Before Connie Came...?

We're going way back this morning - over 90 years - to revisit with Frank Godwin, the creator of Connie.
As mentioned, Connie Kurridge got her launch in 1927. Did you wonder at all what Godwin had been doing before that point?

Oddly enough, he was doing a full (newspaper sized) page weekly commenting on 'modern' American life and society entitled Vignettes Of Life. Odd or not, it was well suited to his elegant classical ink style.

(Please note that these are large images when clicked upon, nearly double standard width, due to the small typeface and large original image size.)

Typical topics included fashion history...

...and fashion for the modern woman...

Of course, general social etiquette is always a popular topic...

...and politics is always a matter of discussion...

...and we can see the difficulties of living in the modern communication age...

not to mention the horrors of Hollywood adaptations...

So, now - with warmer weather on the way, let's take a look at some of his tips and observations on the days of summer -

Here's an odd little tidbit of a semi-related note for those who've been reading along about our Fly Girls:
When Frank Godwin's Connie was running in Famous Funnies, it ran alongside Sky Roads. Sky Roads was the aviation adventure strip which Russell Keaton drew before creating Flyin' Jenny.

One of many good reasons for us to revisit Famous Funnies in the future.

Vignettes Of Life by Frank Godwin (1924, 1927)

(see image names for individual dates)

Epic Connie Kurridge

Buckle up, gang - we're going on an epic adventure with Frank Godwin's fly girl Connie. How epic, one might ask?

Fighting Dragons On The Moon 1000 Years In The Future Epic!

Note the cover illustration is by Bill Everett, of Submariner fame.

At 30 pages, this is probably the largest single story we've presented here. Just one more record for the girl who went from flapper Blondie in 1927 to first female aviator comic hero in 1929 to  Buck Rogers in 1936.

Before we get started, note that this is a comic book reprint of a Sunday comic strip. Different page aspect ratios necessitate reworking the original layouts to the new format, and so these can look substantially different than the original newspaper strips. More than that, some dialogue can be dropped to make space. To illustrate the difference, here is the ink layouts for the Sunday version of the first page. Also note that she travels to 2936 here as opposed to 2941 in the modified comic book version.

Connie just does not slow down! The remainder of that final page was spent setting up the next tale - before they can even change clothes.

Connie by Frank Godwin from Famous Funnies #s 84-92 (1941, 1942)

reprinted from Connie Sunday strips (Ledger Syndicate)(1936)

High Flyin' Connie

Previously, i said that today's aviatrix debuted a dozen years prior to Flyin' Jenny.
That's one of those quantum declarations that exists simultaneously in a true and false state.

Connie did indeed premiere in 1927, but Frank Godwin's strip was a very different creature than what emerged after a later metamorphosis. Orginally, Connie was a society girl, a flapper, living the life that Blondie might have led had she not settled down with Dagwood.

I don't know that she had a last name when the strip began as a Sunday feature. It wasn't until two years later that her daily strip launched, and that's where i believe she gained the last name of  Kurridge. A decidedly different Connie who fit that name appeared, and eventually the Sunday comic followed into adventure territory.

While Connie is indeed an aviator, she was an adventurer first and got around by whatever means were necessary to get where she needs to go - whether by flying...

...even flying the notoriously hard to handle Gee Bee racer, the fastest and most dangerous plane in the world at the time...

...or getting to the back country on horseback...

...travelling by boat...

I love those inks - a precursor to the Filipino style that developed 30 years later.

...or even underwater diving with experimental gear...

I should point out that Connie was not above using her plane for more than transportation...

Connie was quite the adventurer, even before we talk about her traveling in time and space, flying rockets, fighting wars or baiting dragons. Seriously.
And all in her single most epic adventure - coming up next.

Connie by Frank Godwin (1920s, 1930s)