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I've written a bit about Tad Dorgan before, and while I'm not a fan of his self-aggrandizement and exaggeration of the effect he had on American language, I do think his comics are funny. I like this particular one a lot, because it illustrates the importance of proper costuming and make-up when dressing up as Santa Claus. If you have a notable physical feature, especially one that isn't a round belly like a bowl full of jelly, it's always important to either cover it up or disguise it in some way that renders it not nearly as prominent. In the case of Uncle Amos, he may just be out of luck. It might be better if he let someone else be Santa Claus and get himself a snowman outfit instead.

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This strip is a great example of what Herky was: an obvious small child who acts like a small child, yet speaks like an adult. Herky is concerned about not getting Christmas presents from Santa, so instead of doing the right thing because he knows he should, he does the right thing so he can receive more rewards, as a small child would. Further, the crimes he is trying to make up for seem like things only kids would do without any thought of the consequences. However, he does this with a level of politeness and articulation that would normally only come out of the mouths of people at least three times his age. Sure, this is not great comedy, but I find the idea of a toddler showing up at your doorstep and apologizing to you in full proper sentences for throwing potatoes at your cat to be amusing.

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Herky by Clyde Lewis was about a young boy who was given the name Hercules due to the unusual strength he possessed as an infant. In addition, he also exhibited increased cognitive abilities, and was quite articulate even at a very young age. This seems like the setup for some kind of superhero story, but it turns out it's just a normal gag comic the main joke of which is a baby who does things that babies wouldn't normally do. It had very charming art, and the gags were good enough, but after Lewis decided to age Herky up a bit from baby young child, readers lost interest. It ran for 6 years and ended in 1941.

Here we see Herky as a toddler helping out his younger sister Honey. Since he has an increased language capacity, he's able to talk to Santa Claus and let him know what Honey wants for Christmas. Herky is also apparently honest to a fault, as I imagine Honey would rather he not mention the times she hasn't been so good this year. I'm not sure she's entirely…

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Apple Mary, created by Martha Orr, is a comic strip that, if you believe official King Features Syndicate sources, only ran from 1932 to 1939 and has no connection to any other strip that they own and distribute. They did not acquire it from Field Enterprises Syndicate who acquired it from Publishers Syndicate, they did not transform it into Mary Worth, and the two strips are entirely separate entities. Of course, anyone who knows anything about the actual history of the strips knows this is absolute hogwash. In 1939, after Martha Orr left the strip, it was briefly titled "Apple Mary: Mary Worth's Family" before being changed to "Mary Worth," and Allen Saunders, the cartoonist who took over for Orr, has stated multiple times that he was given the strip Apple Mary and he transformed it into Mary Worth. And, of course, the full name of the main character in Apple Mary is named Mary Worth. The modern Mary Worth is certainly a very different strip than Apple Mary was,…

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I like Napoleon, not just the comic strip but also the dog, because he seems like the type that in any other strip would be getting into all kinds of trouble and messing things up for everyone, but he doesn't actually do that. Marmaduke, for instance, is just a giant joke on his own. Marmaduke is a great dane and therefore makes a mess of things because he's too big to go anywhere. That's the joke in every strip. Then, of course, you have your Garfields and Heathcliffs who are ostensibly pets but are really just Dennis the Menace as cats. Napoleon, on the other hand, doesn't always do what his owner wants him to, but it usually ends up being the right thing to do.

In this case, we have some children who didn't get Christmas presents last year and are wondering if this year will be the same. Napoleon obviously feels bad about it, so he takes the presents that were meant to be brought to the church and gives them to the needy family. Sure, it isn't what he was suppo…