Monthly Archives: July 2020

Screwball Sunday: A Publishing War on Main Street — Gus Mager Caught in the Crossfire

Main Street by Gus Mager – July 22, 1923 Why did Gus Mager create a syndicated Sunday comic page that looks so much like George McManus’s Bringing Up Father? Although no record has been found of Gus Mager stating that Main Street was ever meant to emulate—and at times lampoon—the flagship strip of King Features […]

Screwball Sunday: The Subversive Fool in Frederick Opper’s “King Jake”

King Jake by Frederick Opper – January 5, 1908 King Jake is a comic strip about the nature of humor. Specifically how what can be a real knee-slapper to one person is infuriating to another. And we, as the reader, get to observe both the jokester and his victims entwined in a series of causes […]

LOAC at Comic-Con@Home

Comic-Con 2020 maybe be canceled in the physical sense, but they have prepared an incredible line up of over 350 panels for people all over the world to stream and enjoy from their homes for free! Dean Mullaney will be representing the Library of American Comics on Saturday, July 25. Here are the details: Fantagraphics […]

Screwball Sunday: Reflections and Shadows in Gene Ahern’s “The Squirrel Cage”

Above: The Squirrel Cage by Gene Ahern – December 13, 1936 You can’t outrace yourself but you can sure try hard. This is shown in today’s Screwball Sunday, an eructation-producing episode of The Squirrel Cage by that irrepressible devotee of ridiculous folly: Gene Ahern. Running as a topper to Ahern’s Room and Board from 1936 […]

Screwball Sunday: It’s Summertime and the Combs are Exploding—W.R. Bradford’s Jingling Johnson and Dr. Domehead (1916)

Below: Bradford’s Funny Folks, Philadelphia North American (August 20, 1916) Here’s a rare screwball treat: a never-before-reprinted Sunday page from the intrepidly idiosyncratic cartoonist, Walter R. Bradford. The topic of this page is sweltering summer heat, which is something many of us can relate to these daze. When this strip appeared in August 1916, temperatures […]

The Long Road to Samarkand

I’ve been trying to catch up on some of my to-read pile, and I came to Corto Maltese: The Golden House of Samarkand by the amazing Hugo Pratt. Like every Corto Maltese adventure, the story is thick with historical references and exotic locations. In this particular story, Corto is on the hunt for the lost […]