The Duluth News Tribune picked up Blondie and talked to Dean Young who now produces the comic his father created. Here’s the interesting tidbit:
DNT: How about yourself growing up? What impact did the strip have on you?
DY: I wanted to be something else. I wanted to own an ad agency. I can?t believe I was thinking that.
DNT: You went into it?
DY: Oh, yeah. So my dad invited me to come back. I couldn?t get my stuff packed soon enough.
He was my mentor, my teacher, and my father. He taught me everything about how to run a comic strip. He taught me some things that I had to part ways with him on, that seemed old fashioned.
DNT: Every good mentor-protégé relationship has a point where the protégé goes out on his or her own.
DY: When he died, (hundreds) of newspapers dropped the comic strip on the basis of his death. I was having trouble and I remembered him telling me ?just do what you think is funny.? I had to do something different and I did. I introduced a few new characters, and, of course, the car pool. One of the big events was Blondie going to work. There?s a place I got some more fallow ground to work with. I think a lot of women can relate to Blondie in that regard.
Honestly it seems like it’s rare when a newspaper decides to cancel “Blondie”. I did read that the Miami Herald cancelled “Blondie” but it’s just the daily version (they still run “Blondie” on Sundays at last check).
As for Stephan Pastis and the rerun strips, I understand where he’s coming from, but that was a little low.
For the record, my newspaper – the Tampa Bay Times – still runs “Peanuts” and “For Better Or For Worse” (though if I have to choose between one or the other I’ll take Charlie Brown and Snoopy to stay thank you). The Tampa Tribune, meanwhile, cancelled “Peanuts” in 2005 and “For Better Or For Worse” in 2010.
I like Blondie and think Dean has done a good job of keeping the strip fresh. That said, I don’t understand the pushback — here and in the other posting — against Stephan Pastis speaking frankly about the art form.
First of all, he wasn’t that rough about it. Anyone who has been around comic strip folks at all has certainly heard more pointed, heated commentary than that.
Second, we’re no longer in a media world where the audience sits in the dark while the artists stand up there on the stage. It’s expected that, when the show is over, you come back out, sit on the edge of the stage and chat with people about what you do and why you do it. It breeds loyalty and interest among the public and those who stand back and decline to share more than their final products will become irrelevant.
Life isn’t a banquet. It’s a barbecue. Take off the tie and get a little sauce on your shirt front.
@Mike Peterson couldn’t agree with your comments more. You are spot on.
that’s not a spot, that’s just sauce on the front of his shirt