June 11th, 2015

Ask the Archivist: DENNIS’S RON FERDINAND

by The King

Hello, Kinglings,

Six months ago, we had an entry on the work of Marcus Hamilton, the current cartoonist on the daily Dennis the Menace panel. See:

http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2015/01/15/ask-the-archivist-a-dennis-the-menace-anniversary

At the time, it was suggested another look at the Dennis artists should be presented as well. As Hank Ketcham is no longer with us, we will take a look at his longtime assistant, Ron Ferdinand.

RON FERDINAND AWAY FROM THE DRAWING BOARD, GETS IN SOME GUITAR TIME.

Ron has been with Ketcham Enterprises since 1981, doing the Sunday page. Much like Hamilton, Ron worked with Hank Ketcham for a while, learning to ghost the distinctive Ketcham style.  The examples shown today are from the early years of his tenure.

 9 June 1985 and 23 June 1985.

1 December 1985 and 16 March 1986.

27 July 1986 and 14 September 1986

 5 April 1987 and 10 December 1989.

And now, on to an announcement and comments:

Fans have spoken and they want Popeye, this year’s runner up in our heated Vintage Madness competition! Starting on Monday, June 15, Comics Kingdom Royal subscribers will be able to enjoy “Thimble Theatre” when we add to our growing Vintage Comics lineup. 

TO Elizabeth Sheehy-

I have about nineteen years of Rivets daily proofs, I’ll suggest it for inclusion.

TO David Colp-

I don’t know how many papers ran the “Rivets” strip, I have seen it in every region, in a lot of big markets, too, including:

ALTON (Ill. ) EVENING TELEGRAPH
BALDUR (Manitoba Canada) GAZETTE
BERKELEY (Ca.) DAILY GAZETTE
CHARLESTON (W.V.) DAILY MAIL
ELYRIA (Ohio) CHRONICLE TELEGRAM
GLOVERSVILLE (N.Y.) LEADER HERALD
IDAHO FALLS (Ida.) POST REGISTER
LETHBRIDGE (Alberta, Canada) HERALD
NEWS PALLADIUM (Benton Harbor, Mich.)
OAKLAND (Ca.)TRIBUNE
PASADENA (Ca.) INDEPENDENT
PORT ARTHUR (Tex.) NEWS
SHEBOYGAN (Wisc) PRESS

To ben marques-

I will ask about Crock, I don’t know if we have “Today’s World.”

TO Bernie-

Yes, you’re right.  Dennis’s cat is named “Hot Dog.”. Stupid error– Archie’s dog is Hot Dog. I also goofed the date of the first Rivets Sunday last week, it was the 11^th of June 1953, not the 4^th.

Yours until next time,

The Archivist