Monday, April 30, 2007
A Tale of Two Puds
:: Posted by Bryan @ 4/30/2007 02:52:00 AM This past weekend the Globe and Mail added a new strip to its comics page, "Pud" by Steve Nease. Nease is the art director and editorial cartoonist for the Metroland group of papers, including The Oakville Beaver. Nease has won numerous awards for his editorial work and is well represented in the editorial cartooning annual, Portfoolio. Pud began as a strip in 1984 and is syndicated by the Canadian Artists Group.
The strip is a domestic comedy and the protagonist Pud, who began his cartoon life as a child, is now in his 20s.
Some readers may remember another comic strip character with the unlikely name of Pud.
Back in 1950, Dubble Bubble debuted the adventures of a newly christened character in "Fleer Funnies, starring Pud" (see sample). Dubble Bubble had included a comic strip with each package of its pink bubble gum beginning in 1930, pre-dating Topps' Bazooka Joe by several years. Created by cartoonist Ray Thompson, Pud is one of the most iconic comic strip characters of all-time, a part of the childhoods of every gum-chewing tot in the U.S. and Canada (and parts beyond).
This begs the question, why would a cartoonist name his comic strip after another famous comic strip character? To me it seems tantamount to naming a strip "Snoopy" or "Charlie Brown" while Schulz's "Peanuts" is still going strong. Weird.
Before I start pulling or pounding on Pud, however, I'm going to give the strip a chance to grow on me, even though I'm 23 years late. Nease doesn't have a website, so interested readers will have to check their local papers for or see Nease's syndicate.
Thus was born Pud, a comic strip about the hilarious on goings of Nease's real life family-- with a little artist liscense employed too of course. The recurring characters are sons Max, Ben (PUD), Sam, and Robert. The family dog is another, as well as himself and his wife.
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Tribute to Steve Nease
Nease to talk about his work
History of Fleer FunniesLabels: comic strips, comics history
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