Blondie has now joined the ranks of classic comic strips my wife deigns to read (the other two being Little Orphan Annie and Gasoline Alley); she doesn’t read all the good ones, but all the ones she reads are good. My own personal association with Blondie goes way back. I must’ve been three years old. I used to sit on my mom’s lap and point to the Sunday funnies I wanted her to read aloud to me. I remember Dagwood got a haircut in the first such strip I remember. Mom of Earth-J pointed out to me how Dagwood’s haircut stood out on both sides. I remember specifically that the next week his hair was still sticking out, and it stuck out forever thereafter. I thought I was there for the “origin” of Dagwood’s haircut! It wasn’t until years later I found out it had always been like that.
A couple of years ago there was a Blondie retrospective published in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the strip, but I had no interest in it then. It wasn’t until the first volume of Blondie dailies was released a couple of weeks ago that I became interested in the volume of newer material for the sake of comparison. My LCS didn’t have the 75th anniversary edition in stock and told me frankly I’d have better luck buying it at Half Price Books (which I did, at ten bucks, far less than half price). I wasn’t disappointed, but neither was I impressed. Each of the main characters receives a chapter, but only the chapter dealing with the wedding reprints any strips that could be considered classics. The one chapter that makes the 75th anniversary collection worthwhile is the one which presents the “crossovers” with other contemporary strips leading up to the anniversary itself.
The first volume of Blondie Dailies is another matter entirely, though. Many of today’s readers might not be aware that the strictly middle class Dawood Bumstead was actually the heir to a railroad fortune until he was disinherited by his family for marrying beneath his class. Volume one covers the first three years of the strip, right up until the wedding. In the next volume, they will set up housekeeping, settle into their new neighborhood, meet their new neighbors, and soon along will come Baby Dumpling. These strips were very popular in their day, and I see Blondie very much following the tradition set by Gasoline Alley, first the courtship and wedding, next the baby.
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I have that 75th anniversary book, and I agree with Jeff that little in the book's content could be considered classic, most likely because most of the book had only strips since the 1980s, after Blondie switched from four panels to three.
There was a long-running b-movie series about the Bumsteads. The one I've seen, from 1939, was not very good, but I found it interesting for its 30s depiction of the suburbs.
I've read that the strip was very popular in Japan in the post-war years, as sort of a window into the way that Americans lived.
I've long felt that all of these features from the Golden Age of Comic Strips serve as a window into the way that Americans lived then to Americans living now. They offer great insights into how we saw ourselves.
I've read that the strip was very popular in Japan in the post-war years, as sort of a window into the way that Americans lived.
I've long felt that all of these features from the Golden Age of Comic Strips serve as a window into the way that Americans lived then to Americans living now. They offer great insights into how we saw ourselves.
That's why I was a little disappointed with the book; I would have liked to have seen strips from the '40s, '50s and '60s -- that is, before I was born -- so I could see how they differed from the ones I grew up reading. The book didn't even have any strips from the period when Dagwood rode the bus to work every day! And, for that matter, didn't tell us the names of the man and woman in his carpool. The book did tell us Elmo's last name (Tuttle) and gave us the name of the guy at the diner Dagwood goes to for lunch (Lou), at least.
Furthermore, I would have liked to have seen the strips in which they moved in next door to and met their neighbors, the Woodleys. I would have liked to have seen some of the strips of Blondie's pregnancy and Baby Dumpling (Alexander's) early years. (Cookie, too.) This was big stuff! People followed comic strips in those days the way people follow... I don't know, Survivor or Dancing with the Stars today. (It also declared Blondie to be the most beloved strip of all time. I'm sorry, but off the top of my head I think I'd award that honor to Peanuts.) As a 75th anniversay celebration, that book really fell flat!
There are no such pronblems with the new Dailies collections, though, and before too long we'll be able to read those strips about the Woodleys and Baby Dumpling, too!
I was both surprised and (perhaps a little bit) relieved to discover that the Blondie is to be a two-volume set. With volume one ending with the wedding and volume two beginning with the honeymoon, the two volumes are split evenly between high society high-jinks and settling down into middle class suburbia after Dagwood has been disowned by his wealthy parents. Volume two introduces most of the elements most familiar to today’s readers: Dagwood’s boss Mr. Dithers, the Bumstead’s next door neighbors the Woodleys, their dog Daisy, their son Baby Dumpling (now Alexander), etc. The strip is mostly dailies, but three color Sundays which tie in to the birth of Baby Dumpling (Young's way of cluing in Sunday only readers that the status quo had changed) are also included.
...I've been meaning to bring up BLONDIE in general...Incidentially , given that it is still running , I would tend to consider it " the most consistently-highly popular/long-running - as in ' being newly produced ' - American-style comic strip " , since Peanuts has , of course , been in reruns for past a deade , For Better Or For Worse went to retconned reprints and while there are longer-running strips , I'd say it's the James Cameron/Boys II Men POPULARITY/long run champ...
In fact , I semi-follow GA , perhaps I should have emphasised more that this was really a popularity , number of papersX ength of run , contest - And , oes GA's # of papers , only that consideration , even reach three figures ???
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I've long felt that all of these features from the Golden Age of Comic Strips serve as a window into the way that Americans lived then to Americans living now. They offer great insights into how we saw ourselves.
That's why I was a little disappointed with the book; I would have liked to have seen strips from the '40s, '50s and '60s -- that is, before I was born -- so I could see how they differed from the ones I grew up reading. The book didn't even have any strips from the period when Dagwood rode the bus to work every day! And, for that matter, didn't tell us the names of the man and woman in his carpool. The book did tell us Elmo's last name (Tuttle) and gave us the name of the guy at the diner Dagwood goes to for lunch (Lou), at least.
There are no such pronblems with the new Dailies collections, though, and before too long we'll be able to read those strips about the Woodleys and Baby Dumpling, too!
I was both surprised and (perhaps a little bit) relieved to discover that the Blondie is to be a two-volume set. With volume one ending with the wedding and volume two beginning with the honeymoon, the two volumes are split evenly between high society high-jinks and settling down into middle class suburbia after Dagwood has been disowned by his wealthy parents. Volume two introduces most of the elements most familiar to today’s readers: Dagwood’s boss Mr. Dithers, the Bumstead’s next door neighbors the Woodleys, their dog Daisy, their son Baby Dumpling (now Alexander), etc. The strip is mostly dailies, but three color Sundays which tie in to the birth of Baby Dumpling (Young's way of cluing in Sunday only readers that the status quo had changed) are also included.
...I've been meaning to bring up BLONDIE in general...Incidentially , given that it is still running , I would tend to consider it " the most consistently-highly popular/long-running - as in ' being newly produced ' - American-style comic strip " , since Peanuts has , of course , been in reruns for past a deade , For Better Or For Worse went to retconned reprints and while there are longer-running strips , I'd say it's the James Cameron/Boys II Men POPULARITY/long run champ...
Don't forget Gasoline Alley...
...How many newspapers does it have ?
In fact , I semi-follow GA , perhaps I should have emphasised more that this was really a popularity , number of papersX ength of run , contest - And , oes GA's # of papers , only that consideration , even reach three figures ???
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