[tumbleweeds] a personal favourite revisited

Bit difficult to read the way Blogger posts pics:

Injun: Our war canoo has sinked with all aboard!

Chief: Oh no.

Injun: They're in the water shreekin and screaming!

Chief: They're drowning?

Injun: Nah, too shallow. But the bottom's all mucky and yucky and awful squishy!

I always used to cut this comic strip out of the day’s paper and so I had quite a collection after a few years. I think they’re still in a box somewhere and you can’t get them on the web. Apart from the humour, the major thing about this cartoon was the way it got into Indian life from an Indian’s own ironical viewpoint, as well as from the white man’s. Here’s a short bio of Tom K. Ryan, the toonist:

The strip made its first newspaper appearance in 1965, and was an immediate fan favorite. Ryan claims that Tumbleweeds is the result of his exclusive access to long-suppressed files on a secret corner of the Old West.

Tumbleweeds was animated for Saturday morning television in the late 1970s, and in 1983 was the subject of a musical. The strip also inspired a live stage attraction in Las Vegas, as well as a theme-park area at the MGM Grand theme park, called "Tumbleweeds Gulch."

Ryan takes great satisfaction in the fact that American Indians are fans of Tumbleweeds. He has received numerous commendations from Indian educators, editors and tribesmen, all of whom applaud the strip's combination of comic and cultural elements and Ryan's ability to capture the Indian sense of humor.

Homesite here. Another good bio here. The real thing here.