Prince Valiant and the Rise and Fall of Adventure Comic Strips

Prince Valiant was one of a number of adventure strips, bigger in size and bigger in scope.

by Rich Watson

Between the time when audiences first relied on daily newspapers and the rise of the internet, there was an age undreamed of in comic strips. And unto this, Prince Valiant: destined to take his place among the epic characters presented every Sunday. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. 

Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!

“For Better or For Worse” Was Born From A Pregnancy—Literally

The cartoonist’s growing family—and subsequent problems in raising it—were the basis for this popular comic strip.

by Rich Watson 

For almost thirty years, For Better or For Worse was a sitcom-like comic strip about the ups and downs of a middle-class Canadian family. It won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award and was a nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1994.

The strip grew out of the family experiences of its creator, Lynn Johnston—especially when she first had kids.

#route66 Was Named For Will Rogers, The “Cowboy Philosopher” of the Twentieth Century

The working-class hero’s death was mourned nationwide, and commemorated by naming the Mother Road for him.

by Rich Watson 

In the early twentieth century, Will Rogers was a major American celebrity, an actor in film and on vaudeville, as well as a syndicated columnist. Perhaps you’ve heard one of his famous quotes: “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

After his death in 1935, among his many tributes included renaming Route 66 after him.