[Five Original Wee Pals Comic Strips]

Turner, Morrie

Published by [Oakland, California?], 2006

About this Item

4½" x 14½". Five comic strips of pencil and black marker on thin card stock. Near fine. This is a group of original artworks for Morrie Turner's Wee Pals, the first American syndicated comic strip with a racially integrated cast of characters. Turner was born in 1923 and raised in Oakland, California. He first started drawing at age 10, drawing what he heard while listening to radio shows. He later moved onto cartoons during high school, ultimately deciding at the age of 14 that he wanted to become a professional cartoonist. In 1963, Turner joined the Association of California Cartoonists and Gag Artists, where he befriended fellow cartoonists Charles M. Schulz and Bil Keane, the respective creators of Peanuts and Family Circus. Desiring to contribute to the ongoing Civil Rights Movement, he was encouraged by activists to create work based on his own experiences as a Black man. This thought of a comic based on the experience of a marginalized group would be further solidified during a discussion with Schulz. Turner lamented the lack of representation in cartoons, and Schulz suggested he create one. Morris' first attempt, Dinky Fellas, featured an all-Black cast, but found publication in only one newspaper, the Chicago Defender, where it debuted on July 25, 1964. Turner would later rework the strip and retire the Dinky Fellas name in 1965. The comic was retooled into Wee Pals, and upon its debut, it became the first American syndicated comic strip to have a cast of diverse ethnicity. Although the strip was only originally carried by five newspapers, it was pickedup by more than 100 after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968 and the strip ran continuously for over 35 years. A fine group featuring some of the later work of an important African American cartoonist.

Seller Inventory # 8391

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Five Original Wee Pals Comic Strips]
• Publisher: [Oakland, California?]
• Publication Date: 2006
• Condition: Near fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Comic Strips
  • African Americana