Walt Wallet returned to the Old Comics Home today in an impressive panel by Jim Scancarelli.
Many cartoonists are lovers of the classic comic strips and occasionally pay homage to them in their own comic strips. Mark Tatulli’s Lio, Stephan Pastis’ Pearls Before Swine, Mike Curtis and Joe Staton’s Dick Tracy, Bill Griffith’s Zippy, and Patrick McDonnell’s Mutis pop into mind as some current examples. But Jim takes it a step further creating entire sequences starring such an abundance of old characters they often overflow the borders.
I THINK Jim’s first shot at this was in 2006.
It was the Cartoon Retirement Home then. All the characters were from discontinued comic strips and panels. Which, I seem to remember, is how Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas did it in their Sam’s Strip when they used other syndicate’s stars.
When Jim revisited the idea in 2013 the retirement home became the Old Comics Home, with Mutt and Jeff remaining as caretakers of a sort for the madhouse. Jim Scancarelli assisting George Breisacher drew the last Mutt and Jeff strips in 1983.
Then the fun continued when the Old Comics Home returned with Jim doing another sequence in 2015.
Now in Gasoline Alley’s Centennial year Walt pays a return visit to the Old Comics Home.
But..is it only a visit?
Utter conjecture (and wishful thinking) on my part:
Walt is 118 years old, will Walt return from this trip?
A visit to all his old comic peers leading into reminiscing about times past with Doc and Bill and the old gang to celebrate the centennial, culminating in a reunion with Phyllis Blossom and deciding to stay with the love of his life. Is that plausible?
That scenario or any other – I look forward to Jim’s take. Before the strip went into rerun last November Jim was doing some great work with a Dick Tracy crossover and a circus story that had some great cartooning art. Maybe Jim needed some months to do research and art for the upcoming strips.
Today’s stunning view of the Old Comics Home fills me with joyful anticipation.
Love this panel so much I had to put in here twice!
To read the strip in black and white go to the Tribune Content Agency page,
be warned there is not much of an archive there.
The current story started on June 28, 2018 and that can be found in the
the Gasoline Alley archives at GoComics where the strip is in color.
The Gasoline Alley Archives at GoComics also have the old Old Comics Home strips:
November 4, 2006 – December 30, 2006
(Ralph Graves attempted to identify all the characters in the 2013 episode.)
October 19, 2015 – November 17, 2015