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

Come on in, come to the place where fun never ends. (Shenanigans!)

Moderator: Fizzbuzz

Post Reply
Madeline
never existed
Semper Pie
Posts: 1003
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:45 pm

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

Post by Madeline (?) » Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:20 am

Mr. Big wrote:
Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:38 pm

Update, I came across this strip

Image

I stand by my theory that the Arnold guy did that Garfield strip.

On that note, I recently bought a stack of "Arnold" Sunday strips off of eBay. Many are replacements of black and white copies I had, but I also got strips I never had before.

Will hopefully share more in the coming days! Stay tuned
:crack:

(Also I would not accept any alternative theory as to the authorship of THAT strip now. It’s just too Arnold)

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:40 pm

Image

This is the earliest strip I have in color. January 16, 1983

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:00 pm

So I got a free trail of newspaper.com again, so I'm gonna try to collect more Arnold strips as much as I can while I still have it.

Right now I have a complete run from December 13, 1982 (the first strip) to May 17, 1983. I also saved a bunch of strips from 1984 because I had very little from that year. 1985-88 are scattered runs.

Most of the Sunday strips are black and white, but I managed to track down a few in color thanks to people actually cutting the strip out of their local papers and saving it for nearly 40 years.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Apr 23, 2021 1:20 pm

Image

I think this Arnold strip sums up American Exceptionalism

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:11 am

I think I finally found the strangest set of "Arnold" strips

Image
Image

This is straight out "Looney Tunes"

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Apr 26, 2021 3:00 pm

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

I mentioned before that Arnold's creator became a pastor later on, so it's not entirely surprising that references to Christianity appear in "Arnold". Arnold himself isn't shown to express religious thoughts (in spite of taking part in the church pageant), but Tommy does occasionally make biblical references.

"Arnold" never went into the direction "B.C." did, thankfully. Most of the religious references seem to stem from strips published around Easter and Christmas. Here's an example. Most of the strip has jokes made at Tommy's expense over the mix-up with the costumes, but the final strip is a lot more somber in tone.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:34 am

So I had a free trial to newspaper archive website, and spent it trying to get as many "Arnold" strips as possible.

As you can imagine, quality varies (earlier strips in particular are in rough shape because fewer paper ran it), but as it stands I have a sizable collection

1982 - Complete
1983 - Complete (some Sundays are in color)
1984 - Complete up to June 3. Scattered runs for rest of the year.
1985 - 251 strips. Many of the Sundays are in color
1986 - 117 strips
1987 - Complete run of Jan 1-Apr 4 and Oct 1-Dec 31, with scattered strips in-between those two dates.
1988 - Complete

Will hopefully be able to get the rest of the strips. Maybe I'll actually spend $20 and get a monthly subscription just to get the rest.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat May 01, 2021 2:50 pm

I uploaded all the "Arnold" strips I have on archive.org, as well as miscellany stuff I found (articles, special illustrations, Arnold parodies drawn by other artists, etc.)

https://archive.org/details/arnold-comic-strip-1982-88

Just a caution that there are over a thousand images.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Jul 31, 2022 3:21 am

So on eBay somebody was selling a pair of "Arnold" original arts from early in the run.

You can bet I bought them. I was the only person who bid on them, which made it easy

Image
Image

The biggest shock was just how HUGE they are. Over 20 inches wide. By far the largest daily originals I have in my collection; I have Sunday originals that's much smaller than this!

"Arnold" originals are hard to come by, so these are great to have.

Pocket
User avatar
everything's a little bit weird now
Posts: 368
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:52 pm
Location: at soup
Contact:

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

Post by Pocket (?) » Wed Aug 03, 2022 6:27 pm

Huh. I remember a comment by Bill Watterson saying that soap-opera strips tend to be drawn pretty big so the art can be made nice and detailed; I don't know what reason a strip like this would have.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...

Madeline
never existed
Semper Pie
Posts: 1003
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:45 pm

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

Post by Madeline (?) » Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:52 pm

Maybe it worked out better for the syndicate or paper editors somehow? like in making it easier to shrink by a certain factor, so it would fit wherever they wanted it on the page? Or maybe he just really wanted to letter huge GACKs

idk just spitballin

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Aug 26, 2022 3:28 am

Madeline wrote:
Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:52 pm
Maybe it worked out better for the syndicate or paper editors somehow? like in making it easier to shrink by a certain factor, so it would fit wherever they wanted it on the page? Or maybe he just really wanted to letter huge GACKs

idk just spitballin
It's personal preference, likely. Like. Bill Watterson drew super small by comparison

I can say this, I can't draw tiny anymore because I'm too used to drawing big, so I need a big sheet of paper to do comics if drawing by hand.

Pocket
User avatar
everything's a little bit weird now
Posts: 368
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:52 pm
Location: at soup
Contact:

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

Post by Pocket (?) » Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:38 am

I'm just now realizing I have no idea what size Calvin and Hobbes originals were drawn at. The only frame of reference I have for what might be "normal" is the Buckles original I have, which is 13"×4", and my vague memories of visiting Chuck Ayers who drew a little smaller than that. Consequently, that's the exact dimensions I ended up working at when I did a newspaper-style comic strip.
Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of...

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Aug 28, 2022 2:06 am

Pocket wrote:
Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:38 am
I'm just now realizing I have no idea what size Calvin and Hobbes originals were drawn at. The only frame of reference I have for what might be "normal" is the Buckles original I have, which is 13"×4", and my vague memories of visiting Chuck Ayers who drew a little smaller than that. Consequently, that's the exact dimensions I ended up working at when I did a newspaper-style comic strip.
Ooo this is neat! Which Buckles original do you have?

I've collected a bunch of originals over the years, you can see scans here. The sizes really do vary, depending on how old the strip is and personal preference of the artist (generally, older strips are drawn much bigger). The smallest I own is a "Breaking Cat News" strip, which is only 8.5" wide.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Nov 05, 2022 9:16 pm

Here's a rare non-Arnold cartoon from Kevin McCormick. His local paper, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, got local cartoonists to draw cartoons about the city, and McCormick was one of them. This ran in March 1983.

Image

The Can of Worms refers to an actual intersection in Rochester. By all accounts, it's just as troublesome to drive through as the name implies.

PM Magazine was a infotainment show that aired throughout the 1980s.

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:04 pm

Oh hey, guess what?

The first volume of the "Arnold" collection is out

Collects the first 19 months of the strip. The hardest part was finding the strips, but thanks to a combination of proof sheets, newspaper clippings, original art (both in my possessions and from scans Kevin McCormick sent me), and microfilms, I cleaned up and restored as much as I can. The results are good!

Anyway I'm proud of how it came out. You should consider getting one. Not only does Kevin get half of the profits, but it can recoup some of the costs it incurred when I was getting copies of the strip.

Image

Mr. Big
User avatar
いいんですよ
Rarity's Roughnecks
Posts: 931
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:00 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Tennessee
Contact:

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Tue Mar 12, 2024 10:07 am

The 2nd "Arnold" book is finally out! One more after this - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXSVNMBP

Image

Post Reply