Interesting Links: Barnacle Press

Barnacle Press has more historical comics posted than anywhere else I’ve seen on the web. Run by two fellas, Thrillmer! and Holmes!, the amount of historical comics material they have put out on the web dwarfs what I’ve presented here… it is a huge collection. They have a wealth of examples of comics that have been reprinted nowhere else. I link to them almost every time I post old comics, because they frequently have other examples. Don’t miss this one.

Pictured above, the first panel of the May 18th, 1902 episode of Alice in Funnyland on Barnacle Press. One of a hundred and fifty examples of it they have there, if I counted right. That’s one of the almost 200 features they have represented there so far.

Visit Barnacle Press.

Subscribe to Barnacle Press here.

Crumbling Paper: Majic Pictures and Cut-Outs by Prof. Bughouse

Here’s a wonderfully funny strip I scanned titled Majic Pictures and Cut-Outs by Prof. Bughouse by an unknown artist from 1905. If you can identify the artist, please let me know… his signature is in the lower right panel.

Click the image to view the full strip.

UPDATE: Troylloyd in the comments pointed out something obvious I forgot to mention… the cartoonist’s last name signed in the last panel appears to be Anderson. He also pointed out that there was a Professor Bughouse strip by John A. Lemon in 1904, which is likely to be related to this feature. Thanks, Troylloyd!

Crumbling Paper: Mager’s Monks in And Then Papa Came

Here’s an early (September 1904) example of rarely-reprinted but excellent cartoonist, Gus Mager. He was best known for his strips Sherlocko the Monk and Hawkshaw the Detective, and was also an assistant to Rudolph Dirks on the Captain and the Kids. His “o” ending names for his monkey characters (Sherlocko, Watso, Groucho, etc.) inspired the Marx Brothers names.

See more of Mager’s Monks on Barnacle Press here.

Click the image to view the full strip.

See examples of Mager’s Hawkshaw the Detective here.

Read more about Gus Mager on Lambiek.net here.

Crumbling Paper: The Katzenjammer Kids in Der Katzenjammer Princes Rescue the Captain (strip #13)

Here’s a Rudolph Dirks Katzenjammer Kids strip I scanned from May 6th, 1906 (with a delightful header by Sherlocko the Monk cartoonist Gus Mager). Watch as the Kids bravely rescue the Captain from certain doom so they will still have him around to torture.

Please note that this strip contains offensive racial depictions, common to strips of the era. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.

Go here to see more Katzenjammer Kids strips on this site.

Click the image to view the full strip.


Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about the Katzenjammers.

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Katzenjammer Kids strips.

Read about the Katzenjammer Kids on Wikipedia.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on the Katzenjammer Kids.

Click here to read about Rudolph Dirks at lambiek.net.

Interesting Links: Hogan’s Alley Web Extras

Reader Paul Morris asked in the comments if I had any examples of the Smythes by Rea Irvin (the man who created Eustace Tilley). I don’t. But looking around a bit, Hogan’s Alley has a great selection of them. Apparently these are web extras to the 13th issue of the excellent comics/animation art and history magazine Hogan’s Alley (I don’t have a copy yet, alas), which has a feature on The Smythes.

Lambiek has this on the Smythes.

Here is an interesting article from a 1930 issue of Time Magazine on the strip’s debut.

Looking around the Hogan’s Alley site, they sure have been putting up a lot of great web extras lately… W.O. Wilson’s Madge, the Magicians Daughter is absolutely gorgeous… do yourself a favor and don’t miss that one. There’s a whole lot of other treasure there as well… have fun!

Issue 15 Extras
Issue 14 Extras
Issue 13 Extras
Issue 12 Extras

There’s a lot of other great stuff linked from the Hogan’s Alley homepage as well.

Crumbling Paper: The Katzenjammer Kids Want to Be Sailors (strip #12)

Here’s a thoroughly crumbled Rudolph Dirks Katzenjammer Kids strip I scanned from August 9th, 1903.

Please note that this strip contains offensive racial depictions… if that sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.

Go here to see more Katzenjammer Kids strips on this site.

Click the image to view the full strip.


Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about the Katzenjammers.

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Katzenjammer Kids strips.

Read about the Katzenjammer Kids on Wikipedia.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on the Katzenjammer Kids.

Click here to read about Rudolph Dirks at lambiek.net.

Crumbling Paper: The Katzenjammer Kids in Der Cap is Getting Fat (strip #11)

Here’s a Rudolph Dirks Katzenjammer Kids strip I scanned from January 29th, 1911.

Go here to see more Katzenjammer Kids strips on this site.

Click the image to view the full strip.


Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about the Katzenjammers.

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Katzenjammer Kids strips.

Read about the Katzenjammer Kids on Wikipedia.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on the Katzenjammer Kids.

Click here to read about Rudolph Dirks at lambiek.net.

Crumbling Paper: The Katzenjammer Kids (strip #10)

Here’s a Harold Knerr Katzenjammer Kids strip I scanned from 1931. Knerr took over the strip after Rudolph Dirks quit Hearst and went on to do the same strip, different title as Hans und Fritz and then The Captain and the Kids for another paper. You can read the details on Wikipedia here. The scan also includes the Knerr header strip Dinglehoofer and His Dog Adolph.

Please note that this strip contains offensive racial depictions, as was frequently the case with the comics of yesteryear. If this sort of thing offends you, I suggest you do not read it.

Go here to see more Katzenjammer Kids strips on this site.


Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about the Katzenjammers.

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Katzenjammer Kids strips.

Read about the Katzenjammer Kids on Wikipedia.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on the Katzenjammer Kids.

Click here to read about Harold Knerr at lambiek.net.

Crumbling Paper: The Katzenjammer Kids in Say. Did You Ever See Such Awful Kids? (strip #9)

Here’s a mangled Rudolph Dirks Katzenjammer Kids strip I scanned from 1904.

Go here to see more Katzenjammer Kids strips on this site.

Click the image to view the full strip.


Here’s what Don Markstein’s Toonopedia has to say about the Katzenjammers.

Click here to go to the Barnacle Press collection of Katzenjammer Kids strips.

Read about the Katzenjammer Kids on Wikipedia.

Click here to the Toonopedia entry on the Katzenjammer Kids.

Click here to read about Rudolph Dirks at lambiek.net.

Crumbling Paper: George Herriman’s Embarrassing Moments (aka Bernie Burns)

I found a couple of original George Herriman Embarrassing Moments (aka Bernie Burns) panels (from 1932 and 1931 respectively) on Ebay tonight. Note that the first one has racial depictions that some would find offensive, so you may not want to view it.

Click the image to view the full strip.

You can bid on the above strip here.

Click the image to view the full strip.

You can bid on the above strip here.