Prickly City by Scott Stantis

"One Fine Sunday in the Funny Pages"
Sept. 15-Nov. 5 at the H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art

Comic strips provide a colorful and humorous respite from the serious and often tragic news that precedes them. On Sept. 15, Carthage's H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art kicks off its 2011-12 exhibition season with One Fine Sunday in the Funny Pages, a celebration of a quintessentially American Sunday pleasure.

An opening reception was held Thursday, Sept. 15.

This show will be a unique, one-of-a-kind collection of today's comics, from the oldest, The Katzenjammer Kids and Gasoline Alley, to the newest, Dustin. It will be a trip down memory lane as much as an overview of the state of newspaper comics today.

Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan

One Fine Sunday in the Funny Pages features the original art of 140 different comic strips and panels that were published in newspapers on the same Sunday (April 11, 2010). Show curator John Read contacted the creators of comic strips and panels requesting they loan the art for their April 11, 2010, cartoon for an unprecedented exhibition of their craft.

Among the cartoons in the exhibit are Fernando Ruiz' Archie, Bill Amend's FoxTrot, Carole and Jack Bender's Alley Oop, Jan Eliot's Stone Soup, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgamn's Zits, John Hambrock's Edison Lee, Dean Young and John Marshall's Blondie, Patrick McDonnell's Mutts, Leigh Ruben's Rubes, Terri Libenson's Pajama Diaries, Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean and Crankshaft, Paul Gilligan's Pooch Cafe, Sandra Bell Lundy's Between Friends, Norm Feuti's Retail and Scott Stantis' Prickly City.

The free exhibit will be on display through Saturday, Nov. 5. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 6-8 p.m. Thursday evenings, and 1-4 p.m. Saturday.