27 AMAZING Facts About Comics - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.49)

TL;DR

An entertaining video featuring trivia about newspaper comic strips, including Pulitzer Prize winners, character deaths, and comic strip adaptations.

Transcript

Hi I’m John Green. Welcome to my fancy new salon, including my totally real fireplace. This is Mental Floss on YouTube and did you know that Garry Trudeau, who created Doonesbury, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975? That was the first comic strip ever to win a Puh-litzer. Or possibly Pew-litzer. And that is the first of many facts about newspaper comic s... Read More

Key Insights

• 😉 Doonesbury was the first comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize.
• 😑 Little Orphan Annie's creator, Harold Gray, expressed his political opinions through character deaths in his strip.
• 👁️‍🗨️ The Katzenjammer Kids was the first comic strip to use speech bubbles.
• 🎞️ Garfield Minus Garfield became popular by removing Garfield from the comic strips.
• 🤙 Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, originally called his strip Li'l Folks and disliked the name Peanuts.
• ℹ️ Gerald Ford mentioned Doonesbury in a speech about media sources for information on Washington.
• 🎞️ Mindy Kaling's first comedy venture was a comic strip titled "Badly Drawn Girl."
• 🥳 The comic Pearls Before Swine had a storyline about crashing Blondie's 75th anniversary party.
• 📛 The Farley Foundation was named after the beloved sheepdog from the comic For Better or For Worse.

Questions & Answers

Q: What was the first comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize?

The first comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize was Doonesbury, created by Garry Trudeau, in 1975.

Q: How did Harold Gray express his dislike for FDR's policies?

Harold Gray, the creator of Little Orphan Annie, killed off the character Daddy Warbucks in his strip to show his disdain for FDR's New Deal policies.

Q: Which comic strip was the first to use speech bubbles?

The Katzenjammer Kids was the first comic strip to use speech bubbles. It started in 1897 and is still published today.

Q: What was the popular Garfield comic strip blog called in 2008?

The popular Garfield comic strip blog in 2008 was called "Garfield Minus Garfield," where the creator removed Garfield from the strips and left only Jon, resulting in a sad and slightly-insane-looking character.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Garry Trudeau, the creator of Doonesbury, won the first Pulitzer Prize for a comic strip in 1975.

• Harold Gray, the creator of Little Orphan Annie, used his strip to show his distaste for FDR's New Deal policies.

• The Katzenjammer Kids was the first comic strip to use speech bubbles, and it is also the oldest comic strip still in publication today.