Friday, January 19, 2018

The King and I

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

More than a year ago I shared a long run of early Sunday pages from The Wizard of Id. I knew the Sunday version had started somewhere in 1965 so I assumed that the first one in that lot could have been the actual first one. Turns out that I had a couple more from the months before that. Now I am not sure anymore. Matbe the Sunday started here, maybe even earlier. Anyway they are from the earliest period. Eventhough Brent Parker found his style pretty early on, the first version of the king was slightly different and you can see that here too.

Oh, and I really like them.

4 comments:

Tom Ruegger said...

Gorgeous batch of "Ids." So well drawn and very very funny! Thanks for posting!

Ger Apeldoorn said...

He was an animator at heart.

comicstripfan said...

Ger: Your wondering (and speculating) when the Sundays “Wizard of Id” started is appreciated. You have indicated on your blog from time to time a concern with start dates (and with “end” dates and other significant dates as well), with many strips. This is one of the great things, I think, that distinguishes an interest in comic strips from that in comic books (and of course you can have an interest in both). To a greater extent with comic strips and panels than with other types of comic art, there is almost an “archeological” fascination in “dating” comic strips which makes it a fun sort of undertaking. I share this interest as someone primarily interested in comic strips and panels (as Allan Holtz says of himself on his blog). Speaking of Allan, of whom you are well aware, when you are considering the “dating” aspects of comic strips as in this case the “Wizard”, I wonder whether as a matter of course you refer to Allan’s encyclopaedia, which I would think might be an incredible resource to assist you (although I haven’t read it and don’t know how much it is useful detailing starting dates for “Sundays” vs. “dailies”).

Ger Apeldoorn said...

I regularely refer to Allan's bok and can recommend it to anyone. But I do not always type these comments when I am near it. In fcat, in this case I guess Allan has the real date. His work in this area is immense. At time I have helped him out, which is like 0.002 of his total output. My interest in the early years of any strip is also because of the fcat that I usually find the first two years to of the artist trying to find hi style, the best.