''Snake Tales'' (also known as simply ''Snake'', after the main character) is a

gag-a-day A gag-a-day 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 ...

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 ...

written by Australian cartoonist

Allan Salisbury Allan Salisbury (born 1949), known professionally as Sols, is an Australian comic book writer, best known for his newspaper comic '' Snake Tales''. Salisbury's other creations include ''Lennie the Loser'' and ''Fingers and Foes'', the latter help ...

Publication history

''Snake Tales'' was originally titled ''The Old Timer'' and was first published in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' on 25 April 1974. The initial group of characters featured: The Old Timer, an elderly bloke with a long thirst and a reluctance to shout for

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

s; The Con Man; The

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, who constantly avoids being killed for food; the Flyin' Doc; and The Last Lost Tribesman and his Wife, who are determined to stay lost. In July 1975 ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with '' The Herald'' to form the '' Herald-Sun''. ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' was p ...

'' published the strip as a replacement for

Les Dixon Leslie Dixon (1910–2002), was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist. Biography Dixon was born Leslie Charles Brailey in Sydney on 25 July 1910 and adopted by Charles and Lillian Dixon when he was only six months old. He attended ...

's ''

Bluey and Curley ''Bluey and Curley'' is an Australian newspaper comic strip written by the Australian artist, caricaturist, and cartoonist Alex Gurney. Few original ''Bluey and Curley'' strips are held in public collections, because Gurney often gave the origin ...

''. Sols gradually added characters including Crazy

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, Lillie (the Old Timer's distant admirer), a devious butcher, a group of duck hunters, the comic strip did not make a great impression until the introduction of the character 'Snake'. Snake was first introduced in 1975 and gradually gained greater prominence to the point where the name of the strip was changed to ''Snake Tales'' in 1978. The strip has now been internationally syndicated and appears in over 450

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s (both daily and Sunday editions) worldwide. When it was syndicated in the United States (through the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary new ...

), Sols was asked to re-draw Lady Snake, as her "two lumps" were said to be offensive. He drew her with a bikini top instead.Bateman, Daniel. "Snake's still after his buxom lady", ''

Townsville Bulletin The ''Townsville Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper published in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, formerly known as the ''Townsville Daily Bulletin''. It is the only daily paper that serves the northern Queensland region. The paper has a prin ...

'', 15 March 2008, p. 20.

Story and characters

The strip is set in an unspecified location in the Australian outback. Occasionally a shot of a traditional outback

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

by itself on a lone road is seen. The principal characters include: * Snake: a not very smart venomous snake. * Lady Snake: the Snake's girlfriend. * The Flyin' Doc: a pilot with the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.snakecartoons.com Australian comic strips Australian comics titles 1974 comics debuts Australian comics characters Comics about talking animals Comics about anthropomorphic snakes Gag-a-day comics 2000 films Comics spinoffs Comics set in Australia