This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The comics pages will get serious on Sunday, Sept. 11, as 93 strips commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Characters from Blondie and Dagwood to Hagar the Horrible, from Beetle Bailey to the cast of "Doonesbury," will salute the flag, thank first responders and remember the victims.
"I was honored to be asked to be involved," said Jan Eliot, who writes and illustrates "Stone Soup." "I think it's a great thing. It's such a significant anniversary."
Her 9/11 strip has special meaning for her. "Just before I was asked to do this, we had a motorcycle officer who was shot and killed here in Eugene [Oregon]," she said. "And my character Officer Jackson is modeled after the officers here. I knew this particular officer — that's the double reason why Officer Jackson has a black strap across his badge. One to honor the officer here who was taken from us, and then, of course, the much larger group of people we lost in 2001."
Michael Fry, who collaborates on "Over the Hedge" with T. Lewis, agreed that the 9/11 project "is a great idea and I definitely wanted to participate." But at the same time, coming up with the strip was "really difficult."
"It's not easy because of the nature of the comics page, which is generally not political or even pays much attention to topical events," Fry said. "And then all of a sudden to try to tackle what's really an enormous thing.
"It's tricky," Fry said. "You want to do something to commemorate, but you don't want to overdo it. You want to try to do something that's respectful but that's also in keeping with the spirit of the strip."
Brendan Burford, comics editor for King Features Syndicate, said the event is an opportunity for the artists to use the comic platform to make a powerful, cohesive statement. "It's important that no one forget what happened on that day," Burford said.
It's also a collaboration among several competing comics syndicators — King Features, Creators Syndicate, Tribune Media Services, Universal Press Syndicate and Washington Post Writers Group.
"Comics and cartoons have played an important role throughout history by reflecting and reacting to the political climate of our country," said Susan Bennett, senior vice president of exhibits, programs and media relations at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., one of four museums that will host art shows featuring the 9/11 strips.
The others are the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, the Toonseum in Pittsburgh and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York.
All 93 strips will be available online at cartoonistsremember911.com, beginning on Sunday.
Comic strips unite
More than two dozen strips that appear in The Salt Lake Tribune's Sunday comics pages are participating in the 9/11 commemoration. They include "Baby Blues," "B.C.," "Beetle Bailey," "Blondie," "Buckles," "Crankshaft," "Deflocked," "Dennis the Menace," "Doonesbury," "Family Circus," "Fort Knox," "Hagar the Horrible," "Hi & Lois," "La Cucaracha," "Mallard Fillmore," "Mary Worth," "Mother Goose & Grimm," "Mutts," "Over the Hedge," "Pajama Diaries," "Pardon My Planet," "Sally Forth," "Sherman's Lagoon," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "Stone Soup," "Wizard of Id" and "Zits."