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.

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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.

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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.