# What current comic strip writer has been active the longest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564 "2012-04-22T06:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/1 "2012-04-22T06:39:10Z")
Garry Trudeau has been creating _Doonesbury_ since 1968 (although its first couple of years as a college strip it was titled _Bull Tales_). While there are certainly older strips still running (_The Katzenjammer Kids_ has been running for 115 years) most of them are no longer being produced by their original creator. Is there a current comic strip creator who’s been doing it longer than Trudeau or is he the current “dean” of comic strips? (Probably having inherited the title from Johnny Hart) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/2 "2012-04-22T06:46:10Z")
Thought of one myself. Mort Walker is still involved with the creation of _Beetle Bailey_, which has been running since 1950. So I guess the question should be whether Mort Walker is the longest active current comic strip creator? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/3 "2012-04-22T07:07:50Z")
I went to wikipedia, found the oldest 5 comic strips, then checked whether their original creator was alive 62 years after the strip was started. No, they were not. 5 oldest strips: 1. Katzenjammer Kids (1897-present) 2. Gasoline Alley (1918-present) 3. Barney Google and Snuffy Smith (1919-present) 4. Thimble Theater/Popeye (1919-present) 5. Little Orphan Annie (1924-2010) Citation inside wikipedia: [At 75, Blondie's more modern now, but still ageless - CSMonitor.com](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0831/p13s01-alar.html/%28page%29/2) Mort still is at it: “It’s holding its position pretty well” six decades later, Walker says. “I got the largest royalty check I ever got last month.” [http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2010-05-27-Beetle27\_ST\_N.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2010-05-27-Beetle27_ST_N.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/4 "2012-04-22T19:48:48Z")
Jules Feiffer began his cartoonist career in 1947 as an assistant on Will Eisner’s **The Spirit** ; this led to his own strip in the **Spirit** section, **Clifford** , which ran from 1949-51. His best-known strip, known alternately as **Sick, Sick, Sick** , **Feiffer’s Fables** and ultimately **Feiffer** , ran in the **Village Voice** from 1956-1998. These were all weekly strips. He hasn’t ever been “nose to the grindstone” on a daily strip and it’s unclear if he considers himself at present to be active or retired, but he’s still in print in some form or another and possibly a contender for this. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/5 "2012-04-23T00:51:13Z")
Second place goes to the creator of [Hi and Lois](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_and_Lois), which began syndication in 1954. The silver trophy is awarded to… Mort Walker. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/6 "2012-04-23T03:56:33Z")
Hi and Lois was actually a spin-off of Beetle Bailey. They’re relatives of his of some sort (I want to say aunt and uncle), that he visited once when on leave. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/7 "2012-04-23T04:04:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hi and Lois was actually a spin-off of Beetle Bailey. They’re relatives of his of some sort (I want to say aunt and uncle), that he visited once when on leave. Beetle and Lois are siblings. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/8 "2012-04-23T11:04:03Z")
Al Jaffee started in comic books in 1941. He still works for _Mad Magazine_. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/9 "2012-04-23T11:38:04Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Second place goes to the creator of [Hi and Lois](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_and_Lois), which began syndication in 1954. The silver trophy is awarded to… Mort Walker. Actually, the strip is now written by his sons, Brian and Greg, and drawn by Dik Browne’s son, Robert. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/10 "2012-04-23T14:15:13Z")
Jack Elrod has been writing and drawing _Mark Trail_ since 1978, and before that was involved with it as a background artist dating back to 1950. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/11 "2012-04-24T05:52:47Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Al Jaffee started in comic books in 1941. He still works for _Mad Magazine_. …at the age of 91. He’s drawn the Mad fold-in since 1964. Holey moley. [List of his work at Mad Magazine since 1955](http://madcoversite.com/ugoi-al_jaffee.html). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/12 "2012-04-24T15:26:52Z")
> [@measure for measure](#): > > …at the age of 91. He’s drawn the mad fold-in since 1964. > > Holey moley. > > [list of his work at mad magazine since 1955](http://madcoversite.com/ugoi-al_jaffee.html). ---------\>\<--------- ---------\>\<--------- ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/13 "2012-04-24T15:46:32Z")
That’s a good point about Al Jaffee. Sergio Aragones hasn’t been around quite as long as Jaffee but he’s been working continuously at _Mad_ since 1963. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/14 "2012-04-24T18:15:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s a good point about Al Jaffee. > > Sergio Aragones hasn’t been around quite as long as Jaffee but he’s been working continuously at _Mad_ since 1963. I’d certainly be willing to give it to Al, as long as you don’t count him out on a technicality since his work in _MAD_ isn’t published in a newspaper… but that’s not actually stipulated in the OP. I scrolled down specifically to see if somebody would mention Sergio. Editor Mark Evanier once said Sergio was the only cartoonist he knew that made himself _less_ attractive when he drew himself in caricature. RIP Dave Berg, Don Martin, Antonio Prohias, and Bill Gaines. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/15 "2012-04-25T00:51:02Z")
Does Charles Schulz count as ‘active’? Sure, he died 12 years ago, but his \*Peanuts \*strips are still running daily in 2000-odd newspapers… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/16 "2012-04-25T01:18:18Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Does Charles Schulz count as ‘active’? Sure, he died 12 years ago, but his \*Peanuts \*strips are still running daily in 2000-odd newspapers… I’m willing to consider people who are semi-retired and maybe even fully retired in a discussion of who’s still considered active. But I’m going to draw the line at dead. ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-current-comic-strip-writer-has-been-active-the-longest/619564/17 "2012-04-27T03:52:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m willing to consider people who are semi-retired and maybe even fully retired in a discussion of who’s still considered active. But I’m going to draw the line at dead. Vitalist!