Exploring comics’ past with Homer Davenport on Rube Goldberg,
Bobby London and Popeye, Bazooka Joe and the Gang.
But we start with …
Comic Strips and Christmases Past
Brian Cronin and CBR has created a Comic Strip Advent Calendar.
It’s our yearly Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar! This year, the theme is A Comic Strip Christmas! Each day will spotlight a notable comic strip, and at least three Christmas-themed comics from that strip.
Every day until Christmas Eve, you can click on the current day’s Advent Calendar post…
So far we’ve seen how Calvin and Hobbes, Li’l Abner, Max Overacts, Opus and the rest of Bloom County, Popeye, Captain Easy, Huey and Riley in The Boondocks, Hi and Lois, Nancy and Sluggo, and Garfield have celebrated Christmas and not yet halfway though the days.
Check out the CBR Comic strip Advent Calendar here.
Homer Davenport Profiles Rube Goldberg
A newly discovered column by cartoonist Homer Davenport
was presented to The Davenport Project by Paul C. Tumey.
It’s always fun to discover a previously unknown piece by Davenport. Case in point, is this 1909 editorial extolling the greatness of the then-young Rube Goldberg. He would of course go on to a long career, known mainly for his complex devices designed to perform mundane tasks. Before that, he became known for his “Foolish Questions” series, where an observer asks an oblivious question with an obvious answer.
San Francisco Bulletin – January 15, 1909: While I was being shaved the other day, the barber asked me to tell him something about Goldberg, the Evening Mail’s sporting page cartoonist…
Davenport on Rube Goldberg from 1909 (with a stereotype or two included).
Bobby London and Popeye
There wasn’t an abundance of newspaper ballyhoo when Mr. London took on the Popeye assignment in the mid-1980s…
Of course, that all changed in 1992. Suddenly Mr. London was getting his picture in newspapers from coast to coast …
Popeye © King Features Syndicate; art © Bobby London
Bruce Canwell, comics historian and Library of American Comics editor,
recalls cartoonist Bobby London‘s years with Popeye.
Bazooka Bubble Gum at 75
Bazooka Companies, Inc. is culminating its landmark, 75th anniversary with the premiere of a documentary that honors Bazooka Bubble Gum’s history, and its significant impact on popular culture as a pioneer in the confectionery industry and fans worldwide.
Business Insider reports on a recent promotional film.
The film, titled “Bazooka Bubble Gum Turns 75“, takes fans from the brand’s humble beginnings to the creation of the Bazooka Joe character and the comics, characters and prizes.