Should you ever actually need to mail something in 2010 — as unlikely as it seems — the US Post Office has got you covered with some comics-themed stamps.
Famed war cartoonist Bill Mauldin — subject of a magnificent retrospective by Fantagraphics last year — will be honored in March.
In July — surely timed to tie-in with the San Diego Comic-Con — there will be a salute to the Sunday Funnies featuring Beetle Bailey, Calvin and Hobbes, Dennis the Menace, Garfield, and Archie. (Click for larger image.) Yes, Archie is not a did not originate as a comic strip, but it often seems to get tied in with comic strips by those who still think comics are about “headlights” and “injury to the eye” — presumably because its timeless, family-friendly content is more in line with comic strips than books.
UPDATE: I am reminded by many in the comments and by a strongly worded email from Archie’s PR dept. that Archie is indeed a comic strip:
Also, we would like to bring attention to the fact that many of the newspaper strips are at the current “Art of Archie” exhibit at MoCCA and are in the permanent collection at the Geppi Museum.
Currently the strip, written by Craig Boldman and drawn by Fernando Ruiz, is syndicated internationally and is available on several sites including Creators Syndicate
.
And still no stamp for Walt Kelly’s POGO. :(
Archie is indeed a comic strip. It may not have originated in the newspapers, but it’s been in the papers since 1946, giving it far longer a track record there than Calvin & Hobbes.
–Nat (who does not think that comic are about headlights and injury to the eye… well not all of them)
Archie IS a comic strip – a modern, active comic strip!
The Archie comic strip has for the last several years been pencilled by Fernando Ruiz, lettered by Jon D’Agostino and inked by me.
I’m so ashamed. I competely forgot Craig Boldman, the writer.
The strip is also written by Craig Boldman and occasionally by myself. I have also been coloring the strip for the past 4 years.
Okay guys, I did know that Archie is a comic strip, of course. I think I also knew that my pal, the very talented Craig Boldman wrote it. But had they put Spider-man and his taut, muscular butt on a stamp, I would still have called it a comic book, and not a comic strip even thugh the Spidey strip has been running forever and a half.
Anyway, twas but a slip of the bluetooth keyboard. I’m just getting back in work mode — so expect more and more of these mistakes as we go on!
“ALSO we would like to remind you that we are a SYNDICATE. Perhaps a New Yorker like yourself would have knowledge of the actions of previous SYNDICATES in the Tri-State area. Perhaps a editor, who reads newspapers, knows how a gal could get HURT by giving people the wrong idea about an esteemed gentleman such as Archie Andrews…”
“headlights”?
Maybe she meant to say it’s not a particularly good comic strip?
I wonder how much those stamps will be by the time San Diego rolls around- seeing as how the price to send Express Mail got jacked up another 80 cents today.
~
Coat
Wow! The first ever Calvin and Hobbes merchandise. This IS big news.
“It’s been long established that the Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000, the massive computer that creates the Archie newspaper comic, is connected to the Internet and aware of this blog (the Comics Curmudgeon).”
Attempts by the AJGLU 3K to take writing credit under human names posted above are just par for the course.
“Wow! The first ever Calvin and Hobbes merchandise. This IS big news.”
Not quite the first, but close. From Wikipedia:
Exceptions include two 16-month calendars (1988–1989 and 1989–1990), the textbook Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes,[20], the textbook The Fallacy Detective,[21] and one T-shirt for a traveling art exhibit on comics.
14! I count 14 comments in this thread! A ha ha ha!