Hot sox! This is what I've been yearning for!

September 2, 2008 2:05 PM

Barnacle Press : archive of mostly public domain newspaper comics. Loads of good stuff, but some highlights not previously mentioned include (especially) Ella Cinders, an stylishly written flapper-Cinderella update; the less clever but still charming Cinderella Suze; the appallingly cute Diary of Snubs, Our Dog; Foxy Grandpa, about a grandfather who outsmarts prank-happy kids; The Hurry Up New Yorker, a kinetically drawn one-joke strip; The Newlyweds' Baby, about a cartoon-sexually-dimorphic couple with a terrible baby; Doesn't It Seem Strange, sort of a beautifully illustrated 'They'll Do It Every Time' for 1903-4; Bringing Up Father, class comedy with lots of rolling pin violence; the freaky-deaky Terrors of the Tiny Tads. (Main link previously posted a couple of times in 2005, but new stuff has been added since then, and the site's been redesigned.)
posted by zusty (19 comments total)

Agreed. Some great stuff here!
posted by the dief at 2:33 PM on September 2, 2008

This is a pretty amazing resource, thanks for this. I'm kind of amazed at how all of these strips have completely disappeared from the public consciousness. I wonder if a hundred years from now, people will have completely forgotten Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side while they're complaining about how Garfield still isn't funny.

The Newlyweds' Baby, about a cartoon-sexually-dimorphic couple with a terrible baby;

I'm trying very hard to figure out what you mean by this. Is it that it's more apparent compared to other comic strips which one is the female and which one is the male thanks to some specific cartoon-like exaggeration on the part of the artist?
posted by shmegegge at 3:06 PM on September 2, 2008

There is only one comic, and that comic is The Outbursts Of Everett True. A fat man violently beats people half to death for minor social transgressions. That's it. It's the greatest comic formula ever devised.
posted by DecemberBoy at 3:08 PM on September 2, 2008 [4 favorites]

Great find, thanks.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:15 PM on September 2, 2008

Awesome site.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 3:27 PM on September 2, 2008

Doesn't It Seem Strange is just beautiful.

Great first post! (is this the part where I say I knew you before you were famous?)
posted by Eideteker at 3:30 PM on September 2, 2008

I'm trying very hard to figure out what you mean by this.

So, having looked at the comic, my guess is that the OP is implying that the men and women are drawn like separate species in the comic. They're drawn so differently that they look like different species.
posted by GuyZero at 3:59 PM on September 2, 2008

I second Greg Nog's enthusiasm.
posted by Michael Roberts at 4:39 PM on September 2, 2008

@GuyZero and shmegegge: Yes, I was making the sorta-joking assertion that there's a lot of difference between the makes and females in the strip. You see this a lot in some varieties of comics, with the goofy males and hotsy totsy ladies, and it's vaguely akin to the strong gender-specific characteristics of some creatures (peacocks, deer, &c). (At least, I think so.)

@Eideteker: thanks for the impetus. I keep forgetting to post things.
posted by zusty at 4:53 PM on September 2, 2008

@DecemberBoy: Whoa, it's like the opposite of Citizen Fixit, who tries to serve people with warnings about social misbehaviors but gets beaten up for his trouble every time. Maybe Everett True is in the market for a sidekick.
posted by zusty at 4:57 PM on September 2, 2008

"I keep forgetting to post things."

You and me both.
posted by Eideteker at 6:16 PM on September 2, 2008

Goodbye everybody. I'll be back in a few months once I stop looking through the most freakin' awesomest website ever posted to MeFi in the history of the internets.
posted by vertigo25 at 7:06 PM on September 2, 2008

Oh, this is fabulous! Thanks!
posted by Jilder at 10:39 PM on September 2, 2008

Awesome post, and now I will not rest until I have a copy of The Outbursts of Everett True on my bookshelf.
posted by the bricabrac man at 6:57 AM on September 3, 2008

I join in everyone's enthusiasm (and holy hell, you've been here almost four years? POST MOAR!), and I'm still stuck on Ella Cinders—what terrific dialogue! "The only thing I ever got first hand was a licking! I've even got a second hand mother and a slightly used dog." And I agree with shmegegge:

I'm kind of amazed at how all of these strips have completely disappeared from the public consciousness.

Thank god for people who diligently dig through the crap to come up with these treasures.
posted by languagehat at 7:18 AM on September 3, 2008

Yes, I was making the sorta-joking assertion that there's a lot of difference between the makes and females in the strip.

thanks for the clarification. now that I look back at it again, you're absolutely right. also, this post rocks my socks off.
posted by shmegegge at 8:37 AM on September 3, 2008

@languagehat: Ella Cinders is SO worth reading all of, although the archive doesn't end with any story resolution. Also there's a courtroom segment near the tail end that's more scripts than strips, but nothing can sour my enthusiasm.
I think my favorite dialog is this:

O Watters Neek: Ella-- dear little girl-- there has been something trembling on my lips ever since I've known you!
Ella: Yes, I've noticed it. Why don't you shave it off?

THAT'S A KILLER!

(Also check out the model/rival technique in this Snubs strip!)
posted by zusty at 10:50 AM on September 3, 2008

Thanks a lot for the attention this week, y'all!

In response to the increased traffic, we're posting some "Top Ten" style lists for the next few days, to help folks sift through the voluminous content we've managed to amass over the past three years and find the gems.

Today we're posting "Must-Read Classics" and "Lesser Known Works of Major Creators." Tomorrow will be "Exceptionally Peculiar Comics" and "Features for Kids." Friday will be personal favorites from Thrillmer and I.

Know that we, a couple li'l comic hobbyists, thrive on and appreciate your approbation.
posted by Holmes! at 3:16 PM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I will not rest until I have a copy of The Outbursts of Everett True on my bookshelf.

There actually exists a film adaptation of The Outbursts of Everett True. When the strips were a minor meme a few years back, it was discovered that several silent shorts were filmed, but if I remember right, only one copy of one of the shorts is known to still exist, and it's in the archives of some University library, in Chicago I think. You'd probably have to be a student or faculty member to view it.
posted by DecemberBoy at 6:09 PM on September 3, 2008