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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 helping her case by distracting Santa with a candy cane, though, as I would think that bribery would get you put on the naughty list. Also, where exactly did she get the candy cane from?

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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, but it's undeniable what it started as. Why King Features denies this is anyone's guess, but I imagine it has something to do with not wanting to credit or compensate Martha Orr or her estate.

As an example of how different the strips are, I don't think any modern Mary Worth strip would show a small child getting a present from Santa Claus, kicking him because she didn't like it, and using the toy to hit him in the face. Or maybe it would. If so, maybe I should start reading more Mary Worth.

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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 supposed to do, and some might see him doing it as being a nuisance, but I think it was the best course of action he could have taken. Besides, if you're going to dress your dog up as a reindeer and make him pull a sleigh, you have to be prepared to go wherever he wants to take you.

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A year after the strip I posted yesterday, we see Skeezix coming to visit his family for Christmas, though it seems he's much more interested in visiting his girlfriend Nina. During the past year, Skeezix had turned 18, left home, and had some interesting adventures and gotten various jobs. It had only been a few months since they last saw him, but I guess when it's your family a relatively short time can seem like quite a while. Of course, it's always good to see your family at Christmas, no matter how long it's been.

It's interesting that at the beginning of the strip Judy seems much more excited to see Santa Claus, and not really that interested in seeing Skeezix. After all, she hasn't really known him for that long. I imagine she'll learn to appreciate these visits more as she gets older. It's also interesting to note that while Corky is there, he doesn't say anything in this strip. I guess Frank King decided to save all of the Corky dialogue for the topper.

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Gasoline Alley is a continuity comic strip with a long and interesting history. The characters age in real time, and many of them have lived for far longer than you would expect (at time of writing the comic is still running, and the principal character, Walt Wallet, is 123 years old). There are many and varied family relationships, and a fair amount of adoptions. The first major event in the strip was Walt finding a baby on his doorstep, who he named Skeezix (a name the origin of which I still have not been able to surmise), and adopting him as his son. Years later, he would find another baby, Judy, on his car seat and would end up adopting her as well.

Here we see Skeezix as a young man taking Judy around to see the various Santa Clauses in town. I believe she's supposed to be around 3 or 4 here, so she clearly does not yet understand that these are all different people in costumes. I think that's a good thing, though. It makes the entire experience that much more magical. Besides, Santa has to be incredibly fast in order to deliver presents to everyone in the world in a single night, so it just makes sense.

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As was seen previously, Dixie Dugan is very modern and not at all old fashioned, so she must keep up with the times and decorate in the most up to date way. Apparently in 1939 that meant having an outdoor Christmas tree. To me that sounds very old fashioned, but of course I'm from nearly 100 years in the future, so it's all relative.

I just really enjoy the overall construction of this strip, how there is a flurry of excitement at the beginning, but then as the novelty wears off they all realize, without having to say a word, that they really like the old fashioned way better. Good traditions just stand the test of time, I guess.

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Smokey Stover is back this year, now trying to hire someone to play Santa for his son. Now, I don't think the comic is saying that if you hire any random man off the street with a long beard that they will definitely turn out to be a wanted safe cracker and house breaker, but it does seem safer to give the job to someone you know. Besides, it seems like there are more men with beards these days, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a friend or neighbor to do it. There have also been major advances in costume beard technology, so even if you don't have a beard, there are ways to more easily trick your kid into believing it.

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Corky just loves using his hatchet. Whether it's for cleaning up after Christmas or getting a tree from a tree farm, he'll just find a way to use it even if he doesn't need to. Maybe instead of getting trees using credit he should get a job cutting them down. I bet Mr. Ruff would hire him.

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Ella Cinders by Bill Conselman and Charles Plumb is another example of a comic strip that started out with a very particular premise but that drifted away from that premise as it continued. It's one of those strips that I don't think the creators thought they would be doing for a long period, so they pitched the idea as something that would have a clear ending point. However, as it happened, the strip just ended up being popular enough that it continued long past that point.

As the title of the strip and the name of the main character may suggest, it began as a 1920s retelling of the story of Cinderella, though instead of Ella wanting to meet a prince at a ball, she wants to be a Hollywood star and meet an agent at a beauty contest. She does end up going to Hollywood and has various adventures there, though she never becomes a star. She just ends up living there with her husband Patches and has different interactions with various members of her family. The strip eventually turns its focus to those other characters, and as we see in this particular strip, often she's not even in it.

This strip appears to be part of a dream sequence of some kind where Ella's younger brother Blackie visits the North Pole. It's interesting that it shows Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, and Saint Nicholas as three separate people. It's also interesting to note that in this operation, instead of any of them going down the chimney, they fire the presents themselves down the chimney with varying levels of precision. I guess this year if there was something on your Christmas list that you didn't get you might want to check on your roof.