Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015.[1]
Publication history
The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate) in 1954.[2] Anderson said he drew on Laurel and Hardy routines for his ideas.[3] Anderson illustrated the strip, writing it with help from Phil Leeming (1955–1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963–1969), and, after August 2, 2004,[citation needed] Anderson's son Paul.
The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called "Dog Gone Funny", in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by the fans.
Brad Anderson died on August 30, 2015, at the age of 91,[4][5] leaving the long-term fate of the strip unknown; strips co-drawn with the help of his son, Paul Anderson, continue to be syndicated.
Characters
Marmaduke – a messy but lovable Great Dane owned by the Winslow family; he is large even for his breed, and has regularly been drawn as apparently measuring 40 inches (102 cm) and upwards at the withers.
The strip's longevity and perceived monotony[15] have been noted by publications such as The Onion[16] and have made it the butt of jokes.[12] It has become "a hot source of retro-ironic-subversive humor."[17] For example, a blog called "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke"[18]deconstructs the strip to offer an alternative explanation for what is happening in the drawing.[19][20][15][17] Another blog called "Marmaduke Can Vote" gives each panel a political slant,[21][17] while another called "Poignant Marmaduke" changes all the captions to make the comics sad.[22] Additionally, "The Marmaduke Project" re-imagines Marmaduke in other forms.[23][17]
Ruby-Spears produced Marmaduke segments for the 1980 animated seriesHeathcliff, whose title character was also based on a comic strip character. In this animated version, the male characters were voiced by Paul Winchell and the females were voiced by Russi Taylor.
A live-action Marmaduke movie, in which the Winslows and their dog move from Kansas to California, was released on June 4, 2010 and received generally negative reviews from critics. The film featured Owen Wilson as the voice of Marmaduke, Lee Pace as Phil Winslow, Judy Greer as Debbie Winslow, Caroline Sunshine as Barbara Winslow, and Finley Jacobsen as Brian Winslow.
It was announced on the Andrews McMeel website that an animated film adaptation of Marmaduke was planned to be released sometime in 2022.[25] The film featured Pete Davidson as Marmaduke, J.K. Simmons as Zeus, Brian Hull as Guy Hilton, Shelby Young as Shantrelle, and David Koechner as Phil Winslow.[25] It was released on Netflix on May 6, 2022 and like the live-action film was panned by critics.[26]
References
^Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 254. ISBN978-0-472-11756-7.
^Anderson entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. Accessed October 14, 2018.
^ abARENTS AWARD WINNERSArchived November 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Syracuse University Magazine 1999: "The strip [...] now syndicated in more than 600 newspapers worldwide."
^ abGarnet Fraser (February 3, 2008). "Web sites mocking comic strips gain following". The Toronto Star.: "Marmaduke has arguably spent 50 years retelling the same two jokes – Marmaduke is a dog with some human qualities, and Marmaduke is gargantuan – but the Star's attempt to drop it in 1999 sparked a reader revolt."
^ abLaughing at, not with, the comics, Troy Reimink, Grand Rapids Press: "The daily comic strip strikes me as such a moldy, arcane form of entertainment, based on tired jokes repeated ad nauseam until the end of time. We get it: Garfield likes lasagna. Marmaduke is big."
