Animated Animals

Odie, from the Garfield comic strip

I love my superhero comic books, but I also love a good comic strip -- those laugh-out-loud stories told through text and art that appear in the pages of the newspapers (and, increasingly, online).

In honor of the anniversary of Odie (who first appeared in newspaper pages on August 8, 1978), I thought I'd take a look at five of the most famous, influential, and unforgettable cartoon creatures to grace the pages of the funny pages:



5. Pogo Possum

He's served as inspiration to a generation of comic artist heavy hitters -- and found time to become the official "state 'possum" of Georgia. The star of the comic strip Pogo, this 'possum is the creation of cartoonist Walt Kelly, whose strip ran in newspapers for nearly 30 years.

Kelly, who was both strongly interested in politics and liberal, often wove his political philosophies into the fabric of his strip, using wit and humor to lighten the results. (Pogo's picture popped up on buttons during the 1952 presidential election, along with the motto, "I go Pogo.")

Pogo Possum lives in the marshes, along with such friends and neighbors as Albert the Alligator, Howland Owl, and Porky Pine. Amiable and good-natured -- and desiring to stay out of trouble -- Pogo's pals often get him into trouble for him, not in the least in continually pestering him to run for president. (Hey, it's an allegory.)

Never heard of the strip before?  You probably know one of the quotes. In 1970, Kelly designed a Pogo poster for Earth Day. It read, "We have met the enemy -- and he is us."

-- Read some sample strips here

-- Request collections of Pogo



4. Snowy 

Created in 1929, The Adventures of Tintin is the work of a Belgian artist who went by the pen name Hergé. The artist modeled Tintin on a previous character he'd created (Totor, an adventurous Boy Scout, who had been the subject of his own comic strip when Hergé was in high school). A former reporter, Tintin is a detective who is something of an Indiana Jones -- touring the globe to foil criminals, recover treasure and artifacts, and occasionally save the world. Many of Tintin's adventures were based on real-world events (like space exploration and international politics).

While Tintin is surrounded by a large cast, his most faithful companion is Snowy, a fox terrier dog. Smart, heroic, and definitely still doglike, Snowy accompanies his master on all of his adventures, and saves Tintin's life on more than one occasion. (He's only got one real fear: spiders!)  And, like many comic strip animal creations, Snowy can talk -- though often he only speaks to Tintin.

The character was named after Hergé's first girlfriend (her nickname was "Milou," which was Snowy's name in the original French versions of the comic).

-- Read more about Tintin at the official website

-- Request collections of The Adventures of Tintin

-- Request The Adventures of Tintin animated series on DVD

-- Request Stephen Spielberg's animated film The Adventures of Tintin on DVD or Blu-ray



3. Hobbes

If this were a more subjective list, Hobbes would've claimed the Number One spot on this list for me!  Named for the seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, this talking tiger is one half of the duo that make up Bill Watterson's wholly-awesome comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Premiering in 1985 and running for ten years, the strip gained a devoted fan following for its stories about childhood, friendship, and the magic of the imagination.

Hobbes himself is a plush toy, owned by six-year-old Calvin. When Calvin and Hobbes are on their own, Hobbes is drawn as a walking, talking tiger; when other characters enter the room, however, Hobbes is drawn as an ordinary plush toy. The nature of exactly what Hobbes is, is something the strip is always careful not to resolve. As explained by Watterson: Calvin sees his stuffed toy one way, and the rest of the world sees Hobbes another way. Hobbes's nature is, plainly put, a subjective look at reality.

Hobbes himself -- as seen by Calvin -- is smart, sharp, witty, and terribly proud of not being human. (He's decidedly a "wild animal," with one of his favorite activities being sneaking up on Calvin and pouncing on him.) With his wry, quiet wisdom, he's also a good compliment to Calvin's zany and mischievous personality -- making him the best friend and tiger a kid could hope for.

Hobbes: As seen by Calvin, and by the rest of the world

-- Request collections of Calvin and Hobbes

-- Request the book Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip by Nevin Martell



2. Garfield

He's lazy, hates Mondays, and loves lasagna. You don't have to read Jim Davis's comic strip to know about Garfield, the fat and lazy orange cat belonging to one Jon Arbuckle.

First appearing in 1978, the strip has been in circulation ever since. The strip was a quick success, going on to become the most syndicated strip in the world (appearing in over 2,500 newspapers across the world). Inspiring Saturday morning cartoon series and even movies, Garfield also reigns supreme in merchandizing, appearing on everything from notebooks and t-shirts to coffee mugs and plush toys hanging in car windows. Not bad for a "lazy" cat!

(You can also check out the truly unusual website Garfield Minus Garfield, which offers a unique, post-modern take on the comic strip -- and the weirdly philosophical misadventures of Jon Arbuckle.)

-- Request collections of Garfield

-- Request Garfield the animated series on DVD

-- Request the live-action/animated films Garfield starring Bill Murray on DVD or Blu-ray



1. Snoopy

We've talked before about the appeal of Charles Schulz's Peanuts strip, and no where is that more evident than in the strip's most popular character: Snoopy. A beagle dog owned by the hapless Charlie Brown, Snoopy has a love for writing, his bird-pal Woodstock, and, most of all, dinnertime.

While not as "talkative" as Snowy, Snoopy -- like Garfield -- speaks at least to the audience, courtesy of some handy thought bubbles. (Woodstock seems to be able to understand him most of the time, too.) Of course, this authorial canine doesn't really need the spoken word to communicate: parading up to Charlie Brown with his own dinner bowl in his teeth seems to get the message across pretty clearly.

The character was inspired, in part, by Schulz's childhood dog, Spike (which happens to be the name of Snoopy's brother). Like Hobbes and Calvin, Snoopy serves as a good counterpart to his anxious, somewhat sad owner, with Snoopy always cheerful, confident, and ready to enjoy life -- particularly when snoozing atop his red dog house.

-- Request collections of Peanuts

-- Request Peanuts cartoons on DVD



-- Post by Ms. B 

A Good Man

"Happiness is a warm puppy."

-- Charles M. Schulz

Back in elementary school, I used to have a bookmark with a "Peanuts" comic strip printed on the front. The artwork was simple, showcasing Linus and Charlie Brown resting their elbows against a stone wall. "I used to try to take every day as it came," Charlie Brown was explaining. "But now, I have a new philosophy ... I'm only going to dread one day at a time." I had a happy childhood, but I definitely had moments where I could relate to a sentiment like that. I think we all can.

I'd wager most people relate to the trials, tribulations, and occasional triumphs of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie -- and, of course, Snoopy the beagle dog and his little yellow sidekick, Woodstock. They're all the creation of Charles M. Schulz, who wrote and drew the syndicated comic strip "Peanuts" for a full fifty years.

Born on November 26, 1922, in Minneapolis, Schulz was the son of Carl Schulz (a barber) and his wife, Dena Halverson Schulz. His mother noticed his aptitude for art early on, and eventually encouraged him to take a correspondence course from the Federal School in Minneapolis.

After being drafted and sent to Europe during World War II, Schulz returned to the States and struck out on his art career. Beginning as a free-lancer for a Catholic magazine (while teaching correspondence classes at the Art Instruction Institute), some of his drawings made their way into the pages of Saturday Evening Post. His life would truly change course, however, with the creation of a cartoon for the St. Paul Pioneer Press -- "Li'l Folks." It was the template for the strip that would eventually become "Peanuts."

The renamed "Peanuts" made its grand debut in 1950, appearing in just seven newspapers with the characters of Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, and Snoopy. In a year's time, the strip had upped its circulation to 35 papers, and by 1956 it was in over a hundred.

At its height, "Peanuts" ran in over 2,300 newspapers throughout the world. And the strip was so popular it soon began proving itself outside the realm of newspapers. The 1965 animated special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" won a Peabody and an Emmy award. The off-Broadway musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," appearing in 1967, ran for four years. Two years later, NASA astronauts chose to name their command module "Charlie Brown," and their lunar lander "Snoopy." Collections of Schulz's work was being translated into nearly twenty languages, and the faces of "Peanuts" characters began appearing on clothes, toys, games, and calendars.

The last "Peanuts" strip was published on February 13, 2000 -- the day after Schulz himself passed away at the age of 77. Four months later, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Schultz the Congressional Gold Medal, our country's highest civilian honor.

It's easy to rattle off the facts. What's harder is explaining the appeal. The main character of "Peanuts" is Charlie Brown, a kid who is the epitome of ordinariness, with one very specific stand-out quality: his rather inept hopelessness. Whether it's Lucy yanking away a football the instant before he can kick it, the teasing of his schoolmates at his unending mistakes and blunders, a kite-eating tree and a needle-dropping Christmas tree, or even the haughty attitude of his own dog -- Charlie Brown just can't seem to catch a break. There's often a sadness to some of the punchlines of "Peanuts," which could, perhaps, make one wonder where the appeal lies.

But what makes Schulz's storytelling so oddly magnetic, I think, is the weird balance his "Peanuts" stories strike between the bleak disappointments of life and the strangely hopeful, cheerful attitude his characters show in the face of it. Charlie Brown himself seems possessed of a peculiar blend of defeated anxiety and almost reluctant optimism. After all, his most famous catchphrase is an exasperated, "Good grief!" -- and, as the Encyclopedia of World Biography points out in their entry on Schulz:

"Grief was the human condition, but it was good when it taught us something about ourselves and was lightened by laughter."

Charlie Brown's appeal lies precisely in the fact that, though Lucy will never let him kick that football, he'll never quit trying. It's that attitude that transforms Schulz's stories from sad commentaries on life's worries and disappointments into something quite different -- hopeful stories about transcending the disappointments with hope, humor, and happiness.

And most "Peanuts" fans, I think, can get behind a philosophy like that. I'm one of them.

-- Check out the Catalog for more on "Peanuts" and the works of Charles M. Schulz.

The song "Happiness," from the musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

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"Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask, 'Why me?'  Then a voice answers, 'Nothing personal, your name just happened to come up.'"

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"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people. Religion, Politics, and The Great Pumpkin."

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"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from."

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"Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest."

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"I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind! ... The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building."

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"You learn more when you lose."

"Well then, I must be the smartest person in the world."

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"Life is like an ice cream cone. You have to lick it one day at a time."

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"Never worry about tomorrow, Charlie Brown. Tomorrow will soon be today, and before you know it, today will be yesterday! I always worry about the day after tomorrow."

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"Be yourself. No one can say you're doing it wrong."

"Well, I can understand how you feel. You worked hard, studying for the spelling bee, and I suppose you feel you let everyone down, and you made a fool of yourself and everything. But did you notice something, Charlie Brown?" 

"What's that?"

"The world didn't come to an end."

-- Post by Ms. B