Featuring: POPEYE by E.C.

Segar

The Yellow Kid by R.F. Outcault

Little Nemo by Winsor McCay
Krazy Kat by George Herriman
GASOLINE ALLEY by Frank King
Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray
Dick Tracy by Chester Gould

Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond

Terry & the Pirates by Milton Caniff
Our Gang by Walt Kelly
Steve Canyon by Milton Caniff
Peanuts by Charles Schulz
Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham
B.C. by Johnny Hart

by E.C. Segar

E.C. SEGAR and POPEYE.

Elzie Crisler Segar was one of the first rank of
cartoonists who have elevated the comic strip to
art. He was the most popular cartoonist of his
day, his sense of humor coming straight out of
Mark Twain, who also balanced exaggerated tall
tales and a perfect ear for everyday speech with
dark themes that undercut his laugh-out-loud
stories. Segars strips are masterpieces of comic
invention. Popeyes omnipotence pre-figures
the rise of superheroes in the 1930s and 1940s,
though Popeye is a much more sympathetic
character, and his very name announces his vibrant personality. His mangled
English pulsated with the vital spirit of immigrant America, its rhythm poetic
in its own vulgar way: I yam what I yam and thas all I yam.

E.C. Segars POPEYE (Fantagraphics).

Fantagraphics Popeye collects the complete run
of Segars Thimble Theatre comic strip (dailies
and color Sundays) featuring Popeye in a series
of striking, oversized hardcover volumes. In the
first volume, covering 1928-1930, Popeyes initial courtship of Olive Oyl takes center stage
while Olives brother Castor Oyl leads Popeye on
a series of schemes and adventures, encountering
the enigmatic yet lovable Whiffle Hen, the sinister Sea Hag, and a variety of other villains and
mysteries. All this, plus lots of fisticuffs, a terrific historical introduction by series editor Bill
Blackbeard, and a die-cut cover.

R.F. Outcault and The Yellow Kid.

Outcault was a true king of the Sunday comics
pages. His huge, beautifully ornate illustrations
filled the pages of the New York Herald color
sections for years. Considered by many to be
the very first comic strip, The Yellow Kid
was both an unabashed vehicle for the political
opinions of the newspaper where he made his
home and a scathing satire of the social norms,
living conditions and big stories of the 1890s.
The popularity of the Kid was evidenced by his
appearances on promotional materials advertising everything from cigarettes
and whisky to hardware stores and dry goods.

R.F. Outcaults The Yellow

Kid with Pore Lil Mose (Checker).
The Yellow Kid, Mickey Dougan,
and friends run amok in 1890s New
York City slums, scattering satirical
editorial opinions in their wake. This
comprehensive collection of the most
famous spokes-toon of yellow journalism
also includes captions explaining both
the more obscure references to hot-button issues of the era and the vernacular
of the immigrant classes. Plus the largest collection of Pore Lil Mose ever
published! (This book contains images that may be considered racially
and ethnically offensive by todays standards.)

A newly discovered Nemo, which has not seen print since it appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on November 1, 1925.

winsor mccay and little nemo.

McCays grasp of perspective and scale, his
limitless creativity and imagination and his
all-consuming need to make art combined to
make him arguably the very best American
artist of the modernist era. He once wrote, I
was never so happy as when I was drawing
Little Nemo. Later, after once having been
paid an astronomical salary to draw Nemo and
others, after the ill-fated mid-1920s return of
Nemo and his friends, McCay was able to purchase the rights to his most adored characters for a dollar. When McCay died
less than ten years later, his obituary never once mentioned Nemo.

WINSOR mccayS LITTLE NEMO IN

SLUMBERLAND (Checker).
Volume One includes every Nemo episode from
1905 through mid-1909 in full color, pen drawings with notations in McCays own hand and rare
Nemo promotional postcards and playbillsplus
McCays never before collected first strip, 1903s
Tales of the Jungle Imps. Volume Two finishes
out the entirety of McCays Nemo stories through
1914, and the never before collected 1924-1926
Herald Tribune run. (These books contain
images that may be considered racially and
ethnically offensive by todays standards.)

George HERRIMAN and KRAZY KAT.

Krazy Kat is a love story, focusing on

the relationship of its three main characters. Krazy Kat adored Ignatz Mouse.
Ignatz Mouse just tolerated Krazy Kat,
except for recurrent onsets of targeting
tumescence, which found expression in
the fast delivery of bricks to Krazys cranium. Offisa Pup loved Krazy and sought
to protect her.

KRAZY+ignatz (Fantagraphics).
Edited by nonpareil comic strip archivist Bill
Blackbeard and stunningly designed by Chris
Ware, Fantagraphics Krazy Kat has set itself the
goal of reprinting the entirety of Krazy Kats 29year run of Sunday strips. (And were already halfway there). In addition to a full two years worth
of classic strips (the latest three volumes in full
color), each volume includes introductions, rare
art, and Blackbeards ineffable DeBaffler feature
which lists fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbits
about various strips.

Frank King and gASOLINE ALLEY.

Frank O. King created what is arguably the
longest-running story in comic strip history,
Gasoline Alley. Begun in 1919 as a simple topical gag strip about the new fad of automobiles,
in 1921 the tone of the feature changed forever
with the introduction of a foundling baby named
Skeezix. Inspired by Kings own son, Robert
Drew, the life and development of Skeezix soon
became the strips focus, following him through
childhood, adulthood, and his own eventual parenthood. Gasoline Alley, an
affectionate portrait of modern living, is remembered for being the first strip to
set itself in contemporary American history.

Walt & Skeezix (Drawn & Quarterly).

Chris Ware has often cited Gasoline Alley

as one of his favorite comic strips ever,
and he has lovingly edited and designed
each book in Drawn & Quarterlys projected 15 volume Walt & Skeezix series.
Spanning the years 1921 to about 1949,
each volume will collect Kings Gasoline
Alley daily newspaper strips. Also featured are extensive introductions by noted comics historian Jeet Heer, which
includes never-before-seen archival photos and ephemera from the personal
collection of Kings granddaughter. Walt & Skeezix is not just a collection of a
classic comic stripit is the story of a great American cartoonist.

Little Orphan Annie and 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Licensed by Classic Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Harold Gray and Little Orphan Annie.

When Oliver Warbucks sees a strange little mopheaded girl in his mansion, he exclaims:Say
whose kid are you? Im nobodys kid, Mr.
Warbucks, she sheepishly replies. Im just an
orphan Mrs. Warbucks took on trial. So begins
one of the most endearing, enduring relationships
in comicsthat between Little Orphan Annie and
DaddyWarbucks. The red-headed, blank-eyed
heroine is the embodiment of American individuality and self-reliance.

Little Orphan Annie (IDW).

collects Harolds Gray cultural icon, which
ran from 1924-1968. With biographical
essays by Jeet Heer, edited and designed
by DeanMullaney. Volume One, Will
Tomorrow Ever Come?, contains more
than 1,000 dailies, from the first strip in
August 1924reproduced from Grays
original art! These early stories establish
Annies spunky character. Its through the
incredible trials and tribulations of these first three years that Annie emerges as
the kid with a heart of gold and a quick left hook.

Dick Tracy and 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc., licensed by Classic Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

CHESTER GOULD and DICK TRACY.

Dick Tracy, in its earliest days, was a police
proceduraleven in Chester Goulds first strips,
Tracy performs ballistics tests, uses a lie detector,
traces fingerprints, and utilizes the teletype
between his and other police stations. In short, this
1930s strip, which also featured standards-pushing
violence and some of the most colorful criminals
ever created in comics, changed Americas popular
culture forever.

Dick tracy (idw).

Compiled, restored and edited by IDW
Publishing, with art direction and
design from Ashley Wood and introductions from Consulting Editor Max Allan
Collins, IDWs The Complete Chester
Goulds Dick Tracy lovingly restores
and re-presents Goulds historic halfcentury run in deluxe hardcover-withdustjacket editions. Each volume contains additional material, from past interviews with Gould to looks at the Dick
Tracy Museum, Tracy in other mediums, and beyond.

Alex Raymond and Flash Gordon.

Flash Gordon represented the part of society that
craved complete escapism, absolute swashbuckling
impossibility. Realism be damned. Science need not
apply. One thing that made Flash Gordon different was
its bold use of primary color and writer-ly narrative
and dialogue. In addition, Raymond does what most
other mainstream art forms had not yet darednotice
that in many stories, not only is Dale scantily clad, with
all her contoured accoutrements clearly defined, but
Flash Gordon and other male characters often go barechested and trouser-less!

Flash Gordon (Checker).

Now you can escape into the outlandish
worlds of Flash Gordon again and again
with Checkers seven collected volumes,
over ten years worth of Mongothats
twenty-five full episodes including Ice
Kingdom of Mongo, Queen Desira,
Tusk Men of Mongo, and Battle
of Tropica, just to name a few. Each
hardcover book is one hundred huge
nine by twelve inch full color pages. Originally published from 1936 through
February of 1945.

Terry and the Pirates and 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Licensed by Classic Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

MITON CANIFF
and Terry and the Pirates.
Terry wove a spell of exotic adventure, sex
appeal, and humor set amidst real events
then occuring in exotic 1930s China. The
extraordinary graphic narrative introduces
Terry Lee, Pat Ryan, their sidekick Connie,
and an array of unforgettable brigands such
as Captains Judas and Blaze, and the two
toughest women to ever sail on the China
Seas: the alluring Burma and the inimitable
Dragon Lady.

the Complete Terry

and the Pirates (IDW).
No cartoonist influenced his medium
more than MiltonCaniff, and no comic
strip had more imitators. The Library of
American Comics and IDW celebrate the
centennial of Caniffs birth with a sixvolume edition collecting the entirety of
the greatest adventure comic strip ever
done. Edited and designed by Dean
Mullaney, each volume includes 700-800 comic strips, with the Sundays in
painstakingly restored color.

WALT KELLY and OUR GANG.

Along with Carl Barks, Walt Kelly is considered
one of the two classic funny animal artists
from the golden age of comics. Kellys longestrunning continuing series was based on reallife people: MGMs durable short-film series
Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals). Kelly
created nearly 100 Our Gang stories by the end
of its 59-issue run in 1949, the year he quit
comic books to switch careers a final time as
syndicated artist/writer on the immortal newspaper strip Pogo.

Walt kellys OUR GANG (Fantagraphics).

These are the first two in a series of volumes
reprinting Walt Kellys Our Gang stories. Spirited
and engaging, Kellys Our Gang hearkens back to
the days before television, when kids spent most of
their time playing outdoors, limited only by each
others imagination and ingenuity. Fantagraphics
Books has lovingly restored the work from its comic
book appearance, printed in its original four-color
splendor in handsome, compact volumes that
feature new covers by Jeff Smith (Bone).

Milton Caniff and Steve Canyon.

Over the years, Milton Caniff has acquired a
reputation for realism, making sure that each
airplanes details were precise, perspective and
scale as flawless as possible. The appeal of Steve
Canyon was that every young boy wanted to be
himAmerican dream stereotype perfectand
as a result every young woman wanted to be with
him. Canyons image supported the periods
image of the ideal man and the idea that anyone could be successful... that
anyone could be the leading man, save the beloved country and get the girl.

Steve Canyon Collections (Checker).

An immediate success, Steve Canyon was full of exotic
locales, pretty girls, rogues, rascals and adventurers
doing for comics what Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy and
Gregory Peck had done for Hollywood. Girls-next-door
and dangerous vixens can now purchase eight years worth
of Steve Canyon for yourselves or your leading men. Fly
away to exotic Indian Cape, Formosas Dire Straits
or Eel Island with trade size glossy-cover paperbacks
of more than 160 black and white pages each, covering
a total of 31 full episodes.

With literally hundreds of

collections released since it
premiered half a century ago,
Peanuts is the most-reprinted
comic strip of all time.
Even so, thousands of
Peanuts strips have never been
collected or at least, had never been collected until Fantagraphics Books
launched its massive Complete Peanuts project in 2004.
While its easy to tell in retrospect why some of those orphan strips
were never allowed to grace the pages of a book (dated references, odd early
character designs, misfired jokes, ideas that were still in the process of

being worked out), some of them seem to have been cast into limbo for no good
reason. (Then again, a good number of them probably just slipped through the
cracks.)
Here is one prime sequence that was lost for 42 years, until it finally saw
print in this years Complete Peanuts: 1965-1966.
According to David Michaelis in his new biography Schulz and Peanuts, this
storyline is (like many other Peanuts strips) actually somewhat autobiographical for the in-demand Schulz, whose shyness and dislike of travel resulted in a
few situations not unlike the one Snoopy is facing although Schulz, so far as
we know, never ended up hiding up a tree.

CHARLES M. SCHULZ and PEANUTS.

Peanuts is one of the most successful comic
strips in the history of the medium as well as one
of the most acclaimed strips ever published. (In
1999, a jury of comics scholars and critics voted
it the 2nd greatest comic strip of the 20th century
second only to George Herrimans Krazy Kat,
a verdict Schulz himself cheerfully endorsed.)
Charles Schulzs characters Charlie Brown,
Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, and so
many more have become American icons.

The COMPLETE PEANUTS (Fantagraphics).

Fantagraphics Books is proud to present the most eagerly-awaited and ambitious publishing project in the history
of the American comic strip: the complete reprinting, for the first time ever,
of Charles M. Schulzs classic, Peanuts.
The series, with magnificent, Eisner
Award-winning design by the cartoonist
Seth, presents the entire run in chronological order, dailies and Sundays.

HANK KETCHAM and DENNIS THE MENACE.

Dennis the Menace debuted in 16 American

newspapers on March 14, 1951; by the end of
1951, he was appearing in over a hundred. The
reason for Dennis success is easy to figure out:
It was one of the most brilliantly observed and
empathetic comic strips about childhood ever
drawn. Ketcham caught the essence of childrens
natural zest for mayhem, children identify with
Dennis and the chaos that he leaves in his wake.
Ketcham was a cartoonist with a vivacious line
that was exquisitely suited to depicting adults
and children. His gags were funny, subtle and
touching. Ketcham drew Dennis the Menace from
1951 to his retirement in 1994.

HANK KETCHAMS COMPLETE

DENNIS THE MENACE (Fantagraphics).

Each volume publishes two full years of panel

strips in handsome and thick hardcover volumes resembling Big Little Books on steroids.
In these first volumes, Ketchams legendary
pen and ink work achieves its full flowering, as
do the various situations and themes that Ketcham would return to: the first split screen
(two-panel strip); Dennis rats Dad out to Mom;
exacerbates confrontations between Dad and
the police; and stymies hapless baby-sitters.
Oh, and Mr. Wilson finally comes front-andcenter as Dennis #1 victim. Also available in
two-volume gift box sets.

Johnny Hart and B.C.

Syndicated in over 1,200 newspapers reaching nearly one hundred million readers
worldwide, B.C. was one of the first popular
humor-based strips. Hart based his characters on his friends and family, so although
they were stereotypes to a certain extent, they
also had an air of realism about them. B.C.s
characters are not buffoons and stooges, but
sensitive to irony and laden with dry witticisms, wordplay and puns. His skill as an
artist is revealed by his minimalist style,
not unlike a cave painting, where sometimes literally one scratch of the pen
becomes the punch line. B.C. makes almost everyone laugh.

GrowinGold with B.C. (Checker).

We are proud to present the very best collection of B.C. strips as selected by Johnny
Hart himself prior to his death in April
2007, in a collection which celebrates the
half century love affair America has with the
introspective caveman community. Featuring rare and never before published concept
art for the strip and a compendium of each
individual decade, GrowinGold With BC,
A 50 Year Celebration collects the Reuben
award winning strip more comprehensively
than ever before. Thor, Wiley, Ida and of course BC himself are all here in one
hilarious birthday party for one of Americas most enduring comic strips.

T
hanks to a combination of increased appreciation for the comics artform,
advances in the technology of scanning and reproduction, and good oldfashioned nostalgia, we live in a veritable golden age of classic comic-strip reprints.

In COMIC STRIP MASTERPIECES, four of the publishers who are most responsible
for this Golden Age Checker Books, Drawn and Quarterly, Fantagraphics Books, and
IDW Publishinghave pooled their resources to present this smorgasbord sampler
of classic comics ranging from the turn-of-the-century masterpieces The Yellow
Kid and Little Nemo through 30s and 40s icons as Krazy Kat, Dick Tracy and Flash
Gordon all the way to the most modern of the classics, 50s breakthroughs Peanuts,
Dennis the Menace, and B.C.
Printed in the kind of oversized format you no longer see, many of them in glorious
color, these strips will allow you to rediscover the amazing range of the very best the
comic strip medium has to offer.
If you picked up COMIC STRIP MASTERPIECES at your local comics shop, and it
left you hungry for more of the same, check with the store manager for special deals
on classic comic strip reprints throughout the month of November.

COMIC STRIP MASTERPIECES #1, Nov./Dec,, 2007. B.C. Creators Syndicate, Inc. DENNIS THE MENACE Hank Ketcham Enterprises. DICK
TRACY Tribune Media Services, Inc. FLASH GORDON King Features Syndicate. LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE Tribune Media Services, Inc. PEANUTS
United Feature Syndicate. POPEYE King Features Syndicate. STEVE CANYON Ester Parsons Caniff Estate. TERRY AND THE PIRATES Tribune
Media Services, Inc. Book cover designs and editorial contents for DENNIS THE MENACE, KRAZ Y AND IGNATZ, OUR GANG, PEANUTS and POPEYE
pages, as well as cover design, logo, and editorial package for COMIC STRIP MASTERPIECES Fantagraphics Books. Book cover design and editorial
contents for WALT AND SKEEZIX page Drawn and Quarterly. Book cover designs and editorial contents for DICK TRACY, LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE,
and TERRY AND THE PIRATES pages IDW. Book cover designs and editorial contents for B.C., FLASH GORDON, LITTLE NEMO, STEVE CANYON,
and YELLOW KID pages Checker Books. Assembled by Fantagraphics Books (7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle WA 98115). Editor: Kim Thompson.
Design: Jacob Covey. Published by Gary Groth and Kim Thompson. PRINTED IN CANADA

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