Fort Knox – First and Last (in Triplicate)

Fort Knox by Paul Jon Boscacci has come to an end after fifteen years.

From the Washington Post Writers Group about page:

Fort Knox cartoonist Paul Jon Boscacci is, of course, a military brat himself. “The downside was that every time we moved, I gained a new bully. Eventually, I had to give them numbers to keep track,” he jokes. “In many ways, they were like terrifying personal trainers: Thanks to all the running away I did, I was able to overcome my childhood asthma.”In 2005, Paul Jon created Fort Knox to help him tap the well of his childhood experiences — the frustrations and embarrassments and angst — the way Charles M. Schulz tapped his own childhood for 50 years,” says Washington Post Writers Group Comics Editor Amy Lago.” Cartooning no doubt has been cheaper for Paul Jon than a team of round-the-clock therapists. The Writers Group is pleased that the cartooning, at least, has paid off.”Paul Jon is the son of an Army colonel whose tours of duty included Fort Leavenworth, Fort Jackson and Fort Knox, and who, every morning, liked to say to his fellow soldiers,”It’s a great day to be in the Army.” Paul Jon understands his dad’s attitude, and feels that being a military brat” made me understand the sacrifices that military families make for our country, and also made me a better person for having to deal with new people all the time.” Luckily for Paul Jon, he had an eccentric red-haired brother and his trusty inhaler to keep him company through each change in location.”

Most sources date the beginning of the Fort Knox comic strip to October 5, 2009. Here at The Daily Cartoonist we date the start to Thursday, October 1, 2009 as seen in The (Carlisle, PA) Sentinel.

But the majority of news papers picked up For Knox with the Monday October 5, 2009 issue.

Below are the “first three” (October 5-7) strips that most of the newspapers carried; again from The Sentinel.

As of October 5, 2009 Fort Knox became a daily and Sunday production. The first Fort Knox Sunday appeared October 11, 2009. Below are the first three Sundays from The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle.

And so it went until Memorial Day weekend 2010. Eight months after the strip began we get a special Sunday.

In what would become a running custom the Sunday Fort Knox page for the Memorial Day weekend would see cartoonist Paul Jon Boscacci mostly turn over the strip to artist Norman Felchle to honor those who sacrificed their lives. Norman would do the Memorial Day Sunday page from 2010-2013 and 2016-2024. Above is the first Memorial special, below is a another page and the last Felchle page.

By the time Paul Jon Boscacci’s latest contract with his distributor, the Washington Post Writers Group, came up for renewal in 2024 the syndicate had decided to close their comics department. Rather than sign with another company Paul Jon chose to end the Fort Knox comic strip. The last daily strip ran on October 19, 2024.

The Sunday page would run until November 10, 2024 – below are the last three.

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_{all images © Paul Jon Boscacci and/or Norman Felchle}