Newspaper Comics: Classic Characters Take The Stage

After bursting on the scene in the first decade of the 20th century, newspaper comics were exploding in popularity: Weekend sections went from 4, to 8, then to 16, and even 32 pages in 1935. And all those pages made room for a flood of new strips by a talented group of cartoonists: Long-running stories, increasingly complicated characters and plotlines filled the newsprint. We’ll see the first appearance of Barney Google, Blondie, Uncle Walt and Skeezix – characters who still appear in newspapers today. With a massive, colorful canvas to explore and seemingly endless creative possibilities, comic strips would never again be so glorious as these prewar decades.

We're reading through the third chapter of the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics by Bill Blackbeard and Martin Williams.

If you're listening to this episode, we recommend viewing the video on YouTube to follow along as we read though the comic pages: https://youtu.be/OsSWxE1uYn4

Read along with us here: https://www.amazon.com/Smithsonian-Collection-Newspaper-Comics/dp/0874741726/