The Better Half Nov. 14, 1967

The Better Half is a comic strip panel that has run since 1956. This daily is by the original artist, Bob Barnes and shows the gentle inter-spousal needling that was the strip's usual stock in trade during the Barnes years. It was later taken over by Ruth Barnes and others and still runs today, though it now looks nothing like its original version. Though often compared to the mean-spirited Lockhorns, the Parkers were a pleasant couple, like the Barneses probably were in real life. The strip inspired a TV pilot though not a series and won a National Cartoonists Society award in 1958.

Auto history buffs should note the reference to the Edsel, a Ford motor company disaster of 1858-1960 and wonder about the snide reference to the now famous and honored Tucker as being an earlier disaster.

This original comes with an overlay of black areas. I show both versions here. It was thought at the time that solid black areas drew the reader's eye better than white or patterns.