When I was a small child I used to sit on my mom’s lap on Sunday morning while she would read the funny pages to me. The ‘funny pages’ were the comic strips that were published, usually in its own section, in the Sunday newspapers.
As I grew up, I could be found stretched out on the living room floor reading the funnies by myself. As I made it into adulthood, the funnies were welcomed in whatever form I could find. including on the Internet.
For those of us of a certain age, we grew up reading the classics. Dick Tracey. Beetle Bailey. Peanuts. B.C. and a whole lot more. I have favorites that I read every day even though they went out of production years ago. For Better or For Worse, for example, tells the stories of a family and friends in Canada. Years after the strip ended production, the stories are still engaging, still relevant, and even still funny.
The comic strips (funnies) made way for the cartoons, some of which began production in the early 1930s. They all share a love of art and a love of story telling.
Recently CBS Saturday Morning brought us the story of Beetle Bailey turning 75. (!!!!) I remember reading Beetle’s adventures way back when. Check it out:
I like the idea of the retrospective. Lots of things have changed over the years while lots of things haven’t. I love the idea of the family carrying on Mort’s work and I especially love, and appreciate, that his techniques are being taught to new generations of comic artists.
Have you read a comic strip lately?
