One of the best elements of the D23 website is the everyday update of the "Daily Funnies," three installments of three classic Walt Disney newspaper strips. And even though that line up includes the great classics Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, in a way the greatest treat is the Scamp comic strip. Scamp of course is the son of Lady and Tramp, and though he only appears briefly if memorably at the end of Walt Disney's classic 1955 animated feature, he became a star of the comics, appearing in his own comic book starting in 1956. And it's not every relatively obscure Disney character who was awarded his own long-running (1955-1988) newspaper comic strip. The D23 site is running these strips in order from day one, so you can see for yourself that at first the comic (drawn by Dick Moores) had a day-to-day continuity, featuring low-key stories of Scamp and his family and friends. Incredibly, the Scamp strip was written for the first eight months by Disney comic-strip distributor KIng Features editor Ward Greene, who also wrote the book on which Lady and the Tramp was based, surely making Scamp the only strip written by the original author of the work from which it sprang. Be sure and check out Scamp everyday at the D23 website (it's free, folks). And in the meantime, enjoy this cover (drawn by Al Hubbard and featuring another Lady and the Tramp character, Trusty) from the issue 14 (June 1960) of the lovable little comic book star's comic book.
2 comments:
I'm glad to see Scamp, too. And a little irritated nobody but you, me, and my Danish pal Lars Jensen seems to have noticed that the strips are there. Greene made these dogs' lives real, in that brief window of continuity, like nobody else—and interestingly enough, during the continuity period, the strip actually ran with a credit line reading "Walt Disney's Scamp by Ward Greene." When the continuities ended, Walt got the byline.
Great Donald birthday article, too... hope you enjoyed my nephews companion piece.
– David Gerstein
Hi, David... I used to read the sunday comics back in the 60s, and there was SCAMP, in spanish this little puppy's name was PILLIN, and thanks to a friend now I have found this out. Thanks
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