Happy birthday, Chester Gould!
Tooday is the birthday of perhaps the most accomplished Oklahoma cartoonist of all time, Chester Gould. The creator of Dick Tracy, Gould was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma on Nov. 20, 1900. He died on May 11, 1985.
You can see impressive items from Chester Gould’s career at the Oklahoma History Center, where the Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists exhibit continues for about another month.
- Matt Price
“Family Circus” creator Bil Keane dies at 89
Bil Keane, creator of the long-running newspaper single-panel comic “Family Circus,” has died at age 89, the Associated Press reports.
The cartoon, which featured children Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J. and their parents, began in February 1960. The strip is featured in nearly 1,500 newspapers across the country, in cluding The Oklahoman.
Read the full article at www.newsok.com.
- Matt Price
National Coffee Day is today!
How did I miss that today is National Coffee Day? Go pick up some of Shannon Wheeler’s “Too Much Coffee Man” to celebrate – now available in an omnibus edition from Dark Horse.
Shannon Wheeler is a longtime favorite of mine, and his work is always hilarious. His recent collection from Boom!, “I Thought You Would Be Funnier,” won an Eisner award, and his latest, “Grandpa Won’t Wake Up,” debuts at this weekend’s APE (Alternative Press Expo).
Meanwhile, here are some coffee facts from Eight O’Clock Coffee:
76% of Americans drink coffee and 58% drink it on a daily basis (over 3 cups per coffee drinker). What’s the best way to celebrate National Coffee Day on September 29? Eight O’Clock Coffee says, take a break from your barista and brew it yourself! America’s original bagged coffee offers three quick tips to make a great cup of coffee – and save time, gas and money while doing it.
1. Start with great coffee – it’s the single most important step.
2. Use a clean machine. The average coffee drinker should clean their coffee-making equipment (brewer, grinder) once a month.
3. Be creative. Test out different coffee forms, coffee blends and flavor enhancers – be your own brewista.
To encourage the brew-it-yourself movement, Eight O’Clock Coffee is celebrating National Coffee Day by giving away a year’s supply of coffee to 8 lucky fans on their Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/eightoclockcoffee)
For more information about Eight O’Clock Coffee, visit eightoclock.com.
Data Source:
2011 National Coffee Drinking Trends – National Coffee Association
- Matt Price
“Peanuts” gang comes to graphic novel via kaboom!
Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” characters have been delighting readers for more than 60 years, including in the comics section of The Oklahoman. But the characters have never appeared in a graphic novel. Boom! Studios will change that this spring, when the graphic novel “Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown” is released by Boom! Studios’ new all-ages imprint, kaboom!
Peanuts come to Boom’s Kaboom line
Received from Boom! is this promotional image revealing that Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, is coming to the Kaboom line. It’s not clear what exactly this will involve – classic reprints, comic book reprints or all-new stories – but I look forward to seeing more information as it develops.
- Matt Price
Dick Tracy writer/artist Dick Locher to retire; strip to continue
As reported in the Washington Post and The Comics Reporter among others, “Dick Tracy” comic strip writer-artist Dick Locher will retire after 32 years. Dick Tracy was created by Pawnee, Oklahoma’s Chester Gould.
Dick Tracy’s birthday to be celebrated in Pawnee, Oklahoma
Bryan Painter of NewsOK reports on the Dick Tracy Birthday Celebration planned for this weekend in Pawnee, Oklahoma.
Painter writes:
It’s been 25 years since Chester Gould died at age 84 in Woodstock, Ill. But recognition of his work continues in Gould’s hometown of Pawnee.
On Saturday, Pawnee will be the site of the Dick Tracy 79th Birthday Celebration including a Dick Tracy Police Parade followed by a Dick Tracy Birthday Parade.
The Pawnee County Historical Society Museum has a section on Gould and Dick Tracy. Gould was born in Pawnee in 1900 and began drawing “Dick Tracy” in 1931. Check out the full story at NewsOK. More information is at wimgo.com.
- Matt Price
Darrell Gambill in the Dick Tracy Headquarters in the Pawnee Historical Museum,
Happy 80th birthday, Blondie
Original art from "Blondie."
Today, Sept. 8, is the 80th anniversary of the comic strip “Blondie” first appearing in newspapers. “Blondie” features the married couple Blondie and Dagwood. But when the strip started in 1930, Blondie Boopadoop was a happy-go-lucky flapper. In 1933, she married her boyfriend Dagwood Bumstead, son of a wealthy industrialist. His parents disowned him for marrying the flapper, and the strip became one of middle-class familial struggles.
The strip led to a long-running film series and radio program throughout the 1940s. According to the University of Florida exhibit from the strip’s 75th anniversary, following the marriage, the dynamic of the strip changed. Blondie, formerly portrayed as ditzy, became the sensible member of the family. Dagwood, previously the straight man of the strip, became the comic strip’s clown, creating giant sandwiches and getting into humorous confrontations with his boss, Mr. Dithers.
Creator Chic Young drew “Blondie” until his death in 1973. His son, Dean Young, now writes the strip.
In 2008, “Blondie” was voted the most-read comic strip in The Oklahoman.
Image via Three Men in a Tub.
- Matt Price
Cathy Guisewite talks “Cathy” retirement
Cathy Guisewite in 1987 (AP)
In a story at NewsOK.com, “Cathy” creator Cathy Guisewhite talks about ending her long-running “Cathy” strip.
Q: Can you offer any insight as to how the strip might end?
CG: The strip will end with me weeping at my drawing board, mascara and anti-aging serum dripping all over the blank page… one hand clutching a pen, one clutching a spoon… on the speakerphone with my incredible parents, snapping at them for calling with their loving support right when I’m so busy being hysterical… frantically rethinking my whole decision… . Oh. You mean how will it end in the paper? If I had the sort of brain capable of planning two weeks ahead I never would have been able to create this strip for the last 34 years.
Visit NewsOK.com for the full Q&A.
Oklahoma History Center opens “Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists” [video]
Comic-book writers Sterling Gates and R.A. Jones were among those on hand as the Oklahoma History Center opened its exhibit, “The Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists,” focusing on comic book and comic strip writers and artists from the state of Oklahoma.
