Comic strips can contribute to ‘healthy living’

Many physicians prescribe daily dosages of humor – the more the better – because “laughter is indeed good medicine.” 

Americans have always found some chuckles in their newspaper’s comics section. Some folks called it “the funnies,” remember? 

Several generations have grown up sharing the comics around the breakfast table, enjoying a few laughs before heading off to school and work. 

Some of the oldest popular comic strips have faded away and are no longer being published, such as “The Katzenjammer Kids,” “Little Orphan Annie,” “Popeye the Sailor” and “Brenda Starr, Reporter.” 

Other long-running strips now on the “endangered species” list are: “Gasoline Alley,” “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” “Dick Tracy,” “Prince Valiant” and “Dennis the Menace.” 

Critics say one comic strip that has endured since 1930, by adapting to contemporary times is “Blondie,” created by Chic Young of Chicago.

 

Readers were introduced to Dagwood Bumstead, who’s a bit on the klutzy and clumsy side, and his lovely wife, Blondie Boopadoop Bumstead, a former flapper from the Roaring Twenties. They have two teenage children, Alexander and Cookie.

 Other primary characters are: Daisy, the dog, and her brood of puppies that are often underfoot; Elmo, the neighborhood boy, whose purpose in life appears to be to annoy and agitate Dagwood; neighbors Fred and Tootsie Woodley; J. C. Dithers, who is Dagwood’s boss; and Cora Dithers, who bosses J. C. 

In 1936, Dagwood concocted his famous midnight snack, an impossibly tall sandwich, using assorted leftovers from the refrigerator. This event gave birth to the term of the “Dagwood sandwich.” 

The food theme took a new twist in 1991 when Blondie and Tootsie joined forces to form a catering business known as “Blondie’s.” 

After Chic Young died in 1973, creative control of the “Blondie” strip passed to his son, Dean Young, who continues as the lead writer into his 80s.

Cartoonist Mort Walker, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., brought “Beetle Bailey” to life in 1950. This comic strip features Army Pvt. Carl James “Beetle” Bailey. He is a miserably pathetic soldier – slack, hapless, lazy and generally insubordinate. At Camp Swampy, he tangles regularly with Sarge, his comically inept platoon leader, Sgt. Orville P. Snorkel. 

Otto is Sarge’s anthropomorphic, look-alike bulldog whom Sarge dresses up in a miniature Army uniform. Rounding out the group of featured characters is Gen. Amos T. Halftrack. Retirement passed him by, so he is constantly frustrated by his senility and lack of stamina. 

One of the rare finds in comic strip legend and lore is that Mort Walker teamed with Dik Browne of South Orange, N.J., in 1954, to create “Hi and Lois.”

 

Lois is Beetle Bailey’s sister. She married Hiram Flagston. Hi and Lois have four children. Chip, a teenager, resembles Uncle Beetle, in attitude and floppy-hair appearance. Dot and Ditto are girl-boy twins. Trixie, the youngest daughter, loves “talking” (through thought balloons) to Sunbeam, her little ray of sunlight. 

When Dik Browne died in 1989, his elder son, Chance, took over “Hi and Lois,” while his younger son, Chris, assumed control of another comic strip that his father created in 1973. It is “Hägar the Horrible,” starring a bone-headed Norwegian Viking. 

After Mort Walker died in 2018, his sons Neal, Brian and Greg, took the reins of “Beetle Bailey.” 

The second generation of Walkers and Brownes continues to collaborate. While Chance Browne now draws the characters of “Hi and Lois,” he brought on Brian and Greg Walker as the primary writers for the strip. 

What’s in your “thought balloon?”