‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly—Give Classic Comics for Christmas
It’s not just comic book collectors who love those wonderful coffee-table anthologies of comic strips. Being able to pick up one’s favorite comics from years gone by and reminisce over daily panels and Sunday funnies is a spirit-lifting treat that can kill five minutes or five hours (depending on how much lifting your spirit needs).
Three recent releases from IDW and The Library of American Comics are certain to bring joy to cartoon fans—even those too young to be familiar with the likes of Barney Google, Blondie, and Felix the Cat. The comic strips date back to early twentieth-century, yet their humor is enduring. And, like all good comics, irony gets as many laughs as silliness.
Barney Google, certainly the inspiration for many comics to come, was a guy who had many loves—gambling, horse races, and “high-toned women.” And then there was his wife. Old strips of Barney and his wife bring to mind the more recent Andy Capp and his can’t-live-with-her-can’t-live-without-her relationship with wife, Flo. Barney Google was the ultimate slacker, womanizer, and racing enthusiast. His love of pretty girls was exceeded only by his love for his racehorse, Spark Plug. Don’t look to Barney Google for political correctness, he was born long before that mania. Like Homer Simpson, he is long-suffering, and this collection of black-and-white strips, with a number of color plates and ancient photographs, edited and designed by Craig Yoe, is a reminder that—in comics—some things never change (and are always funny).
Craig Yoe is also responsible for assembling the impressive Felix the Cat collection of comic book stories featuring “that wonderful, wonderful cat.” Who doesn’t love Felix the Cat—when I was a child I thought I was especially blessed because I was born on St. Felix’s Day (ah…you know how kids used to be…). I have clear recollections of sitting in my grandparents’ house watching Felix the Cat cartoons on television and loving them. Although I am too young (that feels so-o-o good to write) to have had the comics featured in Craig Yoe’s Felix the Cat (I was more of a Little Lulu kind of kid, anyway), this handsome volume brings back memories of that clever cat who had a good heart and ingenious ways of getting out of a fix—he predated MacGyver by decades. Whether traveling on a flying carpet or fending off a lion, Felix had adventures that were rich in humor and charm.
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