Little Lulu

Little Lulu is a comic strip character, created by  Marjorie Henderson Buell. Little Lulu first appeared in the  Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel comic strip, appearing in her debut as a flower girl at a wedding, strewing the aisle with banana peels. The Little Lulu strip took the place of Carl Anderson's Henry, which had been picked up for distribution by King Features Syndicate.

The strip ran until December 30, 1944. Original Little Lulu cartoons were also used frequently in Pepsi-Cola magazine ads throughout the 1940s. Lulu was also the centerpiece of an extensive advertising campaign for  Kleenex tissues during the 1940s and 1950s.

Supporting characters in the comic include her friends Tubby Tompkins (who later got his own short-lived comic book series—49 issues plus two specials), Annie, Iggy, Gloria, Wilbur Van Snobbe, Alvin, Ol' Witch Hazel, and Little Itch. Lulu's last name is Moppet.

Character history
A daily comic strip, entitled Little Lulu, was syndicated from June 5, 1950 through May, of 1969. Artists included Woody Kimbrell (1950–1964), Roger Armstrong (1964–1966) and Ed Nofzinger (1966–1969).

Also during this time, Little Lulu appeared in 10 issues of Dell Comics'  Four Color comic book series (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120, 131, 139, 146, 158, 165), before graduating to her own title: Marge's Little Lulu. With the Dell Comics/ Western Publishing split that created Gold Key Comics, Little Lulu went to Gold Key with issue #165. Upon retirement, Marge sold Little Lulu to Western Publishing (the comic was re–named Little Lulu with #207 September, 1972). Publication of the comics ceased in 1984 (with issue #268, the last few under the "Whitman Comics" name), when Western discontinued publishing comics. Artist Hy Eisman retained several of the stories intended for #269–270 (scripted by Paul Kuhn) when the artwork was returned to him after the comic was cancelled. Three of these are to be reprinted in the Lulu fanzine The HoLLywood Eclectern (HE). "The Case of the Disappearing Tutu" slated to be the lead story in Little Lulu #270 appears in HE #47 (2008).

There were also two giant sized annuals (#1–2, 1953–1954), fourteen Dell Giants (with seasonal and other themes), a regular-sized un-numbered special on visiting Japan and two Gold key specials (on Halloween and summer camp). Lulu also appeared in twenty issues of March of Comics.

Lulu fans hold an annual gathering at the San Diego Comic Con in which they perform a radio-play style script based on a classic Lulu story.

John Stanley
Writer/artist John Stanley's work on the Little Lulu comic book is highly regarded. He did the initial Lulu comics, later working with artist Irving Tripp, writing and laying out the stories. He continued working on the comic until c. 1961. Stanley is responsible for the many additional characters in the stories. His work has been collected in a series of hardcover books by  Gladstone Publishing in the 1980s. In the 2000s, Dark Horse Comics has collected Little Lulu comics from the beginning as black and white  softcover books.

After Stanley, other writers produced the Lulu stories for Gold Key, including Arnold Drake.

Chief characters

 * Lulu Moppet. Lulu is the title character and is often the ringleader of the girls. As such, she is their leader of their less formal club. Her best friend is Annie. Lulu is a kind and sincere little girl who, though prone to mischief, usually ends up saving the day.


 * Tubby Tompkins. Tubby, whose real name is Thomas, is Lulu's friend and occasional foil. He has helped Lulu many times, and has tormented her just as much. His closest friends are Eddie, Willy and Iggy, who happens to be Annie's younger brother. When they are together, they can be as mean to Lulu as any boy would. His parents, Jim and Ellie Tompkins, have less patience with his antics than Lulu's parents had with hers. In fact, Tubby was spanked with more frequency than Lulu. As the junior detective, later nicknamed "the Spider", he has helped Lulu get out of hot water when she is punished for something that her father has done.  He has a couple of cousins that he doesn't like.  His cousin Jefferson was outright mean; and Chubby was almost a mirror image, excepting his height.


 * Alvin Jones. The little neighbor boy who is younger than Lulu and is often vexing towards her and her family. To placate the extremely troublesome Alvin, Lulu usually tells him stories, often starring Lulu and her mother, as a poor family who usually tries to make ends meet with little. Later on, even though Lulu as a poor girl is still used, the wicked Witch Hazel and her equally evil niece, Little Itch, became the antagonists of the stories. Alvin himself has a younger brother named Cedric, who torments him, just as he torments Lulu.


 * George and Martha Moppet. Lulu's mother and father. Martha (Mildred in FC 146, 1947) was more patient with Lulu than her husband tended to be. George and Martha also co-starred with Lulu in some of the stories that she tells Alvin.  Sometimes, Martha would spank Lulu for crimes she did not do, and with the helpful aid of Tubby, would end up finding out that George had done something that connected him with what Lulu had been punished for.


 * Annie. Lulu's best friend and occasional co-conspirator in her schemes to best the boys. She is the sister of Iggy and the two were often at each other's throats. They have a grandfather named Grandpa Feeb. Like most of the characters, their last names were variable with the stories, mainly her name was either Inch or McGee.


 * Gertie Greenbean. Gertie is a friend of Lulu's and is spoken of often. Her first appearance showed her sticking up for Lulu against snobby Wilbur, who became her chief nemesis. In an attempt to get even with her, he shamelessly used his father's influence in the community to have her mother (Gertie and her mother lived in a trailer house) moved outside of town, but Gertie didn't realize this. She thought her mother had run off (her mother allowed her to sleep over at Lulu's house, and didn't know her address); and had begun to cry.  When Wilbur taunted her about this, the two got into a fight (she was a  tomboy) and beat him up. She sent him off crying, and she and her mother reunited. She was also featured in another story when Lulu planned to give her dog, Rover, a T-Bone, but, thanks to the snotty Wilbur, accidentally gave him a strand of pearls.


 * Wilbur Van Snobbe. The typical and very snobby rich kid who antagonizes not just Lulu, but everyone else, as he thinks he is more superior than his peers. One of his least endearing traits is the patronizing and extremely rude way that he treats his servants, which cause him to be referred to as "brat!" (At first, his name was "Van Snobble", but was later accepted as Van Snobbe.) Wilbur's main nemesis was Gertie Greenbean, who fought him numerous times.  He has also clashed with Tubby on many occasions, but in the end, is vanquished, bested and  humiliated because he so often underestimates his opponents.


 * Willy Wilkins; Eddie Stimson and Iggy. Tubby's friends and co-horts, in their (more formal than the girls) club. They are the ones who usually torment Lulu and the other girls. Sometimes, they turn the tables on Tubby, who seems to not pay his club dues on a frequent basis. Willy is the president and Eddie is usually the treasurer. At times, they usually end up needing Lulu to help them out, most especially against their cross-town rivals, the West Side Boys.  During these occasions, they usually end up victorious, and are happy Lulu is there to help them out.


 * Gloria. Her last name varied with the stories (ie. Good; or Sweet), as was not unusual with some of the characters, but was often connected with Wilbur, as she was more in the same economic stratum as he was. She would use Tubby in order to make Wilbur jealous, and vice versa.  At times, she and Lulu would be antagonistic, due to Lulu's jealousy and that Gloria was too "girly" for Lulu's liking, but when united against the common enemy (boys), they could be friendly.


 * Miss Feeny. The kids' Fourth grade teacher. She is popular and the kids love her. She appreciates Lulu, as she is one of the top students in her class. A spinster, who lives with her mother, she has a pet parrot she loves.  Tubby took the parrot at one time, to make sure Miss Feeny would promote him, but nasty Wilbur outsmarted him, or so he thought.  Tubby switched the parrot for one of Wilbur's pet ducks.  When Miss Feeny saw what Wilbur tried to do, she threatened him with demotion; and Tubby returned the parrot to Miss Feeny with no harm.


 * Mr. Ernest. The school's principal. He is usually seen yelling at Mr. McNabbem and Mr. Googins for their failure to catch hooky players. He replaced the more stern Mr. Gruffly.


 * Mr. Clarence McNabbem and Mr. Timothy Googins. The school district's highly incompetent truant officers.  Mr. Googins was married with children, and was never able to catch a  hooky player. His replacement, Mr. McNabbem, wasn't constrained by marriage, but was even worse than his predecessor. He, (as well as Googins), always framed Lulu for hooky playing when she was clearly given a legitimate reason to leave the school. For this, both often earned the wrath of Mr. Ernest.  Eventually, McNabbem lost his job as a truant officer, after he once more framed Lulu for hooky when she had been sent on an errand by Mr. Ernest himself, he had forgotten his pipe at home, and sent Lulu to bring it to him.  McNabbem thought that she was going to smoke it, and broke the pipe angering Principal Ernest.  After being chased by him and most of the students, he hid in a box with two real hooky players.  The students locked McNabbem in the box and delivered it to Mr. Ernest.  He discovered McNabbem and thought that he had been playing hooky.  After Mr. Ernest yelled at him, he was demoted to janitor.


 * Snobbly. Wilbur's Butler, created by Arnold Drake.

Dark Horse reprints
In 2004, Dark Horse Comics obtained the rights to reprint the Little Lulu comics. Eighteen volumes plus an un-numbered color special have been published through early 2008. Volumes 4 and 5 were originally published before the first three volumes, as it was felt that their content was more accessible.


 * 1) My Dinner with Lulu ISBN 1-59307-318-6 (reprints Four Color Comics #74, 97, 110, 115, 120)
 * 2) Sunday Afternoon ISBN 1-59307-345-3 (reprints Four Color Comics #131, 139, 146, 158)
 * 3) In the Doghouse ISBN 1-59307-345-3 (reprints Four Color Comics #165 and Little Lulu #1–5)
 * 4) Lulu Goes Shopping ISBN 1-59307-270-8 (reprints Little Lulu #6–12)
 * 5) Lulu Takes a Trip ISBN 1-59307-317-8 (reprints Little Lulu #13–17)
 * 6) Letters to Santa ISBN 1-59307-386-0 (reprints Little Lulu #18–22)
 * 7) Lulu's Umbrella Service ISBN 1-59307-399-2 (reprints Little Lulu #23–27)
 * 8) Late for School ISBN 1-59307-453-0 (reprints Little Lulu #28–32)
 * 9) Lucky Lulu ISBN 1-59307-471-9 (reprints Little Lulu #33–37)
 * 10) All Dressed Up ISBN 1-59307-534-0 (reprints Little Lulu #38–42)
 * 11) April Fools ISBN 1-59307-557-X  (reprints Little Lulu'' #43–48)
 * 12) Leave It to Lulu ISBN 1-59307-620-7 (reprints Little Lulu #49–53)
 * 13) Too Much Fun ISBN 1-59307-621-5 (reprints Little Lulu #54–58)
 * 14) Queen Lulu ISBN 1-59307-683-5 (reprints Little Lulu #59–63)
 * 15) The Explorers ISBN 1-59307-684-3 (reprints Little Lulu #64–68)
 * 16) A Handy Kid ISBN 1-59307-685-1 (reprints Little Lulu #69–74)
 * 17) The Valentine ISBN 1-59307-686-X (reprints Little Lulu #75–81)
 * 18) The Expert ISBN 1-59307680 (reprints Little Lulu #82–87)
 * ''Little Lulu Color Special ISBN 1-59307-613-4