Happy New Year to one and all! The first “official” business day of 2021 is Monday, January 4th, so we thought we’d put together a fantasy comics page for the same day and date from sixty-seven years ago. Step into the time machine and travel back to Monday, January 4, 1954 and see —
) A great gag that serves as a reminder of why we love Gordo!
) Chet Gould at his diagrammatic best!
) The cat claws on full display in Smilin’ Jack!
) Beetle Bailey, early in his Army career!
) Action in Alley Oop and a grin from Nancy and Sluggo!
) Things looking bad for Sandy, and for Harold Gray (who dated this strip as “01-04-53” instead of “01-04-54” — we checked four different newspapers to confirm Gray got the wrong year)!
) And, as a special bonus, an advertisement comic strip from a creator familiar to the LOAC audience!
We hope you enjoy, and that this will be the first of many smiles awaiting you in the coming year …
Since we’ve touched on the subject of Dogpatch, what are the chances we’ll see additional Abner volumes?
Hey, John — Believe me, I LOVE writing about Al Capp and his strip! Our near-term schedule is filled up and doesn’t include a new ABNER volume, but there’ll be more ABNER-related material coming to this space in the weeks ahead, I promise!