Digging The Funny Animals

Quick Quiz:

Who holds the Guinness World Record for the First Animal Cartoon?

You want hints?

He was a goat.
And his newspaper comic strip ended 100 years ago - the dailies in February of 1917, the Sunday strips a few months later.
(But he did return as a Topper for another comic with his final appearance being over 15 years later)
He starred in at least 15 cartoons produced in 1913 & 1914 by Selig Polyscope, the people who brought you Tom Mix, Harold Lloyd (who brought you Jackie Chan), the 1910 Wonderful Wizard Of Oz film, Fatty Arbuckle, and Bomba, The Jungle Boy Wamba, Child Of The Jungle. (But Wamba came first, by over a dozen years)

Worked it out?

No?

Want me to shut up and stop trying to make a spoiler gap of words here and just get on with it?

Very well. Ladies, Gentlemen, and those still working it out, or who have come to a different destination, may we present-

Old Doc Yak is one of the latest finds excavated in my Comic Archeology digging expeditions.
Join us tomorrow for a trip back 100 years (and 105 years) for the beginning and end of this uniquely creative early comic. (And learn the Answer to who replaced him successfully for the next 42 years.)

Sunday Morning Make Believe

Last Saturday, we pondered briefly upon the origins of Supersnipe. Inspiration is a theme that's been nagging in the back of my head for a post, which lead me to wondering what sources George Marcoux might have drawn from when creating his character.

So let's jump back a generation previous, to the newspaper comics of 1915, where we find an odd little strip called Bobby Make-Believe. Before we proceed, let me point out that this is not to be confused with Billy Make Believe, the newspaper comic from 2 decades after Bobby. Despite the name, the comic bears no resemblance from what little i've read. For example:

 Billy is the kid sidekick, even with the lead character status. And the adventures seem to be actually happening, within the world of the comic. I've yet to see any sequence that breaks to an external reality.

 Obviously, since it was before the dawn of superheroes, Bobby couldn't be pretending to be a superhero. Since nothing else measures up to that, he had to keep switching off every week. Here's the earliest strip i can find, from 1915, January 31st:

You'll likely note the grainy, kind of crappy quality of the image. Ragstock paper for newspapers from over 100 years ago really wasn't meant to last. All i've been able to find from those old strips is microfiche copies, so we make do with what history has managed to salvage. Also, due to the quality, and the small text balloons, these images are a bit larger than the typical pages posted here for easier reading.

Bobby Make-Believe only ran for 2 years, but the creator, Frank King, went on to much greater recognition when he switched from Winsor McKay-esque fantasy to down-to-earth family life with Gasoline Alley, started the following year. (Yep - late next year will mark a century of Gasoline Alley!)

Here're 10 more from over the next couple years to give you some idea of the flavour of the strip. (Though i'm skipping over the semaphore lessons for now)

Bobby Make-Believe by Frank King for Chicago Sunday Tribune (1915-1917)