This comic strip from 1929 is called ‘Merely Margy’ by illustrator, John Held Jr., well-known for capturing and defining the “roaring 20s”. His flappers became synonymous with the times and ‘Merely Margy’ is no exception. She embodied the care-free attitude of the era, lounging around teasing her numerous, mindless suitors.

The strip first appeared in 1927 and lasted into the early-1930s when he replaced it with a strip called ‘Rah Rah Rosalie’. I imagine Rosalie wasn’t that different than Margy. As the Great Depression took hold of America, the whimsy and lifestyle captured in ‘Margy’ lost its steam as did much of Held’s work, not just the comic strip.

From this example, it appears to be a pretty shallow comic strip, the characters simply playing out a gag - and a long, dragged-out gag at that. Margy herself is fairly transparent, her motives being to get as much male attention as possible from the team. The joy of the strip is Held’s artwork. His famous Art Deco style is a treat to enjoy in comic strip form. Just check out the football tackle scene, it’s delicious! And Margy is rendered so beautifully, both elegant and awkward in her high-fashion flapper style.

A few other things to note. I like the names of the football players: Arab, Noisy, Mr. Phwhen and Bull. It is funny how the skinny medics aren’t even attempting to carry Bull to the ambulance. And typical of Held’s work is the sophistication of the women while the men appear foolish.

I hope you like this treasure of a strip. Go Endgate!

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In comic strip news, Johnny Hart, creator of B.C. and co-creator of The Wizard of Id passed away a few days ago on the 7th. He was drawing in his studio when he suffered a stroke. Hart was an old-time player in the industry, having started B.C. in 1958. He also was one of the rare cartoonists who single-handedly wrote and drew every single strip throughout the decades.

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As usual, the syndicate is in fear of losing revenue if they allow the strip to end. So B.C. will continue forth. Apparently, Hart’s family have been helping with the strip for a few years by pulling drawings from a computer database. So the new comic strips will be digitally cut-and-pasted from old art. Hmm, it sounds like a laborious process compared to just drawing the characters. And I have no idea who’s going to write the strips.

Comic strips are such a personal expression of the cartoonist, that sometimes the predecessor inadvertently kills the strip. We’ll just have to see how B.C. fares in the coming years. Even if it plummets, that’s no guarantee the newspapers will do anything but keep printing them.

But here’s to Johnny Hart and his decades of contribution! Thanks for drawing funny cavemen leaning on rocks!

Yo, friends. This is one bizarre comic strip advertisement for Pepsi, from May 1941. Read it and let me dissect this one for you. Sorry for the poor quality scan but that’s how these rare ones often are.

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Panel 2, the opening of the story. Pepsi (the bigger fat one) and Pete fall from the sky after passing through “the wrong door” into a magical tropical world of speed-planes and palm trees.

Panels 3 and 4. A grass skirt, top hat wearing native asks for a match so they can cook a “fat explorer” for a banquet. The similarities in the explorer’s body type to Pepsi worries him though it doesn’t seem the natives are interested in eating the two cops. The native is quite polite and not using his spear in attempt to capture the new fat people that fell from the sky (obviously their food source).

Panel 5. Pete shows his sympathy for the poor explorer while Pepsi just focuses on the act of running. You know, getting into the zone.

Following this so far? Does it make you thirsty for an ice-cold soda pop? It should.

Panel 6. Strange birds fly around with a somewhat Dr. Seussian looking fish and cat.

Panel 7. The two cops have captured one of these exotic birds, presumedly by Pete grabbing its legs as it flew by while Pepsi jumping it from the nearby tree, his weight pinning the bird down. Time for a drink, eh? For only 5 cents, they were able to afford to force the bird to swallow some Pepsi (the drink, not the man. You never know who may be eaten in this magical world.)

Panels 8. With the power of a sugar rush, the bird is able to help capture the happy fat explorer from becoming “fricassee” (a word not used enough in comics today).

Panel 9, the end of the story. Can the bird read English? If not, is it just coincidence that they happen to be heading back to America? The dazed bird doesn’t seem to care what happens to him now that he got his soda buzz. What will happen to them when they arrive back in Long Island with a naked fat man? Pepsi and Pete actually look worried about it.

But it doesn’t matter because all that is supposed to sell you on a big big bottle of Pepsi. Print out this comic strip and present it at your local grocery or email it to pepsi.com to get your 66 year old bottle for only 5 cents!

Here’s the first Garfield comic strip to feature lasagna, dated 7-15-1978, about a month after the debut of the first strip. Upon reading it, it’s not really that funny. But try to erase your mind of the fact that popular culture has known about Garfield and lasagna for almost 30 years. If this was the first time you saw a cat have a thing for a pasta dish, maybe you’d laugh. I mean, the lasagna thing caught on, right? Garfield readers in the late 1970s musta popped a rib laughing at this stuff. Ha ha, lasagna. Get it? Lasagna! Ha ha ha ha…

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