LI`L ABNER

Register
1895
Feb. 17,
1895
Jan. 23,
1898
1915
1910
1905
1900
1935
1930
1925
1920
1945
1940
THE YELLOW KID
Dec. 12,
1897
Neither Richard F. Outcault nor
his newspaper — Joseph Pulitzer’s
New York World — thought to
copyright his creation. When
Outcault was hired away by
William Randolph Hearst’s New
York Journal, the World simply
hired a cartoonist to continue the
feature. For a while, both papers
used “The Yellow Kid” to pull in
readers. This is the origin of the
term “yellow journalism.”
Aug. 3,
1924
July 26,
1914
Nov. 15,
1907
Dec. 20,
1926
1955
1960
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
LI’L ABNER
Al Capp — the creator of the famous hillbilly comic
strip “Li’l Abner” — was not from the South. He was
born in 1909 in New Haven,
Conn. — about as far away from
Dogpatch, U.S.A., as one can get.
NEMO
NEM
LITTLE
TTLE
TT
LE N
EM IN SLUMBERLAND
June 26,
1983
Jan. 12,
1913
BRINGING UP FATHER
Oct. 28,
1913
KRAZY KAT
T
At age 9, Capp lost a leg when
he was run over by a trolley.
At age 19, he became the
youngest syndicated
cartoonist in the country with
”Colonel Gilfeather,” a daily panel published by
The Associated Press.
May 28,
2000
June 25,
1944
GASOLINE
NE ALLEY
June 17,
1919
BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH
Aug. 5,
1924
COMIC STRIPS
CLASSIC
FUNNIES
Civilizations come and go. Politicians come and go.
Poets and authors and TV actors come and go.
Comic strips come and go, too. The biggest
difference between them and the others, perhaps:
Comic strips are fondly remembered.
June 13,
2010
LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
Sept. 8,
1930
POPEYE
Feb. 17,
1930
BLONDIE
Oct. 4,
1931
Dec. 5,
1932
August
2001
ALLEY OOP
Jan. 2,
1933
NANCY
Aug. 13,
1934
LI’L ABNER
Oct. 22,
1934
TERRY AND THE PIRATES
Nov. 13,
1977
Jan. 13,
1947
Feb. 25,
1973
April 3,
1988
STEVE CANYON
Feb. 13,
1937
Creator Milton Caniff walked away from his popular comic strip
to create one for which he could own the publishing rights. The
Chicago Tribune New York News syndicate hired a new team to
Pirates.”
the Pi
“Terry andd th
continue
ntin “Te
te ”
PRINCE VALIANT
PR
PRIN
June 30,
1940
Jan. 2,
2011
BRENDA STARR
BREN
May 1,
1949
July 20,
1975
POGO
Sept. 4,
1950
BEETLE BAILEY
Oct. 2,
1950
PEANUTS
Feb. 13,
2000
B.C.
“Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz
died in 2000, but many papers
run his beloved strip via reruns.
BY CHARLES APPLE
News 8 Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014
FOCUS PAGE EDITOR
There is no real way of measuring the success of a comic strip.
Sure, some are more popular than others. Some last longer than
others. Some make a lasting impact and some are “only” good for
a daily laugh. (As if, you know, that wasn’t enough. Oh, the
expectations we have for our funny pages ... )
A great example of one of the more culturally significant comic
strips: “Li’l Abner,” which was first published 80 years ago today.
For the 114-year timeline at right, I listed 31 of my own personal
favorites — many of which were around long before I was. And a
few of them, I hope, might stick around longer than I do.
Which, I suppose, is part of the point. Cultural icons might come
and go. But laughter is forever.
Capp grew tired of the daily panel formula and
went to work for cartoonist Ham Fisher and his
“Joe Palooka” sports strip. By 1934, however, Capp
became disenchanted with Fisher and sold his idea
for a comic strip focusing on a Southern town
populated by hillbillies: naive and uneducated,
yet profound in their own way.
DICK TRACY
CY
Feb. 17,
1958
1
2014
The old strip continued with the original
writer, Harold Knerr, and lives on today —
the longest-running comic strip in the U.S.
MUTT AND JEFF
MU
Nov. 24,
1918
1985
1980
1975
1970
1965
“The Katzenjammer Kids” artist Rudolph Dirks left the strip in
1914, moved to a new syndicate and began drawing an identical
strip called “the Captain and the Kids,” which ran through 1979.
THE KATZENJAMMER KIDS
TH
Oct. 15,
1905
1950
Feb. 29,
1960
FAMILY CIRCUS
Oct.26,
1970
DOONESBURY
Feb. 17,
1978
Sources: Lil-Abner.com; “The Comics: An illustrated History of Comic Strip Art” by Jerry Robinson;
“Meanwhile...” by R.C. Harvey; “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography,” by David Michaelis; “The Best of Pogo” by
Selby Kelly and Bill Crouch Jr.; “Flashbacks” by G.B. Trudeau; “The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy” by Chester
Gould; “The Essential Calvin & Hobbes” by Bill Watterson; “The Prehistory of The Far Side” by Gary Larson;
“Classics of Western Literature” by Berke Breathed; “The World on Sunday,” by Nicholson Baker and Margaret
Brentano; Time magazine; Complex.com; TodaysInspiration.com; InfoPlease.com; the Comics Journal
Creators Syndicate: “B.C.” ... King Features Syndicate: “The Katzenjammer Kids,” “Mutt and Jeff,” “Bringing Up
Father,” “Krazy Kat,” “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” “Popeye,” “Blondie,” “Steve Canyon,””Prince
Valiant,” ”Beetle Bailey,” “Family Circus,” “Zits” ... Newspaper Enterprise Association: “Alley Oop” ... Post-Hall
Syndicate: “Pogo” ... Tribune Media Syndicate: “Gasoline Alley,” “Little Orphan Annie,” “Dick Tracy,” “Terry and
the Pirates,” ”Brenda Starr” ... United Features Syndicate: “Nancy,” “Li’l Abner” ... Universal Press Syndicate:
“Peanuts,” “Doonesbury,” “Garfield,” “The Far Side,” Bloom County,” “Calvin and Hobbes,” “Dilbert”
THE FAR SIDE
BLOOM COUNTY
GARFIELD
RF
Jan. 1,
1995
Jan. 1,
1980
Dec. 8,
1980
March 26,
1995
CALVIN AND HOBBES
Dec. 31,
1995
Nov. 18,
1985
DILBERT
April 16,
1989
ZITS
July 7,
1997
Nov. 23,
2003
Nov. 2,
2008
“Li’l Abner” debuted 80 years ago today. As the
strip matured, Capp added political views to his
satire and social commentary. Within three years,
the strip appeared in 253 newspapers around the
country. Within a few more, he was seen by more
than 60 million readers daily. Merchandising deals
made Capp a rich man. A play based on the strip
was a hit on Broadway.
Capp was also a savvy media figure. Thomas
Sawyer, who served as Capp’s art assistant for
several years, pointed out that Capp was a lifelong
liberal and John F. Kennedy fan but found that, on
the lecture circuit of the time, “There was no
longer any money in being a leftie. So Al Capp
became, arbitrarily, an articulate and of course
witty spokesperson for the far-right. He never
believed a word he said, but the demand for his
services as a speaker increased dramatically, and
his fees jumped from $3,000 to $10,000.”
Capp knew just how much of himself went into
“Li’l Abner,” and he knew it wouldn’t be possible to
pass the strip along to a new generation. When he
announced his — and his strip’s — retirement in
1997, Capp said, “It’s like a fighter retiring. I stayed
on longer than I should have.”
Capp, a lifelong smoker, died two years after his
comic strip.