On this day in 1934, Alex Raymond and Dashiell Hammett’s Secret Agent X-9 debuted. It was syndicated by King Features, and as well as enjoying moderate success here in the U.S., the strip hit it big in Scandinavia, where it was published as X9 Agent comic books.

Can you believe it—MORE Doll Man with big heads! The first cover has some nice phallic guns and that great “sex face”. The second I’ve shown before, but it’s so perfect for our Good Head theme. Love those hairy fingers in the last cover. And, as usual, Doll Man has quite a pronounced package that The Undertaker is gleefully staring at. The headline says “Doll Man Greets The Return Of The Undertaker”. I guess that’s more tasteful than “The Undertaker Comes Again”. More, yes more, next Monday!

On this day in 1937, Jim Unger, creator of Herman, was born in London. This cartoonist began his career drawing for the Mississauga Times in Ontario. Herman has the special honor of being the first cartoon syndicated in Communist East Germany. Here’s a toon appropriate for the current chill:

On this day in 1894, Harold Gray, creator of Little Orphan Annie, was born. The strip (which Gray, it is said, originally thought to call Little Orphan Otto, till Joeseph Patterson intervened) carried a distinctive storytelling style. This made it extremely popular and also extremely vulnerable to parody: Kurtzman’s “Lil’ Annie Fanny” and Kelly’s “Lil’ Arf and Nonnie” just to name two. Of course, the character was further immortalized by the 1977 hit Broadway show, “Annie.” Check out this gem:

Oh this day in 1936, Hergé followed up his hit Tin Tin with another adventure series, Jo, Zette, and Jocko. The strip was plagued with restrictive story lines — unlike Tin Tin, siblings Jo and Zette (and their pet monkey Jocko) had parents and could not go bounding off on adventures of their own. It also lacked the political and social messages of Tin Tin and was therefore not as popular. The comic lasted until 1958.

I’m very excited to announce a new feature on the Arf Lovers Blog! Every Friday you’ll experience weird and wonderful videos. What Doll Man is to Mondays and D.J. David B. is to Tuesdays and Wacky Wonder Woman is to Wednesdays, The Flying Flick feature will be to Fridays. And The Flying Flick will be hosted by…THE FLYING FLICK! There’s rumored to be an unwritten rule at Marvel and DC that the word “FLICK” can’t be used in scripts because it might be misread as a dirty word. I have no such morals or sense of responsibility, so welcome the latest, greatest superhero, THE FLYING FLICK! : )

If you have a blog please spread the word (and let me know and I’ll link back to you).

The first offering is the 1949 Terrytoon “Comic Book Land”. My pal Bob Beerbohm turned me on to this way cool cartoon. This is the perfect kick-off because it has all the things you’ll see in upcoming episodes of the FLYING FLICK: Wackyness, Sex, Drama and that Cool-Beans Quality! I have many more wonky, wild videos of all kinds coming up on THE FLYING FLICK every Friday…so stay tooned!

On this day in 1970, the first mainstream strip to feature an African American heroine debuted. Although the strip didn’t run for very long, it was turned into a popular movie starring Pam Grier. Check out a strip below:

On this day in 1929, Popeye first appeared in E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theater comic strip. We already showed you that strip last month on the anniversary of the debut of the Thimble Theater. So instead today, enjoy Popeye’s first animated cartoon — “Popeye the Sailor:”

Enough with the angry emails, already! Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten Wacky Wonder Woman Wednesday-how could I?!? It’s just that been I’ve krazy busy trying to wrap up the fourth Arf book, Comic Arf (and it’s gonna be killer!). But, here’s another photo from that Playboy ish featuring Wacky Wonder Woman. Click on the black bars today only if you’re eighteen and can prove it…

Of course, Arf Lovers have seen Wonder Woman body painting long before this Playboy schtick…

And the Amazon Princess hasn’t been the only super-type to go the paint route. There’s WW’s gal pal, Super Girl…

And I dig this Hulk face paint…ARRRR-GGG-H-H-H-H!

But, nothing beats this friendly neighborhood Spider-Man for heroic proportions! Be warned: clicking on the black bar is not for the faint of heart… By clicking you’ll see what made the Hulk go, “AAAAAA-RRR-GGG-HH-H_H_H!”

— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Posted at 04:01 PM
Posted in Wacky Wonder Woman | permalink | 2 Comments »

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Wednesday, January 16, 2026

This Day in Arf History: Superman the Comic Strip Debuts

On this day in 1939, Shuster and Siegel’s Superman debuted in its comic strip form. Check out the slide show below — “Episode 1: Superman Comes to Earth,” which ran from January 16th to the 28th, 1939.

(click for a slide show)

— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)

Posted at 12:01 AM
Posted in This Day in Arf History | permalink | 5 Comments »

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