Freckles and His Friends: Difference between revisions

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Freckles and his Friends is an American comic strip, first drawn by Merrill Blosser and then by Henry Formhals, and syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. It ran from September 20, 1915 to August 28, 1971.

Blosser had been working in the art department at Newspaper Enterprise Association when he was asked to try drawing a children's comic. He drew the daily and Sunday Freckles strips for over 50 years before retiring to California, where he died in 1983. Henry Formhals then took over the strip from 1966-71.

Story lines and other characters

Freckles lived in the town of Shadyside. At first, the strips showed Freckles in simple gags in and around the town, but they soon showed stories that ran longer than one day. In the 1920s, Blosser, influenced by Roy Crane's "Wash Tubbs", started creating long adventure stories for Freckles. After that, Freckles settled down and turned into a typical teenager. Freckles' principal friends were buddy Lard, girlfriend June, and Lard's girlfriend Hilda. Freckles also had a younger brother, Tagalong (Tag for short).

History

At its height, Freckles and his Friends ran in about 700 newspapers. A Sunday page was added in the 1920s. There was never a radio show, movie or animated version, but Freckles appeared in a Big Little Book, and was reprinted in comic books. He had a long run in Dell's Crackajack Funnies, and another in the back pages of Red Ryder. Freckles had his own title from Standard Comics for eight issues in the late 1940s and again from Argo Comics for four issues in the mid-'50s.

External links

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-'''Freckles and his Friends''' is an [[United States|American]] [[comic strip]] which ran from [[September 20]], [[1915]] to [[August 28]], [[1971]], initially written by [[Merrill Blosser]] and later by [[Henry Formhals]].
+'''Freckles and his Friends''' is an [[United States|American]] [[comic strip]], first drawn by [[Merrill Blosser]] and then by [[Henry Formhals]], and syndicated by [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]].  It ran from [[September 20]], [[1915]] to [[August 28]], [[1971]].
-The cartoonist who created Freckles, [[Merrill Blosser]], had been doing miscellaneous work in the art department at [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]], later the syndicator of [[Alley Oop]] and [[Boots & Her Buddies]], when, at age 23, he was asked to try his hand at a kid comic. Freckles was the result. It's the only syndicated strip [[Merrill Blosser]] ever did, but it sustained him over an entire comic career.  Blosser drew the daily as well as the Sunday page for over 50 years, before turning it over to [[Henry Formhals]]. Blosser then retired to California, where he died in 1983.
+Blosser had been working in the art department at [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] when he was asked to try drawing a children's comic.  He drew the daily and Sunday Freckles strips for over 50 years before retiring to California, where he died in 1983.  Henry Formhals then took over the strip from 1966-71.
 ==Story lines and other characters==
-Freckles lived in a peaceful town named Shadyside, of indeterminate location. He started out performing simple gags that took place in and around the town, but soon got involved in stories that ran longer than one day. After about a decade of that, Blosser saw [[Roy Crane]], whose [[Wash Tubbs]] was also distributed by [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]], doing long adventure stories, and began doing the same. Later still, Freckles settled down and turned into a typical teenager. The eponymous friends were best friend Lard, girlfriend June, Lard's girlfriend Hilda, and a few others. Freckles also had a kid brother called Tagalong (Tag for short).
+Freckles lived in the town of Shadyside.  At first, the strips showed Freckles in simple gags in and around the town, but they soon showed stories that ran longer than one day.  In the 1920s, Blosser, influenced by [[Roy Crane]]'s "[[Wash Tubbs]]", started creating long adventure stories for Freckles.  After that, Freckles settled down and turned into a typical teenager.  Freckles' principal friends were buddy Lard, girlfriend June, and Lard's girlfriend Hilda. Freckles also had a younger brother, Tagalong (Tag for short).
 ==History==
-At its peak, [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] distributed [[Freckles and his Friends]] to about 700 newspapers. A Sunday page was added in the 1920s. There was never a radio show, movie or animated cartoon version, but Whitman put him in a [[Big Little Book]], and he was reprinted in comic books. He had a long run in Dell's [[Crackajack Funnies]] ([[Apple Mary]], [[Dan Dunn]]), and another in the back pages of [[Red Ryder|red ryder's]] title. (Red was also an [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] star.) He had his own title from Standard Comics ([[Supermouse]], [[Jetta]]) for eight issues in the late 1940s and again from [[Argo Comics]] (a very minor outfit) for four issues in the mid-'50s.
+At its height, [[Freckles and his Friends]] ran in about 700 newspapers. A Sunday page was added in the 1920s. There was never a radio show, movie or animated version, but Freckles appeared in a [[Big Little Book]], and was reprinted in comic books. He had a long run in Dell's [[Crackajack Funnies]], and another in the back pages of [[Red Ryder]].  Freckles had his own title from Standard Comics for eight issues in the late 1940s and again from [[Argo Comics]] for four issues in the mid-'50s.
-Blosser's assistant, [[Henry Formhals]] ([[Joe Jinks]], [[Ella Cinders]]), took over most of the work after a few decades, but wasn't allowed to sign the strip until [[1966]]. By then, its time was nearly past. It ended on August 28, 1971.