The Nebbs, December 11, 1927

The Nebbs, December 11, 1927

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Here we have the Sol Hess classic, The Nebbs. It has always been quite common for syndicates and cartoonists to create strips that rip off other, more popular ones. That's how we got Flash Gordon, which ripped off Buck Rogers, and it's how we got The Nebbs, which was a near complete copy of Sidney Smith's The Gumps. It's much less common for the rip off strip to become as popular as the strip being ripped off, but that was the case with Flash Gordon, and was also the case with The Nebbs.

I like this particular strip, because although it isn't necessarily funny, it's still an interesting slice of life. From the beginning, since it's Christmas, you can probably guess what the boy's actually doing, but I guess the mystery is how Mr. Nebb will react. Hopefully he's learned something from this experience.