Conchy
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| Conchy | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | James Childress |
| Current status / schedule | Ended |
| Launch date | March 2, 1970 |
| End Date | 1977 |
| Syndicate(s) | Corinthian Features (1970-1974; 1976-1977) Field Enterprises (1974-1976) |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
Conchy was a critically-acclaimed but only modestly successful American comic strip that ran from 1970 to 1977. Set on a desert island, the strip included a diverse cast of characters and addressed serious issues of its time.
James Childress (April 13, 1941-January 22, 1977) created Conchy in the early 1960s as an homage to his love of beachcombing. By 1962, Childress was pitching the strip to syndicates with no results. Eventually, he started marketing it directly to newspapers under the business name Corinthian Features. Through this, Conchy began its newspaper run on March 2, 1970.
By 1974, Conchy was appearing in 26 papers, finally attracting a syndicate's interest, from Field Enterprises, who signed Childress up that year. His client list increased to over 150 papers. During this time, Tempo Books published three collections of Conchy dailies: Conchy, Man of the Now; Conchy on the Half-Shell; and Conchy, Living in Tomorrow's Past. Brant Parker, creator of The Wizard of Id, provided a forward to Childress's first book, calling him a born cartoonist: "This book is just another step on his way to the top."
Conchy consisted of both typical gag strips and rumination strips about serious subjects like nuclear proliferation, political corruption, and death. These ruminations were usually courtesy of either Conchy or Oom Paul, as both characters were highly individual thinkers.
Field Enterprises wanted Childress to content himself with simpler gags rather than these frequent serious musings. Childress refused, and Field Enterprises severed its partnership with him in 1976. Despite an initial dip immediately after this, Conchy's circulation soon reached an all-time high, achieving modest commercial success.
Conchy ended its run when Childress committed suicide in 1977.
Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés are among comics professionals who feel Conchy deserves wider attention today. Evanier wrote in his blog on December 29, 2005, "I'd like to see someone do a big book that collected the entirety of Conchy, a short-lived but wonderful newspaper strip...", and noted the next day that Aragonés concurred. [1]
[edit] Characters
- Oom Paul - a pipe-smoking, somewhat cynical individual who self-assuredly assumes the position as mentor to the small island clan
- Bug - a rugged-looking but gentle individual who enjoys life to the fullest simply because he never gives much serious thought to anything
- Patch and Duff - a pair of twin troublemakers who live in a cave
- Conchy - pronounced "conky" (referring to conches) - an Everyman beachcomber
- Sea urchin - a philosopher of the tide pools, thoughtful but quiet
- The islanders - the original residents of Conchy's island, the islanders co-exist peacefully with the beachcombers but are constantly plagued with a neverending hot- and cold-running war with the inhabitants of the neighboring East Island
- The king - the ruler of Conchy's island and cousin to the king in The Wizard of Id
