I can’t honestly say that Freckles and his Friends is one of my favorite comic strips, but it is one I’ve always enjoyed when I’ve gotten the chance the chance to read it in the back of one Golden Age comic book or other.  It’s always been on my short list of comic strips I’ve wanted to include in one of these things if I ever came across an actual issue of Freckles and his Friends.   So imagine my pleasure when, thanks to the Digital Comic Museum, I finally did.

Standard (a.k.a. Nedor, a.k.a. Better) published eight issues of the title between 1947 and 1949, #5 being the first.  Freckles by Merrill Blosser was a remarkably long running (1915 to 1973!) distributed by NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association) that followed the adventures of  Freckles McGoosey and his pals from when they were kids to when their teenage years.  The adventures were of the lower case gag a day variety, but as the strip evolved it allowed the kids to age more or less naturally  and it became more of a continuity strip .