Conchy - Week of August 23, 1976

Rest of the August 1976 strips, including 30 and 31st.

(This strip has whole new meaning when you realize what happened to the cartoonist five months later.)

"Arnold" Sundays 3

Nancy by Jerry Scott

After Ernie Bushmiller passed away in 1982 his comic strip Nancy went through numerous hands. Mark Lasky and Al Plastino briefly took over, but in 1984 the strip's duties went to Jerry Scott, who drew the comic for more than 10 years.

Scott initially drew Nancy in Bushmiller's style, but over time he began to draw the strip in his own style. The strip's art became looser, and Nancy herself became more energetic, almost like a girl version of Calvin. Sluggo was also redesigned, wearing a backwards cap like many cartoon boys were depicted at the time.

Another notable aspect is that Aunt Fritzi disappeared. Scott initially drew her but later in his run he turned her into an off-screen character, appearing only as dialogue balloons pointing off-panel.

The strip's new style angered many Bushmiller purists as a result. So the syndicate editors probably made a sigh of relief when Scott left the strip, having gained success with his own titles Baby Blues (with Rick Kirkman) and Zits (with Jim Borgman). Guy Gilchrist was hired to take over the strip, bringing the style back to its roots. Despite its decade-plus run on the strip, hardly anyone remembers that Jerry Scott worked on this strip.

Winston

Winston is a comic strip by Jim Burnett (writer) and Johnny Sajem (artist) that ran in newspapers 1985 to 1987. It was syndicated by News America Syndicate, which later became North America Syndicate (itself bought by King Features).

The main character is a dog, apparently modeled after Winston Churchill (hence his name), living with a husband-and-wife couple and a cat named Garbonzo. The strip was most likely created to cash in on the "Garfield" fad, which took off in the '80s.

Miss Peach

Mell Lazarus drew Miss Peach comic strip from 1957 to 2002. It's a great example of what Mark Kausler called "giant head" style. He noted that the kids are mostly just heads, with really tiny bodies. That pretty much described the strip's style.

Funnily enough, the titular Miss Peach hardly appeared in later strips. Out of dozens of Sundays I have, none of them feature her at all. The kids were really the stars at this point.

Conchy - Week of August 16, 1976

"Arnold" Sundays 2

Conchy - Week of August 9, 1976

"Arnold" Sundays 1

In addition to Conchy, I received a stack of Arnold Sunday strips. I figured I'd post them on this blog every Saturday. So be sure to read this blog every weekend.