A comic strip is a sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday papers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics.
Wallace & Gromit is a British stop-motion animated comedy franchise created by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations. It consists of four short films, two feature-length films and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series centres on Wallace, a good-natured, eccentric, cheese-loving inventor, and Gromit, his loyal and intelligent anthropomorphic beagle. The first short film, A Grand Day Out, was finished and released in 1989. Wallace was voiced by actor Peter Sallis until 2010 when he was succeeded by Ben Whitehead. While Wallace speaks very often, Gromit is largely silent and has no dialogue, communicating through facial expressions and body language.
MUTTS is a daily comic strip created by Patrick McDonnell and launched on September 5, 1994. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it follows the adventures of Earl, a dog, and Mooch, a cat. Earl and Mooch interact with each other, their human owners, as well as the animals around their neighborhood.
Marvin, later called Marvin & Family, is a daily newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Tom Armstrong and distributed in the U.S. by Hearst's King Features Syndicate. Debuting in 1982, it revolves around the life and times of a young baby boy named Marvin, along with his parents, Jeff and Jenny Miller, and their dog Bitsy. In 1989, CBS aired a special, "Marvin, Baby of the Year."
The Family Circus is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Keane's death in 2011, written, inked and rendered (colored) by his son Jeff Keane. The strip generally uses a single captioned panel with a round border, hence the original name of the series, which was changed following objections from the magazine Family Circle. The series debuted February 29, 1960, and has been in continuous production ever since. According to publisher King Features Syndicate, it is the most widely syndicated cartoon panel in the world, appearing in 1,500 newspapers. Compilations of Family Circus comic strips have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.
A herding dog, also known as a stock dog or working dog, is a type of dog that either has been trained in herding livestock or belongs to one of the breeds that were developed for herding. A dog specifically trained to herd sheep is known as a sheep dog or shepherd dog, and one trained to herd cattle is known as a cattle dog or cow dog.
Jump Start is a daily comic strip drawn by cartoonist Robb Armstrong. It portrays the trials and tribulations of a young African American couple as they try to balance the demands of work and raising their young children.
The Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog, also known as the Maremmano, Maremma Sheepdog, or Abruzzese Sheepdog, among other names, is an Italian breed of livestock guardian dog. It is indigenous to central Italy, especially to the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio, and to northern areas of Southern Italy, particularly to Abruzzo. It has been used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves. The "Maremmano" name derives from that of the Maremma marshlands where, until recently, shepherds, dogs and hundreds of thousands of sheep over-wintered, and where the dogs are still abundant although sheep-farming has decreased substantially. However, the breed is still widely employed in and closely culturally associated with the nearby region of Abruzzo, where sheep herding remains vital to the rural economy and where the wolf remains an active and protected predator. The “Abruzzese” portion of the dog’s name derives from its ubiquity in Abruzzo and the surrounding area.
Pooch Café is a Canadian-American gag-a-day comic strip written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan. It was also made into a series of online shorts with RingTales.
Citizen Dog is a newspaper comic strip by Mark O'Hare, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated silent children's television series which is developed by Aardman Animations. A spin-off in the Wallace & Gromit franchise, the series focuses on the adventures of Shaun, the eponymous sheep previously starring in A Close Shave, as the leader of his flock on an English farm. The series premiered on 5 March 2007 on CBBC in the UK, also airing on BBC Two. Since 2020, the series is streamed globally on Netflix. In March 2024, it was announced that the seventh series is in development and will premiere in 2025. With 170 episodes over 6 series, Shaun the Sheep is one of the longest-running animated series in British television.
Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. It was produced by Philippa Campbell and stars Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Peter Feeney, Tammy Davis, Glenis Levestam, Tandi Wright, and Oliver Driver as a group of people who must defend themselves when a genetic engineering experiment turns harmless sheep into bloodthirsty zombies.
Scamp is a canine Disney comics character, the son of Lady and Tramp, all of whom appear in the 1955 animated film Lady and the Tramp. Scamp is featured in comic strips and comic books of his own since the 1950s. In the final scene of the film, the dogs have a litter of puppies, including three girl pups who look like Lady, and a mischievous, restless boy pup who resembles Tramp. The puppies are unnamed in the film and only appear in one scene, but the little boy puppy made an impression, and King Features Syndicate launched a comic strip a few months after the film's release.
The Welsh Sheepdog is a breed of herding dog of medium size from Wales.
Pete Hoffman was an American cartoonist. He is known for his work on the adventure strips Steve Roper and Jeff Cobb.
The Middletons is an American comic strip created by Ralph Dunagin and Dana Summers. The strip debuted on November 3, 1986, in the Orlando Sentinel. Originally distributed by News America Syndicate, it moved to North America Syndicate in 1987 and then Tribune Content Agency in 1994. Set in Middletown, it features a suburban American family and their neighbors.
A livestock guardian dog (LGD) is a dog type bred for the purpose of protecting livestock from predators.
Pete the Tramp is an American comic strip by Clarence D. Russell (1895–1963) which was distributed by King Features Syndicate for more than three decades, from January 10, 1932 to December 22, 1963. Howard Eugene Wilson, in the Harvard Educational Review, described the strip's title character as "a hobo with a gentleman's instincts."
The Carea Leonés is a breed of herding dog from León, Castile and León, Spain (Europe), and is used as a sheepdog. For centuries, they tended flocks of Churra (sheep) in the mountains of the historical region of León.
General Features Corporation was a syndication service that operated from 1937 to 1974. It was founded by S. George Little and billed itself in the early 1950 as "America's Leading Independent Syndicate." By 1967, General Features distributed 80 columns, comic strips, and editorial features.
