An article called ‘Hate Mail: Comic Strip Controversies‘,in the Amarillo Globe-News, looks at those comic strips that ‘pushed the envelope’.
“‘Hate Mail: Comic Strip Controversies’ is an attempt by the 16-year-old museum to illustrate the often anachronistic relationship Americans have with the funnies. The show features reader responses and inflammatory debated cartoons by seven artists, ranging from Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau, who is in his 33rd year as a comic strip rebel, to such young muckrakers as Frank Cho, creator of the racy ‘Liberty Meadows,’ and Aaron McGruder, the satiric mind behind ‘The Boondocks.’
“Dietzen said the public’s image of cartoons as a purely G-rated medium recalls a time that never was. Early versions of “Brenda Starr” showed a reporter as buxom as Cho’s latter-day heroine, Brandy, while “Dick Tracy” fans were treated to a steady diet of violence. Harold Gray used “Little Orphan Annie” as a platform for blasting Roosevelt’s New Deal politics, and “Pogo” openly lampooned communist-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy.”
“Many cartoonists resent it when newspaper editors bow to pressure from aggrieved readers. A combination of burnout, fatherhood and five years of selective editing prompted “Liberty Meadows” cartoonist Cho to give up on newspapers and pursue the comic book market.”
Pretty sure they mean ANTAGONISTIC, not anachronistic.
–TC