Begun in 1930 as a strip involving the misadventures of Dagwood, the bumbling son of the super-rich Bumsteads and Blondie Boopadoop (perhaps a nod to Betty Boop),a gorgeous Dumb Dora character*, in 1933 Blondie became the pioneering domestic strip involving the daily life of the Bumstead family, and was one of the stand-out strips of the era surrounding World War II and at least a couple decades afterward. In terms of continuing popularity and consistent quality, it is possibly the most enduring strip of all time, 77 years old as of this writing.
This is the lower tier of a Sunday strip done in the early days of the war, Alexander Bumstead looks to be about 10 and Cookie, the Bumstead's daughter is a big baby. Blondie is unusually fetching and in lingerie,
This is a notable strip artistically. The starburst closeup may be unique in the strip's history. Except during the Alex Raymond period, (Alex Raymond was Chic Young's ghost artist 1931-1933, his brother Jim Raymond after that) Blondie virtually never featured a close up. The artwork also looks unusually crisp, making me wonder if Alex didn't fill in for Jim for this one. Unlike all or virtually all other married couples in comic strips of the period, Blondie and Dagwood were shown sleeping in the same bed.. Dagwood is more interested in food at the moment though.
*Dumb Dora was also by Chic Young.
