Today’s post is brought to you by the letter F. If you don’t recall what I’m doing here, read this post. Any and all information is greatly appreciated and positive proof is rewarded as well.
Fair Game – Stephanie Piro – Chronicle Features – daily panel – 1996-98 (found! in SF Chronicle and several others, and lasted much longer in self-syndication)
Faith, Hope And Sue – Lisa Wild – Davey Associates – daily panel – 1994
Familiar Folks – Bill Nickel – Editorial Services – weekly panel – 1947
Family aka Doug Wright’s Family aka Nipper – Doug Wright – Toronto Star Syndicate – weekly strip – 1980 (known in Canada, but did it appear in any US newspapers?)
Family K624 – Tim Jackson – Creative License Studio – weekly – 1999-2002
Family Popcorn – Shel Dorf, Tom Reese – self-syndicated – daily strip – 1997
The Family – Wildt – American International Syndicate – daily strip – 1991-94
Familyades – Lois Gilbert – Associated Midwest Newspaper Syndicate – daily panel – 1937-38
Famous Fighters – John Wentworth – National Newspaper Service – daily strip – 1932
Famous Monuments – Hendrick van Loon – Christy Walsh Syndicate – weekly strip – 1927 (found by Bill Mullins in Pittsburgh Press, but turns out to be drawings of famous landmarks with extensive printed discussion – not eligible for SG listing)
Famous Pastimes – Paul Sell – Leeds Features – daily panel – 1933
Fantom Of The Fair – Paul Gustavson – Watkins Syndicate – weekly strip – 1939
Farm Life – Harlan Wade – Trans World News – daily strip – 1978
Fast Lane – Harley Schwadron – Davey Associates, Copley News Service – weekly, daily panel – 1993-present
Father Victor – John T. O’Brien – National Catholic Welfare Conference – weekly strip – 1958-60 (so far found only in Catholic newspapers, still looking for it in a mainstream newspaper)
Faulty Fables – Rick Stromoski – Whitegate Features – daily – 1990-91 (Charles Brubaker contacted the creator who said “it was negotiated to be syndicated but as far as I know nothing came of it”)
Faxtoons – Dan Rosandich – Great Lakes Features – weekly – 1991-92
Feedback – Doc and Rebecca Blakely – self-syndicated – weekly strip – 1987
Ffarm.com – Bob Englehart, Pat McGrath – Paradigm-TSA – daily and Sunday strip – 1999 (Found! in Hartford Courant)
The Field Family – Al Brooks – Humor Books Syndicate – weekly strip – 1993-96
The 52 Club – Rooney W. Davis – Quality Art Service – weekly panel – 1967-69
The Fighting Chaplain – Carl Pfeufer – Eric Jon Associates – weekly strip – 1955-61 (Alberto Becattini says it ran in the Catholic Weekly – not a newspaper by our definition)
Figleaves – Greg Curfman – Sandcastles Syndicate – weekly strip – 1976-79
The Final Frontier – Dawn Munson – American International Syndicate – daily panel – 1993-95
Fireman Sam – Joe Buresch – Miller Features – daily strip – 1939
The First Lady – Madeline Brogan – Tribune Media Services – daily and Sunday strip – 1993 (found! by Charles Brubaker in Victorville Daily Press. Thanks Charles!)
First World War – Laurence Stallings – Register & Tribune Syndicate – daily and Sunday strip – 1934 (found by Bill Mullins in El Paso Herald; turns out to be a photo page, so definitely not eligible for SG listing)
Fish Story – Randy Bisson – American International Syndicate – daily panel – 1988-98
A Flash Of Luck – S. M. Nemer – Thompson Service – daily panel – 1934
Fletcher Of The 4-H’ers – Joe Buresch – self-syndicated – weekly panel – 1958-86 (Alberto Becattini quotes Buresch as saying that it ran in farm publications)
Flight – J.H. Mason, W.D. Tipton – McNaught – daily panel – 1935 (found! by Fram in Salt Lake Tribune)
Flip Art – Al Goring – self-syndicated – weekly panel – 1975-77
Fluffhead – Jacques Boivin – Miller Services – daily panel – 1979
Flying Legion – William Winston – National Newspaper Service – daily strip – 1939-42 (Alberto Becattini says it was a topper to Skyroads – I have never seen a Skyroads Sunday)
Focus On Fact – Neville Randall – Interpress – daily strip – 1973
Fodor’s Follies – Laszlo Fodor – Bell Syndicate – daily panel – 1938-39 (found! by Ray Bottorff Jr. in Paterson Evening News)
Folly’s Thinkshop – Richard Jarrett – self-syndicated – weekly strip – 1979-82
A Fool There Was – Pete Keenan – International Syndicate – weekly panel – 1927-28 (found by Bill Mullins in Hamilton Evening Journal)
Footsies – Bill Shelly – Wade Allen Syndicate – daily panel – 1968 [found by Charles Brubaker in Johnson City Press-Chronicle. Thanks Charles!]
For Better Or Worse – Justin Manning – Four Corners Syndicate – weekly panel – 1968-70
For Heaven’s Sake – Ruth Davis, Bob Maley – Heavenly Comics Syndicate – daily panel – 1969-72
For Pete’s Sake – Robert Righetti – Danny Ball Productions – weekly panel – 1978-79
For Warped Minds Only – Ralph Hamellmann – Global Features – daily and Sunday strip – 1991-93 (known in Canada – Calgary Herald — but no US appearances yet; oh and there it is a weekly panel)
For Women Only – Isabelle Ziegler – Carlile Crutcher Syndicate – daily strip – 1939 (found by Bill Mullins in St. Louis Star-Times; turns out to be a text column, not strip)
Fortune Kookies – Charles Glass – Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate – daily panel – 1973-77 (found by Bill Mullins in Fremont Argus and several other papers)
Foto Finish – Charles McKenzie – United Cartoonists Syndicate – daily – 1988
The Fourth Floor – Todd Schowalter – Plain Label Press – daily strip – 2001-03
The Fox And The Crow – Jim Davis – McClure Syndicate – daily strip – 1950
Fractured Facts – John Locke – Syndicated News Service – weekly panel – 1994-present
Francie Frills – Vic Herman – McClure Syndicate – daily panel – 1948
Freak Patents – Harvey Peake – Carlile Crutcher Syndicate – daily panel – 1936 (found by Bill Mullins in Louisville Courier-Journal, but it is an illustrated column, not eligible for SG listing)
Fred – Leonard Bruce, Charles Durck – Leoleen-Durck Creations – daily – 1983-92
Freddie Fix It – Mike Gray, Bob Hyde – Nationwide Features Syndicate – daily panel – 1949-50 [Charles Thompson supplies proof that Nationwide was a producer of advertising strips; not eligible for SG listing]
Free Zone – Winthrop Prince – Chronicle Features – weekly – 1985-90 (existence verified by author – thanks Winthrop!)
Froyd – Philippe Grabowski, Bob Keleman – Syndicated News Service – daily and Sunday strip – 1991-present
Frustration – Ray Hanson – Register & Tribune Syndicate – daily panel – 1974
Fun Bug – Howard Rands – Al Smith Service – weekly panel – 1978 (Todd Hillmer found this feature, turned out to be an activity panel, not eligible for the SG index)
Funnigrams – W.F. Peters – Publishers Feature Service – weekly panel – 1946-49 (found by Bill Mullins, but its a generic panel cartoon feature paired up with local ads, not eligible for SG)
Funny Form – Charles Barsotti – Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate – daily and Sunday strip – 1974 (Charles Brubaker checked with the creator, who says it was never sold or syndicated)
Funny Money – Dan Shefelman – King Features – weekly – 1991 CONFIRMED by creator (see post below)
Funny Side Up – Trent – World Feature Service – weekly strip – 1931
Funtime – Edo Anderson – Smith-Mann Syndicate – weekly strip – 1951-54
Fusebox – Greg Panneitz – Continental Features – weekly strip – 2002-present
Future Eye – John Mayo, Jerry Siegel – McClure Syndicate – daily and Sunday strip – 1953
Fuzzy – Leonard Bruce – Leoleen-Durck Creations – daily – 1983-92
Allan,
It’s great that you are trying to keep track of all these mystery strips. I drew Funny Money from 1990 to 1992. I created this weekly business strip in Newsday (long Island, NY) then it was syndicated by King Features in 50 Newspapers. There are a few strips on my website. Your diligence is much appreciated.
http://dshefelman.blogspot.com/2006/07/cartoons.html
Thanks for the confirmation Dan! I’ll contact you privately to arrange for a goodie package!
–Allan
Allan,
I emailed Mr. Englehart about “Ffarm.com”
He said that ir ran in The Hartford Courant and maybe in “2 other newspapers in the midwest somewhere” from 9/27/1999 to 3/25/2000.
Figleaves – Greg Curfman – Sandcastles Syndicate – weekly strip – 1976-79
I looked for this strip around. All I can find is a bio from the cartoonist saying that he self-syndicated the strip to a “small number of papers around 1978.” There are also eBay auctions for the originals of the strip, but nothing about the papers that ran it.
When Curfman created “Figleaves,” he was still a college student in Williamsburg, Virginia, so there’s a possibility that a paper there published it.
The Greg Curfman in question is the same one that did “Meg” for United Features, by the way.
Hi Charles –
I checked Meg! on comics.com to email Curfman and the only way to contact him is by forwarded snail mail. How quaint!
By the way, regarding the Hartford Courant (prior post) I tried to borrow the microfilm for that period and the CT State Library told me they don’t lend microfilm of recent papers. Sigh…
Best, Allan
Allen . . . I was a little surprised to see "Frustration on your list. I'm the creator and still cartooning at the age on 74! Still looking for my big break!
I have a brouchure the Trib syndicate put out on Frustration. I'll send in to you if you'd like.
I'm a retired art director from Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper.
Thanx for all you do.
Ray Hanson – car2oonist@gmail.com
Hi Ray —
Just going through some old comments. I emailed you back in 2010 to tell you of course I'd like some documentation that "Frustration" ran! But I never heard from you — are you lurking out there???
–Allan
I did remember THE FIRST LADY comic strip running in either the San Jose Mercury News or the Sacramento Bee (Both are California newspapers) in late 1993.
"Father Victor" may be found in the (weekly) Guardian ("The official Catholic publication of the diocese of Little Rock"), starting here (November 22, 1958):
http://arc.stparchive.com/Archive/ARC/ARC11211958p05.php
The last strip in this paper seems to have been published on June 30, 1961 (though the strip is actually dated 6-26-61):
http://arc.stparchive.com/Archive/ARC/ARC06301961p15.php
The strip replaced the long running biblical strip "Credo", also by John T. O'Brien. I don't know if the Guardian qualifies for a general interest newspaper, however.
Thanks for the links, Hans. That newspaper doesn't qualify as a general readership paper (little or no news except stories pertaining to Catholic church) so we're going to put that down as 'still searching'. Based on the samples you pointed me to, I'm going to take a wild guess that we won't find this feature in a general readership paper — but you never know. By the way, I also see "Our Parish" there, so I've added the same note to that Mystery Strip listing.
Thanks, Allan
i have a clue for this strip that might help:
For Heaven's Sake – Ruth Davis, Bob Maley – Heavenly Comics Syndicate – daily panel – 1969-72
Davis submitted something for copyright with that title in 1967:
DAVIS RUTH
For heaven's sake (In Northside
times, Tulsa, Okla., Nov 2 1967,
p 5) Ruth Davis; 2Nov67; BB32753.
https://books.google.com/books/content?id=7dkgAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA287&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3kd2s3ON84QAmNC_ThmvBCTGFC_A&ci=45%2C860%2C289%2C65&edge=0
Per
Catalog of Copyright Entries Third Series
Volume 22 Part I Number 1 Section 1
Books and Pamphlets
Including Serials and
Contributions to Periodicals
Current and Renewal Registrations
January June
1968
Looking up the Northside Times, looks like one of those inter-city "regional" newspapers, basically covering a certain part of town.
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Found something on Fractured Facts…
https://johnlockesoffice.com/cartoonfs.html
Per his web page, it started as a local small town newspaper comic strip in 1989, eventually Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran it for 5 years. The article implies that, except for those two papers, it was not picked up anywhere. There is a link to his email on his webpage if you like to contact him for details.
my best
-Ray
I misread that. Fractured Facts appeared in the local (unnamed) small town newspaper, the Rochester news paper was his editorial cartoons…
As a aside, for:
The Fourth Floor – Todd Schowalter – Plain Label Press – daily strip – 2001-03
It seems Todd Schowalter was a cartoonist at least, as he is seen in the college newspaper for University of Missouri, St. Louis in 1983:
https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=current1980s
Here is his Syndicate's website:
http://www.creativeon-line.com/syndicate/index.html
And his own web page:
http://www.studiotodd.com/
I suspect he can be contacted through these pages.
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Hi Ray — Thanks for all the leads. I emailed the creator of Fractured Facts, we'll see what comes of that. As for Todd Schowalter, we corresponded many years ago about his offerings and syndicate, and I never managed to pin him down on anything that would remove his work from the mystery list. — Allan
Hi Allan,
I found an appearance at the top of your list on Newspapers.com. I clipped Fair Game by Stephanie Piro:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91005598/fair-game-by-stephanie-pirocopyright/
It appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, July 17, 1997, pp. C2. It was the only immediate hit I got on the strip, so I don't have other print examples currently.
Found "For Warped Minds Only" in a Canadian newspaper,
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91007334/for-warped-minds-by-ralph-hamelman/
Calgary Herald, Sunday, May 12, 1991, pp. D15
Found several other examples, but all only in the Calgary Harald.
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
Figleaves by Greg Curfman, per an article that showed up in multiple newspapers as a part of the promotion to his strip Meg, it is mentioned that Figleaves did appear in weekly newspapers in Maryland and Texas (so that will help narrow down the search!).
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91009445/meg-new-cartoon-the-creation-of-newport/
Found "Fodor's Follies – Laszlo Fodor – Bell Syndicate – daily panel – 1938-39"
In two newspapers, The Patterson Evening News (Patterson, New Jersey) and Edmonton Bulletin, all during 1939, clipped examples:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91010517/fodors-follies/ (Patterson Evening News)
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91010644/fodors-follies/ (Edmonton Bulletin)
These suffer from poor microfilming on these…
my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
I dunno what qualifies as a regular run for you, but I found "The First Lady" running for a month in Victorville, CA Daily Press, from January 31 to February 26, 1994
https://imgur.com/a/a7IFwTj
That's a proper run, Charles, it's off the mystery list. Pretty ratty of the syndicate to sell it to the Victorville Press when they probably already knew it was being cancelled (that's what the paper said was the reason they discontinued it). Thanks!
Glad to be of help!
Here's another: Johnson City (TN) Press-Chronicle ran "Footsies" consistently, from to November 29, 1967 to December 22, 1968.
It was also found in the Corning (CA) Daily Observer, where they ran it from November 30, 1967 to August 14, 1969, few months longer than the Tennessee paper.
Samples: https://imgur.com/a/rIrdEID
Both these papers ran Footsies late and out of order. Latest dates I can find on the later printed panels are in November 1968. Thanks Charles.
"Figleaves" by Greg Curfman
Do LGBT newspapers qualify? I found it running in the Montrose Star, a weekly gay-themed newspaper in Houston. They started running it from April 28, 1977 until February 9, 1979
https://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/Houston80s/Assorted%20Pubs/MStar/MStar-41-042277.pdf
https://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/Houston80s/Assorted%20Pubs/MStar/MStar-126-020979.pdf
some of the ads shown are NSFW, so heads up
Nope, only general readership newspapers count for our purposes.