Two Weeks My Nose, and Told Me I Was Bad

I've been spending an indordinate amount of time going through newspaper archives, both physical and online, looking up early and missing comics from my childhood that were never collected.  Out of curiosity, I went further back, and looked up some early comics from before I started reading them.  Since I didn't know that there were daily comics, I missed out quite a bit.

The earliest Adam comics I could find come from July 23, 1984.


In case it's not clear in the last panel, he's got his leg twisted over his head there.

Not even a week in, and Brian Bassett's already doing barely concealed subliminal advertising.

And here's our first look at one of the kids.  Clayton is much more haphazardly drawn here than he'll look later on.

The earliest Sunday comics have already been posted here, where Clayton's sister, Katy, shows up more than he does.  (For some reason, the Sunday comic on August 5th is available, but there's no July 29th Sunday comic)  And here's Adam's naturally Chauvinistic neighbor, Walter.


Interestingly enough, Laura's pinprick eyes and minimalist expressions make her look like Princess Bubblegum.




Adam's attempts to write down his personal experience will become a lifelong struggle, where he'll constantly attempt to reach his goal, only to get constantly sidetracked on other minor projects, such as the dietary Dumpty-Derby, failed inventions and trying to write a novel.

On the other side of cartoony characters with big noses, we have Stew from Sibling Revelry, whose prominent schnozz make him look like Adam's long-lost son.  Or an European comic protagonist.

This first strip is the earliest I could find, which showed around the time Bloom County was entering retirement on August 7th, 1989.  If there were any other introductory strips before then, I haven't found them yet.


Interestingly enough, apart from an appearance from the mother in the first strip, we never see Lori, Stew's sister until the second week.  Her presence is all but implied.  Also, in an amusing role reversal, it's Lori who has a Comic collection that she desperately doesn't want her annoying younger brother to touch.  For good reasons, apparently.



So far, I've been unable to find any Sibling Revelry Sunday comics, and doubt there were every any.

In the second week, we get some background details of the kids parental status, and that the Mother is currently separated from her husband and looking for prospective suitors, much to their identifiable outrage.




And then, this mini-arc is abruptly cut off with some more stand-alone comics, rounding out the rest of the week.  Most of the Sibling Revelry strips in later days would fill out the whole quota, so this early intervention is somewhat of an anomaly.  It's as if the author started off on an intended
and then decided not to go down that path, feeling somewhat uncomfortable about the subject matter.  (Even though this wouldn't be the last we'd see of this prospective husband)


At this rate, I may have to consider changing my blog name to DAILY Comics Debt.  Hmm. nope.  Doesn't have the same ring to it.  Besides, there's still plenty of Sunday Comics I've got that haven't seen the light of day once again.