A comical quiz for smart folks as is. Part the first

[Zorro]

Since my post on comics faves drew some attention, I decided to try a quiz on same, and here it is, submitted for your amusement and edification.

Here are some characters and/or props from 25 of the most popular comic strips. Your job is to identify the strips. They are listed in the order in which they occurred to me, not order of popularity or era. Same rules as always; don't copy the quiz and no peeky. Duplicate prizes will be awarded in case of ties. (Feel free to identify the artist if you are so inclined.)

1) Fat STuff and Downwind Jackson

2) Oliver Wendell Jones

3) Nightmare Alice

4) Cousin Rollo

5) Mike Nomad

6) Sparkle Plenty

7) Prudence Pimpleton

8} 1506 nix nix and notary sojac

9) Basil St John and his black orchid

10) Honey

11) Cookie

12) Skeezix and Uncle Walt

13) Denny Dimwit

 

[DriveLH]

6. Dick Tracy
12. Gasoline Alley

 

[CL82]

5. Steve Roper and Mike Nomad

 

[JRRRJ]

2) Oliver Wendell Jones -- darn you! went crazy for a while, then had to Google it.
5) Mike Nomad -- Steve Canyon?
8} 1506 nix nix and notary sojac -- Terry and the Pirates ?
So, only one I'm pretty sure of:
11) Cookie -- Blondie

 

[Kibitzer]

4. I believe Rollo was a character in the "Katzenjammer Kids" comic strip, featuring two mischievous boys, Hans and Fritz. It is likely that few American readers were aware that "katzenjammer" translates to "hangover" in German.

 

[pinotbear]

2. Bloom County

 

[f1f1ferrari]

10 is Hagar the Horrible's daughter

 

[Zorro]

Excellent on DriveH; Sparkle was the daughter of B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie.
And Skeezix and Uncle Walt did indeed inhabit Gasoline Alley.
Also 82 nailed Steve Roper's bud the Nomad. (I originally planned to list Ma Jong, Mike's landlady, but dumbed it down instead.
The estimable Kibitzer, perhaps the only yarder as old as I am scored on Rollo, who was the prissy cousin of Hans und Fritz.
The bear got Bloom County and he with the palindrome initials got Blondie's and Dagwood's daughter, Cookie (Alexander's sister.)
So let's see; That leaves
1) When you get this one you are bound to grin.
3) Alice was a conjurin woman of considerable abilities
7) Her ever-lovin boyfriend was a misadventurous detective.
8) The strip with the all time record for puns. A truck was sometimes involved.
9) One of the first strips featuring a (more or less) liberated woman.
10) Her boyfriend was based on a (sort of) motorcycle dude.
13) You'se will be good kids if you get this one. The protagonist was another of the early liberated women.

Still, you got 6 out of 13, which ain't bad. I deliberately chose characters who often appeared the the strips but were not principal characters. Now get to work and justify my faith in your trivial knowledge.

 

[StarMan]

10 is Hagar the Horrible's daughter

Well, actually, Honi, is Hägar the Horrible's daughter.

Number 8 is Smokey Stover.

 

[Zorro]

Well, yes, but the young woman in question is Honey, and she is something, you might say, of a duchess.
Bingo on Smokey Stover, one of my all-time favorites. It was SO cornball!

 

[f1f1ferrari]

whoops....

 

[Zorro]

Ok, last set of clues and then we will wrap it up.

1) When you get this one you are bound to grin. Had a lot to do with airplanes.
3) Alice was a conjurin woman of considerable abilities. She and Old Man Mose occasionally worked togetherl
7) Her ever-lovin boyfriend was a misadventurous detective. Who was always getting himself shot full of holds
9) One of the first strips featuring a (more or less) liberated woman. Had to do with newspapers
10) Her boyfriend was based on a (sort of) motorcycle dude. Oriental girlfriend of a sociopath.
13) You'se will be good kids if you get this one. The protagonist was another of the early liberated women. She was subtitled "The Breadwinner"

 

[DriveLH]

9. Brenda Starr

 

[Kaizen]

1, Smilin Jack

 

[Zorro]

9. Brenda Starr

Yup. "Brenda Starr, Reporter". 1940-2011. Basil StJohn was her mysterious boyfriend (later husband, later former husband) who showed up from time to time, always announcing his incipient presence by sending her a black orchid.

 

[Zorro]

1, Smilin Jack

Yup. Good catch. Downwind was Jack's buddy, and Fat Stuff was a very large Hawaaian who was always followed by a chicken who caught the buttons that popped off of his shirt from time to time because of his fluffiness. The strip ran from 1933 to 1973.
And an apology; it was not actually Downwind Jackson, but Downwind Jaxon. Faulty memory.

 

[Gus Mahler]

10. Doonesbury

 

[Zorro]

Well, yeah, Gustav! Now why was that so difficult? Honey was Uncle Duke's slavey and was featured prominently in many episides. Almost any other character in Doonesbury would have been a dead giveaway.

Now would it help at all if I told you that Nightmare Alice had her mail delivered by Young Eddie McSkonk, with the invaluable help of U.S. Mule? Or that 7) was actually a strip within a strip, and a parody at that? Or that 13) had a son named Perry?

 

[pinotbear]

7> ok, ok - Fearless Fosdick

 

[Zorro]

7> ok, ok - Fearless Fosdick

Right! Prudence was a parody of Tess Trueheart, DickTracy's main squeeze.

 

[Zorro]

Which leaves only Nightmare Alice, Dogpatch's answer to Marie LeVeaux, and Denny Dimwit, friend of Perry Winkle, son of "Winnie Winkle, the Breadwinner". I believe that with this all suspects have been ID'd. I hope that my humble offering afforded some moments of head-scratching nostalgia.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Which leaves only Nightmare Alice, Dogpatch's answer to Marie LeVeaux, and Denny Dimwit, friend of Perry Winkle, son of "Winnie Winkle, the Breadwinner". I believe that with this all suspects have been ID'd. I hope that my humble offering afforded some moments of head-scratching nostalgia.

You are too nostalgic for me. My fault for only fixing to celebrate my 60th birthday in a few months. I have "heard" of most of the referenced strips, but read only a few of them over the years.

Incidentally, I am sometimes reminded (incorrectly) of a long-running strip called Mary Worth. There is a section of homes nearby called the "Harold Bell Wright" neighborhood. The streets are named for characters from his books, and the main street is named "Barbara Worth" (another is "Printer Udell"). In any case, every time I see the name, for some reason I picture the old "Mary Worth" cartoon character - the cartoon is still around, but not in my paper and I have no idea what Mary looks like today.