Some help with the names of Sam & Silo characters

[Pil]

I'm working on some articles on Jerry Dumas' series Sam & Silo for my own site WeirdSpace and the Danish site ComicWiki. The reference material I have is almost entirely in Danish and the info available on the net is rather sparse.

What I need to know is the original names of the following characters:

The janitor:
http://www.weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Graphics/Mads.jpg
In Danish his name is Mads, but this is a very Danish name so I'm quite sure he's original name is something else.

The little girl:
http://www.weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Graphics/Evy.jpg
In Danish her name is Evy, and that actually sounds like something that could be her original name.

The old man:
http://www.weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Graphics/Vindhas.jpg
In Danish his name is Vindhas which is a reference to being a bit of a blowhard. I can't imagine this is his real name.

The police dog:
http://www.weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Graphics/Svipser.jpg
In Danish the dogs name is Svipser which is a Danish word meaning to miss something (in the sense of forgetting/missing the target). I can't imagine this is his real name. I don't know the color of the dog either (a comic book mutt like this could be any color). If someone happens to know the color it is supposed to be, this would be really helpful.

Any help is appreciated.

[dan bailey]

Geez ... good question. Wikipedia just refers to the top character as "The Janitor," but I'm sure you've already seen that.

I wouldn't be shocked to find out that the others are simply The Little Girl, The Old Man (or some variation thereof) & The Dog, but I haven't the vaguest idea, & Google (as I'm sure you've also already discovered) seems to shed no light on the situation, & god knows my memory isn't helping me at all.

This was a pretty decent strip, if memory serves.

[Pil]

Yeah, the info on the net is rather sparse on these characters. My next move is to contact King Features if no-one here can help me out. I need to contact them anyway regarding assorted bibliographic data, I just thought it would be better to be a bit more prepared than "what are the names of the characters?"

[dan bailey]

I presume you've tried some of the sites & message boards that focus exclusively on comics strips ...

[Pil]

Hmm... No... I don't remember coming across any boards like that, so that I haven't tried. Do you have any board in mind?

[dan bailey]

Just off the top of my head, I know that Don Markstein's great Toonopedia site has its own forum -- http://www.toonopedia.com/the_forum.html.

The strips forum at Scott Shaw!'s Oddball Comics site is also a repository of a fair amount of obscure knowledge -- http://www.oddballcomics.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=b527feb29df668f980df67e05e19f79a

[Scott Shaw!]

I'm a huge fan of Jerry Dumas' SAM'S STRIP (and even own a few originals) but I don't know much about their SAM AND SILO incarnation.

My suggestion is to contact Mort Walker or Bill Janocha at the National Cartoon Museum, formerly The International Museum Of Cartoon Art:
http://www.cartoon.org/

Their email address is:
inquiry@cartoon.org

Unlike King Features Syndicate, they'll DEFINITELY have the answers you seek.

Aloha,

Scott!

[Scott Shaw!]

By the way, Pil, maybe you can answer a questin for me. Since I note that you're in Copenhagen, Denmark, I wonder if you know if the store/publisher/distributor "Fantask" is still in operation. I never actually met 'em, but through my high school friend Jan Tonnesen, I got to "know" and like the owners, Soren and Rolfe. I even drew some stuff for the Fantask catalog!

Aloha,

Scott!

[Pil]

By the way, Pil, maybe you can answer a questin for me. Since I note that you're in Copenhagen, Denmark, I wonder if you know if the store/publisher/distributor "Fantask" is still in operation. I never actually met 'em, but through my high school friend Jan Tonnesen, I got to "know" and like the owners, Soren and Rolfe. I even drew some stuff for the Fantask catalog!

Aloha,

Scott!

Fantask is still in operations. They are they guys I've been buying comic from since I moved to Copenhagen in 1986. Great place still owned and run by Rolf, Søren and Morten. They stopped publishing years ago and today they only sell new books and comics but they are still the place to meet other nerds... I mean comic book aficionados... The site is www.fantask.dk.

If nothing shows up here, I'll try the National Cartoon Museum.

[Scott Shaw!]

Well, next time you're in Fantask, please say hello to Rolf and Soren from this crazy former underground cartoonist. (I guess Morten's wasn't involved when I "knew" R & S.) Thanks for the link, too.

Aloha,

Scott!

[Rob Allen]

Some very good resources have been mentioned already. Here's one more: the Yahoo group "comic-strip-classics":

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comic-strip-classics

The group has members who've forgotten more about comic strips that I ever knew.

[Pil]

So, I've finished the articles/biographies on the characters from Sam's Strip/Sam and Silo for WeirdSpace. It's not an impressive amount of info I've been able to get, but it's still way better than what can be found on other sites (links below for those who want to read them).

Just wanted to say thanks for the help so far. If someone has some additional information I'm always interested in hearing from you.

Now starts the dreary work of translating and writing an article in Danish (I hate translating, and writing in Danish :frown: )

As always I'm interested in hearing from creators who want their comic featured on WeirdSpace. It's free and I'm the one doing most of the work.


Links:
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/SamBarnes.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/SiloTidley.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/AbeMcGuffie.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Algy.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Evy.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Foggy.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Floyd.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Jasper.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/MrTeetering.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Rosie.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/GrandmotherBarnes.htm
http://weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Agnes.htm

[dan bailey]

Wow -- names for all of 'em! Impressive work (despite your self-effacement)!