The strip's popularity grew from an original eight papers, to ultimately more than 900.

Part of the strip's broad appeal is due to its lack of social or political commentary ; though this was Davis's original intention, he also admitted that his " grasp of politics isn't strong ", remarking that, for many years, he thought " OPEC was a denture adhesive ".

The New Addams Family provided a cross between the original television show's mansion and the movie / comic strip's mansion.

Lucy wears a blue dress with white and black saddle shoes for most of the strip's original run.

Though the strip's various compilations do not do them justice, the original cast of characters in Bloom County were Milo, Bess, and Major Bloom, along with a basset hound named " Rabies " whose thoughts could be read à la Snoopy ; the first year of strips are mysteriously omitted from all compilations save the Bloom Library, although a selection did find publication in a 1986 anthology collection Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness.

The fifth anniversary Madam & Eve book credits many of the strip's original ideas, including the title, to Francis.

* Private Beetle Bailey — the main character and strip's namesake ; a feckless, shirking, perpetual goof-off and straggler known for his chronic laziness and generally insubordinate attitude.

The strip's main characters are the Dewclaws, a blended family as a result of an interspecies marriage.

The " Joneses " of the title were neighbors of the strip's main characters, and were unseen characters spoken of but never actually seen in person.

Subject matter ranges from the main characters ' adventures ( both present and past ) to contemporary commentary to political statements, and often makes its points in scathing and offensive fashion: for instance, in the debut strip, the strip's main character offers his opinion of an ex-girlfriend by giving her a coat hanger as a baby shower present ( alluding to its use as an instrument in back-street abortions ).

Schulz made Rerun into a main character in the strip's final years, and much of the focus during this time is from Rerun's perspective ; Schulz admitted in a 1997 interview with Gary Groth that the character virtually " took over " the comic.

Over the week of July 7, 2008, Pearls Before Swine parodied the tendency of Funky Winkerbean towards killing off main characters when it killed off Rat and the strip's own author, Stephan Pastis ( the two would later be returned to the strip via the intervention of United Feature Syndicate ), even utilizing Batiuk's representation of the Angel of Death.

Buckles is a guileless and innocent dog, and is the strip's main protagonist.

The main impetus for the strip's recharacterization was the rise of the United States in the aftermath of World War II.

* Garfield ( character ), the comic strip's main character

Frenchy the Clown, the comic strip's main character, was not only bitter and evil, but had a " way with the ladies " and was often depicted in fairly sexually explicit scenes.

; The Pink Bunny: The Pink Bunny is the main character and the strip's only constant.

Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college student to a youthful senior citizen in the 40 + years of the strip's daily existence.

Frequently, the characters break the fourth wall, mostly to explain something to the readers, talk about a subject that often sets up the strip's punchline ( like Jon claiming that pets are good for exercise right before he finds Garfield in the kitchen and chases him out ), or give a mere glare when a character is belittled or not impressed.

The character later known as the Yellow Kid had minor supporting roles in the strip's early panels.

* Lieutenant Jackson Flap — the strip's first black character, often touchy and suspicious — but effortlessly cool, introduced in 1970.

* Corporal Yo — the strip's first Asian character, introduced in 1990.

This encyclopedic reference volume examines the strip's themes, character studies, quotations and motifs.

It's difficult to compile a definitive list of every character that appeared in Pogo over the strip's 27 years, but the best estimates put the total cast at well over 1, 000.

He is the brother of Judge Joe Dredd, the strip's eponymous lead character.

Onstad has published several books: nine anthologies of Achewood comics ; a humorous cookbook featuring recipes purportedly invented by the strip's characters ; A Wonderful Tale, a book written from the perspective of a character from the strip ; and that same character's second novel A Hilarious Comedy.

Alley Oop, the strip's title character, was a sturdy citizen in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo.

The comic strip's recurring character Gina would not be introduced into the strip until several years after the TV series ' production, and does not appear in the TV show at all.

Former cadet Dolman is notable not for anything he has done yet, but for the potential development of his character in the strip's future, as he is cloned from Dredd's DNA and effectively a member of his family.

* Dance-pop / salsa singer Brenda K. Starr ( born Brenda Kaplan ) adopted her stage name in reference to the strip's titular character.

After appearing infrequently for several decades, Google has been seen only twice since 1996 ; Snuffy Smith, who was introduced in 1934, is now the comic strip's central character.

As the only female character in the strip's very earliest days ( as well as the first female character in the strip ), Patty often acted as a sort of mother-hen, looking out for the younger characters ; however, she also set the tone for the strong female characters in the Peanuts universe.

Shumaker's impression on the cartoonist was so profound that MacNelly created the comic strip Shoe after " Shu ," and the strip's lead character is based upon him.

In its early decades, a timid man named Henry Tremblechin was a recurring victim of the strip's observations.

The stupidity of the humans is countered by Sparky, a fast-talking penguin ( although the strip occasionally postulates he is actually an auk ) with a red visor, who provides much of the strip's political commentary.

The consequence was that Patpong lost a great deal of its vibrancy as a go-go bar and sexual services strip, becoming crowded with tourist shoppers who were at best bemused by the nightlife and put a big damper on the strip's power to excite and amuse.

* Kayo: Moon's street urchin kid brother, who sleeps in an open dresser drawer — one of the strip's most iconic images.

* Snooty's later pals ( who became his pals in the strip's second series ):

And Dagwood, who previously had been cast in the role of straight man to Blondie's comic antics, took over as the comic strip's clown.

For much of the strip's first few years, Jason was portrayed as a womanizer who was willing to do anything for sex and violently feared commitment.

Though he spoke the only lines of dialogue in the first strip and was one of the strip's primary figures in its first few years, he was mainly utilized as a " straight man " for Charlie Brown and soon began to be eclipsed by newer characters who were more developed, such as Linus and Lucy.

The strip's first artist was Dan Heilman, who left in 1965 and was replaced by Harold LeDoux.

The early 90s saw perhaps the most bizarre running story of the strip's history, as Greytowers was invaded by aliens, who used mind control powers to take over several characters and tried to cast the school adrift in space, until Winker used the aliens ' allergy to pig swill to defeat them.

For most of the last year of the strip's existence, Brett Koth, who had been assisting Davis on Garfield at that time, was given co-creator's credit in the strip, and signed his name to the strips along with Davis.

Alex and Penny married in the strip's early days and had a son called Christopher, who grew up, went to school, had work experience and has now started college.

The strip's simple premise follows the adventures of a black male cat called Korky, a cat who behaves like a human and is accepted in a world of humans as only a comic character can be.

Some readers, who have been unaware of the strip's history in a bank's promotional magazine for children, have taken Wagner's porcine appearance as a statement of feminism, specifically implying that " men are pigs ".

Frazz — The eponymous character, Edwin Frazier is a 29-year-old songwriter who took a job as janitor of Bryson Elementary ( He mentions that he got out of third grade 21 years previous to the strip's beginning ).

The strip's caricature of Jon Stewart, with a long, downwardly pointed nose, was criticized by satirist Stephen Colbert, who, during a December 14, 2006 show, joked that the caricature may have been " clip art from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The strip's title character was a cigar-chomping, pool hustling, wargaming dragon, and featured a cast of monsters who were his neighbors and friends.