Number 1506: Dagwood no drag

Blondie, the long-running comic strip, here seen in a dozen examples of Sunday pages from 1940, was a paper sitcom. Well-meaning but slightly dopey husband Dagwood played comedic foil for spouse, Blondie, who was much smarter than him. The gags came fast in this well-drawn and funny comic strip.

I scanned these from the reprints in Feature Book #29, a comic published by David McKay Co. in 1941. There are 64 Sunday paqes from 1939 and 1940, which works out to 16 months of Sundays. And all for 10¢! As a housewife keeping track of a household budget even Blondie would think that was a bargain.

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More Blondie Sundays here. Just click on the cover.

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Number 1247: Blondie of the late thirties

Blondie (the comic strip and not the rock band) is now 82. Even though creator Chic Young died years ago, his son Dean keeps the strip going with artists working close to Chic Young's style. And why not? The strip has been successful through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War...and right on up until now, in its own ageless world. You look at the modern Blondie and there just isn't much different from these Sunday strips of 70-plus years ago, taken from Feature Book #29, a reprint from 1941.

I believe with newspapers being replaced gradually by electronic media in a few years the comic strip as we know it may just disappear from print. But I'm guessing that no matter what form it appears in, you'll probably still see Blondie.

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