Click the image for a larger version.

Here's another Fred Faber Then The Fun Began. It's clear, of course, that this Santa's first mistake was going in through the window and not down the chimney. His second mistake was thinking that giant bag of toys would fit through the window.

Click the image for a larger version.

There isn't much info about this comic panel online, other than it was started by Walter Berndt, and abandoned and passed off to Fred Faber when Berndt's other strip Smitty became more popular. Faber did an admirable job carrying it on for another 5 years, and this is one of his.

I really enjoy this panel, mainly because it relies on what isn't actually shown in the strip for its comedy. It's about the funny consequences of the situation that's presented more than the situation itself. Plus, the artwork is very fun and well-drawn.

Click the image for a larger version.

Edwina Dumm, the cartoonist behind "Capp Stubbs and Tippie" (abbreviated here in the Dayton Herald as simply Cap Stubbs) was the first full-time female editorial cartoonist, and one of few women in the early days of comics to have a syndicated feature. It ran for an impressive 48 years, produced only ever by Dumm herself.

The thing that is most striking to me is the quality of the lettering. Many early comic strips can be difficult to read because of some very messy lettering, but Dumm's letters are very clear and well-formed. The line work is wonderful as well, and a joy to look at. While the dialogue in many Cap Stubbs strips can be a bit dull, it's always, as we see here, very genuine and true to life.

Click the image for a larger version.

Skippy, created by Percy Crosby, was a comic strip that was popular enough in its day to spawn a radio show, a novel, an Oscar-nominated movie, and even a highly contentious copyright feud with a peanut butter brand. It probably deserves its own much longer blog post (which I will probably do eventually), but for now we'll just focus on Christmas.

I absolutely love Crosby's artwork. I've seen a few Skippy Sundays, and normally Sunday comics are superior to the dailies due to the larger format and ability to add color, but Crosby's simple linework on its own actually makes me enjoy the dailies more. It's said that this strip was a major influence on Charles Schulz when he created Peanuts, and I can see why.

Moon Mullins was a surprisingly long-running strip that began in 1923 and ran all the way to 1991, and went through three different cartoonists. Ferd Johnson worked on the strip for a record 68 years, first as assistant to the original creator Frank Willard, and then as the main writer and artist.

Here we have one from the Willard years, with Kayo, the younger brother of the eponymous Mullins, trying to get a little money out of the grumpy (but comparatively rich) Lord Plushbottom, one of the denizens of the boarding house most of the cast lives in. Lady Plushbottom owns the place, so Kayo is probably obligated to get her something. Kayo is definitely my favorite character of the crew, because I love his character design and personality. Any kid who stands up to grown-ups while wearing a bowler hat is funny in my book.

Bill Holman is best known for "Smokey Stover," the Sunday comic about funny fire fighters, but around the same time that strip started, he also took over a gag panel originally created by Gaar Williams. The panel had run under many different titles, sometimes changing daily, though eventually under Holman it would come to be known as "Nuts and Jolts."

This particular one is named "Christmas Spirit," and has a pretty good solution for those times when you live in a multi-story apartment but you buy a Christmas tree that's much too tall.

Click the image for a larger version.

Here we have Mickey Finn, a strip about a small town Irish-American policeman and his family. The actions of his Uncle Phil teach us a few things: Don't wait until 3 days before Christmas to get a tree, don't get a dried out one just because it's cheap, and don't smoke a pipe as it can become a huge waste of money.

Click the image for a larger version.

Is it that time of year again? Yes! It's time for classic Christmas comic strips! It's a Christmas tradition that shows no signs of ending soon (despite the lack of other posts on this blog).

This year, we start with Smitty, a comic strip about 13-year-old newspaper office boy Augustus Smith (also known as Smitty). The strip was based on the boyhood experiences of its creator, Walter Berndt. Another comic strip about an office boy, "Jerry on the Job," was already popular at the time, and Berndt figured his "million bucks worth of experience" as an office boy himself would be useful in creating his own strip. "Jerry on the Job" was itself based on Walter Hoban's office boy days (and you may see some of him later this month).

I do wonder if this particular strip is any kind of metaphor for the usefulness of office boys generally. Smitty appears to be helping out, but in the end becomes more of a burden. This may be why that particular profession no longer exists.

At the end this year, do as Barney and Horseface have done, and mend some fences. I don't recommend doing it over the alcohol that they've clearly been consuming, because, as you can see, it leads to more problems than it solves. Just try to leave this year on the best note you can, so that the next year can begin on a good one, too.

Happy 2019, everybody!

Click the image for a larger version.

This strip apparently comes right in the middle of some kind of storyline involving the Earl of Juniper, but no storyline could keep Oaky Doaks from wishing everyone a happy new year. He is quite incorrect about nothing happening in 1936, though. The year saw the death of Grace Drayton, the cartoonist behind the adorable The Pussycat Princess, the end of George Swanson's venerable Salesman Sam strip and E.C. Segars O.G. Wotasnozzle, and the first appearance of the great comic strip superhero The Phantom.

Oaky's mind might just be mixed up, though, given that somehow he lives simultaneously in medieval times and in the 1930s. It can mess with your concept of time, for sure.