THE BLONDIE FILES

I probably had not checked any of the pirate sites for BLONDIE or DAGWOOD comics for a couple of years. But I happened to find a really good scene after purchasing an old 1950s comic book, and I checked around, and mirable dictu, READ ALL COMICS ONLINE has a bunch of them now. So I figured, I better copy off what I can for my site, even though BLONDIE's significance in comics-history has pretty devolved to nothingness. I'd need a separate essay to explain that significance, so later for that.

I will say that I've read almost none of the comic strips since BLONDIE became a domestic-comedy strip in 1933. I know that the pre-1933 Dagwood was a rich doofus devoted to marrying the lower-class Blondie, but he wasn't as much of a Doormat to the Whole World in those strips. So it follows that during the domestic years, author Chic Young made, at some time, the decision that Dagwood would become the perennial goat, either because of others or because of his own maladroit nature. An example of typical Dagwood clumsiness appears below, from the first issue of fifteen issues of a mostly new BLONDIE comic book from 1947.

Blondie's attitude in this one-pager is key. Usually, she assumed the role of a passive observer to Dagwood's self-flagellating antics, which would make her seem to be the opposite of a violent, bullying wife like the one from the earlier BRINGING UP FATHER strip.

She was, however, the voice of authority at home, constantly telling Dagwood to do chores around the house, and to my knowledge Dagwood's only response was to try to run away and hide. Where his wife was concerned, Dagwood had no balls-- which probably made it seem like he deserved to be punished by diverse factors.

Here's the first scene from the 1947 series (issue #7) in which the usually pacific housewife gets a little violent when she thinks Dagwood's been cheating on her.

 

The above scenes from #8 and #10 are more typical of Blondie's exploits, with her playing the "innocent sadist" who "accidentally" brings about her husband's injuries. I saw both jokes recycled in the comic books. Young's signature suggests that these might be reworked art from the strip.