Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip was created by Anderson, with help from Phil Leeming (1955-1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963-1969). The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke. 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. Anderson received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip in 1978. Image File history File links Marmaduke. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Brad Anderson (born 1924) is an American cartoonist. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Great Dane is a breed of dog known for its giant size and gentle personality. ... The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists created in 1946. ...

Characters

• Marmaduke - A great dane. Marmaduke lives with the Winslow family and exhibits many characteristics not typically displayed by dogs.
• Dottie - Housewife of the family whose daily life would probably be a lot less of a hassle if she didn't have Marmaduke around.
• Phil - The head of the household. Phil loves his dog despite Marmaduke's antics but, not surprisingly, gets fed up once in a while.
• Barbara - The Winslow's oldest child.
• Billy - The youngest Winslow. Billy is somewhat more at the mercy of Marmaduke than the others, as he is still dwarfed by the family pet.

Animation

Ruby-Spears produced Marmaduke segments for the animated series Heathcliff, 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. Marmaduke also made a cameo appearance as an intentional "mistake" in an episode of Garfield and Friends and the episode is called Mistakes Will Happen. At the very end of Mistakes Will Happen, Garfield is making a promise to us or the audience that there will never be another mistake on the show again until Garfield breaks his promise and Odie is replaced by Marmaduke, then Garfield and Marmaduke go to the kitchen for a 10 a.m midnight snack. Ruby-Spears Productions is a California based entertainment production company that specializes in animation. ... An animated series or cartoon series is a television series produced by means of animation. ... Heathcliff is an animated TV series that debuted on October 4, 1980. ... Paul Winchell (December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005), born Pinkus Wilchinski (the family later shortened it to Wilchin), was an American ventriloquist and voice actor from New York City whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. ... Russi Taylor is the current voice actress for Disneys Minnie Mouse character. ... There was also an unrelated childrens television series, titled Garfield Goose and Friends, that ran from the 1950s through the 1970s. ...

Criticism

In his psychological analysis of the strip at Wondermark's The Comic Strip Doctor, David Malki ranks Marmaduke among "the worst newspaper comic strips".^[1]Joe Mathlete in his blog "Marmaduke Explained" said that everything Brad Anderson creates is "Cancer and Madness", going on to question how he remains alive.^[2] Today psychoanalysis comprises several interlocking theories concerning the functioning of the mind. ... Wondermark is a comic created by David Malki ! which is syndicated to Flak Magazine and appears in The Onions print edition. ... David Malki is a full-time movie trailer editor, in addition to being the creator and author of webcomic Wondermark. ...

References

• Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.

1. ^ The Comic Strip Doctor - Analyzing and improving the worst newspaper comic strips
2. ^ Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke

External links

• National Cartoonists Society Awards
• Today's Marmaduke strip at comics.com
• Marmaduke Can Vote - A blog dedicated to re-captioning Marmaduke strips with political humor
• The Marmaduke Project - A site dedicated to making Marmaduke funny, in various ways.
• Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke - A blog explaining each Marmaduke strip in humorous, sarcastic detail.