1995 32c Comic Strip Classics: Li'l Abner

# 3000q - 1995 32c Comic Strip Classics: Li'l Abner

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U.S. #3000q
1995 32¢ Li’l Abner
Comic Strip Classics

  • Third sheet in the Classic Collection Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Comic Strip Classics
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1995
First Day Cities:  Boca Raton, Florida
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Stamp Venturers
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  10.1 x 10.2

 Why the stamps were issued:  The Comic Strip Classics sheet was the third issue in the Classic Collection Series.  There was push to create a stamp to honor American comics as early as the 1960’s, but didn’t get real consideration until 1993. With the 100th anniversary of the comic The Yellow Kid, a comic committee, and an 83-page proposal the USPS finally agreed.

About the stamp designs:  Even though only one stamp was approved, Terrence McCaffrey, head of stamp design, thought there was no way to honor American Comics with one single stamp. Therefore, he had a list of all proposed stamps and had Carl Herrman, art director, mock up a sheet of 20 stamps. McCaffrey wanted all the stamps to be taken from original panels by their respected artist. Herrmann worked on going through thousands of panels to find comics of the 20 chosen that showed the central theme of the comic in one panel with clean lines. Then with the help of American Color, that colorizes most of the comics in American newspapers, he was able to colorize them with accurate color choices, even those that were outdated.

Li’l Abner (#3000q) – The image chosen for this stamp was taken from a book of 1943 strips published by Kitchen Sink Press – the complete Li’l Abner. Carl Herrman centered the image and changed Daisy-Mae’s blouse to the original color.

About the printing process:  In order to include the text on the back of each stamp, it had to be printed under the gum, so that it would still be visible if a stamp was soaked off an envelope.  Because people would need to lick the stamps, the ink had to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as non-toxic. The printer also used an extra-fine 300-line screen, which resulted in some of the highest-quality gravure stamp printings in recent years.

History the stamps represent: 

Li’l Abner

          Li’l Abner, the classic hillbilly saga, began with almost instant success in August 1934.  Whenever he was aware of it or not, cartoonist Al Capp was offering his own version of the classic American story of the country bumpkin (or, in his case, Yokum) who exposes the corruptions of the big city slickers simply by maintaining his own naiveté.  Among his creations were the Shmoo, the Bald Iggle, Fearless Fosdick, and Sadie Hawkins’ Day.

          Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to a father who wrote and drew cartoons for his family’s amusement, Alfred Caplin began his career creating hillbilly characters for the strip Joe Palooka. (Al’s brother Eliot also scripted more than a dozen well-known strips).  Believing that to be a successful cartoonist it was necessary to study serious art, Al followed his own advice, and when Li’l Abner debuted, it was drawn in a semi-cartoon style that owed nothing to any of its predecessors.

          One of the few hilbilly strips ever written, Li’l Abner gave new meaning to the word “satire.”  So successful was Capp’s work that he was once proposed for the Nobel Prize for Literature by novelist John Steinbeck.  After 43 years, the strip came to an end when Capp retire at 1977.

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U.S. #3000q
1995 32¢ Li’l Abner
Comic Strip Classics

  • Third sheet in the Classic Collection Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Comic Strip Classics
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1995
First Day Cities:  Boca Raton, Florida
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Stamp Venturers
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  10.1 x 10.2

 Why the stamps were issued:  The Comic Strip Classics sheet was the third issue in the Classic Collection Series.  There was push to create a stamp to honor American comics as early as the 1960’s, but didn’t get real consideration until 1993. With the 100th anniversary of the comic The Yellow Kid, a comic committee, and an 83-page proposal the USPS finally agreed.

About the stamp designs:  Even though only one stamp was approved, Terrence McCaffrey, head of stamp design, thought there was no way to honor American Comics with one single stamp. Therefore, he had a list of all proposed stamps and had Carl Herrman, art director, mock up a sheet of 20 stamps. McCaffrey wanted all the stamps to be taken from original panels by their respected artist. Herrmann worked on going through thousands of panels to find comics of the 20 chosen that showed the central theme of the comic in one panel with clean lines. Then with the help of American Color, that colorizes most of the comics in American newspapers, he was able to colorize them with accurate color choices, even those that were outdated.

Li’l Abner (#3000q) – The image chosen for this stamp was taken from a book of 1943 strips published by Kitchen Sink Press – the complete Li’l Abner. Carl Herrman centered the image and changed Daisy-Mae’s blouse to the original color.

About the printing process:  In order to include the text on the back of each stamp, it had to be printed under the gum, so that it would still be visible if a stamp was soaked off an envelope.  Because people would need to lick the stamps, the ink had to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as non-toxic. The printer also used an extra-fine 300-line screen, which resulted in some of the highest-quality gravure stamp printings in recent years.

History the stamps represent: 

Li’l Abner

          Li’l Abner, the classic hillbilly saga, began with almost instant success in August 1934.  Whenever he was aware of it or not, cartoonist Al Capp was offering his own version of the classic American story of the country bumpkin (or, in his case, Yokum) who exposes the corruptions of the big city slickers simply by maintaining his own naiveté.  Among his creations were the Shmoo, the Bald Iggle, Fearless Fosdick, and Sadie Hawkins’ Day.

          Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to a father who wrote and drew cartoons for his family’s amusement, Alfred Caplin began his career creating hillbilly characters for the strip Joe Palooka. (Al’s brother Eliot also scripted more than a dozen well-known strips).  Believing that to be a successful cartoonist it was necessary to study serious art, Al followed his own advice, and when Li’l Abner debuted, it was drawn in a semi-cartoon style that owed nothing to any of its predecessors.

          One of the few hilbilly strips ever written, Li’l Abner gave new meaning to the word “satire.”  So successful was Capp’s work that he was once proposed for the Nobel Prize for Literature by novelist John Steinbeck.  After 43 years, the strip came to an end when Capp retire at 1977.