Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Orange Peril

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

He is the head of his empire, has the tendency to say the weirdest things, tries to hold together his gang but he can't, his face is a weird shade of orangy yellow and people call him some kind of dick. No, it's not who you think it is, it's Mort Walker's late sixties captain Boner. Started in 1968, Boner's Ark was the lastest adventure from the comic strip family that had brought you Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Mrs. Fitz' Flats and Sam's Strip. It told the adventures of a clumsy captain and his animal crew, adrift at sea like Noah once was. But instead of two animals of every kind, on this ship there was only one of each. Sounds like someone had ordered some kind of ban. Oh - and the name Boner was chosen in a period when it still meant what we now call a blooper, not the other thing you are thinking of.

Anyway, Boner's Ark was a delightfull strip which I have always liked. Especially the first few years, when Mort Walker was still doing (most of) the drawing. It provided an outlet for his weirder (and even more poetic) sense of humor. It stated in March 1968 and ended in 2000. After a couple of years the strip was continued by studio regular Frank Johnson. According to the Lambiek Comiclopedia he ghosted the comic from 1971 to 1982, and then continued it for another eightteen years, this time credited. Until 1982 at least, the gags were provided by the Walker writers, maybe after that as well.

And maybe it is good to note that the self-obsessed female pig with star ambitions appeared here 8 years before miss Piggy.



2 comments:

rodineisilveira said...
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rnigma said...

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Back to the subject at hand: Mort Walker signed "Boner's Ark" with his first name, Addison.