Comic Strips

Fantagraphics has released the cover for Popeye Vol. 6, the final volume of their handsome reprint series of E.C. Segar's immortal Thimble Theater strips. We're eager to get this if only to finish selling out POPEYE on the back of the books. Great design, great strip—one of those "must haves" for every well-stocked comics library for sure.

Probably the most universally admired comic strip running right now is going on hiatus for a few weeks: via his blog, Richard Thompson announced a hiatus while he receives treatment for his Parkinson's Disease.

National Cartoonists Society president Tom Richmond announces a major, inevitable evolution of the comic strip with a new webcomics division for the Reuben Awards. The Reubens have traditionally honored the best in comic strips and illustration -- two artforms now mostly associated with Mad Men-era martinis and horn rim glasses on the "up to date" scale. Richmond's post has all the salient background info but here are the guidelines and the screening committee:

Tony Millionaire reposts this full page wonder from the LA Weekly when alt.comix strips were an important feature and people actually read alternative newspapers.

A new comic strip debuts nationwide (yes, newspapers are still being sold) and it's quite good!

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff asks cartoonist Michael Maslin, and the results are two by James Thurber, a man who created many perfect cartoons. Although one of the picks is one of Thurber's best known, we'd like to spotlight the above, along with Maslin's analysis -- of course, analyzing any humor -- especially New Yorker cartoons -- is like programming your Garage Band to the sound of one hand clapping....but sometimes you have to try:

Looking for the unusual? The overlooked? Something a bit different? Take a look here!

Russ Cochran, a pioneer of deluxe comic reprints through his past efforts reprinting classic comics of the 50s, has just launched a new publication called SUNDAY FUNNIES, which will reprint classic Sunday comic strips in full color:

By Todd Allen Flash Gordon is a media property has been around long enough that people know it from a few different sources.  The original...

Okay you can mark off one more from the list of great comic strips without a deluxe reprint series: Percy Crosby's Skippy is getting the Library of American Comics treatment. The whimsical childhood strip was immensely popular in its day -- the film version starring Jackie Coogan was nominated for four Academy Awards -- but Crosby eventually ran into severe personal problems and spent the last years of his life in a mental hospital.

Despite Crosby's sad story, the strip remains a much loved gem that influenced the great kid strips like Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and Cul de Sac. Library of American Comics Series co-editor Dean Mullaney sent along a swell preview of the first volume, which is due next summer.

Following the death of Bil Keane yesterday, remembrances are coming out. In a widely linked to piece, Lynda Barry explains how the idyllic family served as an inspiration for her growing up in a broken home:

Mark Twain and Flannery O'Connor! Estonia and the Andes! Armed Gardens and Treasure Island! Joe Kubert, Tony Millionaire, Jack Davis! Old Comedians and Young Romance! And Gahan Wilson's Nuts!