Friday Festive Find.
I had a whole sit of unused scans from Conchy in my files. Now it is here. Conchy was an American comic strip that ran from March 2, 1970 to February 5, 1977 (daily) and March 13, 1977 (Sunday). Set on a desert island with a group of beachcombers as the main characters, the strip addressed serious issues of its time. It was the perfect combination of humor and hart and far ahead of its time (if you compare it to other desert island strips from that period, like The Dropouts). After failing to sell it since James Childress first thought of the strip in 1962, he finally syndicated it himself. By 1972 he had 26 newspapers and was picked up by Field Newspaper Syndicate where it grew to 150 newspapers. When the syndicate wanted him to ease off on the philosophy, he stepped out and started syndicating himself again. After a short dip, he reached new hight. And he would probably have gone on if in 1977 Childress didn't commit suicide because of personal problems. Three pocket collections were made by Tempo and it was a fixture in the weekly Menommenee Falls Guardian. As far as I know a complete collection (which would interest fans of Mutts, for instance) was never made. Maybe I should start one here. These strips are form the later selfsyndicated period. Have fun.
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