Sugar and Spike

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sugar and Spike is the name of a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1956 through 1992. Sugar and Spike was created, written and drawn by Sheldon Mayer.

The comic featured the misadventures of two toddlers named Sugar Plumm and Cecil "Spike" Wilson, who possessed the ability to communicate (via "baby talk") with each other and to other infants, but not to adults. It was in many ways similar to the more recent cartoon Rugrats, and shared ideas concerning baby-talk with P. L Travers' Mary Poppins novel. Another popular recurring feature was paper dolls of the two leads, with outfits based on designs submitted by readers. Mayer used his own children, Merrily and Lanney, as inspiration for the strip.

The comic was published in the United States up through the early 1970s for 98 issues, when, either due to Mayer's failing eyesight that limited his drawing ability or due to market shifts, Sugar and Spike ceased to appear. Later, after cataract surgery restored his eyesight, Mayer returned to writing and drawing Sugar and Spike stories, continuing to do so until his death in 1992; these stories appeared in overseas markets and only a few have been reprinted in the United States. The American reprints appeared in digest-sized comics and in a one-off 99th issue of the title.

Mayer had an agreement with DC that no-one else could write Sugar and Spike. However, they have occasionally made cameo appearances in modern comic books, as theme park characters in Justice League Spectacular, being baby-sat by Cassie Sandsmark in Wonder Woman #113, and as teenagers on the crowded cover of Legionnaires #43. They were also spotted as decorations in the Alex Ross graphic novel, Kingdom Come

[edit] External links

• Toonopedia entry on Sugar and Spike
• Unofficial Fan site with Great Info!
• Page about Sheldon Mayer with plenty of S&S stuff