''Marmaduke'' is a newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of 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 terminology#Captio ...

revolving around the Winslow family and their

Great Dane The Great Dane is a German list of dog breeds, breed of large mastiff-sighthound, which descends from hunting dogs of the Middle Ages used to hunt bears, wild boar, and deer. They were also used as guardian dogs of German nobility. It is one o ...

, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from November 15, 1954 to 2015.

Publication history

The strip was created by writer Phil Leeming and artist Brad Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate) in 1954. Anderson said he drew on

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

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 Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

. 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. Anecdotes may be real ...

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

owned by the Winslow family; he is large even for his breed, and has regularly been drawn as apparently measuring 40 inches (102 cm) and upwards at the

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

. * 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, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

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. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

'' in 1999, of the '' Sarasota Herald Tribune'' in 2007, and of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' in 1986.

Criticism

The strip's longevity and perceived monotonyLaughing at, not with, the comics
Troy Reimink,

Grand Rapids Press ''The Grand Rapids Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is the largest of the print publications of MLive Media Group. It is sold for $1.50 daily and $7.99 on Sunday. AccuWeather provides weather content to the '' ...

: "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 publications such as ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication ...

'' 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. ''The Comic Strip Doctor'', David Malki of '' Wondermark'' included Marmaduke for analysis of strips he disliked, alongside '' Heathcliff'', '' Family Circus'', and '' Dennis the Menace''.

Adaptations

Animated series

Ruby-Spears Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was an American entertainment production company founded by veteran writers and '' Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' creators, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, in 1977, before closing in 1996. S ...

produced ''Marmaduke'' segments for the 1980

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. 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 (''Birth name, né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Pa ...

and the females were voiced by

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She was best remembered for voicing the character of Minnie Mouse in English from 1986 to 2019, and was married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, ...

Films

A live-action ''Marmaduke'' movie, in which the Winslows and their dog move from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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 frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''T ...

as the voice of Marmaduke,

Lee Pace Lee Grinner Pace (born March 25, 1979) is an American actor. He starred as Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit (film series), ''The Hobbit'' trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the period drama television series ''Halt and Catch Fire (TV series), ...

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 Judy Greer filmography, a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for ...

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 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. The film featured

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Friends of the People'', ''Guy Code'', and ''Wild 'n O ...

as Marmaduke, J.K. Simmons as Zeus, Brian Hull as Guy Hilton, Shelby Young as Shantrelle, and David Koechner as Phil Winslow. It was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

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