A List: “15 Longest Running Comic Strips” – Naturally We Quibble and Correct
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Some of comics’ most iconic characters found their homes in these long-running comic strips, from Dick Tracy to Beetle Bailey. In some cases, they’re icons from another era, but that doesn’t keep many of them from still appearing in newspapers today. The longest-running comics are a testament to the importance of including comic strips in newspapers because of the immense joy readers take in seeing familiar characters time and again. Long-running comics also speak to the creativity inherent in the creators and those who have taken up the mantle after the creator’s retirement or passing.
Natasha Elder for Comic Book Resources lists the “15 Longest Running Comic Strips.”
From youngest to oldest they run from Brenda Starr (1940-2011, 71 years) to the still reigning The Katzenjammer Kids (1897-2006, 109 years).
Quibbles
Short Changing Nancy
… Nancy is a popular and long-running comic strip that began as a spin-off of another popular comic strip at the time, Fritzi Ritz. Nancy was Fritzi’s niece, but her character proved popular enough to warrant her focused narratives, which ended up more compelling than the material from which she originated.
Debuting in 1938 …
Nancy, of course, debuted in Fritzi Ritz on January 2, 1933 (above) and in 1938 she didn’t “spin-off” from that strip, rather the daily strip was re-titled Nancy. So it should be stated as Fritzi Ritz/Nancy (1922-present, 102years). This is mentioned because later in the list is a Popeye entry giving its 1919 Thimble Theatre start date. After some fudging (Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye) it was renamed Popeye. Nancy deserves the same consideration.
The Corporate Mary Worth
The exact origin of Mary Worth is somewhat controversial, as many believed it to be a continuation of another comic strip titled Apple Mary, which ran through 1938. However, King Features, which syndicated Mary Worth beginning in 1987, states that the original syndication date of Mary Worth was 1938 and that it had no connection to Apple Mary. In either case, Mary Worth began in 1938…
No. In spite of the owners disowning the first four years Mary Worth began in 1934 as Apple Mary.
I’m guessing for legal reasons (copyright? trademark? original syndicate contract?) King Features has disavowed Martha Orr’s Apple Mary. Nonetheless for comic strip historical purposes the Mary Worth comic strip began in 1934 as Apple Mary.
Nitpicking as to when Snuffy Smith edges out Barney Google.
However, starting in 1954, the comic focused on Google’s hillbilly pal Snuffy Smith, along with his family and community in Hootin’ Holler. Barney has occasionally returned to his strip for decades, but even though his name is still in the strip’s official title, he’s a bit player at this point.
While it is true that at some point King Features “suggested” to Fred Lasswell to concentrate on Snuffy he, as seen from the vintage strips at Comics Kingdom, had taken over as the star of the strip by the end of the 1930s.
I’ll cut some slack about ignoring Ripley’s Believe It or Not (1918-present, 106 years) and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Weatherbird (1901-present, 123 years) since they were panels not strips – though Gasoline Alley began as a panel and those early entries count in the CBR reckoning.
Let’s note that The Weatherbird did have a short run as a Sunday comic strip.
Kicking Three Off The List (sorry Brenda Starr, Dennis the Menace, and Beetle Bailey)
The article begins by referencing American comic strips:
Newspaper comic strips have been an important staple of the American experience since the late 19th century.
But nowhere does Natasha say the lineup is exclusive to U.S. comics and the original title, according to the url was “Oldest Newspaper Comic Strips.” So…
The Australian comic strip Ginger Meggs ran 1921-2023 for 102 years.
What the Falk!
For whatever reason both of Lee Falk‘s comics strips, both of which started in the 1930s, didn’t make the list.
Mandrake the Magician ran from 1934 to 2013 for 79 years.
The Phantom began in 1936 and is still running for 88 years, placing it in middle third of the roster.
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