When I first stumbled upon the comic strip, "Etta Kett," I was surprised to learn of its long run, from 1925 to 1974. Why? Because I'd never heard of it. At all. Not even a whiff. Originally, as you can probably guess from its pun-ish title, it was meant to teach teenagers about proper etiquette and appropriate, i.e. modest, fashion.  This must have gone over like a lead balloon, because with astonishing speed, its creator, Paul Robinson - an early-1900s railway clerk turned animator for the pioneering Bray Studios turned cartoonist - switched things up. No longer was "Etta Kett" a teaching tool, but a lighthearted, always clean-minded, comedy about teenagers and their families. Clean-minded at that time meant that it was hilarious to make sexy-times moves on an unwilling gal. But it was a "different time," as they say.  Again, this was all wildly popular, so much so that the likes of Harvey Kurtzman, of Mad magazine and "Little Annie Fanny"...

I've always loved the gentle spirit of "Mutts," a comic strip by Patrick McDonnell which first popped up in the early 1990s and is still running to this day. It was an immediate popular hit. McDonnell himself was delighted when his childhood hero, Charles Schulz, publicly praised the strip, and thereafter, the two became close friends, one of the few that the notoriously agoraphobic Schulz had (along with Cathy Guisewite, the author of the "Cathy" strip, whom he adored).  In addition to his strip, McDonnall is well known for his animal rights advocacy , and the strip regularly addresses these issues. But for me, I treasure "Mutts" most for its powerfully minimalist design and its hushed tone, which seems to tap directly into a child's subconscious.  McDonnell's and Schulz' friendship extended into their own strips, as when "Earl," a character from "Mutts," appears in a painting admired by "Rerun" in "Peanu...

As a wee one, I was delighted by "Alley Oop," a comic strip about a hapless caveman and his varied exploits, though I had no idea how much it had changed since it first appeared.  In fact, seven years after debuting in 1932, the strip made a jaw-dropping, even radical, transformation when its cartoonist, V.T. Hamlin, zapped his caveman hero into the 20th century - and thereafter, into every conceivable time period - making him a humorous and perpetual fish-out-of-water, time-traveling character.  Before creating the strip, Hamlin served in WWI, where he survived a near-deadly poison gas attack and drafted cartoons during his long recovery. It was then when he realized that he might just have a future as a cartoonist. Luckily, he later ignored the rantings of a college art professor, who announced in class,"'Now here's a man with a wonderful talent and he wants to waste it on being a cartoonist!"  As the Roaring Twenties unfurled, Hamlin tried unsuccessfully ...

I'm always surprised when I revisit the original "Dennis the Menace" comic strip, since it's wittier, livelier and more sophisticated than the somewhat bland, late-1950s TV series. Created by artist Hank Ketcham - who began his career in the 1930s as an animator on Disney's "Pinocchio" - the strip was inspired by the exploits of his rambunctious six-year-old, Dennis. "Your son is a menace! " exclaimed Hank's wife, Alice, and that's all it took: "Dennis" was born. After Alice died of a drug overdose when Dennis was only 12, Hank moved himself and his son to Geneva, Switzerland, where Hank remained for nearly 20 years, continuing to draw the strip. Sadly, after serving in Vietnam, Dennis suffered for decades with debilitating PTSD, which was little understood at the time. He and Hank mostly led separate lives, a poignant, even tragic, contrast to the fictional fun of "Dennis."  ''He's living in the East som...

"Jesus was black, 9/11 was an inside job, and Ronald Reagan was the devil." "I'm gonna find me a white man and lie to him right now!" These are just two memorable quotes from a short-lived comic strip which left a scorched-earth impression - one that people are still talking about. Before it was an animated series that got a little too real on Adult Swim, "The Boondocks" was ruffling plenty of feathers as a nationally syndicated comic strip. From 1999 to 2006, creator Aaron McGruder launched a full-scale assault on...well, just about everything, including Black culture, conservative politicians and generalized idiocy in American society. It was essential reading for me, since it didn't hesitate to skewer the deserving, and with arguably more daring, more bite and more spit-taking humor than the politically-prevaricating, libertarian "South Park," which started airing only a few years before on Comedy Central. The strip introduced Huey Fr...

Everyone has their favorite Gary Larson comic, right? The creator of "The Far Side," an artist who's now heavy into environmental causes, started the strip on a lark while working at a record store in Seattle. After submitting a few dashed-off, single-panel comics to local newspapers, he was surprised by the reception. The papers loved them - and so did their readers, who reveled in his dark, surreal vision of life, people, animals and even wee insects. The strip ran nationally for 15 years, its finale in January, 1995.  To me, "The Far Side" has always been an anomaly in the comic strip world. Children as well as adults used to look forward to their favorite newspaper comics in the morning - with cereal! - because they wanted to laugh with their favorite characters, like Snoopy or Cathy or Ziggy or Hobbes. But with "The Far Side," you weren't looking forward to recurring characters, you were looking forward to what Gary, the artist, was going to p...

What are your favorite "Calvin & Hobbes" strips? Tough to choose, I know, but I remember when I saw the one below for the first time because I could not stop giggling. Art Credit: Bill Watterson/Universal Press Syndicate

Some things eclipse their originators in popularity. Think "The Simpsons," which remains phenomenally successful after first appearing in 1987 on "The Tracy Ullman Show," the latter which lasted 4 seasons compared to "The Simpsons" 36 (and counting!).  Similarly, the short-lived, 1920s flapper comic, "Fritzi Ritz," is best remembered nowadays for introducing Fritzi's niece... ...or the comic juggernaut we all know as "Nancy," which began regularly appearing as a headliner in newspapers in the 1930s. Yet I'm more intrigued by one spin-off that didn't happen. Late in life, Charles M. Schulz told a biographer that he had regrets; he should have spun-off Peppermint Patty into her own strip. She was the only character from "Peanuts," he felt, who could have held her own as a singular comic star.  What comics are you enjoying lately? Don't forget to post them! We could all use the giggle.  Art Credits: World Feature ...

Are you tripping balls from the comic above? So were newspaper readers from 1905 to the early 1920s, when artist and animator Windsor McKay published his strip, "Little Nemo In Slumberland," which charted the jaw-dropping dreams of its young hero, Nemo. You can have a clearer look at the strip above by clicking and enlarging it, and read all of Nemo's eye-popping adventures right here .  McKay's strip is considered one of the most influential of all time and it's not hard to see why. Even Walt Disney acknowledged the debt he owed to McKay's comics and pioneering work in animation . Federico Fellini was also said to have been influenced by his work, along with Maurice Sendak, Art Spiegelman and Robert Crumb. Given his work, you might assume that McKay took shrooms - or something! - but apparently, he never even touched alcohol.  What are your favorite comics this week? You get extra Pecker Points™ added to your account if they're Mother's Day related.  ...

Art Credit: Bill Keane/King Features

Peckerwood's Weekly Lunocracy Post is   RIGHT HERE.  Art Credits: John McNamee, Tyson Cole, Amy Kurzwell