Maumee Dearest © Kirk Walters
Kirk Walter’s comic Maumee Dearest has turned 20. The weekly local political comic strip runs in the Toledo Blade (OH). Kirk explains how the feature came to be:
It’s hard to believe that Maumee Dearest is now 20 years old. My editor at the time was Bernard Judy and I walked into his office and asked him if he’d be interested in running a comic strip on local politics. I showed him a sample of the strip and the next thing I knew it was on the op-ed page for the next day. I am often asked why I called the strip Maumee Dearest when most of the action takes place in Toledo. That’s when I explain that the strip is named after the Maumee River and not Maumee, Ohio.
You can download a one-page PDF file with samples of the strip over the course of the last 20 years. One thing that surprises me when I look at Kirk’s strip over the last 20 years is how consistent he was in drawing style. Most cartoons evolve slowly over time, but Kirk’s day one strip looks much like today’s.