Obscurity of the Day: Doesn’t It Seem Strange

Clifford Leon Sherman, C.L. to his buds, knocked around the edges of the comic strip biz for many years. His first outing with a continuing series was at the Boston Globe where he created Doesn’t It Seem Strange and one other series. While the art was nothing memorable, Sherman certainly had a gift for layout, as you can see above. The series ran from July 26 1903 to December 25 1904. Although it was a Sunday feature it usually (perhaps always) ran on an inside page in black or some other single color.

In the teens Sherman did a connect-the-dots feature for newspapers and even had a few books published of his puzzles. It got me to wondering about the origin of such puzzles (I assume they predate the 1910s) but I couldn’t find any history online. Anyone know?

Please excuse the scan. This example, the only one in my collection, had a hunk missing from the corner. You can see’ additional examples of this feature over on Barnacle Press.

2 comments on “Obscurity of the Day: Doesn’t It Seem Strange

  1. Allan – Clifford Leon Sherman, born in 1878, died in 1920, see American Art Annual, 17, (1920), p. 231. –Sara

  2. The first Dot to dots were probably astrological. So going back a long way. Of the first published puzzle u could find no clue.

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