| Marmaduke | |
|---|---|
 A Marmaduke cartoon from September 13, 2006 | |
| Author(s) |
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| Illustrator(s) |
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| Current status/schedule | Active |
| Launch date | June 1954 |
| Syndicate(s) |
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| Publisher(s) | Ballantine Books |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015. [1]
The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate) in 1954. [2] Anderson said he drew on Laurel and Hardy routines for his ideas. [3] Anderson illustrated the strip, writing it with help from Phil Leeming (1955–1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963–1969), and, after August 2, 2004,[ citation needed ] Anderson's son Paul.
The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called "Dog Gone Funny", in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by the fans.
Brad Anderson died on August 30, 2015, at the age of 91, [4] [5] leaving the long-term fate of the strip unknown; strips co-drawn with the help of his son, Paul Anderson, continue to be syndicated.
Brad Anderson won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Newspaper Panel Cartoon in 1978, [10] and the George Arents Pioneer Medal for Syracuse University alumni in 1999. [11]
As of 2015, Marmaduke continues to be widely syndicated, [11] and is popular with readers. Attempts to cancel Marmaduke have drawn protest, such as those by readers of The Toronto Star in 1999, [12] of the Sarasota Herald Tribune in 2007, [13] and of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1986. [14]
The strip's longevity and perceived monotony [15] have been noted by publications such as The Onion [16] and have made it the butt of jokes. [12] It has become "a hot source of retro-ironic-subversive humor." [17] For example, a blog called "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke" [18] deconstructs the strip to offer an alternative explanation for what is happening in the drawing. [19] [20] [15] [17] Another blog called "Marmaduke Can Vote" gives each panel a political slant, [21] [17] while another called "Poignant Marmaduke" changes all the captions to make the comics sad. [22] Additionally, "The Marmaduke Project" re-imagines Marmaduke in other forms. [23] [17]
The Comic Strip Doctor, David Malki of Wondermark included Marmaduke for analysis of strips he disliked, alongside Heathcliff , Family Circus , and Dennis the Menace . [24]
Ruby-Spears produced Marmaduke segments for the 1980 animated series Heathcliff , whose title character was also based on a comic strip character. In this animated version, the male characters were voiced by Paul Winchell and the females were voiced by Russi Taylor.
A live-action Marmaduke movie, in which the Winslows and their dog move from Kansas to California, was released on June 4, 2010 and received generally negative reviews from critics. The film featured Owen Wilson as the voice of Marmaduke, Lee Pace as Phil Winslow, Judy Greer as Debbie Winslow, Caroline Sunshine as Barbara Winslow, and Finley Jacobsen as Brian Winslow.
It was announced on the Andrews McMeel website that an animated film adaptation of Marmaduke was planned to be released sometime in 2022. [25] The film featured Pete Davidson as Marmaduke, J.K. Simmons as Zeus, Brian Hull as Guy Hilton, Shelby Young as Shantrelle, and David Koechner as Phil Winslow. [25] It was released on Netflix on May 6, 2022 and like the live-action film was panned by critics. [26]
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.
Dilbert is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title character. It has led to dozens of books, an animated television series, a video game, and hundreds of themed merchandise items. Dilbert Future and The Joy of Work are among the best-selling books in the series. In 1997, Adams received the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award and the Newspaper Comic Strip Award for his work. Dilbert appears online and as of 2013 was published daily in 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries and 25 languages.
Stephan Thomas Pastis is an American cartoonist and former lawyer who is the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. He also writes children's chapter books, commencing with the release of Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. The seventh book, It's the End When I Say It's the End, debuted at #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Middle Grade Books.
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King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises, and licenses its classic characters and properties.
Nancy is an American comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate and Andrews McMeel Syndication. Its origins lie in Fritzi Ritz, a strip Bushmiller inherited from its 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 comic, with Nancy taking the Sunday slot previously filled by Bushmiller's Phil Fumble strip beginning on October 30, 1938.
Heathcliff is an American comic strip created by George Gately in 1973, featuring the title character, an orange cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, which took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988.
Henry is a comic strip created in 1932 by Carl Thomas Anderson. The title character is a young bald boy who is mostly mute in the comics. Except in a few early episodes, when the comic strip character communicates, he does so largely but not entirely through pantomime. He also spoke in a comic book series of 1946–1961 and in at least one Betty Boop cartoon from 1935 in which Betty Boop has a pet shop and Henry speaks to a dog in the window.
Bradley Jay Anderson was an American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Marmaduke.
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The Duplex is a comic strip by Glenn McCoy and now his brother Gary McCoy, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication since April 1993.
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GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones. However, in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips and cartoons. GoComics publishes editorial cartoons, mobile content, and daily comics. It is currently owned by Andrews McMeel Universal.
Heathcliff is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series based on the Heathcliff comic strip created by George Gately and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. It premiered on ABC on October 4, 1980, with a total of 26 episodes produced under the titles Heathcliff and Dingbat and Heathcliff and Marmaduke.
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Uclick LLC was an American corporation selling "digital entertainment content" for the desktop, the web and mobile phones. Uclick operated several consumer websites, including the comic strip and editorial cartoon site GoComics and the puzzle and casual game sites ThePuzzleSociety.com and UclickGames.com.
Marmaduke is a 2010 American comedy film based on Brad Anderson's comic strip of the same name. The film was directed by Tom Dey and stars an ensemble cast consisting of Owen Wilson, Lee Pace, Judy Greer, William H. Macy, Steve Coogan, Sam Elliott, Fergie, George Lopez, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Emma Stone, Kiefer Sutherland, and Marlon Wayans. It centers on a Great Dane named Marmaduke who moves with his family from Kansas to Orange County and faces challengers to fit in with other dogs. The film was released in the United States on June 4, 2010 by 20th Century Fox. It received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $90 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million.
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Marmaduke is a 2022 animated comedy film directed by Mark Dippé, and co-directed by Phil Nibbelink, Youngki Lee, and Matt Whelan, based on the comic strip of the same name by Paul and Brad Anderson. The second feature-length film based on the strip following the 2010 film, it stars Pete Davidson as Marmaduke, along with J.K. Simmons, Brian Hull, Shelby Young and David Koechner. The film is an international co-production of the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Hawaii and the United Kingdom.