Lorain Journal Comics Page – April 10, 1935

Ninety years ago today on April 10, 1935, this was the comics page of the Lorain Journal. 

A quick look at the page seems to indicate that there aren't too many comics that are still around today. The only ones appear to be Blondie and Barney Google (now called Barney Google and Snuffy Smith). Popeye is still around, but it's pretty much just in classic reruns.

Popeye was hugely popular back then. Here's a closer look at its panel on the page.

It wasn't a gag-a-day comic back then; it was a continuity strip with elaborate storylines that often went on for weeks or months. The Journal even encouraged its subscribers to have their newspapers forwarded to them on vacation so that they wouldn't miss any of the Popeye strips (which I wrote about back here).

But the reason I posted this page was because of the Barney Google strip. I noticed that it included Snuffy Smith and his wife Loweezy. 

Snuffy had just been introduced as a character in the strip the year before. Eventually he became so popular that he basically took over the strip, with Barney fading into the background! In recent years, Barney has made a comeback and is a regular character again.

Why is this interesting to me? Because I read Gasoline Alley online, and Walt Wallet has been visited by Snuffy and Barney for the last week or so in a neat crossover storyline. It was all part of the celebration of Gasoline Alley's 106th Anniversary. Classic comic strip characters Mutt and Jeff were part of the fun too. Here are a few of the panels.

As you can see, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith will be celebrating its 106th Anniversary as well. The comic itself is still going strong, with great art and humor. This image from the King Features website shows the whole cast, including Sparkplug the race horse, Tater (Snuffy's son) and Jughaid (his nephew).

Many of us Baby Boomers grew up watching those King Features cartoons on TV, which featured Beetle Bailey, Krazy Kat and Snuffy Smith. Here's the well-remembered introduction to the Snuffy Smith cartoons.

Why not sit back fer a spell and enjoy a few episodes while you eat your grits? 

Although today's surviving newspapers seem to run mostly the same (lousy) comics, it's nice to read the old favorites each day online on such websites as GoComics.com.