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Archive for January 31, 2014

A Revival of Tattooing–in 1904!

January 31, 2014 / Holmes! / No comments

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I know it may puncture the vision you have in your head of the Barnacle Bros, but we’re not actually gentlemen in waistcoats and waxed moustaches. In fact, we have our roots in the punk rock scene, playing in bands together since high school, and your dear author is a burly, heavily tattooed fellow who plays guitar in a horror-punk band. Shocking, I know! (To date, I have only one comic-related tattoo: a portrait of Popeye taken from his first appearance in Thimble Theater.)

That being the case, I was delighted to find this brief article from 1904, heralding a revival of tattooing, especially among sailors and the Japanese, those “people of infinite patience”. If only the author could have lived to see the explosion of tattoos among the general public!

Category: One-Offs /

Man’s Best Friend? Not for This Guy

January 31, 2014 / Holmes! / No comments

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A well-drawn, lively strip with a clever premise, William F. Marriner’s Wags, the Dog That Adopted a Man has a lot going for it! It tells the story of an unassuming fellow who’s shadowed relentlessly by a little dog with a can tied to its tail. This causes the fellow endless trouble, as the dog manages to disrupt every social setting to which he’s introduced. The strips alternate between a “What? That’s not my dog who’s wrecking the place” schtick and the gentleman’s (ofttimes cruel!) attempts to divest himself of this unwanted pet.

Category: Additions /

The Outpouring of A.D. Condo!

January 27, 2014 / Holmes! / No comments

Lazyest Gallery cannot access Condo, A.D./

A.D. Condo, beloved around these parts for his sublime strips The Outbursts of Everett True and Mr. Skygack From Mars, was a prolific cartoonist in the first decade of the 20th century! He cranked out an extraordinary number of small features and one-offs, and they’re of uniformly high quality. In this archive, you’ll find fun stuff like The Country Man’s Vacation in Town, Pity the Poor Farmer, Dainty Daisy Tries Physical Culture, and my favorites: Enslaved by a Pirate is a wonderfully illustrated serial, and Bump Talks is a crazy little feature sending up phrenology! Fun, fun, fun.

Category: Additions /