''Redeye'' is a

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 cartoonist

Gordon Bess Gordon C. Bess (January 12, 1929 – November 24, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Redeye''. Born in Richfield, Utah, Bess grew up attending schools in Nevada, Oregon and Utah, finishing high school in Hailey, Id ...

that was syndicated by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

to more than 100 newspapers. The strip debuted on September 11, 1967, and ran until July 13, 2008.

Publication history

Bess wrote and drew the strip from 1967 until 1988, when he was forced by illness to pass it on to

Bill Yates Floyd Buford Yates (July 5, 1921 – March 26, 2001), better known as Bill Yates, was an American cartoonist who drew gag cartoons and comic strips before assuming the position of comic strip editor for King Features Syndicate in 1978. Biograph ...

(writing) and

Mel Casson Mel Casson (July 25, 1920 – May 21, 2008) was an American cartoonist with a 50-year career. He is primarily remembered for his work on the daily comic strips ''Sparky'', ''Angel'', ''Mixed Singles''/''Boomer'' and '' Redeye'', plus numerous ...

(artwork). Casson took over both roles in 1999 when Bill Yates became ill. Yates died in 2001. Casson continued the strip alone from 1999 until his own death in May 2008. Casson was not replaced, and publication ended as submitted material ran out. The strip came to an end on July 13, 2008. In recent years, a small number of newspapers have been carrying the strip on Sundays only, reprinting from the 1988-99 Yates/Casson era.

Characters and story

''Redeye'' is a comic about a tribe of Native Americans during the 19th century, portraying the Indians in a similar way as what ''

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973 and was an immediate success. Since Browne's reti ...

'' did with the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

s. It has also been compared to ''

Tumbleweeds A tumbleweed is a kind of plant habit or structure. Tumbleweed, tumble-weed or tumble weed may also refer to: Films * ''Tumbleweeds'' (1925 film), William S. Hart film * ''Tumbling Tumbleweeds'' (1935 film), Gene Autry film * ''Tumbleweed'' (1 ...

''. * Redeye, overweight chief of the Chickiepan tribe * Tanglefoot, a cowardly and stupid warrior who is in love with Redeye's daughter * Mawsquaw, a bossy, very overweight wife who is a terrible cook * Tawnee, Redeye's beautiful daughter * Pokey, Redeye's younger son, a practical joker * Granny, Redeye's liquors-hungry widowed mother (sometimes known as Minnie) * A

medicine man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

who is only interested in playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and seducing the nurse * Jerkymiah, an extremely dirty, bearded

trapper Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

* Various talking animals, including Loco, Redeye's steed

Books

Beginning in 1968, ''Redeye'' was collected in paperbacks published by

Saalfield Publishing The Saalfield Publishing Company published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world. The company was founded in 1900 in Akron, Ohio, by Arthur J. Saalfi ...

Awards

''Redeye'' was especially popular in Europe, where it appeared in ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' magazine between 1969 and 1990 and received the 1976 Best Foreign Comical Work Award at the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lu ...

Translations

*Danish: ''Rødøje'', some

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

Carlsen Verlag Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg. The publisher's program focuses on books for children, i.e. ...

*Dutch: ''Roodvoet het Indiaantje'' in the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

newspaper ''

Het Laatste Nieuws ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' (; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and ...

'' in 1968, and ''Roodoog'' in ''Kuifje'', the Dutch translation of ''Tintin'', and in 9 albums between 1972 and 1985 *Finnish: ''Punasulka'', few albums starting from 1976 *French: ''La tribu terrible'', in ''

'' magazine from 1969 until 1990 ''Plume d'oeuf'', in

Le Républicain Lorrain ''Le Républicain Lorrain'' (founded in 1919) is a daily regional French newspaper based in Metz. As of 2012, its daily circulation was 123,357. In 2020, its circulation amounted to 87,508 copies. The newspaper has its primary market in the ''r ...

(newspaper) from circa 1968 until this day *German,: ''Feuerauge'', 2 albums in 1973, and ''Häuptling Feuerauge'', in ''Zack'' magazine between 1974 and 1980: also the subject of a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

in 1977 *Italian: ''La tribù terribile'', in the magazine ''Corriere dei Ragazzi'' in 1974 *Norwegian: ''Rødøye'', secondary recurring strip in ''Billy'' (''

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

'' magazine), from 1976 *Portuguese: ''Olho Vermelho'' 1 album in 1971, and ''Touro Sentado'', in ''Gibi'' magazine in 1974 in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

*Spanish: ''Ojo Rojo'' in the magazine ''El Cuco'' *Swedish: ''Rödöga'', 1 album in 1979 with

Semic Press Semic Press is a Swedish comic book publishing company that operated from 1963 to 1997. Known for original comics as well as translated American and European titles, Semic was for a long time the country's largest comic book publisher. For many y ...

, 1 album in 1990 by Carlsen, Three pocket books by Carlsen (1976-1978), 1 pocket book by Carlsen/Semic (1988) Rödöga pocket - Seriesam
/ref> long-time secondary recurring strip in ''Knasen'' (''

'' magazine)

References

External links

''Redeye''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia 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 Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on January 5, 2017. {{King Features Syndicate Comics 1967 comics debuts 2008 comics endings American comic strips Gag-a-day comics Fictional Native American people American comics characters Fictional tribal chiefs Comics set in the United States Western (genre) comics