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Here we see the Lady Plushbottom mentioned in the other Moon Mullins strip I posted a few days ago. The "Moonshine" mentioned is the full name of the title character, Mr. Mullins. I think Moon is actually doing some smart thinking here; Lord Plushbottom is the one who should be getting her the beads that last a lifetime. Moon is just getting a token obligatory gift for his landlord. No need to spend too much on that, right?

Also, Kayo sitting on a fire hydrant is adorable.

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Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Christmas comic strips are very weird. Instead of doing what a lot of action and adventure cartoonists did and show a drawing of the whole cast together saying "Merry Christmas," he would have to tie in the detective theme somehow, with varying results. I think this one works pretty well. It's kind of awkward, but I appreciate the effort.

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I love Jerry On the Job, because it's cute and funny, but also quite bizarre. It stars Jerry, a kid who looks no older than 6 years old, as he does various jobs over the course of the strip's run. He starts out as an office boy at a train station, and later becomes a messenger boy and even later a retail clerk, all while maintaining the same age and stature. I like him for the same reason I like Kayo from Moon Mullins: he's a kid who acts like a kid, but can still stand toe to toe with the adults.

Here, he gives you everything you need to celebrate Christmas, including "turk" and "S. Claus," my favorite Christmas abbreviations.

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I've posted some Gasoline Alley Christmas strips a couple of times previously, so here's another one, because I can't get enough. I love Frank King's artwork, and I love the bumbling way that Walt does things for Skeezix, because he just wants to make him happy. I also get the feeling that maybe Skeezix knows it wasn't really Santa but is playing along for Walt's benefit. It makes this a very cute strip all in all.

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Here's another one from Harry Hershfield (whose name the paper erroneously spells "Herstfield"). This is clearly some kind of dream sequence, where Abie is flying with Santa Claus above the world and doing a crossword puzzle with the land below. It's still a bit odd that a Jewish immigrant would dream of this, but I guess Christmas is such a large part of American culture in December that it's very difficult to avoid it.

Also, I just love the hatching and crosshatching in this strip. It's a thing of beauty.

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Harry Hershfield, creator of Abie the Agent, was a Jewish American, and the comic strips he created featured Jewish people, often immigrants, and how they assimilated, and didn't, into American culture. It's very interesting, then, that Hershfield drew at least one Christmas comic strip a year. In searching for Christmas strips, I really didn't expect to find any Abie the Agent ones, but they were definitely there.

Also, Hannukah starts on December 22 this year, in case you wondered.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.