In the 1997 political thriller “Murder at 1600,” Alvin Jordan, played by Alan Alda, meets the movie’s protagonist, D.C. Metro Police Detective Harlan Regis, portrayed by Wesley Snipes. Towards the end of the scene, Jordan said to the detective that Harvard had once done a study indicating that one could measure a person’s longevity by the first section they turn to in the morning paper. Regis remarked that he was an obituary man.
Jordan replied drily, “Start with the comics; you’ll live longer.”
For as long as there have been newspapers, there have been comic strips. “The Yellow Kid” by Richard F. Outcault, which debuted in the New York World in 1895 is widely recognized as the first modern comic strip, featuring a bald little boy in a yellow nightshirt. Since then, there have been cartoonists entertaining readers with all kinds of comic strips filled with varying degrees of warmth, thrills, action, humor and satire, making a profound impact on American popular culture.
Over the years that the Devils Lake Journal has been in publication, the newspaper has had many different types of comics in its pages including “The Gumps” by Sidney Smith, “Joe Palooka” by Ham Fisher, “Blondie” by Gig Young, “ “They’ll Do It Every Time” by Jimmy Hatlo,” “Rip Kirby” created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene, “Dixie Dugan” by J. P. McEvoy and John H. Streibel, “Ozark Ike” by Ray Gotto, Mort Walker’s “Beetle Bailey, “Garfield” by Jim Davis, “Hagar the Horrible” by Dik Browne and “Peanuts” by Charles Schulz. Sometimes, characters from other media would find new life as newspaper comics like “The Flintstones” and “The Lone Ranger.”
Comics continue to be a part of people’s daily routines, and while the popularity of the art form has had its challenges in more recent times as the newspaper industry overall struggles with declining circulation and financial pressures, people remain passionate about their comics.
Publisher Kathy Svidal has seen that passion up close, remembering how readers complained bitterly over the removal of favorite strips like “Blondie,” “Beetle Bailey” and “Hagar the Horrible.”
Nowadays on the Journal’s current comics page, new comics like “Amber Waves” and “Just Like Cats & Dogs” by Dave T. Phipps, “Out on a Limb” by Gary Kopervas and “The Spats” by Jeff Pickering share space with reprints of Bud Blake’s “Tiger” and Alex Raymond’s creation “Flash Gordon,” as illustrated by Jim Keefe. Even E.C. Segar’s classic character Popeye, who first appeared in the comic strip “Thimble Theater” in 1929, has found new life in the strip “Olive & Popeye,” in which cartoonists Emi Burdge and Randy Milholland each depict what Olive and Popeye get up to when they’re not together.
So, turn the page and have a laugh.