Marmaduke
| Marmaduke | |
|---|---|
| File:Marmaduke.gif A Marmaduke cartoon from September 13, 2006 | |
| Author(s) | Brad Anderson |
| Current status/schedule | Running |
| Launch date | 1954 |
| Syndicate(s) | United Features Syndicate |
Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip was created by Anderson, with help from Phil Leeming (1955-1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963-1969). The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke. The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called "Dog Gone Funny," in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by the fans. Anderson received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip in 1978.
Characters
- Marmaduke - A great dane. Marmaduke lives with the Winslow family and exhibits many characteristics not typically displayed by dogs.
- Dottie - Housewife of the family whose daily life would probably be a lot less of a hassle if she didn't have Marmaduke around.
- Phil - The head of the household. Phil loves his dog despite Marmaduke's antics but, not surprisingly, gets fed up once in a while.
- Barbara - The Winslow's oldest child, also known as "Barbie".
- Billy - The youngest Winslow. Billy is somewhat more at the mercy of Marmaduke than the others, as he is still dwarfed by the family pet.
Animation
Ruby-Spears produced Marmaduke segments for the animated series Heathcliff, whose title character was also based on a comic strip character. In this animated version, the male characters were voiced by Paul Winchell and the females were voiced by Russi Taylor. Marmaduke also made a cameo appearance in the episode "Mistakes May Happen" of the show Garfield and Friends.
Criticism
 | This article's "criticism" or "controversy" section may compromise the article's neutrality. |
In his psychological analysis of the strip at Wondermark's The Comic Strip Doctor, David Malki ranked Marmaduke among "the worst newspaper comic strips".[1]
Joe Mathlete keeps an irregularly updated blog dedicated to ironically explaining the content of various Marmaduke comics. The blog regularly lampoons Marmaduke and its creator Brad Anderson, specifically referring to many aspects of the strips which Mathlete finds objectionable, including phantom humor as well as ghost writing. The most common explanation provided by Mathlete is "Marmaduke is an asshole", reserved for when Marmaduke's behavior is particularly trying to his owner family. Joe Mathlete has called Anderson's work "cancer and madness". [2]
References
- Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.