Nina Bunjevac

One of the now anachronistic words for comics, it will be remembered, is the “funnies.” The funnies were the lighthearted relief from the weekend lift-out in the middle of the paper or were placed alongside the crossword, chess puzzle, or mindbender for all the other days. They were benign divertimenti: Dagwood Bumstead, the gormless husband in Blondie and his inconceivable large sandwiches for his midnight snacks, or the prisoner of the Wizard of Id, with his interminable tallies on the walls of his cell marking the day that would never come. These and others, such as Beetle Bailey and Dick