The Miserable Married Couple Named The Lockhorns!

Posted on February 2, 2025 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. As you can see, breakfast is on the table, and the Rotten Funnies are open. Today I think we will be taking a look at The Lockhorns, a comic strip that I can remember in the paper when I was a kid in the Dayton Daily News Funnie Pages, and while not one of my favorite strips, it was one that I found entertaining from time to time. And who doesn’t enjoy a married couple’s antics of going back and fourth at each other due to them being at odds? With that let’s grab another cup of coffee, and let’s get ready to chat about The Lockhorns and their creator Bill Hoest for this flashback to the glory days of the Sunday Funnies.

Bill Hoest was born on February 7, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey, and in his early life he would join the Navy for two years before starting his art career for Norcross Greeting Cards as he would design greeting cards for them starting in 1948 until 1951 when he would try his hand at becoming a freelancer and would get cartoons published in Playboy and The Saturday Evening Post among a few others. He would then enter the comic strip world in 1960 with his first strip being “My Son John” for the Chicago Tribune, and it would last until 1962. He would join the comic strip “Penny” created by Harry Haenigsen and would end up taking up most of the strip after a 1965 accident left Haenigsen not able to draw, but the creator would make sure to supervise each and every strip. In 1967 he would be one of many cartoonist to be features on the “Think Small” promotional book given away by Volkswagen dealers that featured cartoons showcasing the car. In 1968 while still working on Penny, he would create his biggest comic strip “The Lockhorns” that started as a single panel and would become a full strip in 1972. In 1974 he would create the car themed strip “Bumper Snickers” for National Enquirer; he would also create “Agatha Crumm” a long running strip that would run from 1977 to 1996. In 1979 he was hired by Parade to be the cartoon editor, and he created “Laugh Parade” bring together many different comic strips. In 1987 he would co-create the comic strip “What A Guy!” with John Reiner and that strip would also run until 1996. During his time as a comic strip creator, he would win the Nation Cartoonist Society a total of three times years being 1976, 1977 and 1980. And he would also become the President of the National Cartoonist Society, a position he would hold up until his death. Bill Hoest would pass away on November 7, 1988 at the age of 62 of lymphoma. While Bill Hoest is gone, his legacy of comic strips and creativity lives on.

I will take a moment to introduce the characters of The Lockhorns here as some of you readers may not know who they are in these modern times, and you should get to know them before we get into the paperback novel review. Leroy Lockhorn is the husband who is balding, drinks lots, enjoys looking at the ladies, playing golf and has a very short temper and enjoys arguing with his wife. Loretta Lockhorn is the wife, and she is a terrible cook, a bad driver, is handy around the house and is annoyed about her husband who she thinks is lazy once home. But while they argue and fight with each other, it’s clear that they both really do love each other. Other side characters in The Lockhorns universe include Dr. Pullman, who is the couples marriage counselor, Arthur is the bartender at Leroy’s favorite bar and lastly we also have Loretta’s Mother who comes around for the holidays and is a pain in Leroy’s neck. Say what you will, but Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn are true icons of comic strips and have made Sunday Mornings a little more fun for paper readers over the years.

So now that we have talked about The Lockhorns and their creator, I think that it’s time we take a drink of our coffee and get to the review part of this update. I would like to thank Game Swap Kettering for having this paperback in stock and making this update possible. I want to remind you that I grade this book on a standard 1-4 star system and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s go visit The Lockhorns and see what this crazy married couple is up to.

The Lockhorns PB ***
Released In 1988 Cover Price $1.95 TOR # ? of ?

Much like all these comic strip paperback books, they feature one page jokes so it makes it very hard to cover for these reviews, so like always I will pick 10 of my favorite gags from this book and give you a taste of the style of humor used in The Lockhorns and again in no real order. # 1 Loretta is choking Leroy in the office of their marriage counselor who informs her to loosen her grip a little so at least her husband can apologize. # 2 Leroy is opening a gift from Loretta’s mom and it’s a noose, and Loretta informs him her mother sent him a necktie. # 3 The Lockhorns are walking past the local movie theater and the film showing is called “Mother In-Law” and Leroy tells his wife that he doesn’t like horror movies. # 4 Leroy returns home with a bottle of milk in one hand and his other arm around a beautiful young woman, and he informs his wife that she is the one who said to pick up the milk and anything else he liked. # 5 The Lockhorns have guests over for dinner and Leroy is in the kitchen with Loretta reminding her that she forgot to bring the steak knives out for the mash potatoes! # 6 The Lockhorns are at a movie and on the screen a man is down on one knee purposing to his lady and in the theater Leroy is standing up in anger screaming how the man is a fool! # 7 Leroy is flat on his back and looks dazed as a cup of coffee is on the table in front of him and his wife is asking if the coffee was to strong. # 8 A doctor enters a room at the hospital and Leroy is at the beside of a pretty woman, and the doctor is questioning why he is not at his wives beside. # 9 The Lockhorns are looking at a Man-Eating plant and Leroy is whispering to the salesman if it would also eat women? #10 Leroy is sick and is on the golf course telling a fellow golfer that he was to sick to go to work and to sick to be at home so this was the place for him while ill.

I really enjoyed this book, and it brought me back to my youth when I would read the Sunday Funnies and The Lockhorns was one of the comic strips that brought me entertainment while eating breakfast. The Lockhorns are a married couple who are clearly in love with one another, but almost seem to love to be at odds as well as they pick fights with each other and always seem to have a sarcastic comeback during arguments. That is the odd thing about this comic strip, it’s mostly about married life and yet it was popular with not only adults but also kids and that’s weird as how many kids did you know growing up that thought bills, day jobs and domestic fighting was funny? But while many of the topics are more geared toward married couples, it somehow just worked to bring laughs and chuckles from many readers as the couple are just good people who are dealing with real issues that a long time married couple could fac,e and this is why I think the older readers really could and do connect with these characters. This paperback does a good job of mixing up the style and punch lines of the humor up not to make it come off stale and that is why I find it to be a good solid read for fans who not only enjoy The Lockhorns but also who enjoy comic strips in general. The artwork by Bill Hoest is good stuff and really does have that classic style that one thinks of when comic strips come to mind. Over all this is a good paperback and is worth tracking down and reading if you are a fan. Also check out the artwork below to see they style and jokes used in this strip.

The Longhorns is a comic strip that is still going as of this update’s posting and remains a well loved strip that many readers look forward to every week. And like other comic strip paperback books I have covered, this was lots of fun to read and relive that classic youth feeling of reading these styles of strips every week. And what is also very cool about these comic strips like The Longhorns is they make for fun and quick updates that I have been enjoy writing and it seems you have enjoyed reading! But for now breakfast is over and its time to fold up the Rotten Funnies as it’s time for me to tell you want the next update is going to be as it will take us to Witch Mountain as we take a look at the comic adaptation of the Disney kid sci-fi semi horror film Escape To Witch Mountain! So until next time, read a comic of three, watch a film or two and as always support your local horror host! See you next update as we will watch the skies over that spooky old Witch Mountain.

Belvedere: The K-9 That Comic Strips Forgot

Posted on February 12, 2024 by bloodlinematt

It’s time to grab that glass of milk and open up the Rotten Ink Daily News and find the Rotten Funnies as we once more take a look at a classic comic strip that made the newspapers worth opening! Don’t get me wrong, I have a very soft spot in my heart for the newspaper but after the Virus Crisis of 2020 I feel like almost all news is bad news…well that is being a little dramatic. While looking through my paperback books that are compilations of comic strips I decided that I wanted to take a look at one that I did not grow up reading and one that I knew very little about, as I am sure I am like many of you readers as I love to learn about things and characters and that’s why I choose that comical dog Belvedere as this update’s topic. Bratty animal comic strips are ones that I enjoyed in my youth and even still somewhat to this day as Garfield is fantastic and Snoopy of Peanuts is a true icon of comic strip history. So I am pretty excited to see what Belvedere brings to the table when it comes to comic strips. So sit back, drink that milk and maybe have some ham and eggs and let’s take a look at that dog named Belvedere.

The creator of Belvedere is George Webster Crenshaw, who was born on October 23, 1917 in Los Angeles, California. He was a student of UCLA as well as Harvard and made an impact in the world of animation as he worked on such Disney films as “Fantasia” and “Pinocchio” as well as several “Donald Duck” cartoons. He also worked with MGM on many “Tom and Jerry” toons. He also had his hand in the world of newspaper and magazine comic strips with much of his work being published in publications like The New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, Woman’s World and The National Enquirer. Plus he did some comic book writing for characters like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Woody Woodpecker. But much of his comic strip work was not a major hit with most lasting less than two years. He did such titles as “The Muffins” that lasted from 1957-1959; his next was “Nubbin” that would go from 1958-1972. His shortest lived strip was “McGirk’s Works” that started and ended in 1959! “Sompkins” was from 1971-1978 and his only major hit was Belvedere that was from 1962 all the way to 1995. George Webster Crenshaw would pass away on September 6, 2007 and while he is no longer with us, he has left behind many comic strips that bring laughter and delight to readers all over the world.

The characters that make up this single panel comic strip universe are the following: Orville and Emma are a married couple who have a good house, good neighbors and a great relationship that includes home cooked meals and fun vacations and getaways. Emma likes to cook and go on hikes, while Orville is a man who likes to fish and hunt. The couple owns three very odd pets with their talking and sarcastic bird being named Chi-Chi. He is a handful as he is also very honest and at times mean in his words to Orville. The cat is Jezebel, a sweet black kitty who struts around the house and town. And lastly is the dog Belvedere who has white fur with black spots and is a canine with attitude as he does what he wants and throws fits like a spoiled child if he doesn’t get his way. He also has a feud with the local dog catchers as well as the butcher who he tries and steal meat from. Also around are the townspeople, co-workers as neighbors, and let us not forget the other animals that are part of this comic strip universe.

So as you can tell, Belvedere is a comic strip that had a decent run in papers and while long gone from being printed and showing up in the Sunday Funnies, many of his comic strip humorous adventures can be found in paperback books and one of them is what we will be using for this super quick update. I want to thank a seller on Etsy for having this book as part of a lot that I was able to get for a really good price. Also want to remind you readers that I grade this book on a standard 1-4 star system and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So lets get to the one and only Belvedere!

Belvedere: The Odds Are **
Released in 1982 Cover Price $1.75 Tor Books #? of ?

Much like all these comic strip paperback books they feature one page jokes and stories so it makes it very hard to cover for these reviews. So like always, I will pick 10 of my favorite gags from this book and give you a taste of the style of humor used in Belvedere and again in no real order. # 1 has Orville and Emma on vacation and has Orville looking shocked as King Kong has grabbed a young woman, and he is seconding guessing if they should have chosen this spot. # 2 has Emma and Orville eating a hot dog from a stand on a peer and Belvedere is throwing a fit like a toddler as Emma tells Orville just to buy him another hot dog. # 3 has that sneaky Belvedere stealing a UFO from aliens who are confused to where their spacecraft went! # 4 has Orville sticking out of the floor and Belvedere is in a fighting stance as Emma tells her husband that he should give up, as you cannot teach judo to a dog. # 5 has Belvedere making a Bubble Gum Pizza and it’s a massive bubble as Orville looks on. # 6 has Orville and Belvedere at a secret fishing hole and are about to be eaten by a massive water monster. # 7 has Belvedere using boomerangs to knock out dogcatchers who laugh as they think they are toys! # 8 has Belvedere using voodoo to turn a dogcatcher into a frog! # 9 has Orville showing off a wild hog mounted on his wall to his friend, the hog is wearing a party hat and he tells how wild the hunt was. And # 10 has Orville and Belvedere looking for bones in a dig and the pet doghouse found the skeleton of a Centaur!

Let me start off by saying that Belvedere is a good kid friendly read and has the fun and mischief adventures of a pet dog with attitude, but I also want to say that George Crenshaw milks the same jokes several times in different strips and follows that same formula of a sassy animal much like Garfield and Heathcliff do. Now I am sure many of these jokes that he recycled over and over were spread out over months and maybe even years…but when put into this book, they stand out at being reused like the jokes of Belvedere telling someone to look one way as he steal meat and even jokes of him having fits over not getting his way when it comes to food. I also 100% think that the comic strip only can be funny in the visuals as the jokes that are told rely on them to work. I must say I do like the friendship between Belvedere and Orville. It’s one of the best things about this comic strip as the pair have fights and such but also spend time hunting, fishing and having adventures. And I would say that the friendship reminded me of Charlie Brown and Snoopy as far as they are not just owner and pet but also best friends. Sadly while Chi-Chi and Jezebel are around and do offer some laughs, they definitely take a back seat in this book. Emma is pretty funny and plays well off her husband as well as Belvedere. The cover for this paperback is pretty eye catching and has a vet making the mistake of thinking she is going to give Belvedere a shot! The interior art style of George Webster Crenshaw is good Sunday comic strip look that reminds me of slightly of Reg Smythe (Andy Capp) meets Dik Browne (Hagar The Horrible). To sum up Belvedere, while it is a fun and silly comic strip it is one that I found myself losing interest in the more the creator reused the jokes and gags. But with that said, I also say you readers should not only check out the art style of George Webster Crenshaw below, but also check out Belvedere as you might enjoy his style of humor.

For you readers who enjoy funny animal comic strips I would say that you might enjoy Belvedere as he does have some pretty funny gags and has a classic strip charm to him. I really do hope that you enjoy these updates that are all about comic strip characters and the paperback books that bring collections together as I have been having fun reading them and writing these updates about them! For our next update, we will be sticking with the Dog theme as well as the comic strip one as well as we will be taking a look at that massive Marmaduke! So until next time, read a comic strip or three, watch a dog movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as it will be for the dogs……you get it? As this month has turned into comics about dogs.