Half Hitch (comic strip)

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Half Hitch
Author(s)Hank Ketcham (1943–1945)
Bob Saylor (1970–1975)
Illustrator(s)Dick Hodgins (1970–1975)
Current status/scheduleConcluded daily strip
Launch date1943; February 16, 1970
End date1945; 1975
Syndicate(s)King Features Syndicate (1970–1975)
Publisher(s)The Saturday Evening Post (1943–1945)
Genre(s)Humor, Military

Half Hitch is an American comic strip by Hank Ketcham, in syndication first between 1943 and 1945 and later from 1970 to 1975. It is an example of military humor, but unlike most cartoons and comics of this genre, is focused on the navy, rather than the army. The unnamed character first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943.[1]

During

Don Markstein
:

But in the late 1960s, when there once again was a soldier or a sailor in most families, King Features Syndicate started looking into something new, to tap into the popularity of its
Sunday on Monday, February 16, 1970. Tho Ketcham's name went on it, this incarnation was written by Bob Saylor and drawn by Dick Hodgins, using a Ketchamesque style. Though King had had some success with pantomimes (e.g., Henry, The Little King), this time Hitch spoke. And so did everybody else in the strip, even a seagull named Poopsy, tho the latter didn't seem interested in talking with anybody but Hitch. The title character was no longer as hapless as before, but he still did many traditional sailor-like things, such as having a girl in every port.[3][4]

The strip's main character, Half Hitch, is short, rather lazy, and intensely interested in the pursuit of women. Other characters include the ship's stern captain, various NCOs and sailors, and Poopsy, Hitch's pet

seagull. Poopsy spun out into his own strip in 1974.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ Donald D. Markstein, Half Hitch
  2. ^ Current biography yearbook, vol. 17, H.W. Wilson Company, 1957, p. 336
  3. ^ Half Hitch at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012.
  4. ^ Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, The Inventory of the Hank Ketcham Collection #126 (PDF), p. 52
  5. ^ Heritage Auctions, Dick Hodgins Jr. - Poopsy Sunday Comic Strip Original Art, dated 4-6-75