''Rick O'Shay'' is a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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 ...

created by Stan Lynde, which debuted as a

Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in some Western newspapers. Compared to weekday comics, Sunday comics tend to be full pages and are in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, t ...

on April 27, 1958. The

daily comic strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. They typically are smaller, 3–4 grids compared to the full page Sunday s ...

began on May 19 of the same year.''Rick O'Shay''
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 ...

. from the original on September 29, 2015. It was distributed worldwide through the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The final ''Rick O'Shay'' comic strips written and drawn by Lynde were the daily for 7 May 1977 and the Sunday for July 17, 1977. He left the syndicate after a disagreement. As the syndicate owned the rights to the strip, the popular ''Rick O'Shay'' comic strip was continued by others: Marian Dern (writer) and

Alfredo Alcala Alfredo P. Alcala (August 23, 1925 – April 8, 2000) was a Filipinos, Filipino comics artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the ''Alcala Komix Magazine''. ...

and Mel Keefer (artists). Publication ended on March 8, 1981.

Characters and story

The strip is set in the Western town of Conniption, where Rick O'Shay is the

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

. His best friend is gunslinger Hipshot Percussion. Other key characters include gambler Deuces Wilde, dance-hall owner Gaye Abandon, physician Dr. Basil Metabolism (and his nurse, Ophelia Pulse), gunsmith and Civil War veteran Cap'n Ball, banker Mort Gage, barber Dan Druff, cafe owner Hominy Grits, preacher Jubal Lee, and a boy named Quyat Burp. The neighboring Kyute Indian tribe includes Chief Horse's Neck, his ugly but sweet daughter Moonglow, and her persistent suitor Crazy Quilt. Until the official announcement in the September 29, 1969 strip that it would be set in the late 19th century from that time forward, the strip was taking place in the present day but pretending it was about the Old West with

anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...

Books

Lynde and his wife formed Cottonwood Publishing, which later acquired the rights to ''Rick O'Shay''. The company has published reprints, posters, collectibles, and a new two-part comic-book story, ''The Price of Fame'' (1992), featuring Rick and Hipshot. They reprinted all of the dailies from the beginning through 1964, except for one week in December 1963. They also published ''A Month of Sundays'', reprinting 60 Sunday strips from the 1970s, 32 of which are in color. Further plans for reprints were put on hold after some of the original artwork was destroyed in a fire. ''

The Menomonee Falls Gazette ''The Menomonee Falls Gazette'' (subtitled "The international newspaper for comic art fans") was a weekly Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid published in the 1970s by Street Enterprises that reprinted newspaper comic strips from the United State ...

'' reprinted dailies from September 24, 1973, to March 13, 1976. ''

Comics Revue ''Comics Revue'' is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996. As of 2020, it has published more than 350 issues, maki ...

'' magazine reprinted strips from the week missing in the Cotonwood books in issue #231, and is reprinting all of the dailies, starting where Cottonwood Publishing left off, in issues #227. They have published all of the Stan Lynde dailies, and are currently publishing the Sundays.Lynde, Stan, ''Rick O'Shay, Hipshot, and Me– A Memoir'', Cottonwood Graphics, 1990.

Style

The backgrounds were realistically drawn; the characters were originally cartoonish, but became more realistic over the years. Surreal themes are mixed in (such as the pun-laden names). By the late 1960s, elements of adventure, philosophy, morality, and tragedy — such as Hipshot teetering on the brink of death following a gunfight — were added to the storyline. Hipshot is frequently referred to as an "outlaw", and in one strip, he decided to regain his losses at poker by holding up the local bank. Sometimes in the Sunday strip, he is shown alone, on horseback, in the Western background, speaking to his Maker, whom he addresses as "Boss". He does not attend church and prefers to recognize his God in a privately styled fashion.

References

External links

www.stanlyndeauthor.com
nbsp;— Stan Lynde official 'blog
stanlynde.net
nbsp;— Stan Lynde site {{Tribune Content Agency comics 1958 comics debuts 1981 comics endings American comic strips O'Shay, Rick O'Shay, Rick Western (genre) comics Western (genre) comics characters O'Shay, Rick O'Shay, Rick Comic strips formerly syndicated by Tribune Content Agency