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Here's another Nancy, this time about going to see Santa Claus at the mall. I can imagine a kid saying something like that, though, because he can't think of anything due to being excited or nervous to see Santa. As a kid, I was always too scared, even though my parents took me to the mall to see him. My memories consist entirely of looking at the line of people while standing outside the area and telling my mom I didn't want to. I don't even remember ever seeing the guy in the Santa suit from far away. I was a very shy child. I don't think I've changed much. Guys in Santa suits still make me nervous.

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Frederick Opper created Happy Hooligan in 1900, and he was one of the first comic strip characters to become popular, at least in the United States. Hooligan was an Irish-American bum who wore a can on his head, smoked a cigar, and got into trouble on a regular basis. Despite this, he's a good man and is mainly just a victim of circumstance.

While the strip was originally simply titled Happy Hooligan, its title changed as its focus changed. First, it was renamed Mr. Dough and Mr. Dubb, and focused on an appropriately named banker and a small man from the country. Mr. Dough was then removed from the title and it was simply called Mr. Dubb. Later, it was changed to Down In the Farm as the focus shifted to Mr. Dubb's life in the country. All three of them appear in this strip, as well as Hooligan's wife, Suzanne, and their children, who inexplicably also wear cans on their heads. Since this is Christmas, it also shows one of the few times Hooligan doesn't get in trouble at the end, though there is the one guy who says, "Swat 'em anyhow."

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Zippy the Pinhead, created by Bill Griffith, is probably the most surreal comic strip, if not ever, then certainly in publication today. It's notable for being one of very few strips that began and continue in college newspapers and alternative weeklies, but which is also syndicated to mainstream newspapers. The humor is obviously geared towards those who prefer something... outside the norm. I like it, and a lot of people seem to as well, as Zippy appears in quite a few newspapers. It's not for everyone, though.

This one is from fairly recently, but the basic premise and feel of the strip hasn't really changed much over the years. If you think, "This is just weird and dumb and makes no sense," and you feel yourself saying that in a negative tone of voice, then this comic is not for you. If you think that in a positive tone of voice, as I do, then you'll probably like it.

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Mark Trail is a comic strip that has always been about nature, ever since Ed Dodd created it in 1946. The Christmas strips have never tended to deviate from that too much, and generally include things about nature that are relevant to the season. This strip from a couple years ago, by current artist James Allen, continues that tradition. It also includes a hint of religious themes, as Dodd was also wont to do, most probably because his father was a Baptist minister.

Mark Trail as a comic has never really interested me that much, but Ed Dodd is from my home state of Georgia, and The Lost Forest where Mark Trail lives is apparently located in north Georgia as well, so I feel a bit of a connection.

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I posted about the Katzenjammer Kids last year when I shared a classic 1905 Rudolph Dirks strip. Dirks was the original creator of the Katzies, but this one is drawn by the replacement artist Harold Knerr. Knerr drew the strip for the Hearst papers after Dirks left to work for the rival Pulitzer papers. Dirks wanted to take entire strip with him, but the courts ruled that he couldn't use the same title. So, Knerr drew The Katzenjammer Kids for Hearst, and Dirks used the same characters under a new title, The Captain and the Kids. That meant there were two versions of the same strip drawn by two different artists running in different newspapers at the same time! The strip is already the longest running comic strip ever, but this means that there are more strips in the Katzenjammer archive than normally would be.

If you pay close attention, you can tell the difference in the art between Dirks and Knerr, but the casual observer probably wouldn't be able to. The humor is about the same, though. This particular one has Hans and Fritz getting into the usual trouble, and the captain getting himself into more trouble as a result. I'm not really sure why they're shooting a movie with Santa Claus, a monkey, and a lion, though. I guess I'd have to see the finished product to understand.

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Bringing Up Father is among the longest running comic strips in the United States, beginning in 1913 and running all the way to 2000. It revolved around an Irish family whose titular father, Jiggs, was everything one would expect from a stereotypical Irishman. Jiggs always had a cigar and loved to gamble and drink. George McManus, the creator, did not give Jiggs these qualities out of ignorance, however. Both of his parents were from Ireland, so he had a wealth of knowledge and experience in that area.

This strip (which just happens to be from the same day as yesterday's) is typical Jiggs behavior. The premise of Bringing Up Father as a whole is that Jiggs fell into a large amount of money by chance and moved to New York, but doesn't know how to deal with his fortunes and retains all of his working class attitudes. That's obvious here, as he gambles away all the money that he was supposed to spend on a Christmas gift for his wife. The upside is that he now knows how to play baccarat, though I'm not sure that's worth it.

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While Rube Goldberg was best known for his wacky contraptions, he was quite the prolific cartoonist, and had quite a few other comic strips over the years. One of the longest running was Boob McNutt, which revolved around a man with a good heart but with a less than stellar brain. It ran for nearly 15 years, and became a bit of a connection point between Goldberg's various strips. The titular characters in Goldberg's strip "Mike and Ike (They Look Alike)" were revealed to be Boob's uncles, Boob became acquainted with Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, who was the "inventor" of all of Rube Goldberg's many devices, and Boob even ran into Bertha the Siberian Cheesehound, which was the topper for the Boob McNutt strip.

The strip itself normally involved someone entrusting Boob with performing a particular task and his inability to do the task without causing destruction and disaster. He's always willing to help, and looks trustworthy enough, but in the end it never works out. Such is the case here. Personally, I blame the goat for this one. What was he even doing out in the back yard in the first place?

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The logic of children at its finest. It makes sense when you think about it, though I did have to think about it for a bit. I mean, the pole had to get there somehow, right? Of course, we know that the first man to place the pole up there must have been Santa Claus. Pop isn't that far off when he says that it was about ten years before this strip was published that anyone successfully reached it, though it might be closer to fifteen. The tradition of Santa Claus living there probably came about in the 19th century, so I'd say the answer to Jimmy's question is probably around 60 or 70 years.

This strip, unlike the one from yesterday, was actually done by Gene Byrnes, and when you compare the two you can certainly tell the difference. The line work in Byrnes' strips is much more crisp, and the hatching is exquisite. The ghost artists did a great job of capturing the feel of Byrnes' artwork, but it's no substitute for the real thing.

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Reg'lar Fellers, created by Gene Byrnes, first appeared under that name in 1920 and revolved around the gang of kids you see here. They were supposed to be suburbanites, but oddly enough speak exactly like kids from Byrnes' native New York City. The strip lasted until 1949, meaning this particular strip was one of the later ones that, while still signed by Byrnes, were not written or drawn by him. This one was ghosted by George Carlson. It was very popular in it's time, and spawned books, comic books, animated and live-action films, and a radio show. The strip is very charming and enjoyable, and definitely has a well-deserved place among the best of the comic strips about kids.

This one does bring up a good question, though: What does Santa Claus do the rest of the year? I don't imagine he's just sleeping the whole time, but if your job really only takes one night of the year, and you're a magical being, it must be difficult to fill the rest of the time.

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The problem with this, of course, is that you'll probably end up with frozen grape soda. If you actually want to drink it you'd have to plan in advance so you could thaw it out. Hopefully by then it won't be flat. Actually, the more I think about it, the worse of a plan this seems to be...