My sweet petunia is saying "Gack" ("Arnold" thread)

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My sweet petunia is saying "Gack" ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:49 pm

I hesitated to start this thread, but I feel everybody needs to know that this strip exists.

So the 1980s was an interesting decade for comic strips. After "Doonesbury" was introduced in the 1970s, newspapers were willing to try out comics that break the mold (abet slowly). 1980s had comics like "The Far Side", "Bloom County", and "Calvin and Hobbes" becoming hits, still fondly remembered today.

Then there are a few other strips they tried that was different, but ultimately didn't make it. For this thread, I'm gonna talk about Arnold.

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So what's "Arnold" about? Well, it's about a boy named Arnold Melville (I think he's 13, although it's not clear).

A really strange boy.

A really strange, possibly mentally deranged boy.

A really strange boy who likes to go on rants. What kind of rants? Well, he dislikes being perceived as short.

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He takes school lunch seriously.

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He hates mayonnaise. Really, really, REALLY hates mayonnaise:

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He's also an aspiring writer as well.

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As for the supporting characters, there were only two.

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Tommy Jordon is Arnold's best friend, although Arnold seems to be a dick to him. Tommy is not the most popular kid in school; other students doesn't seem to like him, his gym teacher doesn't like him, complete strangers don't seem to like him. Really, he's the kind of kid that even Charlie Brown would beat up.
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Tommy is evidently religious, though. He's mentioned going to church a few times and, in at least one strip (see above), made specific references to the Bible.

Mr. Lester is Arnold and Tommy's teacher. He seems used to the fact that Arnold continually disrupt his class, go on weird tangents based on his lectures, gets weird homework from him. He's given up and just let Arnold lord over him because it means his rant would be over quick.

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Early in the strip's run there was a girl named Heather, who looks like Tommy with a wig. I don't know anything about her because whenever she shows up, she's just in the background looking at Arnold being weird. In fact, the strip below is the ONLY one I found where she actually has dialogue:

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I think the creator realized that this character wasn't needed, since Tommy filled the role better as the "straight man" to Arnold's antics, so she disappeared from the strip after only a few months and never appeared again.

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Near the end of the strip's run Arnold gained a baby brother, Sidney. His gimmick was that he liked to grab other people's arms with his mouth.

There were other characters like Bertha the cafeteria lady, Arnold and Tommy's respective parents, as well as another teacher named Ms. Fern and Tommy's abusive gym teacher/coach, but they all only shouted from off-panel. The above mentioned characters were the ONLY ones to appear on-panel.

"Arnold" ran from December 13, 1982 to April 17, 1988, syndicated by Field Enterprises, which was then bought out by Rupert Murdoch to form News America Syndicate, only for Murdoch to sell the company to King Features, which is where the strip was for the final year. It never topped more than 60 newspapers; too many newspapers were weirded out by it.

And yeah, the strip was polarizing. A lot of people LOVED it, but others also hated it, finding it crass and vulgar. Personally, I thought the strip was brilliant and I wish it got more attention. One city that did well was Detroit, where the strip had a huge following (more on that later). In spite of that, the strip was a cult classic to people who read the strip in those 50+ newspapers that ran it, including Detroit, and are fondly remembered by those who enjoyed it.

I feel "Arnold" is an ultimate shitposter from the 1980s and I can imagine him being like that if the internet was around. Unfortunately, Arnold, the character, didn't live long enough to actually see shitposts online. Why? Well, again I'll talk about that later.

So for this thread I'm gonna go through and post some "Arnold" strips that I've collected. Unfortunately, "Arnold" was never reprinted in books, so I had to find newspaper archives to read the strip. Because of this, picture quality will vary. Many are readable, but they're not crisp and some are in really bad shape. I'll do my best to get the best possible quality.

I was able to locate a few Sunday strips in color, but many will be in black and white because that's how they were stored in microfilms.

In conclusion, AIEEE!
Last edited by Mr. Big on Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:45 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:54 pm

I have over 300 strips saved, although I don't think I'll post every one I have. However, here's the first week, December 13-19, 1982

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The first strip. This sums up what Arnold and Tommy's relationship is like.

I never got the impression that Arnold meant to be malicious to Tommy. I think he genuinely thought ratting him out like this was in all good fun. Arnold just doesn't know social cues and much of the humor comes from him not grasping it.

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The teacher, Mr. Lester, was a lot more stern in the early appearances. Gradually he just gave up trying to get his students to listen, especially Arnold.

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We do get a glimpse of Arnold's home life every now and then, and it's shown that his parents are just as weird as their son.

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The first Sunday, and the first glimpse of Arnold's creative writing exercise.

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:29 pm

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Occasionally, Arnold is self-aware...

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:44 pm

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3 years later Arnold STILL didn't take Heather's idea:

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:54 pm

Reading the early strips is interesting because the strip tried to be "normal", with very little surreal elements. Like this strip, for example. It's pretty "normal"

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Not that it wasn't ALWAYS there, but still, one couldn't think but wonder if the more conventional strips was to make the 1980s newspaper editors at ease. However, one thing that was present early on is that Arnold sometimes talks about his relatives, who are just as weird as him:

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Arnold would frequently disrupt the class to talk about his relatives:
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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:44 pm

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I kinda relate to Tommy in this one. Maybe it's a good thing I don't know any Arnold :-I

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:35 pm

Arnold has a school newspaper he runs called The Vicious Rumor. The name says it all.

This is the first appearance:
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The paper has been featured all throughout the strip's run. Some samplings:

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:16 am

So "Arnold" did a contest once. This strip ran on November 26, 1985:

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Yeah, up until that point, the two main characters didn't have last names, so the creator decided to solicit ideas from his readers. The following day, Detroit Free Press ran this blurb:

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Few months later, on March 13, 1986, this strip ran:

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On a tangent, this strip was heavily edited in Detroit for some reason. This is how they ran the strip:

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Readers didn't have to wait until 1989 to get the answers, because on April 7, 1986, the winners (and the last names) were revealed:

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Note that the winners were from Ypsilanti and Detroit. Yes, turns out most of the entries for the contest came from the Detroit area. The strip was REALLY popular there.

In fact, Detroit Free Press revealed the winners a day before on April 6 when they wrote an article about it:
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I couldn't find what the prize is. I'm tempted to try and see if I can find the winners and interview them about this.

So yeah, Arnold Melville and Tommy Jordon. Their names would stick for the rest of the strip's run.

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:26 pm

Some of the Sunday strips I have in color

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:52 pm

One recurring theme in the comic is that Arnold watches LOTS of TV reruns, and would get brainwashed into thinking he's one of the characters in the show.

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Highlighting this because, yeah, not all jokes in the comic aged well :starity:

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Pocket (?) » Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:50 pm

Did you post the "Chicken Surprise" one before? Because I have the strangest feeling of deja vu.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:18 am

Pocket wrote:
Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:50 pm
Did you post the "Chicken Surprise" one before? Because I have the strangest feeling of deja vu.
Could be! That's one of the strips I share a lot.

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:27 am

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Whenever people who grew up with "Arnold" talk about the strip, they mention how he used to call mayonnaise "WHITE DEATH!!" because he was afraid of them (not dislike mayo, he was literally scared of them).

But that running gag wasn't as common as I thought. I only found a small number of strips about it.

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Re: This comic makes me GACK ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:32 am

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Ever get the feeling everybody in this strip is kinda nuts? :-I

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 1:06 pm

So let me talk about the strip's ending. On April 16, 1988, the final "Arnold" strip* ran:

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Kevin McCormick decided to end the strip because the strip's circulation wasn't improving. At its peak it ran in over 50 newspapers, and the creator said he was only making about $1,000 a month drawing the strip.

"Arnold" ending was a big deal in Detroit. The Free Press newspaper ran this. it took up almost a full page:

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This blurb ran on April 17:

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One week later, on April 23, the Free Press ran letters they got from readers reacting to the strip being discontinued.

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And there was STILL one more "Arnold" thing published in the paper after it was discontinued. Remember how the final strip had Arnold getting carried away by a giant bird?

Well, on May 11, 1988, nearly a month after the strip was discontinued, the Free Press ran this, a special drawing by Kevin McCormick thanking Detroit readers for supporting his strip:

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So yeah, Arnold really is dead. Long live Arnold.

* - I say April 16 was the last strip, but it was the last one DRAWN. Because you see, Sunday strips have to be drawn in advance several weeks longer than the weekday strips. Because of that, one more "Arnold" strip was published the following day, on April 17. This is the last LAST "Arnold" strip published:

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Note that Arnold himself doesn't appear in the last two strips.

So...Goodbye, Tommy.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:36 pm

So with all that said and done, whatever became of Kevin McCormick? The guy who created this lost gem?

Well, about a decade ago I was able to track him down thanks to another cartoonist. After "Arnold" ended, Kevin started doing some ghost writing for another strip. He never specified which strip he worked on, but it was supposedly "Garfield", although I never got confirmation.

Kevin tried to sell another strip, but it found no takers. Eventually he left cartooning behind and started a new life...as a pastor.

I'm serious. He runs a private Christian children's school in Rochester, New York.

Back in 2008 I interviewed Pastor Kevin via email. Here it is:
When and where were you born? What are your cartooning background?

I was born in 1952 in Jamestown NY. The only cartooning background I ever had was consuming every strip or comic book I could get my hands on. I also carved Woody Woodpecker into my mothers coffee table once.

How many strips did you submit before coming up with Arnold?

There were three strips before Arnold. The first one was an animal strip. The second was a deranged youth with a Mohawk (this was before deranged youths were wearing mohawks).

How did the editors react to your strip?

Whenever a paper would run a readers poll on comic strips, Arnold would always be on the “most hated list” and the “most loved” list. There didn’t seem to be any middle ground. Most editors hated the strip. One reason they gave me was that the strip “didn’t show the best of human nature” if there is such a thing.

How did you come up with Arnold? Was he or any of the characters based on somebody you know?

I needed a vehicle to fit my humor and the one that was finally accepted by the syndicate was Arnold. This was after a lot of tries and gradual toning down of the humor.

Ultimately, how many papers ran the strip? Which one was the biggest?

I think it was in fifty six papers at one time. LA Times was one of the big ones.

What did you do after Arnold ended?

I did some ghost writing for some strips for a while. I became a Christian and now am a pastor and administrator at our church’s school.

What are your favorite comics, past and present?

Too many to name in the past. I’m not really up on what is out there today although it’s really sad to see what the comic pages have become.

With you being a principal now, do you know any students that act like Arnold?

Yes but they have been executed.

Do you still come across people who remembers your strip?

It’s weird but every once in a while someone will track me down and send me an email. The local paper where I live never ran the strip so I’m safe here.

Are your students impressed that you used to have a nationally syndicated comic strip?

Some of the older kids have found old Arnolds on the internet. They really liked it.

Do you still draw cartoons? Any thoughts about coming back with a new strip?

I teach Bible class in our school. So I make up these little stories to convey the spiritual concept we’re covering. I draw them out and it’s been fun in that it really keeps the kids attention. I have a lot of ideas for new strips and I’ve drawn some up for some handouts for the kids at school. The latest was a sociopathic cow but I don’t have the time and I guess I don’t really have the desire any more. I ‘m happy doing what I’m doing.
You can see some of the bible illustrations Kevin did here.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Bigdog (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:27 pm

It placed second on the "least popular" list, behind "Nancy."
lmao

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Bigdog (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:30 pm

good thread

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:56 pm

Bigdog wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:30 pm
good thread
Thanks! This is probably more effort post than I should've, but I love this strip and I wanted more people to know about this wonder from the 1980s.

I guess I'll mention that MAD Magazine parodied "Arnold" once, in #253 March 1985.

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That parody, admittingly, doesn't work too well because that's exactly the kind of thing the strip itself would have done :-I

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Pocket (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:55 pm

That was my first reaction too. It's like when The Simpsons tried to "parody" VeggieTales and just ended up pretty much writing an actual VeggieTales scene.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Bigdog (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:07 pm

Mr. Big wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:56 pm
That parody, admittingly, doesn't work too well because that's exactly the kind of thing the strip itself would have done :-I
Ditto for the Wizard of Id. Can't really speak to the other two since they were never really staples of my youth comics reading.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:04 pm

This parody by furry artist M. Kazaleh is more better done:

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Bigdog wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:07 pm
Ditto for the Wizard of Id. Can't really speak to the other two since they were never really staples of my youth comics reading.
Crock stepping on Figowitz's legs was a running gag in the strip, for what its worth.

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Also, Andy Capp was a wife-beating drunken asshole in the earlier strips (he's still an asshole drunk, but they dropped the "wife beating" jokes because boy did it not age well)

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:01 pm

I was able to find more strips with Heather, the only female character to ever appear in "Arnold" before going to the same dimension Lyman went to (others like the cafeteria ladies only spoke off-panel):

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(the latter strip is the latest I can find featuring her)

Looking at it, I can see why she was dropped. If she ever had dialogues, she was pretty much just a female Tommy, only more assertive.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:33 pm

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Arnold is an anti-capitalist hero we need

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:44 am

The interview made it seem like Kevin McCormick became a Christian after the strip ended, but the comic strip itself occasionally made Christian messages.

This is probably the only "Arnold" strip that's meant to be somber.

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Matthews 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.


Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Above strip came from a Facebook group dedicated to "Arnold". Kevin McCormick actually scanned a bunch of original art and posted them there. Note that you can see artifacts from the original

(Also, want to say that I was able to collect over 600 "Arnold" strips of varying quality. If anyone here wants a zip file, lemme know)

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:45 am

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"Celebrity Electric Chair" sounds like a wonderful show

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:56 am

I really appreciate this thread but I also think Arnold is insufferable, is that an appropriate reaction
Image /// Image /// Image

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:57 am

Perrydotto wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:56 am
I really appreciate this thread but I also think Arnold is insufferable, is that an appropriate reaction
Yes, that's the ONLY true reaction. GACK! :v:

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:55 pm

Some of the newer cartoons that Kevin McCormick did for his bible class:

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("Arnold" never had fantastic art, but this is actually rather cute)

Also, I did my take on the main characters because I wanted to do fanarts'

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:49 pm

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:14 pm

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A rare strip where Tommy gets an upper-hand on Arnold.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:27 am

January 14, 1983
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July 2, 1987
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Foreshadowing? :ponder:

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:35 pm

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:43 pm

An 1983 article I found about Kevin McCormick.

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So Arnold was a worm at first, then became a kid with a Mohawk named "Spitballs", before settling on what you see in this thread :-I

I kinda wonder how Kevin McCormick's life would have been like if he bypassed traditional syndication and went to indie comics route, or if "Arnold" ran in alternative newsweeklies instead of mainstream newspapers, like "Life in Hell".

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 5:48 pm

While searching around, I found this entry from Michigan State University's comics library (yeah, they have one; I think they even have some of my own comics there because somebody from MSU bought some stuff from me for their collection)
Arnold : a new musical cartoon / based on the cartoon
characters of Kevin McCormick ; book & lyrics by R. Eugene
Jackson ; music by David J. Blackburn. -- Denver, Colo. :
Pioneer Drama Service, 1986. -- 25 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. --
Libretto.
1. Musicals--Librettos. 2. Funny kid comics--Miscellanea.
I. Blackburn, David J. II. Jackson, R. Eugene. III.
McCormick, Kevin. Call no.: ML50.B631A7 1986
There was an Arnold musical. Like wow. Where was it played?? This was outside Broadway obviously, but still...

...I have to get my hands on the playbook...

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 6:29 pm

What would an "Arnold" play be like, though? And did only three actors actually appear on stage, with everybody else being voice-only? :ponder:

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:18 pm

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by W.T. Fits (?) » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:24 am

Mr. Big wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:56 pm
Thanks! This is probably more effort post than I should've, but I love this strip and I wanted more people to know about this wonder from the 1980s.

I guess I'll mention that MAD Magazine parodied "Arnold" once, in #253 March 1985.

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That parody, admittingly, doesn't work too well because that's exactly the kind of thing the strip itself would have done :-I
Actually, I had that issue of MAD Magazine, and that part of the segment wasn't the parody. That was examples of actual nastiness in existing comic strips. So it makes sense that the Andy Capp, Arnold and Wizard of Id ones are all things that feel like they could have been in an actual strip.

The actual segment itself was about that kind of nastiness infecting the rest of the comics in the newspapers at the time, like Charlie Brown kicking Lucy upside the head when she was holding the football (and then claiming that because of the way she was holding the ball, he couldn't get a clear shot at her butt), or Blondie helpfully locking the door to the bathroom so Dagwood wouldn't be disturbed while taking a bath... and so that she could have sex with his boss without Dagwood walking in on them.

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:57 am

Ah. I kinda suspected something like that was going on.

Now I need to track down the full article

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Re: IT'S BAMBI BURGER TIME ("Arnold" thread)

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Aug 11, 2019 1:34 am

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Ben Cartwright was a character in a TV Western "Bonanza", which aired 1959–1973. The actor who played him, Lorne Greene, did appear in dog food commercials when these strips ran.

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