Ask the Archivist: SHERMAN’S LAGOON Shark Week Special

Dear Readers,

It is Shark Week, so we salute the one and only shark-infested comic strip,  SHERMAN’S LAGOON.

This strip celebrated 21 years in syndication this past spring. It first appeared in 1991 in the Escondido Times-Advocate and was self-syndicated by Jim Toomey under the name of “Pacific Press Features.” Later that same year, SHERMAN’S LAGOON was picked up by Creators Syndicate. In 1998, SHERMAN’S LAGOON moved to King Features Syndicate, where it is currently distributed to more than 250 newspapers, websites and mobile applications.

Here are a few SHERMAN’S LAGOON‘s firsts:

This first week of strips were intended for publication in April and May 1991.
However, the first strip actually ran on May 13, 1991.

The first Sunday strip, December 1, 1991, was distributed by Creators Syndicate.

 
The first strip distributed by King Features Syndicate ran on November 8, 1998.
All Sherman’s Lagoon strips © 2012 JP Toomey

We hope you all enjoy Shark Week…don’t go looking for Kapupu or Sherman without a shark cage!

Replies to Reader Comments:

Hello Fourth,

DOOLEY seemed to me something that would have made a good animated series, possibly something educational. Anything would be more thoughtful than the Saturday morning fare of its day, which featured all those endless singing teens, improbable vehicle-oriented misadventures, or SCOOBY DOO knockoffs. DOOLEY would even have made a good comic book, but it would seem the “EVERYBODY’S SOMEBODY” tome was the only time Dooley and his friends ventured outside the strip.

Yours,

The Archivist