Frank and Ernest (comic strip)

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Frank and Ernest
Author(s) Bob Thaves
Tom Thaves
Current status / schedule Running daily
Launch date November 6, 1972 [1]
Syndicate(s) Newspaper Enterprise Association
Genre(s) Humor, Satire

Frank and Ernest is a comic strip created and illustrated by Bob Thaves and later Tom Thaves.[1] It debuted on November 6, 1972, and has since been published daily in over 1,200 newspapers.

Regardless of the topic, everything related to the topic (background and phrases) is shown in a single frame. Thaves won the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1983, 1984, and 1986 for his work on the strip. Other awards include the Mencken Award for Free Speech and Bob Thaves' Frank and Ernest work was recognized by the American Creativity Association in 2006.

Frank and Ernest has a tradition of breaking new ground. It was the first panel presented in a strip format, the first to use block lettering and it was among the first - if not the first - to have its main characters able to be seen not just as humans but as animals, vegetables, minerals and more, and to have a non-sequential story. More recently, Frank and Ernest was the first strip to use digital coloring for its Sunday cartoons, the first strip in over 1,000 newspapers to list the creator's e-mail address and its website broke a lot of ground in 1997: first interactive comics based on strips published in the newspaper, first keyword searchable archive for a comic strip, and first 3-D characters.

A constant element in the strip has been word play, including the characters' names. Frank is a synonym for honest and Earnest is one for enthusiastic. Weekday strips are laid out in one long panel with one joke or pun; the Sunday strip is similarly in one large block, with a series of rapid-fire puns pertaining to the characters (usually in character as various characters including, but not limited to, the planets, "Robotics Department," or "Malaprop Man").

Example: "They want a religious message on Christmas stamps. How about, 'Lord, deliver us.'?"

Bob Thaves died on August 1, 2006. His son Tom Thaves has since taken over production of the strip.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Frank and Ernest - FAQ
  2. ^ Bob Thaves 10/5/1924 - 8/1/2006

[edit] External links

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United Media Comics
Currently syndicated
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