| Lance | |
|---|---|
 Warren Tufts's Lance (May 5, 1957) | |
| Author(s) | Warren Tufts |
| Current status/schedule | Concluded daily and Sunday strip |
| Launch date | June 5, 1955 |
| End date | May 29, 1960 |
| Syndicate(s) | Self-syndicated |
Lance was an American comic strip notable as the last of the full-page strips. Created and self-syndicated by artist Warren Tufts, it ran from June 5, 1955, to May 29, 1960. [1]
Lance premiered on Sunday, June 5, 1955, launching in approximately 100 newspapers. The strip was self-syndicated by artist Warren Tufts, creator of the 1949-1955 strip Casey Ruggles . [1] Originally formatted like Prince Valiant , with text in captions but minus word balloons, it eventually switched to using word balloons. The last full page was #85.[ citation needed ] After that, the strip appeared in half page and tab formats. [2]
A daily strip began January 14, 1957 and lasted at least until February 15, 1958. [1] Tufts's Casey Ruggles was referenced when Ruggles made a brief appearance in the daily strip.[ citation needed ]
The final Lance strip was #261, published May 29, 1960. [3]
Lance starred U.S. cavalry officer Lance St. Lorne, stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in the mid-19th century. In tales of settling the Old West frontier, the character crossed paths with such figures as Kit Carson and others. Comics historian Don Markstein said the strip was "characterized by high-quality stories and art, but also by historical accuracy. Unlike, say, Lucky Luke , when Lance met someone who had really lived, that person was as old as he'd actually have been at the time, and in circumstances congruent with the known course of the person's life." [4]
Comics critic Bill Blackbeard rated Lance "the best of the page-high adventure strips undertaken after the 1930s". [5]
The American Comics Archive reprinted Lance in its Big Fun comics magazine. Big Fun #5, devoted solely to Lance, reprinted Sundays and dailies from June 5, 1955, through August 20, 1957. Comics Revue had Lance as a cover feature on several issues.
The series was completely reprinted with restoration by Manuel Caldas in Portugal (four volumes), Spain (four volumes), Germany (five volumes [6] ), and Norway (a four volume edition [7] [8] and a one volume edition [9] [10] ) in their respective languages.[ citation needed ] A four-volume Serbian edition was published by Makondo in 2015.[ citation needed ]
A complete English language reprint of the strip was published in 2018–2019 by Classic Comics Press.
Black Fury is the name of several fictional comic book characters published in the Golden Age of Comics.
Alexander Toth was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Fantastic Four, Space Ghost, Sealab 2020, The Herculoids and Birdman. Toth's work has been resurrected in the late-night, adult-themed spin-offs on Cartoon Network’s late night sister channel Adult Swim: Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Scorchy Smith is an American adventure comic strip created by artist John Terry that ran from March 17, 1930 to December 30, 1961.
Comics Revue is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996.
United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media from 1978 to 2011, and is now a division of Andrews McMeel Syndication. United Features has syndicated many notable comic strips, including Peanuts, Garfield, Li'l Abner, Dilbert, Nancy, and Marmaduke.
Casey Ruggles is a Western comic strip written and drawn by Warren Tufts that ran from May 22, 1949, to October 30, 1955.
Chester Warren Tufts, best known as Warren Tufts, was an American comic strip and comic book artist-writer best known for his syndicated Western adventure strip Casey Ruggles, which ran from 1949 to 1954.
The Funnies was 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.
Jungle Jim is the fictional hero of a series of jungle adventures in various media. The series began on January 7, 1934, as an American newspaper comic strip chronicling the adventures of Asia-based hunter Jim Bradley, who was nicknamed Jungle Jim. The character also trekked through radio, film, comic book and television adaptations. Notable was a series of films and television episodes in which Johnny Weissmuller portrayed the safari-suit wearing character, after hanging up his Tarzan loincloth. The strip concluded on August 8, 1954.
Tales of the Green Beret is an American comic strip created by the nonfiction author Robin Moore and artist Joe Kubert. Published in the 1960s, its Vietnam War setting was concurrent with the controversial real-life conflict.
The Heart of Juliet Jones is an American comic strip series created by Elliott Caplin and drawn by Stan Drake, beginning on March 9, 1953. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Star Hawks was a comic strip created by Ron Goulart and Gil Kane, first published on October 3, 1977, that ran through May 2, 1981. It was written through April 1979 by Goulart, followed by Archie Goodwin (1979-1980), Roger McKenzie (1980-1981) and Roger Stern. Comics veteran Gil Kane provided the artwork, with uncredited help from Ernie Colón and Howard Chaykin.
Sam and Silo is an American comic strip created by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas, which began on April 18, 1977. The series is a "continuation" or a spin-off of Sam's Strip (1961-1963), as it uses the same characters. Dumas was solely responsible for the strip from 1995 and drew it until his death in 2016.
Torchy is a comic strip and, primarily, a series of comic books featuring the ingenue Torchy Todd, created by the American "good girl art" cartoonist Bill Ward during 1944. The character was ranked 97th of the 2011 Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.
Baron Bean is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist George Herriman. Baron Bean was distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was Big Shot Comics. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians; and Ogden Whitney and Gardner Fox on Skyman.
Crack Comics was 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".
Ruben Moreira was a Puerto Rican comic book artist and writer best known for his work on Tarzan and as a DC Comics artist.
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Western comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about cowboys, gunfighters, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, and Native Americans. Accompanying artwork depicted a rural America populated with such iconic images as guns, cowboy hats, vests, horses, saloons, ranches, and deserts, contemporaneous with the setting.
Francis Edward Herron was an American comic book writer and editor active in the 1940s–1960s, mainly for DC Comics. He is credited with co-creating Captain Marvel Jr. and the Red Skull, as well as such characters as Cave Carson, Nighthawk, and Mr. Scarlet and Pinky the Whiz Kid. Herron spent the bulk of his time in the comics industry writing for such characters as Green Arrow, Superman, and the Western character Tomahawk.