Well, once again, research for my own gig, I Remember JFK, has led to a FamilyFirst pick.
I wrote a column on my memories of the Sunday funnies. That led me to this killer site which is packed with info about strips that have long passed from memory, as well as ones that continue to prosper.
What caught my attention about the site was the info it had on a panel comic that I remembered well, but I was beginning to think nobody else had. It was called Out Our Way, about a family called the Willetts. It was moderately popular, but the Tulsa World I grew up with had it as long as I was a kid.
You can read about J.R. Williams’ long departed comic, as well as thousands of others.
The site is called Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.
There are still a goodly bunch of folks connected to the web via dial-up, and you will appreciate the minimalist graphics that still get the point across. Typically, there is a single illustration from the strip, and a whole lot of written facts.
Markstein has ammassed an incredible amount of data on the medium of comics, and this will be a bookmarked and much-visited spot for me. I hope it is for you, too.
http://www.toonopedia.com
