Ferd'nand is a Danish pantomime comic notable for its lack of word balloons and captions and its longevity (over seven decades). It was first published in 1937 and is still published regularly in several countries around the globe.
Ferd'nand is a Danish pantomime comic notable for its lack of word balloons and captions and its longevity (over seven decades). It was first published in 1937 and is still published regularly in several countries around the globe.
Ferd'nand was first published in 1937 by the Presse-Illustrations-Bureau of Copenhagen. Created by Henning Dahl Mikkelsen, Ferd'nand features the adventures of the title character, his unnamed wife, unnamed son and family dog. Like Carl Anderson's Henry and Otto Soglow's The Little King , there is no dialogue in the strip, although there is the rare exception. While the characters usually speak via the occasional set of exclamation points or question marks, Ferd'nand has been seen to say "Africa," "Paris," and even with a word balloon, "Ok, James." This enabled the strip to achieve a wide distribution throughout Europe and, starting November 10, 1947, in the United States via United Feature Syndicate. Since Ferd'nand is pantomime, translation is not a problem, so the strip has been published in 30 countries.
Mikkelsen, or "Mik" as he preferred to be known, moved to the United States in 1946, becoming a citizen in 1954. Mikkelsen turned over the strip to others, including Frank Thomas (no relation to Disney's Frank Thomas) for a time from 1955 until the mid-1960s. He then drew it until his death in 1982, after which Al Plastino, drew it until 1989. Plastino's strips were signed "Al + Mik".
Henrik Rehr, a Danish illustrator and painter, took over the strip in 1989, and was the final author. Rehr's strips are signed "Rehr.Mik".
The main character, presumably named Ferd'nand, is a round, mustachioed, middle-aged father and husband, recognized by his conical hat. Ferd'nand's son sports a similar hat, while his wife and dog are rather unremarkable in appearance. Ferd'nand's father also appeared in one strip, looking and being dressed like his son except for the white hair and mustache and wearing eyeglasses.
Unlike most strips, Ferd'nand lacks basic continuity or any cast of recurring characters other than the immediate Ferd'nand family. Ferd'nand himself has been seen working in nearly every occupation and in any location imaginable. Similarly, each strip stands alone; no story spans multiple strips. This lends a rather fantasy-like, ephemeral air to the strip.
Two Ferd'nand animated cartoons were produced, both directed by H. Dahl Mikkelsen:
New entries of "Ferd'nand" are no longer being published. The strip ended its run on January 8, 2012 (although Yahoo has now re-dated that strip May 6, 2012).
The Katzenjammer Kids is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years. It debuted December 12, 1897, in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The comic strip was turned into a stage play in 1903. It inspired several animated cartoons and was one of 20 strips included in the Comic Strip Classics series of U.S. commemorative postage stamps.
Moon Mullins is an American comic strip which had a run as both a daily and Sunday feature from June 19, 1923 to June 2, 1991. Syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the strip depicts the lives of diverse lowbrow characters who reside at the Schmaltz boarding house. The central character, Moon, is a would-be prizefighter—perpetually strapped for cash but with a roguish appetite for vice and high living. Moon took a room in the boarding house at 1323 Wump Street in 1924 and never left, staying on for 67 years. The strip was created by cartoonist Frank Willard.
Overboard is Chip Dunham's daily newspaper comic strip about a shipload of incompetent pirates. It debuted in July 1990 and is distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Pogo was a daily comic strip that was created by cartoonist Walt Kelly and syndicated to American newspapers from 1948 until 1975. Set in the Okefenokee Swamp in the Southeastern United States, Pogo followed the adventures of its anthropomorphic animal characters, including the title character, an opossum. The strip was written for both children and adults, with layers of social and political satire targeted to the latter. Pogo was distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate. The strip earned Kelly a Reuben Award in 1951.
Nancy is an American comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate and Andrews McMeel Syndication. It was spun off from Fritzi Ritz, a strip Bushmiller inherited from creator Larry Whittington in 1925. After Fritzi's niece Nancy was introduced in 1933, Fritzi Ritz evolved to focus more and more on Nancy instead of Fritzi. The new strip took the old one's daily slot, while Fritzi Ritz continued as a Sunday, with Nancy taking the Sunday slot previously filled by Bushmiller's Phil Fumble strip beginning on October 30, 1938.
Gustave Verbeek was a Dutch-American illustrator and cartoonist, best known for his newspaper cartoons in the early 1900s featuring an inventive use of word play and visual storytelling tricks.
Henry is a comic strip created in 1932 by Carl Thomas Anderson. The title character is a young bald boy who is mute. Except a few early episodes, the comic strip character communicates largely but not entirely through pantomime, a situation which changed when Henry moved into comic books. Henry has spoken in at least one Betty Boop cartoon from 1935. In the feature, Betty Boop has a pet shop and Henry speaks to a dog in the window.
George S. Wunder was a cartoonist best known for his 26 years illustrating the Terry and the Pirates comic strip.
Notable events of 1937 in comics. See also List of years in comics.
Skive is a town in Skive municipality in Region Midtjylland at the base of Salling Peninsula, a part of the larger Jutland peninsula in northwest Denmark. It is the municipality's main town and the site of its municipal council.
Puss 'n' Boots was a British comic strip which ran in the UK comic magazine Sparky from 1969 to 1977 and later appeared in Topper and The Dandy. Most of the strips were drawn by John Geering. Some scripts were written by Morris Heggie, later to become editor of the Dandy.
Sad Sack is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, Sad Sack depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The so-called "unnamed private" was actually Ben Schnall, a true-life private in the US Army during WWII, member of Yank magazine and good curmudgeonly friend of Sgt. George Baker. The title was a euphemistic shortening of the military slang "sad sack of shit", common during World War II. The phrase has come to mean "an inept person" or "inept soldier".
Liō is a daily comic strip created by American artist Mark Tatulli and distributed by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication since May 15, 2006. As a pantomime strip, it has an international appeal. In 2008, the strip brought Tatulli a National Cartoonists Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award.
Alfred John Plastino was an American comics artist best known as one of the most prolific Superman artists of the 1950s, along with his DC Comics colleague Wayne Boring. Plastino also worked as a comics writer, editor, letterer, and colorist.
The Kin-der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie's World were early newspaper comics by painter Lyonel Feininger and published by the Chicago Sunday Tribune during 1906–07.
Frank Thomas (1914–1968) was an American Golden Age cartoonist who worked primarily for Centaur Publications.
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the Peanuts films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recognizable and iconic characters in the comic strip and is considered more famous than Charlie Brown in some countries. The original drawings of Snoopy were inspired by Spike, one of Schulz's childhood dogs.
Henning Dahl Mikkelsen was a Danish cartoonist, best known for creation of the long running newspaper comic strip Ferd'nand, which he signed as Mik. He was born in Skive, Denmark, and began the pantomime humor strip Ferd'nand in 1936. Because it had no dialogue or captions, it soon was circulated internationally. After World War II, he came to the United States, where he continued to do the strip while also profiting from California real estate.
Harry Hanan was a British cartoonist, best known as the creator of the pantomime comic strip Louie which he began in 1947. Louie was a small chap, a loser who was constantly annoyed by life's little vicissitudes and minor moments. Hanan described his mild-mannered character as "the anti-Superman".
Silent comics are comics which are delivered in mime. They make use of little or no dialogue, speech balloons or captions written underneath the images. Instead, the stories or gags are told entirely through pictures.