As we've seen at the end of every strip this week, The Born Loser is 50. Sadly, reaching 50 is pretty easy in comic strip-land because of the hesitation syndicates (and some newspapers) have about replacing tried-and-true strips with untested ones. Today marks the actual 50th anniversary of The Born Loser and to celebrate, GoComics has had a short interview with Chip Sansom, a short blog post with Chip's editor, a brand-new Facebook page, a printable Born Loser certificate that looks good next to any DeVry, ITT or University of Phoenix diploma and a contest to win one of twelve signed Born Loser prints. I was hoping for a strip collection or every strip from 1965 to today to be uploaded but maybe those will be forthcoming.
What's interesting is what has transpired here over the last seven or so years. Sure, there are a few meanderings but we usually wind up right back here, talking about The Born Loser. I started this blog because I considered The Born Loser one of the worst comic strips but I have grown to not only respect it but like it. Sure, it's not in my top ten of best comic strips ever but it's a steady performer--a workhorse, you might say.
While I may joke about what's going on in The Born Loser, I do it out of respect. I had the opportunity to talk with Chip back in December during a Twitter Q&A and he was very informative with a pretty witty sense of humor. It was also interesting to get a more personal response to certain questions that you normally don't get in behind-the-scene interviews. So, like always, today's post and this blog in general, is dedicated to Chip and his father Art who started the whole thing and to the people who read this thing and those who read it even when I do those meandering history or story posts.
"First thing when I get to work, I'm going to punch Arnie in the back of the head!"
I was hoping for some older panels showing Brutus' loser-ness. Oh, well, I guess Brutus getting his days confused and heading to work on a Sunday is just as good. I don't know if this city's mass transit runs on a Sunday so Brutus may be standing at his bus stop for awhile.