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Daisy Mae just found Little Abe, but her baby is in the home of Y.Y. Cragnose, the Fighting DA who may prosecute her for child abandonment. Mutt and Jeff, Smokey Stover and the Yellow Kid are among the folks at the retirement home trying to hide Uncle Walt from the Social Security investigator. And Andy Capp says if alien life came down to earth they would surrender to his mother in law. If you’re not a come page freak like me, you have no idea what I’m talking about. For the uninitiated, let me update you a bit. After many fruitless Sadie Hawkins Days half a century ago, Daisy Mae finally got Li’l Abner in front of Marrying Sam. Their son was Little Abe who sneaked off when Daisy Mae was asleep and was claimed by the tough district attorney. Al Capp died in 1979, but reruns of his once very popular strip are still running. Uncle Walt is the aging and forgetful patriarch of Gasoline Alley who has wondered into the retirement home in his imagination of the comic strip characters who disappeared along the way. Andy Capp (no relation to Al) is the London based strip of a character resembling an irascible Snuffy Smith. And Charlie Brown and Snoopy of Peanuts fame were stars of the comic strip world long before their TV appearance. Like many of the other strips that will live own they are continued through repeats. The latest Peanut on the Internet was dated December 13, 1959. The current Li’l Abner strip appeared August 11, 1954. I confess the habits of my childhood have never worn off. I am still a comic page addict. I remember driving on a Sunday afternoon to see my great aunt and uncle. They subscribed to the Sunday paper from Atlanta, with their comic pages in brilliant, thrilling colors. All I could do was look at the drawings and hope some adult would find time to read them to me. When I mastered the art or reading, I graduated from the daily comic strips and Saturday and Sunday comics to the funny books. The first great hero was, of course, Superman. Then came Batman, Captain Marvel and the others with miraculous powers. Later generations had Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob. Then there were Mister Rogers, Captain Kangaroo and Big Bird to teach inquiring minds what was right or wrong. The education of the alphabet was coupled with moral values. Comic strips and books were there before television. During World War II, the comics went to war. Boxer Joe Palooka was a private in the army. Skeezix left Gasoline Alley to serve on foreign shores. When I edited my first newspaper, I knew the value of readership for the comics. I tied up Beetle Bailey, Pogo, Steven Canyon and the current hot features. It paid off. Most comic strip character never aged, or did so slowly. Dagwood and Blondie had a son they named Baby Dumpling years ago. He grew slowly and was named Alexander. Nearly 70 years later Alexander is a teenager. A few strips followed life. People grow old, become infirm and even die in For Better or Worse. Along the way some lessons of values and concepts are eased in with the humor. There is nothing like opening the pages of a newspaper and relaxing a few minutes with a comic page. The advent of the Internet opened new windows and made available those features not carried in the local paper. A free site named www.comics.com gives everything from Alley Oop to Peanuts. Another--http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/comics.htm offers such strips as Spider-Man and Mandrake the Magician. Many of the old strips are alien to a younger generation. Many of the strip creators are no longer active or even alive. Some future archaeologist may dig up and old newspaper and puzzle over the wording, but you can bet they will laugh. Humor is ageless. And the comics carry it forward.
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