Jane Arden | |
---|---|
Author(s) | Monte Barrett (1928–1952) Walt Graham (1952-1968) |
Illustrator(s) | Frank Ellis (1928–1935) Russell E. Ross (1935– 1955) Jim Seed (1955–1960) William Hargis (1961–1963) Bob Schoenke (1964–1968) |
Current status/schedule | Concluded daily strip |
Launch date | November 26, 1928 |
End date | January 20, 1968 |
Alternate name(s) | Laredo and Jane Arden (1964–1968) |
Syndicate(s) | Register and Tribune Syndicate |
Genre(s) | Adventure |
Jane Arden was an internationally syndicated daily newspaper comic strip which ran from November 26, 1928 to January 20, 1968. [1] The title character was the original "spunky girl reporter", actively seeking to infiltrate and expose criminal activity rather than just report on its consequences and served as a prototype for later characters such as Superman supporting character Lois Lane and fellow comic strip heroine Brenda Starr, Reporter. [2] Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary McGrory credited Jane Arden with instilling her interest in journalism. [3]
Jane Arden was only moderately successful in the United States, but it was highly popular in Canada and Australia. The strip was widely reprinted in comic books and was also adapted into both a film and a radio series.
Jane Arden was created by writer Monte Barrett and artist Frank Ellis for the Register and Tribune Syndicate. Barrett wrote the strip until his death in 1949, and his stories were used until 1952 when Walt Graham assumed the scripting duties. Ellis was one of five artists to draw Jane Arden over its 41-year run.
The work of Ellis' replacement, Russell E. Ross, is perhaps most identified with the character, as he drew the strip for 20 years.
During the strip's last few years, under creator Bob Schoenke, it was combined with another Register and Tribune strip, Laredo Crockett, to become Laredo and Jane Arden (from 1964 to 1968). [4]
It was during Ross' stint that the strip introduced Tubby, an office boy sidekick transported from Ross' previous Slim and Tubby strip. It was during this period that the strip first included Jane Arden paper dolls and accompanying outfits.
Jane Arden was one of the first comic strip characters to become involved in World War II. Immediately after the outbreak of war in Europe, Barrett and Ross scrapped their current storylines and gave her a war assignment in the fictional neutral kingdom of Anderia (September 25, 1939).
Reprints of the newspaper strip were published in comic books beginning with Famous Funnies #2 (September 1934). [5] After issue 35, the reprints appeared in Feature Funnies #1 (October, 1937), [6] published by Comic Favorites, Inc (a predecessor of Quality Comics). (The Register and Tribune Syndicate was part-owner of Comic Favorites.) [7] 20 issues later, the title was renamed Feature Comics . The Arden reprints continued for ten more issues, and then appeared in the first 25 issues of Crack Comics .
United States:
Australia:
A Jane Arden radio drama was broadcast from 1938 through 1939 with Ruth Yorke in the title role of the "fearless girl reporter, the most beautiful woman in the newspaper world." First heard in June 1938 on WJZ in New York, the program moved to the Blue Network on September 26, 1938. Sponsored by Ward Baking, the 15-minute serial aired weekdays at 10:15am. Others in the cast: Helene Dumas, Maurice Franklin, Frank Provo, Bill Baar, Henry Wadsworth and Howard Smith. Alan Kent was the announcer. Manny Siegel provided the sound effects for director Lawrence Holcomb. The series ended June 23, 1939. [8]
In 1939, Warner Bros. released a film adaptation, The Adventures of Jane Arden , with a storyline in which Jane Arden (Rosella Towne) goes undercover to expose a gang of jewel smugglers. However, her identity is discovered by one of the gang leaders. This film, directed by Terry O. Morse, was heralded as the first of a series, but no subsequent Jane Arden films were produced.
Charles Alfred "Al" Taliaferro, was an American Disney comics artist who produced Disney comic strips for King Features Syndicate. Taliaferro is best known for his work on the Donald Duck comic strip. Many of his strips were written by Bob Karp.
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Little Lulu is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and mischievously strewing the aisle with banana peels. Little Lulu replaced Carl Anderson's Henry, which had been picked up for distribution by King Features Syndicate. The Little Lulu panel continued to run weekly in The Saturday Evening Post until December 30, 1944.
James F. Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator.
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority. The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century.
Carl Burgos was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1, during the period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books.
The Funnies is the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.
Funnies, Inc. was an American comic book packager of the late 1930s to 1940s period collectors and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Lloyd Jacquet, it supplied the contents of early comics, including that of Marvel Comics #1, the first publication of what would become the multimedia corporation Marvel Comics.
Everett M. Arnold, also known as Busy Arnold, was an American publisher and an early comic-book entrepreneur whose company Quality Comics published during the 1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was also instrumental in the publishing arrangement that led to Will Eisner's newspaper Sunday-supplement comics series The Spirit.
Feature Comics, originally Feature Funnies, was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly is a 36-page American comic book created in 1939, and designed to be a promotional giveaway in movie theaters. While the idea proved unsuccessful, and only a handful of sample copies of issue #1 were printed, the periodical is historically important for introducing the enduring Marvel Comics character Namor the Sub-Mariner, created by writer-artist Bill Everett.
The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928, and soon became successful by printing color newspaper sections for several New England and New York papers. Eastern is most notable for its production of Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies, two publications that gave birth to the American comic book industry.
Funnies on Parade is an American giveaway publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books. The eight-page publication featured reprints of such popular syndicated comic strips as The Bungle Family, Joe Palooka, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Mutt and Jeff, Reg'lar Fellers, and Somebody's Stenog. Creators included F. O. Alexander, Gene Byrnes, Al Capp, Clare Victor Dwiggins, A. E. Hayward, C. M. Payne, Al Smith, and Harry J. Tuthill.
Famous Funnies is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955 with two precursor one-shots appearing in 1933–1934. Published by Eastern Color Printing, Famous Funnies is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.
Crack Comics is an anthology comic book series published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It featured such characters as The Clock, Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Alias the Spider, Madame Fatal, Jane Arden, Molly the Model, and Red Torpedo. The title "crack" referred to "being at the top of one's form", like a "crack sharpshooter".
Eisner & Iger was a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s, a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger, many of comic books' most significant creators, including Jack Kirby, entered the field through its doors. Eisner & Iger existed from 1936 to 1939.
The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register and Tribune Syndicate offered newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist Herblock, comic strips, and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others.
Charles H. Winner, better known as Doc Winner, was an American cartoonist, notable for his comic strips Tubby and Elmer, plus his contributions to Thimble Theatre, Barney Google and other King Features strips.
Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit is an American Disney comic strip that ran on Sundays from October 14, 1945, to December 31, 1972. It first appeared as a topper strip for the Mickey Mouse Sunday page, but after the first few years, almost always appeared on its own. The strip replaced the 1932-1945 Silly Symphony strip, which had spent its final year on gag strips featuring Panchito from The Three Caballeros.