The 93-year-old newspaper comic strip Blondie could have been called Dagwood, given how often its gags revolve around Dagwood Bumstead’s insatiable appetite, chronic lateness and his love of napping.
Beginning Tuesday, however, Dagwood will be ceding panels to his wife, Blondie, as she begins a search for a new employee for her catering company. And Alexander and Cookie, their children, will get some new friends in coming weeks. It is all part of an effort by the strip’s creators to keep things fresh.
“We’re adding a pastry chef to Blondie’s catering kitchen,” said Dean Young, the Blondie writer who inherited the strip in 1973 upon the death of his father, Chic Young, the cartoonist who created Blondie in 1930. Young said that his father centered the strip on eating, sleeping, raising children and making money. “But the most important thing was to be funny,” he said in a recent Zoom interview; his two daughters who are part of the Blondie enterprise were also on the call.
The introduction of the pastry chef includes fan engagement: Readers will be able to vote for one of five names for the character selected by Young.
Fans want to see more Blondie, said Dana Coston, one of Young’s daughters who works on the strip with him. “We want to show her in a real situation, not always in the kitchen cooking,” she said. “Most moms are out there working and raising a family. Let’s show her doing it and doing it well.”
Alexander and Cookie will also be the focus of more installments: They will take over the family’s basement to hang out with friends. “We’re going to see some fresh faces, some younger teens in there,” Coston said.
Coston is the lead writer on the daily strips and her father takes charge of Sundays. He and Coston review, edit and tease each other about their efforts — something of a family tradition.
“I trained her the same way my father trained me,” Young said, recalling, with a laugh, that his father said his first strip was pretty good, asked him to try another and crumpled up the first. Coston said she was more successful with a recent Sunday strip. “He didn’t throw it in the trash,” she said.
“She’s starting to get lucky,” he retorted.
Blondie, which is in 883 publications worldwide, according to King Features Syndicate, which distributes the strip, has come a long way. In its beginnings, Blondie Boopadoop was a working-class party girl and Dagwood was a rich playboy. Dagwood was briefly written out by Chic Young, but readers wanted him back. Dagwood returned and married Blondie in 1933, but his parents did not approve of his bride and disinherited him, which paved the way for the more modest life the Bumsteads live.
The strip has been drawn since 2005 by John Marshall, one of several artists who have worked on Blondie. Young’s other daughter involved in Blondie is Dianne Erwin, the head of social media and marketing.
The story line that kicks off on Tuesday will see the debut of a more vibrant color palette, she said. The search for a new employee will also provide fodder for humor as Blondie interviews applicants. The new pastry chef, a young woman, will also open up story possibilities. “She’s able to bring some spontaneity to the catering company,” Erwin said. “She’s able to understand social media that can help Blondie’s business grow.”
Coston said the character is of Indian descent, and it’s “a nice nod to our faithful fans,” in India.
But the key to success is that she must be funny. “If she can’t be, she’ll probably get the boot,” Young said.
