In Remembrance of Newspaper Comic Strips: Mr. Potato Head

This isn’t exactly the same Mr. Potato Head who appears in Toy Story movies. Nor is he the facially flexible tuber who appeared in either the 1986 Potato Head Kids or 1998 Mister Potato Head animated series. However, like all of the above, he was licensed from Hasbro, the manufacturer of the perennial toy. Indeed, the newspaper comic strip Mr. Potato Head had an impressive lineage, because it was created by Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis and his longtime collaborator, Brett Koth. This is one of those licensed comic strips that are now hard to believe existed, but it did indeed premiere on this day in 2001.

Basically, Mr. Potato Head and his patient wife were a lot like Blondie and Dagwood or Hi and Lois, but they could also remove their limbs and facial features. When the strip started, Mr. Potato Head had the great good fortune to be promoted to a do-nothing Vice President position at his toy company. However, his executive assistant, Lucille, a disembodied intercom voice, does even less.

Frankly, Mr. Potato Head works plenty hard just trying to keep the peace between his teenaged daughter Julienne and his younger son Chip. He has very Ralph Kramden-esque shortcomings but he deeply loves his wife and he isn’t afraid to show it. His persona is closer to Tim Allen’s Home Improvement alter-ego (Mr. Potato Head also digs his tools) than the abrasive Don Rickles voiceovers in the Pixar films.

Mostly, Davis’s gag-a-day jokes are derived from workplace situations and highly relatable family dynamics. However, they often have a subtlety macabre overtone, because they often involve dislodged eyeballs or other stray detachable body parts.

Still Surviving Newspaper Comic Strips: Brewster Rockit

It parodies the biggest science fiction films of the last thirty years, but it wouldn’t exist without the most popular science fiction comic strips of the 1930s. Captain Brewster Rockit looks like Flash Gordon, but has the brains of Homer Simpson (if that, thanks to regular alien memory wipes). Rockit should no longer be entrusted to lead the R.U. Sirius space station, but his first officer, Lt. Pamela Mae Snap does her best to up-manage him, enduring the kind of workplace chaos Earthbound readers can easily understand. Tim Rickard’s Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! still survives in first-run syndication, twenty-two years after its July 5^th premiere, which is really saying something these days.

Indeed, Rockit probably wouldn’t know what to make of a newspaper if he ever saw one. To be fair, he has a lot on his plate, given the constant danger posed by the insectoids and his archnemesis, Dirk Raider (commander of the Stormtroopers). Aside from Snap, his crew isn’t much help either. Frankly, the chief science officer, mad scientist Dr. Mel Practice is more of a threat than an asset. The engineer, Cliff Clewless, is even more incompetent than Rockit. Poor junior crewmember Winky largely serves as Practice’s hapless guinea pig, while the South Parkian Red Shirt-esque Ensign Kenny gets killed over and over, just like his name suggests.

Although Brewster Rockit is more of a gag-a-day than a continuity strip, it typically features one- to two-week loose story-arcs, usually satirizing a blockbuster franchise. For instance, Brewster is recruited by the good wizard Glenn Goofoff to join the fellowship of the Ruby Ring in a Tolkien-Oz mash-up. It does not turn out well for the Scarecrow or the Lion, by the way. Indeed, their fates aptly represent Rickard’s take no prisoners brand of humor.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Comic Strips: Zorro

The late 1990s were salad days for the Zorro franchise. Topps had published several well-received Zorro limited comic series, written by Don McGregor, but the main event was the 1998 box-office hit The Mask of Zorro, which had its own comic adaptation, also written by McGregor. In 1999, newspapers still existed as physical objects, so a Zorro strip was quite a coup. Of course, adventure comic strips had been out of fashion since the 1960s, but a big movie could convince the syndicates to give a franchise another chance. The 1979 Buck Rogers film and TV show re-launched the strip, just as the ill-fated Legend of the Lone Ranger re-launched the classic western daily in 1981. In contrast, Zorro had never been a newspaper comic, but it spawned four big-screen film serials, so it transferred quite easily. Indeed, in some ways McGregor’s newspaper Zorro might be the most realistic and compelling psychological depiction of “The Fox” to date, definitely including the new French streaming series.

The first thing that really jumps out about the Zorro strip is the quality of Thomaas Yeates’ art, produced with Tod Smith as co-penciler. In 2012, Yeates started drawing Prince Valiant, which is the Cadilac of strips. His work on Zorro would have stood as a convincing reference, because his period details are exquisite. Yeates' Sunday strips, rendered in black-and-white in Image’s The Dailies: The First Year collection, also frequently use inventive layouts that really pop off the page.

McGregor also serves up an intriguing visual right off the bat, setting much of his first story-arc, “Tusk Envy,” against the backdrop of the La Brea tarpit, which still visibly entraps a massively imposing fossil. Those bones become a source of intrigue for two rogue Spanish soldiers. Nearby, Zorro fights for his life, against his nemesis, Captain Monasterio, and a ruthless mercenary, Quick Blade, retained to kill Zorro.

Indeed, Quick Blade is more skilled, better armed, and far less honor-bound than Monasterio and his men. Consequently, their first encounter becomes an epic struggle for Zorro’s survival. McGregor has a keen facility for writing Zorro’s thoughts and concerns during such battles, including his fear of tell-tale facial scars.

McGregor also keenly expresses the pain Don Diego subsequently suffers as he silently grimaces through his subsequent day. Even more than Zorro, his trusty steed, Tornado truly emerge as the hero of year one. However, McGregor advances the story at a decidedly slow pace, which might have been part of the strips undoing. In one year of strips, he essentially chronicles two days in Zorro’s clandestine career. Admittedly, they are two very eventful (and painful) days. Regardless, when read in a collected format, McGregor’s Zorro is a genuinely gripping page-turner.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Maybe You Saw the Movie, Soon You can Read the Comic Strip (Again)

Masters of the Universe and Star Trek have more in common from a licensing perspective than causal fans might remember. The two franchises were licensed by both DC and Marvel (and its kid-friendly Star imprint), at various times. They also both spawned newspaper comic strips. Star Trek had decent U.S. distribution, but Masters of the Universe was more successful in international markets, where the show was still in its first run. Consequently, tracking down the entire run proved tricky. In fact, there are a couple dozen holes (out of four and a half years) filled by writer Chris Weber’s original scripts. For fans, the republication of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Newspaper Comic Strips represents an opportunity to enjoy new-to-them adventures, created by franchise veterans.

Jim Shull went one-and-done, writing the first arc and then handed the reins over to Weber. Yet, “Day of the Comic,” might be the funniest of the entire run, because of the shamelessly snarky voice Shull writes for He-Man’s nemesis, Skeletor. Frankly, he plays more like a roguish anti-hero, who reluctantly joins forces with He-Man to save Eternia from a common enemy, so he can conquer it later.

Throughout his subsequent fourteen story-arcs, Weber does a nice job capturing the “kitchen cabinet” camaraderie shared by He-Man (and his Clark Kent alter-ego, the screw-up Prince Adam), with Duncan the Man-at-Arms, his adopted daughter, Captain Teela, and floating Trollan sorcerer Orko. Only Man-at-Arms, Orko, and the Sorceress who guards Greyskull Castle know He-Man’s secret identity.

In fact, He-Man’s power derives from Greyskull, so one of his many enemies travels back in time to prevent its construction in one of the strip’s best narratives, “Terror Takes Time.” Obviously, Greyskull did not exist during Eternia’s prehistory, so the Sorceress creates a Greyskull battery crystal. However, Prince Adam must use its power sparingly. He also falls for rebel leader Verona, which adds a Somewhere in Time-ish vibe to the arc.

Another clear standout is “Shaken to the Core,” thanks to the provocative original villain, Faultmaster. In a desire to achieve lasting “stability,” Faultmaster has induced earthquakes targeting provincial villages. Frankly, his rhetoric sounds eerily prescient, foretelling the “sustainability” extremists macabrely obsessed with population growth.

Not surprisingly, the worst continuity is also the jokiest. That would be “When You Need Something Extra,” in which He-Man must battle Eternia’s tabloid media just as much as Evil Lyn, whose new line of cosmetics makes jewelry and valuables “disappear” into her possession. It is a scheme more suited to the Pink Panther than Skeletor’s [dis]trusted lieutenant.

Ironically, like the recent film, the Masters of the Universe strips often overindulge in throwaway jokes, usually “hard day it the hero office” style one-liners from He-Man. Perhaps this was an attempt to appeal to the readers of gag-a-day strips. However, it nicely sustained an original romance between Man-at-Arms and Miranda, the ambassador from the Kingdom of Rondale, one of King Radnor’s key allies. Weber also does a nice job exploring Orko’s insecurities rather than just using the incompetent sorcerer as goofball comic relief.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Dick Tracy

When Dick Tracy released in theaters on this day, June 15, 1990, it was considered a giant opportunity for Chester Gould’s revered comic strip franchise. Back then, Warren Beatty and Madonna were still considered somewhat famous. Remember, that was 36 years ago. There were also Dick Tracy books and tie-in merchandising everywhere. However, in recent decades, Beatty’s film has become a curse. To maintain the rights he protected through litigation, Beatty periodically releases “ashcan” specials, cheap tributes featuring Beatty in the yellow trench coat (the last one was conducted over Zoom) simply so Disney and Tribune cannot produce a new Dick Tracy of their own. The character and the franchise deserve so much better, especially since they have never truly been done right. You can get a sense of how many great storylines and characters remain untapped from sampling some of the great arcs from the comic strip’s ongoing run (technically it doesn’t really need to be remembered, since new strips continue to release daily).

Tracy was the tough cop America needed to take on the gangsters of the 1920s, who were still around in 1931, when the strip premiered. However, fans forget Tracy was recruited by Naval Intelligence in the 1940s. Not surprisingly, he did double duty, simultaneously remaining a police detective in his unnamed but very Chicago-like city. Naturally, his work for both would often dovetail, as it did in the classic arc, “The Brow.” Indeed, the titular villain entered the Tracyverse as an Axis spy.

Tracy was often “criticized” for being the “Dirty Harry” of the 1930s and 1940s, as if that were a bad thing. However, original artist-writer Chester Gould deserved more credit than he ever got for inviting compassion compassion for some of the desperate people who sometime let themselves get caught up crime, like the titular villainess of the “Crewy Lou” story-arc and the Summer Sisters, whom the Brow forced into his treasonous service.

If you actually read every strip chronologically, you would witness the trials and tribulations of the Tracy family, along with the capture of hundreds of criminals. Perhaps most notably, his adopted son, Junior Tracy’s first love, Model Jones, and his first wife, Moon Maid, were both killed by criminals Tracy was investigating. In fact, the strip was literally born in tragedy, because Tracy first joined the force in hopes of avenging his girlfriend’s murder.

Frankly, none of that depth or edginess comes through in either Beatty’s film or the Ralph Byrd serials, B-movies, and TV series of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. It is time for Beatty to let someone else have a try. We’re all good capitalists here, so nobody is saying he should just relinquish them for free. He should sell for as much as he can get—and since it looks like the character will enter the public domain in 2027, he should try to make a lucrative deal sooner rather than later.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Drift Marlo

Science fiction heroes in newspaper comic strips usually had names that projected power or strength, like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Brick Bradford. So, what’s the deal with “Drift?” Actually, he adopted it for ironic reasons. Having been found drifting in a life raft, the American soldier had no memory of his identity or past life. Frankly, he was just as surprised as skeptical readers that he was given security clearance to work for the American space agency. Perhaps the government knows more than they let on. Regardless, Marlo was the troubleshooter America needed to safeguard is space program, from both foreign and domestic sabotage. Honestly, writer Phil Evans’ Drift Marlo is one newspaper strip that could be just as timely if it were rebooted today as when it debuted at the height of the Space Race, on this day in 1961.

Marlo is like Jason Bourne, but more suave, more stable, and more trustworthy. In fact, his girlfriend, Claire Porter, a civilian employee of the agency never officially identified as NASA, thinks he is such a catch, she puts up with their frequently broken dates. Such are the demands placed on the agency’s in-house investigator.

He will have plenty of work to do, including finding an astronaut who mysteriously disappeared from his sealed capsule after splash-down. Soon, Marlo qualifies as an astronaut, to facilitate space-based investigations, like the mystery of unexplained human presence detected aboard an abandoned American craft still orbiting Earth.

While later narratives became more fanciful (some even involving hostile aliens from Venus), the early storylines were very much reflected Cold War reality, like the rescue of a defecting Soviet Cosmonaut. They were also thoroughly grounded in science thanks to Evans’ fully credited technical advisor, Dr. I.M. Levitt, who was a regular media commentator at the time. Consequently, the strip often took the time to explain the potential benefits of space explorations—most of which have withstood the test of time. Indeed, that is exactly why we could use a rebooted Drift Marlo updated for our current times.

In fact, the strip died a premature death, while it still had a respectable readership. Sadly, a terrible accident forced artist Tom Cooke to retire from the strip, which never found a replacement that could match his facility for realistically good-looking characters, as well as the more technical astronomical and aeronautic elements. Admittedly, Drift Marlo never spawned a TV show or theatrical serial, but Dell licensed a series of original comic books. It only lasted two issues, but it still counted for something.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Star Wars

For deecades, licensed original Star Wars novels and comic books generated story development work that came fan-tested and fan-approved. Yet, Lucas Films ignored it all. The Mandalorian and Grogu will probably successfully apply a torniquet to the bleeding franchise, but it is ironic how scrupulously the Lucas licensing team maintained quality control and character consistency, only to have Lucas Films blow it all up with a parade of disappointing streaming series. Here is a prediction: the market for out-of-print tie-in novels and comics is going to explode, because fans can trust them not to “reinvent” their beloved franchises. The Star Wars newspaper comic strip is a perfect case in point. If you read them before the Mandalorian movie opens, they will take you back to the era of peak Star Wars fandom.

Indeed, this is the Luke Skywalker you grew up with. It is not the bitter Skywalker of the sequel trilogy. It is not even the Skywalker of Empire Strikes Back. This Luke still has a crush on Princess Leia Organa. Yes, the second film revealed they were siblings, but until it released, everyone assumed there could be romance between them, because of the kiss “for luck” on the Death Star and the wink during the honors ceremony. The newspaper strip takes us back to that more innocent time.

Even after Empire released, the strip remained in the same in-between timeframe. In fact, roughly the final year of storylines chronicled the Rebellion forging an alliance with Mon Calamari (they sound like French squid, but they are the aliens represented by Admiral Akbar), its search for a safer base, and the hasty evacuation of Yavin’s moon, the perilous journey to icy planet Hoth.

Although the main characters remain entirely untouched (just as fans want them to be), the storylines had considerable implications for minor characters. In “Princess Leia, Imperial Servant,” Organa is forced to work incognito as a handmaid on the prison planet administered by the Grand Moff Tarkin’s widow. Since Tarkin was played by Peter Cushing, it is quite appropriate that his wife somewhat resembles Elsa Lanchester’s Bride in Bride of Frankenstein.

Also quite notable is the appearance of Gen. Dodonna (who gave the Death Star briefing when Skywalker says: “that’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home”). Unfortunately, Luke discovers Dodonna’s son Vrad is a coward, who might take a treasonous turn to save himself.

Originally, the licensing team approved a separate Sunday storyline, but they requested it feature different characters, so readers wouldn’t be confused. At that point, many consumers might have been unfamiliar with this longstanding convention of continuity strips, so it was not a bad idea. Consequently, several Sundays depict C-3PO (not so reluctantly) supplying oral histories of Skywalker’s exploits to Mistress Mnemos, a giant, multi-story Rebel super-computer. Unfortunately, the Sundays evolved into a weekly recap, which makes them repetitive when read chronologically with the dailies, even though some of the color art is incredibly cool (especially in IDW’s restored collections).

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Wade Cabot

Newspaper comic strips were like the MCU and The Fast and the Furious of the 1930s and the 1940s. They were hands down the most popular form of mass entertainment. Unlike average contemporary Hollywood tentpoles, they were also refreshingly patriotic. That was particularly true of some of the most successful continuity strips, like Steve Canyon and Buz Sawyer. It was also true of this strip, even though it was obscure in its day. Nevertheless, Bob Robertson & Pat Sammon’s Wade Cabot in the Middle East deserves a reappraisal and a new audience, especially on the date of its 5/11/1953 premiere.

Cabot was a legendary OSS agent, but he returned to the Middle East after the War to pursue his chosen career as an archaeologist. Given his elite background and education, perhaps Robertson and Sammon should have named him Wade Cabot Lodge. Regardless, he has square-jaw and will travel.

Indeed, Cabot is very Indiana Jones like. In the first of his three full story arcs, Cabot must prevent his nemesis, KGB Col. Baranov, from hijacking an excavation site that happens to hold rich uranium deposits. In addition, Baranov also hopes to plunder a rumored artifact that supposedly bestows great power. In all honestly, Wade Cabot has been so long-forgotten, it is unlikely it served as an inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark, but if you dig vintage Dr. Jones you will be utterly delighted with Cabot.

Unlike the last Indiana Jones movie, which made CIA officers the bad guys, Wade Cabot and the U.S. military and intelligent services are always fighting the good fight together. The villains are the Soviets and the various terrorist factions doing their bidding. Cabot prefers to act independently and with plausible deniability, but when his country calls, he always answers. That is especially true when his former commanding officer retired Gen. Max “Gunner” Crackin makes a request.

Similarly acting as a pseudo-free agent, Crackin hatches a plan to rescue Dr. Fieldstone, a leading expert in missile jamming technology, being held captive in an island prison-laboratory in the Caspian. Unbeknownst to Cabot and Crackin, the good doctor is a beautiful woman, with a gift for sarcasm, doing her best to annoy her KGB prison matron, Kruda.

The strip makes recurring jokes mocking the super-eligible Cabot for his romantic incompetence. However, he risks a lot to save Zia, a terrorist double-agent, who turns triple-agent under Cabot’s influence. The third story arc also notably features two oilmen, one from Texas and one from England, not as villains, but as Cabot’s primary allies. Honestly, this strip is like a breath of fresh air.

Next to nothing is known about the co-creators, who are assumed to be both co-writers and co-artists. That would track, because some strips feature lighter thinner lines, while others look heavier and darker. However, they clearly shared a compatible visual sensibility.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Star Hawks

The Force was with this strip, at least for a little while. Soon after fan favorite comic artist Gil Kane and writer Ron Goulart completed their requested proposal for this science fiction continuity strip, the editorial staff came to their senses and backburnered it—until Star Wars released. Suddenly, the syndicate bosses were demanding science fiction, so they dusted it off and put it into production. The resulting strip should have helped return the genre to its former newspaper prominence. Unfortunately, it didn’t, but Kane and Goulart’s Star Hawks was a terrific strip, which we remember today, on the date of its demise (5/2/1981).

There is no denying the bold style of Kane’s art really jumps off the page, thanks to Star Hawks’ unique two-panel format. Unfortunately, that was one of the strip’s greatest drawbacks, because subscribing papers had to give it the space previously allotted to two of its rivals. At the time, when newspapers were relatively healthy, strips were seen as cutthroat competitors. Yet, in retrospect, strips depended on each other to build critical mass. They needed an entire section to be a reader destination. You might flip over to read Peanuts, but while you were there, you’d also check out Garfield and Dick Tracy. That is an advantage that is hard to replicate for webcomics.

Regardless, Kane made the most of the opportunity artistically. Similarly, Goulart never attempted to clone Star Wars (which the syndicate might have preferred). Their strip follows the rollicking adventures of two space cops (somewhat affectionately referred to as “Star Hawks”). Rex Jaxxon is a brooder, because he carries a torch for his boss, tough but sexy Chief Agent Alice K. Benyon. His partner, Sanchez (no first name) thinks he is Heaven’s gift to ladies, which often leads to bar brawls and hasty retreats.

The early story arcs consist of largely self-contained cases. However, once Jaxxon and Benyon become an item, each successive storyline retains connective throughlines. Eventually, the narrative builds to galactic treason and a full-scale alien invasion that produces shockingly tragic results (especially for the medium). Honestly, if you finish the entire run, you will feel like you read a satisfying space opera epic.

It is also features a rambunctious sense of humor. After reading a few weeks, you might inadvertently pick up Sanchez’s exclamations: “Hoy!” and “Zam!” Frankly, only the dreariest of killjoys would deem his roguishness “problematic,” but it definitely gets him into comedic trouble.

Plus, Sniffer, the sarcastic robot dog, earns consistently big laughs by ripping Jaxxon and Sanchez up one side and down another. Weirdly, Sniffer bears a vague resemblance to K9 on Doctor Who, but it should be noted the Doctor’s companion made his first appearance on the show only two days before the strip’s premiere, so he could not have served as a model. Kane’s character design is also more detailed and more doglike.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Beyond Mars

Jack Williamson was a man who truly spanned eras. While an infant, his parents brought him to New Mexico on a covered wagon. Yet, as a science fiction writer, he is widely acknowledged for coining the terms “genetic engineering” and “terraforming.” He also did something that was once considered cutting-edge, but is now seen as sadly old-fashioned. He wrote a science fiction continuity newspaper comic strip. Regrettably, this art form is dying, but not from artistic failures, but because of the implosion of their distribution method—newspapers. It is a shame, so let’s take stock of some of the best that once were, starting with Williamson’s Beyond Mars on the day his 118th birthday.

Thanks to antimatter, humanity now mines the asteroids beyond Mars, but it is hard work, for hard men, like prospector and pilot-for-hire Mike Flynt. However, if you happen to be a pretty Earthling woman who finds herself in trouble out in the asteroid belt, Flynt is the man you need to see. It happens more frequently than you’d think—or maybe not.

Flynt is part of the hardscrabble generation that grew up on Brooklyn Rock, never really knowing Earth. He still lives with his doting mother and works with Sam Smith, a snake-like Venusian, who eats metal. Obviously, Smith can be quite a handy prospecting partner. He also has a lisp, because he learned English from an Earther with a speech impediment. Consequently, he is often referred to as Tham Thmith. That is probably the one aspect of Beyond Mars that has not aged well.

Regardless, Lee Elias’s art is quite distinctive. His women look like 1950s fashion models and his rakishly mustached villains could pass for Errol Flynn in his prime. Plus, his space ships and astronomical art capture the wonder of the Golden Age of science fiction. However, Smith and Jimikin, the wild space boy, look very cartoony. Yet, instead of clashing, this mixture of styles makes Beyond Mars wonderfully distinctive.

Williamson also had a talent for advancing his storylines at a pleasantly brisk speed. Initially, he had the advantage off writing for a full Sunday page, so he could include a quick recap box in the top lefthand corner. Yet, he maintained the pace even when the strip was cut back to a half page.

In fact, it is impressive how well his storylines still hold up. It was set in the universe of Williamson’s Seetee Ship novels, so he already had social and scientific frameworks in place. Admittedly, it is unlikely Smith could hail from Venus, but readers can easily substitute a fictional planet in their heads. Regardless, over seventy years later, there are very few fictional aliens who directly compare to him. There is also a working-class, family-values vibe to Brooklyn Rock that is quite appealing.