Gusso Takes a Turn

Sunday Surprise Day. 

Somewhere last year I went and picked a lot of Gus Mager Monk comics. I haven't processed all of them, but here are the Groucho the Monk ones. One of the many Monks he used, and which is famous for inspiring the Marx Brothers' nicknames. My biggest surprise in this series is that most 'daily' newspaper strips from the Hearst group in that period ran only weekly (and whenever they felt like it). There were one or two comics every day, but most creators had several series and seems to have rotated without any order. My guess is they really were on staff and filled theor spot (with a gag or with a political cartoon if that's what they preferred) whenever they had a new idea.

 

Captain Dirkhead

Saturday Leftover Day.

I was afraid I had already cleaned these two Captain and the Kids Sundays by Rudolph Dirks, one with a Gus Mager Sherlocko topper and one with another one which may very well be by Dirks' assistant Mager as well. I couldn't find it, so here it is (possibly again).

No Mager Feat

Tuesday Comi Strip day.

Some time ago I clipped a whole lot of Gus Mager's early Monk strips, a funny animal series that predated his more famous Sherlock Holmes spoof Hawkshaw the Detective. One of Mager;s gags in this irregular daily strip was the way he started naming his monkeys, as you can see here: first as Mufti the Monk, later Rhymo, Braggo and even Sherlocko. Famously, this way of naming was taken up by the Marx Brother, who based their own names on the same principal.

Elementary, My Dear Watso

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

Here's a strip from the early years of comics I wouldn't mind seeing reprinted.

Elementro, Dear Watso

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

Gus Mager's most famous creation, Sherlocko the Monk was a satirical animal strip, with monkey playing the parts of humans. It started in 1904 and was a huge success. In the early teens, he humanized his characters and changed the name of the strip to Hawkshaw the Detective. I did not know that this humanized form had existed so early. Mager went on to become the assistant to Rudoolph Dirks' Captain and the Kids. In the thirsties Hawkshaw resufaced as a topper to The Kids and it is in that form I know him. This large topper )often two whole tiers, almost half a page) was sometimes even used seperately from the mother page, especially in the forties, when whole pages were less in vogue. I will be showing some of these later strips soon, but here is what I had in my own collection from the early years.