''Connie'' is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
adventure
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
created by the cartoonist
Frank Godwin
Francis Godwin (October 20, 1889 – August 5, 1959) was an American illustrator and comic strip artist, notable for his strip ''Connie'' and his book illustrations for ''Treasure Island'', ''Kidnapped'', ''Robinson Crusoe'', ''Robin Hood'' ...
, who introduced a book illustration style to the
comics page
The comics page of a daily newspaper is a page largely or entirely devoted to comic strips.
Summary
Some other features that frequently appear on the comics page are crossword puzzles and horoscopes. Other special pages in newspapers include the ...
. The strip ran from 1927 to 1941 for the
Ledger Syndicate
The Public Ledger Syndicate (known simply as the Ledger Syndicate) was a syndication company operated by the Philadelphia '' Public Ledger'' that was in business from 1915 to circa 1950 (outlasting the newspaper itself, which ceased publishing in ...
.
''Connie'' debuted as a
Sunday page
The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies.
The first US newspap ...
on November 13, 1927. The strip was syndicated in France as ''Cora'' in the weekly paper ''
Le Journal de Mickey
''Le Journal de Mickey'' is a French weekly comics magazine established in 1934, featuring Disney comics from France and around the world. The magazine is currently published by Unique Heritage Media. It is centered on the adventures of Mickey M ...
''.
Some sources indicate 1929 as the start date for ''Connie''. Similarly, Maurice Horn's ''World Encyclopedia of Comics'' says that the strip lasted until 1944, but Allan Holtz's ''American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide'' says that it "was probably just available in reprints that long."
Characters and story
The strip evolved as Connie Kurridge went through various situations and occupations, including aviator, stunt pilot, charity worker, reporter and detective. Villains were fooled by her beauty and underestimated her agility and resourcefulness. Comics historian
Don Markstein
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonop ...
commented:
:When Connie's
daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays.
Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily c ...
began, on May 13, 1929, she became "flighty" in a different sense. There, she was played as an adventuring aviator, and the strips her series fit right in with included ''
Tailspin Tommy
''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and the ...
'', ''
Skyroads'' and the early ''
Brick Bradford
''Brick Bradford'' is a science fiction comic strip created by writer William Ritt, a journalist based in Cleveland, and artist Clarence Gray. It was first distributed on August 21, 1933 by Central Press Association, a subsidiary of King Features ...
''—except, of course, for her gender. Connie was the first female adventure hero in American comics, the precursor to ''
Brenda Starr, Reporter
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' (often referred to simply as ''Brenda Starr'') is a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate.
History
Although set in Chicago, ''B ...
'', Deathless Deer, ''
Modesty Blaise
''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talent ...
'' and all the rest. Connie (last name Kurridge—sounds like "courage", get it?) was deceptively pretty, tho as a product of the flapper era, rather flat-chested compared to modern comics women. Neither villains nor readers back then expected to find an agile and resourceful brain beneath her lovely blonde curls. And she was capable of spectacular feats of derring-do, such as flying great distances cross-country in an unfamiliar plane, at night, with neither navigational equipment nor lights; or performing stunt flights in a plane she knew had recently been sabotaged.
In ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'',
Maurice Horn
Maurice Horn (born 1931) is a French-American comics historian, author, and editor, considered to be one of the first serious academics to study comics. He is the editor of ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'', ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoon ...
wrote:
:Then came the Depression and Connie turned out to be a girl with a social conscience; she helped her mother with her charity work and often visited the men on the bread lines (one of the very few instances where the Depression was graphically depicted in a comic strip)... In 1934 Connie went to work, first as a reporter, then as the operator of a detective agency (a kind of female
Sam Spade
Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett.
''The Maltese Falcon'', first published as a serial in the pulp ...
)... Connie is a liberated woman: intelligent, self-reliant, at ease in all situations. Holding her own against any man, she would certainly have made a better representative for the women's movement than...
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
.
The Sunday page included two
toppers during the strip's run: ''The Wet Blanket'' (November 1, 1931 - December 13, 1936) and ''Wonder-Land'' (December 20, 1936 - 1940).
Reprints
The first year of the daily strips were reprinted in ''Connie: A Complete Compilation: 1929-1930'' (1977) by Hyperion Press. The strips were reprinted in ''
Famous Funnies
''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following sem ...
'', published by
Eastern Color Printing
The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928 ...
. They were later collected by
Pacific Comics Club
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
in 2009-2010.
Pacific Comics Club
Grand Comics Database. Accessed Nov. 26, 2017.
References
Notes
Sources
* {{cite web, title=Frank Godwin, publisher = Lambiek Comiclopedia, url=http://lambiek.net/artists/g/godwin_francis.htm, accessdate=2007-08-30
1927 comics debuts
1944 comics endings
Adventure comics
Adventure comic strips
American comics characters
American comic strips
Aviation comics
Comics about women
Comics characters introduced in 1927
Detective comics
Female characters in comics
Fictional aviators
Fictional reporters
Fictional female detectives
Mystery comics