''Tim Tyler's Luck'' is an adventure

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

created by Lyman Young, elder brother of '' Blondie'' creator Chic Young. Distributed 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, editori ...

, the strip ran from August 13, 1928, until August 24, 1996.

Characters and story

When ''Tim Tyler's Luck'' started in 1928, Tyler was living in an orphanage. However, he soon left the orphanage for the outside world. When he teamed with an older sidekick, Spud, they began globe-trotting for a series of international adventures. Many tales took place in Africa, as noted by comic strip historian Don Markstein: :By the time the Sunday version started (July 19, 1931), Tim and Spud were well away from the orphanage, living a life of adventure. At first, their adventures tended to be light and cartoony, but later, with '' Buck Rogers'', '' Dick Tracy'' and the like gaining popularity, the strip took a more serious turn. Tim and Spud traveled the world before settling for several years in Africa, where (having grown into their late teens or so) they joined the Ivory Patrol and spent their time chasing after poachers and the like. They returned to America during World War II, where they mostly dealt with spies and saboteurs. Afterward, they went traveling again, eventually returning to Africa, where they remained for good.Markstein, Don. Toonopedia: ''Tim Tyler's Luck''
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Illustrators

Starting March 31, 1935, Young added a topper strip, ''Curley Harper''; it ran until January 14, 1945, and sometimes appeared separately. Young employed several artists, some of whom became famous and successful with their own strips. The illustrators included

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many ...

Burne Hogarth Burne Hogarth (born Spinoza Bernard Ginsburg, December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the ''Tarzan'' newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artists. Early life ...

, Clark Haas, Tony DiPreta, Nat Edson and Tom Massey. In 1972, Young's son, Bob Young, began sharing credit with his father, and after Lyman Young's death in 1984, Bob completely took over the strip. ''Tim Tyler's Luck'' slowly faded away, and by the time it was canceled in 1996, it was being carried by only a single paper.

Reprints

In 2016, The Library of American Comics reprinted one year of the strip (1933) as an installment in its '' LoAC Essentials'' line.

Film

In 1937, a 12-chapter movie serial starred Frankie Thomas as Tim Tyler. The title of the Umberto Eco novel ''

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana ''The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana'' (original Italian title: ''La Misteriosa Fiamma della Regina Loana'') is a novel by the Italian writer Umberto Eco. It was first published in Italian in 2004, and an English language translation by Geoffr ...

'' (2004) is taken from the title of a strip episode, in turn inspired by

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

's novel ''

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

''.

References

External links

Toonopedia: ''Tim Tyler's Luck''
1928 comics debuts 1996 comics endings Adventure comics American comic strips American comics adapted into films Works about orphans {{Comic-strip-stub