Cliff Sterrett (1883–1964)

"Polly and Her Pals" was one of the great madcap strips, supremely assured in art and writing, which has long been neglected and is only recently beginning to receive the reprint attention it deserves. Sterrett's Sunday pages are masterpieces of wit and composition, and are richly deserving of the expanded size (16" in height). Many of the strips are completely wordless, a testament to Sterrett's abilities. This volume has a rare continuing story. And I still love Sterrett's way with his animals (particularly the cat) and how they move in a way undreamed of in nature.… (mere)

"Polly and her Pals" is probably the most unsung of the great classic comic strips. Few people today are familiar with it, and it has somehow escaped the recent flood of complete republishings of great strips of the past. That's a shame; there are none more deserving than this classic of surreal humor and art. There have been some very nice compilations of some of the great Sunday strips, but till now, no satisfactory reprints of the daily strips. I'd seen some of them, but this collection of the 1933 daily strips was a revelation to me. The pace of the humor is of course much more concise than the expansive Sunday strips. There are a few treatments of other races that are jarring to modern readers, but they are a product of the times and do not seem mean-spirited. And one aspect of Sterrett's art that has always tickled me is his animals. Look at any of Sterrett's animals as they walk in a way that none of Nature's creatures ever walked. Gets me every time.… (mere)

Finally, a collection of Cliff Sterrett's marvelous Sunday comic strip pages that does justice to the artwork by virtue of a huge format (16 1/4" high, not much smaller than the original newspaper pages). "Polly and Her Pals" was one of the most inventive and hilarious comic strips ever, and probably would fall into my top five. This book covers the years from its beginnings in 1913 to 1927, with an emphasis on Sterrett's greatest period, the mid-late 1920's. There are also a smattering of ghosted strips when Sterrett took a sabbatical, for historical comparison. I love the practically Dali-esque surreal artwork of the later 1920's, which was probably inspired by (and holds up well to) George Herriman's marvelous "Krazy Kat" Sunday layouts. There is some informative and interesting biographical info to start. All in all, this is a very well-produced compilation of the gorgeous and hilarious Sunday strips of one of my favorite comic strips. My only quibble would be that Sterrett is worthy of the same completeness afforded other less-worthy strip republications in recent years. And even that comment feels like ungrateful nit-picking, so ecstatic I am over this long-deserved tribute.… (mere)