Sorry to say that the Stella update is not ready for publishing so we will instead be taking a look at a classic comic strip character! It’s that time again to open up the old “Rotten Ink Daily News” and find the Rotten Funnies and see what comic strip we will be covering for this update…and I think we are going to take a look at Trudy! Oh I hear it, most of you readers are saying who the heck is Trudy and to be honest I was the same way, until I discovered this comic strip character while buying a lot of paperback books to cover for these updates. As far as I can remember the Sunday Funnies I grew up with in Dayton Daily News never had Trudy in the paper and to be honest if they did, that’s how little of an impact the strip made on me. But like in the world of Comic Books, Horror Hosts, Indie Horror Movies and 80’s Hairbands I love to discover something new and this could be a very funny comic strip or it could be one that is the pits…and only time will tell. So grab a cup of coffee or pour yourself a bowl of cereal and lets look that the Rotten Funnies and see what Trudy brings to the ha, ha funny table.
Jerry Marcus was born on June 27, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up poor, and sadly at the age of three his father past away and he watched as his mother raised him as well as his three siblings. Jerry dropped out of high school and tried to enlist in the Navy during Word War II, but was rejected for being underweight. But while he was bummed, Jerry did not give up and signed on with the Merchant Marine and shipped out fuel tankers to the North Atlantic and this was in 1943. When he was able to gain the weight Jerry was finally able to join the Navy and became a Seabees and was stationed in the Philippines. In 1946 he was discharged and attended New York’s Cartoonist And Illustrators School, and this lead him to the path of becoming a freelance artist his work shown in may major publications like Ladies’ Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker. In 1963 Jerry Marcus created the comic strip Trudy that followed a housewife and her family, and the comic strip would debuted on March 18 and was not only a Sunday Strip but also was a Daily Strip in more than 200 papers worldwide. The comic would run until August 20, 2005 and ended when Jerry Marcus himself passes away after dealing with a long time illness on July 22, 2005. While not as iconic as other comic strips like Peanuts, Garfield, Andy Capp or Dennis The Menace, Trudy has made its mark on the comic strip world and on those readers who enjoyed her antics.
Lets take a quick look at the characters that make up this comic strip universe. Trudy is a housewife who lives her day-to-day life taking care of her family as well as taking care of the home all the while dealing with nosey neighbors and two silly pets. Trudy is a kindhearted woman, but also does not take any guff from her husband nor their son. She is a good person who does what she can for her family, and will stand her ground when pushed to far. Ted her husband and hard workingman who loves his family, enjoy playing golf and cards with his friends and hates mornings…he can also be forgetful as well as un-thoughtful to his wife, but not mean spirited just in his own world at times. Their son is Crawford a young man who loves baseball and hates baths, over all he is a good kid just has a messy room, gets into little trouble and argues with his mom from time to time. The family animals are Fatkat a cat that can be a little troublemaker and the loveable dog Rodney. Trudy also has an older lady friend named Mrs. Nozie who spreads gossip and has no tact. That’s is the cast of characters that make up comic strip Trudy.
So now that you got a brief history of Trudy and her creator Jerry Marcus and as you can see they are a typical 60’s family with pets. It’s crazy that I don’t remember this comic strip as growing up both my brother and I loved looking at comic strips at out house as well as our Grandparents house in the country that at times had the better comic strips printed in them as they got Dick Tracy, Spider-Man and Prince Valiant! Before we get into this paperback book I want to thank the Etsy Seller for having this book as part of a lot and 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, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So lets get to the one and only Trudy!
We Love You Trudy PB *1/2
Released in 1978 Cover Price .95 Tempo Books #? of ?
Much like all these comic strip paperback books they feature on 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 Trudy and again in no real order. # 1 has Trudy telling Tom a list of items that he should pick out including a very nice tie, as she is sending him to get her own presents for his Birthday. What I selected for # 2 has Ted eating what he think is a steak only to be told by Trudy that it was really hamburger she made to look like a steak…tricky, tricky Trudy. # 3 has snow coming down outside and its bedtime as Trudy is in bed Ted is asking if they have to put the cat out for the night as FatKat is wrapped around him clinging for dear life! # 4 has a dinner table with a large meal and candles as Trudy is on the phone with Ted as he informs her he was wrong and they are having dinner at their friend’s house. # 5 it’s Crawford’s birthday and Ted has a video camera out and is yelling at all there like he is a director, as Trudy and the kids all look highly annoyed with his over bearing orders. # 6 has Ted coming home with a line filled with fish he caught, as does his friend Ed and while walking in Ted is telling Ted to bring his fish in as well as he will have Trudy clean them all, she does not look happy! # 7 has Trudy and Ted in the room of Crawford and she is crying as his baseball player poster is taken off his wall and it his place is a sexy woman poster, and Ted is explaining to her that it was only a matter of time. # 8 has Trudy and Ted in bed with both cat FatKat and dog Rodney as they look all scared and Trudy worried and Ted annoyed as she tells her husband that the animals heard something weird downstairs! #9 Has FatKat at the vet and the veterinarian is telling Trudy that the cats main issue is that he is getting to much sleep. And for # 10 I went with Trudy at the meat market looking annoyed at the butcher Mr. Pipkin who is flexing his arms as she is once more asking to see what mussels they have in stock, his joke is played out with her. And these were the 10 best that I could find, and it was hard to even find 10 that were “funny”.
Trudy is very dated humor and I could never see kids getting behind this comic strip that is more about life being a housewife in the 60’s, and what young kid was laughing their head off about a joke that’s punch line is dinner being late or not feeling up to sweeping the house, none that I grew up with that’s for sure! And this “Housewife” humor is why I for one just did not get Trudy as I did not chuckle once while reading this whole paperback book, and I even read the most of it as one of my favorite quite places to read comics and that is one of our many massive local cemeteries, and even with the peace of nature and a light rain on the cars windshield it still was just a so-so read with flat humor. Now while I did find Trudy humorless, I do however have a few things positive to say as I found it to be charming as it does hold a real life household feel. Each comic as well has heart behind them and Jerry did an outstanding job of capturing things that real families go through from kids hating Thunderstorms to animals going being odd. And it does have to warm your heart a little when you find out that Trudy was inspired by his mother who worked very hard to raise him as a single parent, to that I must say that it proves Jerry had heart when making this comic strip. I feel that while reading this book that Trudy was a very likable character even if I found her humor bland and lackluster. I should also say that while I enjoyed the supporting cast of characters the standout to me was of course FatKat as many of the cat’s traits I have seen in the cats I have had in my life. The cover of this book is “Woman’s Day Magazine” welcoming and the interior art by Jerry Marcus is classic 60’s cartoonist style and is charming. Over all while I was not a major fan of Trudy I still respect the comic strip and its creator as I am sure she meant something to many readers as the longevity of the strip proves that it had an impact. Check out the art below to see the style of Marcus.
Again I do want to stress that just because Trudy is not for me does not mean that its total garbage and you are wrong for laughing at its humor, as that’s the beauty of humor we all have our own taste in what we find funny. And for me looking back and even discovering some of these old Sunday Funnies for Rotten Ink has been lots of fun, and I will continued to cover them as your friends and readers as well seem to be enjoying them. But with us being done with Trudy for our next update we are walking away from the world of Comic Strips and will be heading into the world of cartoons as I will be breaking down the 1966 Incredible Hulk series episode by episode in a new update theme that I will be calling “Tube Tunes” and don’t worry Juliet’s look at Horror Hostess Stella will be posted at a later date. So until next time read a comic of three, watch a movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update as we watch Hulk smash 60’s cartoon style!
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