Old Time Comics Return

Try it, if you dare.

If you haven't done so for a while, I'll give you a tour. You may find Blondie, For Better Or Worse, Classic Peanuts, BC, Hi and Lois, or a host of other regional favourites. The bad news is that the funny pages have changed. With our changing cultural norms, our definition of 'funny' has evolved into what it is today. Gone, as a rule, are the adventure strips like Tarzan, Buck Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Steve Canyon, and Dick Tracy. You may be fortunate enough to actually have a paper that runs these classic strips; bless you if you do. For the majority, the comic pages are a wasteland.

The good news is that somewhere in cyberland, people are listening. Yes, Popeye can still be found. The Phantom still battles evildoers in Bengali. Tarzan is still swinging. Prince Valiant is still battling the foes of another century. Gasoline Alley, Mandrake, The Katzenjammer Kids, Hagar the Horrible, The Family Circus, Dick Tracy, Tumbleweed, and many more still can be found on the internet at various sites.

Some of the sites are:

King Features
Comics.com

Many of the strips have their own web presence, and maintain their fan base with direct contact. You can even buy and sell old comic strips. E-bay has an active comic strip section, whereas dedicated comic sites like Old Sunday Comics maintain a substantial archive of the strips from our youth.

For those interested in the printed page, and comic strips, Rick Norwood and Don Markstein publish Comics Revue, a publication dedicated to the classic comic strips. Currently over 200 issues, classic runs of Flash Gordon, Tarzan, The Phantom, Buz Sawyer, Modesty Blaise, Mark Trail, and Little Orphan Annie are presented on a regular basis.

The current issue features Hal Fosters' Prince Valiant and a stunning Wilson McCoy Phantom strip from 1961. Casey Ruggles by Warren Tuffs graces the back cover in full colour rounding out an impressive and entertaining issue.

Comics Revue is available on a subscription basis from:

The Manuscript Press
P O Box 336
Mountain Home, TN
37864
or via the internet at
Manuscript Press.
The art of the comic strip may be dead, but comic strips are by no means gone. Do yourself a favour, and link with your past. If no one reads them, they too will disappear, and become a "Do you remember?" question in a trivia game.

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