''Marmaduke'' is a newspaper

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 ...

revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015.

Publication history

The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the

National Newspaper Syndicate The National Newspaper Syndicate, originally known as the John F. Dille Co., was a syndication service that operated from 1917 to c. 1984. It was founded by Chicago businessman John F. Dille and specialized in comic strips and gag cartoons. It al ...

) in 1954. Anderson said he drew on

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

routines for his ideas. Anderson illustrated the strip, writing it with help from Phil Leeming (1955–1962) and later Dorothy Leeming (1963–1969), and, after August 2, 2004, 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 An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous, ...

submitted by the fans. Brad Anderson died on August 30, 2015, at the age of 91, 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; Marmaduke is a very large example of the breed and has regularly been drawn as apparently measuring 40 inches (102 cm) and upwards at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...

. * Phil – patriarch of the Winslow family * Dottie – matriarch of the Winslow family * Barbie – the Winslows' older child * Billy – the Winslows' younger child * Mr. and Mrs. Snyder – the Winslows' neighbors * King Tut – A Siamese cat, based on Brad Anderson's pet, who is Marmaduke's nemesis

Reception

Brad Anderson won the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

's Reuben Award for Newspaper Panel Cartoon in 1978, and the George Arents Pioneer Medal for

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

alumni in 1999.ARENTS AWARD WINNERS
, Syracuse University Magazine 1999: "The strip ..now syndicated in more than 600 newspapers worldwide." As of 2015, ''Marmaduke'' continues to be widely syndicated, and is popular with readers. Attempts to cancel ''Marmaduke'' have drawn protest, such as those by readers of ''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' in 1999, of the ''

Sarasota Herald Tribune The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''. History The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by Halifax Media ...

'' in 2007, and of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' in 1986.

Criticism

The strip's longevity and perceived monotonyLaughing 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." have been noted by satirical publications such as '' The Onion'' and have made it the butt of jokes.: "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." It has become "a hot source of retro-ironic-subversive humor." For example, a blog called "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke" deconstructs the strip to offer an alternative explanation for what is happening in the drawing. Another blog called "Marmaduke Can Vote" gives each panel a political slant, while another called "Poignant Marmaduke" changes all the captions to make the comics sad. Additionally, "The Marmaduke Project" re-imagines Marmaduke in other forms. In his satirical analysis at ''The Comic Strip Doctor'',

David Malki ''Wondermark'' is a webcomic created by David Malki which was syndicated to ''Flak Magazine'' and appeared in ''The Onion'' print edition from 2006 to 2008. It features 19th-century illustrations that have been recontextualized to create humorous ...

of '' Wondermark'' ranked ''Marmaduke'' among "the worst newspaper comic strips," alongside '' Heathcliff'', '' Family Circus'', and '' Dennis the Menace''.

Adaptations

Animated series

Ruby-Spears Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

produced ''Marmaduke'' segments for the 1980 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 Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...

and the females were voiced by

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until his ...

Films

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 Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''The Royal ...

as the voice of Marmaduke, Lee Pace as Phil Winslow,

Judy Greer Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress, who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She first rose to prominence in a variety of suppor ...

as Debbie Winslow, Caroline Sunshine as Barbara Winslow, and Finley Jacobsen as Brian Winslow. It was announced on the

Andrews McMeel Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC (formerly Andrews, McMeel and Parker (1975–1986) and Andrews and McMeel (1986–1997)) is a company that publishes books, calendars, and related toys. It is a part of Andrews McMeel Universal (which comprises AM ...

website that an animated film adaptation of ''Marmaduke'' was planned to be released sometime in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. The film featured Pete Davidson as Marmaduke,

J.K. Simmons Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He i ...

as Zeus, Brian Hull as Guy Hilton,

Shelby Young Shelby Young is an American actress. She is known for her roles on ''American Horror Story'', '' Days of Our Lives'', ''The Social Network'' and the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Early life Young was born in Florida to a Jewish family. Young alwa ...

as Shantrelle, and David Koechner as Phil Winslow. It was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on May 6, 2022 and like the live-action film was panned by critics.

References

;General * Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. .

External links

National Cartoonists Society AwardsToday's ''Marmaduke'' strip at GoComics.com
{{United Media Comics American comic strips Fictional dogs 1954 comics debuts Fictional characters from Kansas Comics about dogs Comics characters introduced in 1954 Gag cartoon comics Gag-a-day comics American comics characters American comics adapted into films Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series Marmaduke