes beyond a comic strip, it started out as a whole doggone newspaper. What I have here is the May 6 1933 edition of the New York News. Nothing mysterious about that, you say? Nah, I didn't say Daily News, just News. It's a black newspaper published out of New York City, a city that already had a black "News" paper -- the Amsterdam News. At first I wondered if the Amsterdam News experimented with this as a new name, but no dice there. Finally I found a slight mention of a paper called the New York News and Harlem Home Journal on WorldCat, but the listing offers no information except that it was published in the 1910s-30s. Jumping to my books on black journalism history, I find that not one of them mentions this paper, at least as far as the indexes are concerned. Jumping over to the Library of Congress listings, I learned that there are only two reels of microfilm for the paper known to exist, partial years from 1921 and 1927. Now that's what I call a newspaper that flew beneath the radar.
So here's the front page headline area and the indicia, plus a snippet of a tirade against other black papers below the indicia.
Okay, so the newspaper is no longer a complete mystery, just very, very obscure. Why do we care? Naturally I wouldn't be beating my typing fingers to the bone here if there weren't comics somewhere in this story. And yes there are, in fact two of them. This issue include strips of Kampus Keeds and Whatta Life, both by a Lucille Fitzgerald. Being 1933, and assuming that Lucille was African-American, she would be the very first known published black female cartoonist, pre-dating Jackie Ormes by four years.
The only problem for me is that I'd love to put these strips in my database, but with only one sample of each I have no proof they were series. I know this is a real longshot, but any help out there??
Labels: Mystery Strips
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Mystery Strips: Tomorrow's Comics
Although the headline says this is a mystery strip post, this one's not so much mysterious as just so exceedingly rare I don't really know what to do with it.We're going to cover the whole range of a syndicate's offerings today, the comics of Argonaut Entertainment.
Never heard of them? Well, you're not alone. I'd never heard of them until Charles Brubaker stumbled upon a whole page's worth of unfamiliar comics in a 1994 issue of the Gaffney (SC) Ledger. Here's a sample:
The lineup consists of Bots by Ron Matzov, Dagney by Kelly Kennedy, Franky and Ralph by Moira Manion, Grey Matter by London and Chianca, Hobnob Inn by Paige Anderson, Time Trek by Jack Warren, Pipo and Company by Tomé, Amber Waves by Dave T. Phipps, Off The Top by Carl Jung and David Evans, Everything's O.K. by O.K. Elkins, Clancy by John Brundige, Carlos by Roy Delgado, Lunatic Fringe by Wardo, and Leadbellies by Thomas Burton.
The only feature with which I was familiar was Phipps' Amber Waves, which was later syndicated by King Features Weekly Service, and continues to this day as far as I know.
This lineup stayed consist through the entire run in the Gaffney Ledger. And here's where we get to the problem. The Gaffney Ledger, a thrice weekly paper, ran the page from November 6 to December 4 in their 'experimental' Sunday edition (the longstanding Monday edition moved to Sunday and added a few extra features) -- a total of five times. The paper announced after this five week trial run that the Sunday paper had not been the big seller they were hoping for, so they moved it back to Monday and dropped the extra features, including the page from Argonaut Entertainment.
So not only did I have a mysterious page of ultra-obscure comics, but with a five week run I had to ask myself whether it qualified for listing in my Stripper's Guide database. After all, I have said in the past that features that appear only in 'test runs' don't qualify -- they have to be used as regular features. They might have really, really short runs, but they can't just be mere samples.
So, more digging, and I eventually came up with another run, this time in the Charlottesville (VA) Observer. This was a year earlier, and lasted ... hmm, what a coincidence ... five weekly appearances. The page ran from August 5 to September 2. The line-up changed slightly each week. Here's a sample page:
The complete line-up over the five week period was as follows (number in parentheses is a count of the times the feature appeared): Cuff & Rubin by Curt Brandao (5), The Brass & Fern by Steve Riehm (5), Dagney by Kelly Kennedy (2), Franky & Ralph by Moira Manion (5), The Purple Ort by Dan Fikes (4), The Art of Living by Valerie Costantino (2), Mum's The Word by Dan Rosandich (2), Business As Usual by Steve Brackett (2), Carlos by Roy Delgado (3), Leadbellies by Thomas Burton (3), At A Glance by Michael J. Saporito (3), Everything's O.K. by O.K. Elkins (4), and The Real World by Steve McNeon (1).
Now with a second sample run in hand, we at least also had a syndicate name and the headline "Tomorrow's Comics." That was the clue that helped answer the big question, "Just what the heck is this stuff?"
It turns out that Argonaut Entertainment was primarily a creator of comic book inserts for college newspapers. The name of the comic book? Tomorrow's Comics, of course. There are apparently seven known issues, and you can see one of them here appearing in the Oregon Daily Emerald, and here in the Miami Hurricane. The comic books offered readers short runs of a big batch of daily style strips by what they billed as some of the brightest young undiscovered cartoonists. It was actually not a bad idea, and the publisher obviously had standards, because most of the strips are gifted amateur to semi-professional level. Learning the name of the publisher also led me to this advertisement in Editor & Publisher, from July 28 1990:
And I found that the publisher's Tomorrow Comics page was offered in the E&P listings from 1991-94. Whether they had any takers in mainstream papers beyond test runs is, of course, the $64 question. So please Please PLEASE if you know of a paper that ran the page on a regular ongoing basis, contact me so that all these features can find a permanent place in the Stripper's Guide database. Or, if you know anything about the syndication, or are one of the creators, I'd love to hear your story.
I found a few other interesting tidbits while trolling the interwebs looking for more information. First one concerns the comic strip Franky and Ralph, by Moira Manion. The strip was about a fox and snake that end up living in encroaching suburbia when their native habitat disappears. This, of course, is the central thesis of Over The Hedge as well, and in 2006 there was a minor flap about whether Fry and Lewis might have been inspired by this earlier feature; the story was covered by Minnesota Public Radio.
Besides Amber Waves, I found one other feature that lived beyond Tomorrow's Comics. Hobnob Inn, in addition to becoming an early webcomic, ran weekly in the Virginia Gazette from June 28 1997 to October 10 1998.
Thanks for much of this information from Charles Brubaker!
Labels: Mystery Strips
: 11/30/2022 8:57 AM London and Chianca are Dave London and Pete Chianca. They currently do a webcomic "Pet Peeves" (full disclosure: they interviewed me for their podcast). Their "About Us" page does mention "Grey Matter", saying it ran in over 100 newspapers in US and Canada. I wonder how many of those 100 papers are college publications, tho.
https://www.petpeevescomic.com/about_us
--Allan
"My understanding of their business strategy is that they were trying to access the untapped market of the thousands of weekly and biweekly community papers. The syndicates weren’t supplying weekly papers, so Argonaut offered community papers a weekly supply of ‘free' cartoons from their roster of 50 artists. Argonaut provided free page-layout services and email delivery. They were based in Cincinnati. Lenny Dave was my contact at Argonaut. The expectation was that some of the comics would catch on, and eventually create merchandising opportunities. I viewed them as a startup cartoon syndicate for small/local newspapers. Around 1994, Argonaut had a list of enrolled weekly papers in the U.S. and Canada with a combined reach of around 1.2 million people weekly. I think they may have had a couple of conventional newspapers on the list. I actually don’t know what happened to them after that, or why they shut down."
As it happens, in 1993 Argonaut did a Readers Poll for Most Popular Comic, and "Franky & Ralph" won, as my editor Lenny Dave told me,"by a landslide" and "blew away the competition." I'm extremely proud of its run and the millions of readers I heard from.
MPR did do an interview with me, but I can't say I was particularly happy with it. A lot of the interview was recorded without my knowing it. Ironically, I went on to be a regular Commentator for a nationally distributed public radio program, and appeared on "Good Morning America."
Argonaut and Lenny Dave never told me why they shut down. I was sent an email saying the next page would be its last, and then complete silence. Last I knew Lenny Dave went on to be a motivational speaker.
I'm now a full-time writer (under a pseudonym), and "Franky & Ralph" may well make a future appearance as a middle-grade novel.
: 1/29/2023 12:00 AM : 1/29/2023 12:03 AM --Allan
Wednesday, May 04, 2022
E&P Mystery Strips: Letter 'S'
I stalled out on this series with letter 'R' in 2013, but here are the 'S'es and all it took was slightly less than a decade!
Okay, here's how this works, for those who haven't been keeping up with the whirlwind pace. The Editor & Publisher Syndicate Yearbooks, published from 1924 until 2010, listed theoretically all the available syndicated features, including comic strips and panels. Those listings often included features that I've never been able to locate. Some of them, no doubt, never appeared anywhere and were just wishful thinking. But if you look at previous letters, and the later exclamations of discovery from myself and others, some of these features can and do let themselves be found by the most intrepid researchers.
Therefore your task, if you wish to accept it, is to go forth on a hard target search of every research library, online digital newspaper archive and the material in your own collection, and report back to Stripper's Guide Central with your discoveries.
|
Title |
Creator(s) |
Syndicate |
Advertised Format/Frequency |
Years Advertised |
Notes/Status (blank means still a mystery) |
|
Saddle Sore |
Frank Barnett |
American International |
Daily panel |
1989-91 |
|
|
Saddle Sores |
George Alblitz |
Trans World News |
Daily strip |
1976-78 |
|
|
Saint Paul & Duncan |
David Watkins, Wayne Dunifon |
Suzerain |
Daily panel |
1992-95 |
|
|
Saltwood |
D. Leahy, Piper |
Columbia Features |
Daily |
1988-89 |
|
|
Sam & Max, Freelance Police |
Steve Purcell |
At Large Features |
Weekly strip |
2001-02 |
No mention of a newspaper series on the charcaters’ Wikipedia page. |
|
Sam Mantics |
Carey Orr Cook |
Sam Mantics Enterprises |
Twice weekly strip |
1990-93 |
|
|
Sam Scout |
W.Clay, Len Glasgow, Lane, Mead, Warkentin |
World News Syndicate |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1972-77 |
|
|
Sampson |
Ken and Lorretta Bank |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily panel |
1984 |
|
|
San Victorino |
Gamez |
Colombian Comics |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1990-96 |
|
|
Sandcastles |
Greg Curfman |
Sandcastles Syndicate |
Weekly strip |
1976 |
|
|
Sandlot Sammy |
Harry E. Godwin |
Quaker Features |
Daily strip |
1925 |
|
|
Sandy’s World |
Roy Doty |
Paradigm-TSA |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1999 |
|
|
Santigwar |
R. Lee |
American International |
Daily strip |
1987-89 |
|
|
Sargent MacDoogle |
Rick Wilson |
Wilson Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1975-76 |
|
|
Sassafrass Tea |
Bob Howard |
Bob Howard Enterprises |
Weekly panel |
1973 |
|
|
Sassy Makes Three |
Arlene Rowles, Ann Mace |
Cascade Features |
Weekly |
1990 |
|
|
Saturn Against The Earth |
Uncredited |
Press Alliance |
Weekly strip |
1940 |
|
|
School Daze |
John Owens |
American International |
Daily panel |
1993-94 |
|
|
Scientific Sam |
Maurice Beam |
Universal Press |
Daily strip |
1935 |
|
|
Scoop Roundtree |
Nathan Diggs, J. Anderson |
Amadou Features |
Weekly strip |
1973 |
|
|
Scorer |
John Gillatt, Barrie Tomlinson |
North America Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1992-98 |
Well-known British strip, but did it appear in US newspapers? |
|
Scotty the Wonder Dog |
E.I. Reed |
Miller Features |
Daily strip |
1939-40 |
|
|
Scrappy |
Charles Mintz |
Eisner-Iger Associates |
Daily/weekly strip |
1937 |
Is this the same as the known “Scrappy Sayings” panels? |
|
Scraps |
Michael Wakinyan |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daily |
1987-88 |
|
|
Screams |
Guy Gilchrist, Ralph Hagen |
DBR Media |
Weekly panel |
2002-2000s |
|
|
Scroll of Fame |
A.S. Curtis |
Self-syndicated |
Sunday strip |
1951-61 |
|
|
Scruffles |
Uncredited |
TV Compulog |
Weekly strip |
1976 |
|
|
The Sea Hawk |
Uncredited |
Eric Jon Inc. |
Weekly strip |
1955-61 |
|
|
Sea Rations |
James Estes |
Star-Telegram Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1974 |
|
|
Seaweed |
Johnny Sajem |
Trans World News/Allied Press |
Daily strip |
1977-81 |
|
|
Sebastian |
Alex Stefanson |
Dickson-Bennett/Weekly Features |
Daily panel |
1984-85 |
|
|
See For Yourself |
Uncredited |
Associated Press |
Weekly |
1946 |
|
|
Seems Funny But It’s True |
Ralph S. Matz |
Matz Features/Unique Features |
Daily strip |
1936-39 |
|
|
Seven Errors |
F. Hays |
BP Singer |
Weekly |
1976-78 |
|
|
Shakespeare Plays |
Luzny |
Canada Wide Features |
Daily strip |
1947-48 |
Any distribution in US? |
|
Shamrocks |
Kessler, McCarty |
Kay Features |
Daily panel |
1932-33 |
|
|
Shanghai Lil |
Sarge O’Neill |
Southern Cartoon Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1970-78 |
|
|
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle |
W. Morgan Thomas |
Eisner-Iger Associates |
Weekly strip |
1938-39 |
|
|
Sheriff of Pina Coda |
Mike Moen |
Suzerain |
Daily strip |
1986 |
|
|
Sherlock Home |
Bob Goodbread |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily panel |
1984 |
|
|
Sheroderfield |
Jeff Koterba |
Dickson-Bennett |
Weekly strip |
1980-81 |
|
|
Sherwood |
Robert Nunn |
Weekly Features/American Way Features |
Daily strip |
1986-88 |
|
|
Sherwood Forest |
Mike Bannon, Dave Gregory |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly strip |
1981-84 |
|
|
Short Cake |
Pedro Moreno |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1982 |
|
|
Short Stuff |
Jack Flynn |
Trans World/Dickson-Bennett |
Daily strip |
1978-84 |
|
|
Short Short Stories |
Charles Hendrick Jr. |
Continental Features |
Weekly panel |
1998-2000s |
|
|
Showcase for New Cartoonists |
John Shepherd |
Self-syndicated |
Weekly strip |
1993 |
|
|
Side Laughs |
William Ferguson |
NEA |
Weekly strip |
1937 |
|
|
Side Show |
Oz Black, E.H. Peterson |
Inter-American Newspaper/Thompson Service |
Daily panel |
1934-36 |
|
|
Sideline |
Rick Goldsberry |
American International |
Daily panel |
1990-91 |
|
|
Sign-o-Rama |
M.W. Martin |
Self-syndicated |
Daily panel |
1970-79 |
|
|
Silent Sam |
Kern Pederson |
American International |
Daily strip |
1988-98 |
|
|
Silky ‘n Vixen |
Russ De Marks |
Russell Enterprises |
Daily strip |
1969-71 |
|
|
Silly Dillies |
Bob Lagers |
Ledger Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1967-70 |
Found! by Charles Brubaker in Pittsburgh Press. |
|
Simon Cool |
Jerry Breen |
Allied Press |
Daily strip |
1980 |
|
|
Simple Interest |
Anthony Schultz |
J Features |
Weekly panel |
1998-2000s |
|
|
Simpleman |
Wim Van Wieringen |
Douglas Whiting Limited |
Unstated |
1959 |
Dutch – appeared in US? |
|
Single Again |
Michael Byrne |
Allied Press |
Daily strip |
1980-81 |
|
|
Single Again |
Evan Diamond |
Miller Features |
Daily strip |
2000 |
|
|
Sister Anne |
Peter John Fugere |
Trans World |
Daily/weekly panel |
1976-78 |
|
|
Six-Gun Days |
Reg Manning |
McClure |
Daily/weekly |
1931 |
|
|
Sketch Book |
Gaylord,Zibellie |
United Feature |
Daily panel |
1946 |
|
|
Sketches |
Lambert Guenther |
T-Bean Syndicate |
? |
1926 |
|
|
Sketches |
George Spohn |
Matz Features |
Daily strip |
1934 |
|
|
Sketches From Life |
Joseph Buresch |
Unique Features |
Weekly strip |
1938 |
|
|
Sketches From The War Front/Sketches From Life |
Ralph Matz |
Matz Features |
Weekly strip |
1939,1941 |
|
|
Skip Logan |
Al Fagaly |
Thompson Service |
Daily strip |
1937-41 |
|
|
Skipper Windward |
P.J. Kuhn |
Douglas Whiting Ltd |
Daily strip |
1961-64 |
|
|
The Skipper |
Ron W. Stanfield |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1977-79 |
|
|
Skippy |
Percy Crosby |
Winford Co. |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1971-72 |
Re-run syndication. |
|
Sky Capers |
Joel Shalit |
Dickson-Bennett |
Weekly panel |
1980-81 |
|
|
Sky Pirates |
Uncredited |
Allied Press |
Weekly strip |
1940 |
|
|
Skyrocket Steele |
William Everett |
Watkins Syndicate |
Weekly strip |
1939 |
|
|
Slangy Seth |
Maurice Beam |
Universal Press |
Daily/weekly panel |
1935 |
|
|
Slapsic |
Tom Hickey |
McNaught |
Daily panel |
1958 |
|
|
Slewfoot |
Nellis Johnson |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly strip |
1981-82 |
|
|
Small Potatoes |
John Barclay |
American International |
Daily strip |
1989 |
|
|
Small Shots |
Bill Johnson |
Richmond Syndicate |
Daily/Sunday panel |
1979 |
|
|
Small Talk |
Allan H. Kelly Jr. |
Self-syndicated |
Daily panel |
1983-2000s |
The copyrighted logo was dregistered as abandoned as of 1985. |
|
Small World |
Don Roberts |
United Press International |
Daily strip |
1984 |
|
|
Smile Awhile |
Dave Allen |
Worldwide Media |
Weekly panel |
2000-03 |
|
|
Smile A While |
Joe Buresch |
Newspaper Art Features |
Daily panel/Sunday strip |
1939 |
|
|
Smiles |
Frank Chapman |
International Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1924-39 |
|
|
Smiling Out Loud |
Sarge O’Neill |
Southern Cartoon Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1970-76 |
|
|
Smitty |
Don Gibbons |
Weekly Features |
Daily strip |
1986-87 |
|
|
Snapper Smith |
Uncredited |
Beacon Newspaper Svc |
Daily strip |
1940 |
|
|
Snappy Grampy |
Lyle Sterrett |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1976-78 |
|
|
Snojoe |
George Donison |
Canada Wide Features |
Daily strip |
1970-71 |
Appeared in US? |
|
Snubby |
Reg Manning |
Bell Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1946 |
|
|
The Soaps |
Joan Altabe |
Dickson Features |
Weekly strip |
1980 |
|
|
Socko the Sea Dog |
“Teddy” (Jack Kirby) |
Keystone Press/Lincoln Features |
Daily strip |
1938-40 |
|
|
The Solar Legion |
Uncredited |
Beacon Newspaper Svs |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1940 |
|
|
Soldier Comic |
Max Milians |
Minority Features |
Weekly strip |
1942 |
|
|
Solve This Crime |
Philip Nowlan |
National Newspaper Svc |
Daily panel |
1931 |
|
|
Some Things Never Change |
Stephen Templeton |
American International |
Sunday panel |
1995 |
|
|
Something New For Tots To Do |
Frank Hopkins |
Audio Service |
Daily panel |
1926 |
|
|
Son & Co. |
John Roman |
King Features |
Daily/Sunday strip |
2000 |
Found by Henkster in Detroit Free Press on a trial basis on a few dates; Salt Lake Tribune ran it for a few months |
|
Sophisticated Lady |
Dorothy Mylria |
National Newspaper Svc |
Daily panel |
1957-59 |
|
|
Sorry About That |
Joe Capelini |
Community Features |
Daily/weekly panel |
1981 |
|
|
Sourdough |
Robert Tremblay |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daily |
1986-88 |
|
|
South Sea Girl |
Thorne Stevenson (and John Forte) |
Phoenix Features |
Daily strip |
1974 |
Have seem much original art from the early 50s but never anything in newspapers. |
|
Space Case |
Hoey Morris |
Callie-Pearl International |
Daily strip |
1983-84 |
|
|
The Space Frontier |
James V. Johnson |
Sun News Features |
Daily strip |
1960-63 |
|
|
Space Shots |
Emil V. Abrahamian |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1978 |
|
|
Space-Nuts |
Pedro Moreno |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daly strip |
1982-84 |
|
|
Spaced Out |
Keith M. Manzella |
Newspaper Features |
Daily strip |
1988-94 |
|
|
The Spacers |
Emil V. Abrahamian |
Trans World |
Daily/weekly strip |
1978-98 |
|
|
The Spacians |
Larz Borne |
Ledger Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1965 |
|
|
Sparky |
Bob Larsen |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily strip |
1984-85 |
|
|
Special Ed |
Pedro Moreno |
Comic Art Therapy |
Daily |
1993-94 |
|
|
The Specialists |
Bill Barry |
Adventure Features |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1994-95 |
|
|
Speed Centaur |
Malcolm Kildale |
Watkins Syndicate |
Weekly strip |
1939 |
|
|
Spencer Steel |
Dennis Colebrook |
Eisner-Iger Associates |
Weekly strip |
1937-39 |
|
|
Sport Day |
Bill Morgan |
Columbia Features |
Daily panel |
1981-84 |
|
|
Sport Snickers |
Lenny Hollreiser |
Hayden-Kennedy Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1950 |
|
|
Sport-Spots |
Brook Slover |
R-GAB Features |
Daily/weekly panel |
1980 |
|
|
The Sporting Thing
|
Joe E. Buresch |
Self-syndicated |
Weekly panel |
1959 |
|
|
Sportoons |
Cliff Johnson, Bill Mittlebeeler, Jim Richardson |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly panel |
1980-84 |
|
|
Sports Cars Speed |
Judd Burrow |
B&B |
Weekly panel |
1960-63 |
|
|
Sports Chuckles |
Al Leiderman |
American International |
Daily panel |
1992 |
|
|
The Sports File |
Emil V. Abrahamian |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1978-97 |
|
|
Sports Woman |
Sandy Dean |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly panel |
1984-85 |
|
|
Sportsfun |
Merve Magus |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly strip |
1982-84 |
|
|
Sportsville |
Thomas E. Moran |
Trans World |
Daily/weekly panel |
1976-78 |
|
|
Spot |
Donald Vanozzi, Joe Zeis |
Sparks Syndicate |
Weekly |
1991 |
|
|
Spy Hunters |
Lochlan Field |
Watkins Syndicate |
Weekly strip |
1939 |
|
|
Squeegee |
Ken Muse |
Community Features/Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly panel |
1980-95 |
|
|
Squeeky Break |
Ray Rubbin |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily panel |
1983-84 |
|
|
Squiggles |
Grace Lee Richardson |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily strip |
1980-81 |
|
|
St. Peter’s Gate |
Pedro Moreno |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1980-84 |
|
|
Stacy |
Randy Bisson |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly strip |
1981-98 |
|
|
Stained Glass |
Jonny Hawkins |
Davy Associates |
Weekly panel |
1998-2000s |
|
|
Standouts |
Mal Eno |
Atlas Features |
Weekly panel |
1949-50 |
|
|
Stanislaus |
Dan Nevins |
Chicago Tribune-NY News |
Weekly strip |
1980 |
|
|
Stanley & Decker |
Roger Kliesh |
Wade’s Cartoon Svc |
Weekly strip |
1991 |
|
|
Star Points |
Carl Kuhn |
Thompson Service |
Daily/weekly panel |
1935 |
|
|
Star Warriors |
F. Treadgold |
BP Singer Features |
Weekly strip |
1978 |
|
|
Star Weevils |
J. Michael Leonard |
Rip-Off Press |
Weekly strip |
1978 |
|
|
Startling Facts |
Ferd Himme |
Lowery Cartoons |
Weekly panel |
1932 |
|
|
The State of Georgia |
R. David Boyd |
Mark Morgan Inc |
Weekly |
1993-2000s |
|
|
Static |
B.W. Depew |
Register & Tribune Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1928 |
|
|
Station I-M-D-Z |
Jack Jay |
Paramount Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1937 |
|
|
Status Quo |
Charlie Wible |
Richard Lynn Enterprises |
Daily panel |
1978-79 |
|
|
Stella Starlet |
Martin, Stone |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily panel |
1984 |
|
|
Still Waiting |
Bryan Ubaghs |
At Large Features |
Daily strip |
2001-02 |
|
|
Stitch In Time |
James Janeway |
American International |
Daily strip |
1992 |
|
|
Stories of Real People |
Vernon Rieck |
Velerie Productions |
? |
1961 |
|
|
Stories of the Opera |
Bernard Baily |
Bell Syndicate |
Daily |
1949 |
|
|
Strange Accidents |
Bunny Hogarth |
Leeds Features |
Daily panel |
1933 |
|
|
Strange Encounters of the Unexplained and Bizarre |
Fred Hull, Bill Barry |
Adventure Features |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1981-83 |
|
|
Strangely Enough |
John Duncan |
JAD’s Service |
Weekly panel |
1938 |
|
|
Stranger Than Fiction |
Ralph Matz |
Matz Features |
Daily strip |
1939 |
|
|
The Strangest Thing |
Everett Erwin |
Western Newspaper Union |
Weekly panel |
1946 |
|
|
Strike Out |
Martin Grodt |
Editors Syndicate |
Daily panel |
1949-50 |
|
|
Stromboli |
Mario Risso |
Trans World |
Daily/weekly panel |
1976 |
|
|
Strongman |
Uncredited |
Beacon Newspaper Syndicate |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1940 |
|
|
Stump The Ump |
Dywelska, Kent |
Liberty Features |
Weekly strip |
1991-94 |
|
|
Stumpy Stumbler |
Emil V. Abrahamian |
Self-syndicated |
Daily/weekly strip |
1983-2002 |
|
|
Sub Rosa |
Mimi |
Bell Syndicate |
Daily strip |
1925 |
|
|
Subito |
Bozz |
Press Alliance |
Daily/Occasional (!) |
1950-52 |
|
|
Suburbia |
Don Raden |
Suburban Features |
Weekly panel |
1976-85 |
|
|
Sugar |
Jack Fitch |
A.S. Curtis Features |
Daily strip |
1949-61 |
|
|
Suggestion Box |
Steve Moore |
Star Group |
Weekly |
1984-85 |
|
|
Sunday Laughs/Sunday Laugh Male Cartoons |
Paul Swede |
BP Singer |
Weekly strip |
1973-93 |
|
|
Sunday at the Movies with Louie Loophole |
Joe Gurrera |
Comic Art Therapy |
Sunday |
1994-95 |
|
|
Sunny Side Up |
Frank Drake |
United Cartoonist Syndicate |
Daily |
1985 |
|
|
Sunny Sue |
Jack Fitch, Edna Markham |
A.S. Curtis |
Daily strip |
1950-61 |
|
|
Sunset Park |
Ralph Aspinwall |
Dickson-Bennett |
Daily/weekly strip |
1981-82 |
|
|
Super Kat |
William L. Harper |
Palestine Herald Press |
Daily/weekly strip |
1975-78 |
|
|
Super Shrink |
Edward Stark |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1977-79 |
|
|
Super And Pals |
Blackburn, Thomas |
Trans World |
Daily panel |
1977-78 |
|
|
Suzerain’s Wildlife |
Joe Fahey |
Suzerain |
Daily |
1986 |
|
|
The Swingers |
Barbara Jones |
Allied Feature |
Daily panel |
1969 |
|
|
Swoosh Morgan |
Rolland Lynch |
N.E.W.S. |
Daily/Sunday strip |
1949 |
|
|
Sycamore Center |
Graham Hunter |
Oklahoman & Times |
Weekly strip |
1965-66 |
|
Labels: Mystery Strips
I've seen (but unfortunately don't have) a trade display ad urging editors to buy these two titles as well as a third, "Zorro of the Metropolis." "Zorro" doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere. The McKay and Hawley books only lasted a couple of issues each, taking the Italian strips down with them. I speculate that the buildup to World War II put an end to this international venture.
It's interesting that "Saturn" and other Mondadori comic projects were conceived and plotted by Cesare Zavattini, who after the war found fame as a screenwriter of neorealist classics such as "Bicycle Thieves" and "Umberto D."
"The Spacians" by animation great Larz Bourne would've been interesting, but I was told by people involved in the project that though the "ledger Syndicate" (or, "The NEW Ledger Syndicate" announced several titles, including a revival of the original Ledger's star feature, Hairbreadth Harry, they only managed to get one strip launched, "Batman". This was in 1966, where you'd think the hottest property on TV would be a smash, but the new Ledger was even worse run than it's inspiration, and flopped.
"Scorer" was handled by us at KFS/NAS for several years, along with the London Mirror's other offerings like "The Perishers" and "Millie", but we really couldn't get US papers to touch anything but Andy Capp. So As far as I know, no US Scorer sales.
: 5/04/2022 3:21 PM I see in your book you have no end date for the panel THAT'S THE STORY OF MY LIFE by Wm. Box. It ends with a special kiss-off episode on 30 September 1961. (Windsor (PO) Star)
: 6/04/2022 10:40 AM --Allan
It IS in the Google Windsor Star file-
Page 45 in the 28 September entry, it has a lot of pages from the 30th's ish.
: 7/26/2022 9:46 PM According to an article about Lum in The Hanford Sentinel, the strip never ran in the US, only being sold to a single newspaper in the Phillippines.
https://i.imgur.com/r7Odrnm.jpg
https://imgur.com/a/p1q3GI4
https://imgur.com/a/XgE5Go7
https://imgur.com/a/ZXQyZ8E
