Alley Oop cartoon going into reruns for now

Beginning today, regular readers of the Alley Oop comic strip may begin to get feelings of deja vu.

Perhaps that’s inevitable in a comic that has run since the 1930s, but beginning with the September daily panels, Alley and his friends Ooola, Dinny, Foozy and the rest of the Stone Age kingdom of Moo will be in reruns.

The husband-wife team of Jack and Carole Bender, who respectively draw and write the strip, announced earlier this month that they are retiring.

Andrews McMeel Syndication, which distributes the strip to more than 600 newspapers including the Press, is sending previously run strips through the end of the year, or until a decision is made whether the strip will continue under different artists.

Alley Oop was created in 1932 by V.T. Hamlin, who was born in Perry, Iowa. He first drew the character of caveman Alley Oop at age 11, then several years later the cartoon began running in the Perry Daily Chief.

After serving in the Army in World War I, Hamlin began a career as a newspaper reporter, photographer and in various other jobs around the country.

In 1930 he returned to Perry, where he began working again on the idea of a caveman comic, eventually syndicating it with Newspaper Enterprise Association. His wife, Dorothy — the model for Oop’s girlfriend, Ooola — helped color the Sunday cartoons and introduced the idea of time travel with Dr. Elbert Wonmug and other 20th century characters.

Hamlin wrote and drew the comic with an assistant, Dave Graue, who took over production when Hamlin retired in 1971. Graue continued to produce the strip until he retired in 2001, when the Benders took over.

The Press will print the rerun Alley Oop comic strips for the time being, until a decision is made whether the strip will resume or it needs to be replaced.

We welcome hearing readers’ thoughts, whether Alley Oop should continue if it begins production again, or if there is a different comic strip you would like to see on the Press comics page.

— Bob Steenson, Editor