"The technique—as invigorating as it was unorthodox—was later adopted by cartoonists like Walt Kelly [""Pogo""] and Garry Trudeau [""Doonesbury""],"" wrote comic strip historian Rick Marschall. According to Marschall, ""Li'l Abner"" gradually evolved into a broad satire of human nature. In his book ""America's Great Comic Strip Artists"" (1989), Marschall's analysis revealed a decidedly misanthropic subtext. Over the years, ""Li'l Abner"" has been adapted to radio, animated cartoons, stage production, motion pictures and television. Capp has been compared, at various times, to Mark Twain, Dostoevski, Jonathan Swift, Lawrence Sterne and Rabelais. Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who"
"a date — almost unheard of before 1937 — typically to a dance attended by other bachelors and their assertive dates. When Capp created the event, it wasn't his intention to have it occur annually on a specific date, because it inhibited his freewheeling plotting. However, due to its enormous popularity and the numerous fan letters he received, Capp made it a tradition in the strip every November, lasting four decades. In many localities the tradition continues. Sadie Hawkins Day and Sadie Hawkins dance are two of several terms attributed to Al Capp that have entered the English language. Others"
"traditional gender role-reversal. Women and girls take the initiative by inviting the man or boy of their choice out on a date—rare before 1937—typically to a dance attended by other bachelors and their assertive dates. When Capp created the event, it wasn't his intention to have it occur annually on a specific date because it inhibited his plotting. However, due to its enormous popularity and the numerous fan letters he received, Capp obligingly made it a tradition in the strip every November, lasting four decades. Sadie Hawkins Day Sadie Hawkins Day is an American folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by"
"p. 8.) During 1939, only two years after its inauguration, a double-page spread in ""Life"" magazine proclaimed, ""On Sadie Hawkins Day, Girls Chase Boys in 201 Colleges"" and printed pictures from Texas Wesleyan. Capp originally created it as a comic plot device, but by the early 1940s the comic strip event had acquired a life of its own. By 1952, Sadie Hawkins Day was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. It became a day-long event observed in the United States on the first Saturday after November 9. The practical basis of a real Sadie Hawkins Day is one of simple"
"is one of only 31 artists selected to their Hall of Fame. Capp was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2004. Sadie Hawkins Day and double whammy are two terms attributed to Al Capp that have entered the English language. Other, less ubiquitous Cappisms include skunk works and Lower Slobbovia. The term shmoo has also entered the lexicon, defining highly technical concepts in no less than ""four"" separate fields of science, including the variations shmooing (a microbiological term for the ""budding"" process in yeast reproduction), and shmoo plot (a technical term in the field of"
"o' life!! They complained 'bout mah prices befo'!! Wait'll they see th' new ones!!"". The exterminator congratulates him. However, it is soon discovered that Abner has secretly saved two shmoos, a ""boy"" and a ""girl"". The boy shmoo, as a Dogpatch native, is required to run from the girl shmoo in the annual Sadie Hawkins Day race. (Shmoos are usually portrayed as gender-neutral, although Capp sidesteps this issue to allow the comic plot twist.) When he is caught by her, in accordance with the rules of the race, they are joined in marriage by Marryin' Sam (whom they ""pay"" with"
"writer in the world today"" in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature — to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp ""the only robust satirical force in American life."" John Updike, calling Li'l Abner a ""hillbilly Candide,"" added that the strip's ""richness of social and philosophical commentary approached the Voltairean."" Capp has been compared, at various times, to Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jonathan Swift, Lawrence Sterne, and Rabelais. ""Journalism Quarterly"" and ""Time"" have both called him ""the Mark Twain of cartoonists."" Charlie Chaplin, William F. Buckley, Al Hirschfeld, Harpo Marx, Russ Meyer, John Kenneth"
"Fearless Fosdick Fearless Fosdick is a long-running parody of Chester Gould's ""Dick Tracy"". It appeared intermittently as a strip-within-a-strip, in Al Capp's satirical hillbilly comic strip, ""Li'l Abner"" (1934–1977). Fearless Fosdick made his debut in an August 1942 ""Li'l Abner"" Sunday sequence, as the unflappable comic book idol of Abner's (and of every other ""100% red-blooded American boy!"") and an object of undying hero worship. Hayseed Abner mindlessly aped his role model—even going so far as submitting to marriage against his will. Cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979) would often use ""Li'l Abner"" continuity as a narrative framing device, bookending the offbeat"
"Andy Capp Andy Capp is an English comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe, seen in ""The Daily Mirror"" and ""The Sunday Mirror"" newspapers since 5 August 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, it was later expanded to four panels. The strip is syndicated internationally by Creators Syndicate. The character is also licensed as the mascot for a line of snack foods (Andy Capp's fries). Andy is a working-class figure who never actually works, living in Hartlepool, a harbour town in northeast England. The title of the strip is a pun on the local pronunciation of ""handicap""; and the surname ""Capp"""
"Beautiful Daisy Mae was hopelessly in love with Dogpatch's most prominent resident throughout the entire 43-year run of Al Capp's comic strip. During most of the epic, the impossibly dense Abner exhibited little romantic interest in her voluptuous charms (much of it visible daily thanks to her famous polka-dot peasant blouse and cropped skirt). In 1952, Abner reluctantly proposed to Daisy to emulate the engagement of his comic strip ""ideel,"" ""Fearless Fosdick"". Fosdick's own wedding to longtime fiancée Prudence Pimpleton turned out to be a dream — but Abner and Daisy's ceremony, performed by Marryin' Sam, was permanent. Abner and"
"generated plenty of free publicity for both strips—and Capp and Saunders had a good laugh when all was revealed. Capp is often associated with two other giants of the medium: Milton Caniff (""Terry and the Pirates"", ""Steve Canyon"") and Walt Kelly (""Pogo""). The three cartoonists were close personal friends and professional associates throughout their adult lives, and occasionally referenced each other in their strips. According to one anecdote (from ""Al Capp Remembered"", 1994), Capp and his brother Elliot ducked out of a dull party at Capp's home—leaving Walt Kelly alone to fend for himself entertaining a group of Argentine envoys"
"called Capp ""possibly the best writer in the world today"" in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature—to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp ""the only robust satirical force in American life"". John Updike, comparing Abner to a ""hillbilly Candide,"" added that the strip's ""richness of social and philosophical commentary approached the Voltairean"". Charlie Chaplin, William F. Buckley, Al Hirschfeld, Harpo Marx, Russ Meyer, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ralph Bakshi, Shel Silverstein, Hugh Downs, Gene Shalit, Frank Cho, Daniel Clowes and (reportedly) even Queen Elizabeth have confessed to being fans of ""Li'l Abner""."
"(Students for a Democratic Society). Capp, who lived right outside Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, weathered severe criticism from the Left for this continuity, but stood by his satire of the era's excesses by militant student protesters. Salomey Salomey was the Yokums' beloved pet pig in the classic comic strip ""Li'l Abner"", by cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979). Salomey, whose name was a pun on both salami and Salome, was supposedly the last female ""Hammus alabammus""—an adorable species of pig, which led to a number of story arcs. Cute, lovable, and intelligent (arguably smarter than the male Yokums, Li'l Abner and Pappy),"
"1950). More reprints followed in Argo Publications' single-issue ""Mary Worth"" (March 1956), and in the late 1990s in American Publishing's ""Storyline Strips"". In a run of ""Li'l Abner"" Sunday strips in 1957, Al Capp lampooned ""Mary Worth"" as ""Mary Wart"". The title character was depicted as a nosy, interfering busybody, with a caricature of Allen Saunders portraying her put-upon, long-suffering son-in-law. Saunders returned Capp's fire with the introduction of the character ""Hal Rapp,"" a foul-tempered, ill-mannered, and (ironically) inebriated cartoonist (Capp was a teetotaler). Later, the feud was revealed to be a collaborative hoax that Capp and his longtime pal"
"Center. In 1984, Van Buren sent a gift to ""Dear Abby"" columnist Abigail Van Buren (Pauline Phillips). She wrote back on November 30, 1984, thanking him and then commented on the name similarity: Most books collecting vintage comic strips suffer a loss in reproduction because clippings from newspapers are the usual source, but two ""Abbie an' Slats"" books displayed a higher quality because they were compiled from original proof sheets by publisher Ken Pierce. Abbie an' Slats Abbie an' Slats is an American comic strip which ran from July 12, 1937, to January 30, 1971, initially written by Al Capp"
"excerpt), or in his 1955 Disneyland parody, ""Hal Yappland"". Just about anything could be a target for Capp's satire—in one storyline Li'l Abner is revealed to be the missing link between ape and man. In another, the search is on in Dogpatch for a pair of missing socks knitted by the first President of the United States. In addition to creating ""Li'l Abner"", Capp also co-created two other newspaper strips: ""Abbie an' Slats"" with magazine illustrator Raeburn van Buren in 1937, and ""Long Sam"" with cartoonist Bob Lubbers in 1954, as well as the Sunday ""topper"" strips ""Washable Jones,"" ""Small"
"feature. According to Theroux, ""Capp hated doing someone else's strip. After six months, he was replaced by an apprentice artist"" at the Associate Press, Milton Caniff, now better known as the creator of ""Terry and the Pirates"" and ""Steve Canyon."" Israel Shenker was more blunt: In his preface to ""Ring Lardner's You Know Me Al: The Comic Strip Adventures of Jack Keefe"", Al Capp provided the following reminiscence: In ""Colonel Gilfeather"", Capp (who reportedly hated the Colonel) shifted the attention to the Colonel's younger brother, Mister Gilfeather, and changed the name of the strip accordingly. In 1933, Caniff changed the"
"episode ""Lust for Puppets,"" and in traditional animation in the 2009 ""Family Guy"" episode ""Not All Dogs Go to Heaven."" In the 2013 ""Community"" episode ""Paranormal Parentage,"" the characters Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) and Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) dress as Calvin and Hobbes, respectively, for Halloween. British artists, merchandisers, booksellers, and philosophers were interviewed for a 2009 BBC Radio 4 half-hour programme about the abiding popularity of the comic strip, narrated by Phill Jupitus. The first book-length study of the strip, ""Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip"" by Nevin Martell,"
"desperate enough to chase them (see Sadie Hawkins Day). Those who farmed their turnip fields watched Turnip Termites swarm by the billions once a year, locust-like, to devour Dogpatch's only crop (along with their livestock and all their clothing.) Al Capp used to joke that Dogpatch was based on Seabrook, New Hampshire, where he would vacation with his wife, Catherine. A map shown during the story arc of the Shmoo seems to place Dogpatch somewhere around Tennessee or Arkansas. However, one of the earliest (1934) Li'l Abner strips, re-posted on the web by Comics.com in March 2008, explicitly identifies Dogpatch"
"actor Terry-Thomas), Duncan Fyfe Hepplewhite (an art plagiarist), and Freddie Flink (who resembles comic actor Fred Gwynne from ""Car 54, Where Are You?""). ""Little Annie Fanny"" takes the reader through the changing attitudes of American culture, satirizing contemporary trends and fads. In each of the 107 episodes, Annie experiences the latest popular movie, fashion statement, national politics, or society headline. During the strip's first decade, when it ran up to eleven times per year, Annie meets caricatures of the Beatles (who lust for Annie), Sean Connery (playing ""James Bomb""), reclusive ""Catcher in the Rye"" author J. D. Salinger (as ""Salinger"
"double-page spread in ""Life"" proclaimed, ""On Sadie Hawkins Day Girls Chase Boys in 201 Colleges."" By the early 1940s the comic strip event had swept the nation's imagination and acquired a life of its own. By 1952, the event was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. It became a woman-empowering rite at high schools and college campuses, long before the modern feminist movement gained prominence. Outside the comic strip, the practical basis of a Sadie Hawkins dance is simply one of gender role-reversal. Women and girls take the initiative in inviting the man or boy of their choice out on"
"the sixties. Representative samplings of ""Fearless Fosdick"" have been collected in two reprint anthologies, both published by Kitchen Sink Press. All titles are by Al Capp: Fosdick also appears sporadically, but memorably, in: Among Fosdick's initial appearances in ""Li'l Abner"" are: Fearless Fosdick Fearless Fosdick is a long-running parody of Chester Gould's ""Dick Tracy"". It appeared intermittently as a strip-within-a-strip, in Al Capp's satirical hillbilly comic strip, ""Li'l Abner"" (1934–1977). Fearless Fosdick made his debut in an August 1942 ""Li'l Abner"" Sunday sequence, as the unflappable comic book idol of Abner's (and of every other ""100% red-blooded American boy!"") and"
"for Murder"" by Max Allan Collins. Another ""feud"" seemed to be looming when, in one run of Sunday strips in 1957, Capp lampooned the comic strip ""Mary Worth"" as ""Mary Worm"". The title character was depicted as a nosy, interfering busybody. Allen Saunders, the creator of the ""Mary Worth"" strip, returned Capp's fire with the introduction of the character ""Hal Rapp,"" a foul-tempered, ill-mannered, and (ironically) inebriated cartoonist, (Capp was a teetotaler). Later, it was revealed to be a collaborative hoax that Capp and his longtime pal Saunders had cooked up together. The Capp-Saunders ""feud"" fooled both editors and readers,"
"by Shrewsbury sculptor Jane Robbins. Reg Smythe Reginald Smyth (10 July 1917 – 13 June 1998), known by his professional name Reg Smythe, was a British cartoonist who created the popular, long-running ""Andy Capp"" comic strip. He was born in Hartlepool, Teesside, England, the son of Richard Oliver Smyth, a shipyard worker, and his wife Florence, née Pearce. With his father long-term unemployed, he grew up in poverty. He attended Galley's Field School in West Hartlepool, but left at fourteen to take a job as a butcher's errand boy. In 1936, after a period of unemployment, he joined the Royal"
"Sam return to Dogpatch with the happy news that ""The Country's In the Very Best of Hands"". On Sadie Hawkins Day, General Bullmoose and Appassionata arrive in Dogpatch. They hire Evil Eye Fleagle to help Appasionata catch Abner. The race begins, and the young women of Dogpatch pursue the young men (""Sadie Hawkins Day"" ballet). Though Daisy Mae, with the help of Stupefyin' Jones (any man who looks at her freezes), almost succeeds in catching Abner, Evil Eye Fleagle uses his evil eye to freeze everyone in the race, and Appasionata calmly walks up to Abner and claims him as"
"Daisy Mae Scragg, the virtuous, voluptuous, barefoot Dogpatch damsel and scion of the Yokums' blood feud enemies — the Scraggs, her bloodthirsty, semi-evolved kinfolk. For 18 years, Abner slipped out of Daisy Mae's marital crosshairs time and time again. When Capp finally gave in to reader pressure and allowed the couple to tie the knot, it was a major media event. It even made the cover of ""Life"" magazine on March 31, 1952 — illustrating an article by Capp titled ""It's Hideously True!! The Creator of ""Li'l Abner"" Tells Why His Hero Is ""(SOB!)"" Wed!!"" Daisy Mae Yokum (née Scragg):"
"of the tonic, ""by community property"" , and turn it over to Bullmoose. He orders von Climax to enter the race on Sadie Hawkins Day. She catches Li'l Abner (with help from Evil Eye Fleegle) and Daisy Mae ends up heartbroken. But then Daisy, Mammy, Pappy and Marryin' Sam discover (through Mammy's ""Conjurin' Power"") what General Bullmoose is up to; Daisy promises to marry McGoon if he helps them to save Abner's life. McGoon agrees, and rounds up practically everyone in Dogpatch to go to Washington on the rescue mission. McGoon and the other Dogpatchers disrupt the society party at"
"to be called “Sin Eater” until editor David Bishop decided that the sound of this was too close to the name of pop star Sinitta. The first series was painted by Philips. Other artists to have depicted Waugh include Siku, Steve Yeowell and Colin MacNeil. In the 1992 (the date of his introduction) annual poll of ""2000 AD"" readers' opinions, Waugh became the first and last character ever to knock Judge Dredd off the top spot as Favourite Strip. However, the first full-length follow-up strip, an Africa-set Judge Dredd crossover titled ""Fetish"", was plagued with problems so that the then-editor"
"worked on the strip over the years. In ""The Penguin Book of Comics"" Belinda is described as ""a perpetual waif, a British counterpart to the transatlantic ""Little Orphan Annie""."" The strip also influenced ""Little Annie Rooney"" (Jan. 10, 1927-1966) and ""Frankie Doodle"" (1934-1938). In 1995, ""Little Orphan Annie"" was one of 20 American comic strips included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative U.S. postage stamps. ""Little Orphan Annie"" lent itself easily to parody, which was taken up by both Walt Kelly in ""Pogo"" (as ""Little Arf 'n Nonnie"" and later ""Lulu Arfin' Nanny"") and by Al Capp in"
"due to its popular appeal and modest production requirements. ""Li'l Abner"" never sold as a TV series despite several attempts (including an unsold pilot that aired once on NBC on September 5, 1967), but Al Capp was a familiar face on television for twenty years. No other cartoonist to date has come close to Capp's televised exposure. Capp appeared as a regular on ""The Author Meets the Critics"". He was also a periodic panelist on ABC and NBC's ""Who Said That?"" Capp has appeared as himself on ""The Ed Sullivan Show"", Sid Caesar's ""Your Show of Shows"", ""The Today Show"","
"English name in his first American comics appearance (1991). In a couple of 2005–2006 appearances, the character was inexplicably renamed ""Arizona Dipp"". But more recent uses (Disney Digicomics, 2009–2010) have restored his traditional English name. Kat Nipp (not to be confused with Harvey Comics character Katnip), his name a play on the word catnip, is a villainous anthropomorphic cat. Kat Nipp is an often-drunk countryside tough guy who is a rival of Mickey Mouse. Nipp made his debut in the animated short ""The Opry House"" (1929), in which he posed as a snake for a snake-charming act—continuing to smoke his"
"book history as it represented the emergence of mature themes in comics. In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Harper as #50 on their list of the ""50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics"". The character has been adapted for video games and animation several times, and is portrayed in live action by actor Colton Haynes on the television series ""Arrow"". The character first appeared as Green Arrow's teenage sidekick Speedy, a name by which he was known for over fifty years, in ""More Fun Comics"" #73 (November 1941) and was created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp. The character's modern-day version was an"
"was making fun of capitalism and the American way. Capp caught flak from both sides. For him it was an apolitical morality tale about human nature... I think [the Shmoo] was one of those bursts of genius. He was a genius, there's no question about that."" The Shmoo inspired hundreds of ""Shmoo clubs"" all over North America. College students—who had made Capp's invented idea of the Sadie Hawkins dance a universally adopted tradition—flocked to the Shmoo as well. One school, the University of Bridgeport, even launched the ""American Society for the Advancement of the Shmoo"" in early 1949. Capp introduced"