In addition to their appearances in comic books, serials
and radio shows, many comic characters of the 1930s and 40s had their own daily
or Sunday newspaper comic strips for fans to follow. With particularly
well-known and popular characters, newspapers would often advertise the upcoming
debuts of said characters. Flash Gordon and Betty Boop were
two such examples that we’ll be discussing here.

Officially debuting in
the newspapers on January 7, 1934, Flash Gordon was off to a running
start. Flash Gordon was illustrated by Alex Raymond,whose art was truly
magnificent. During World War II, Raymond enlisted and left the strip to Austin
Briggs, who would then pass the reins to Emanuel “Mac” Raboy. The strip was
cancelled in 1944 and brought back in 1951 with Dan Barry as the artist. This
began a close to forty year run on the character, with Barry taking over the
Sunday page as well upon Raboy’s death in 1967 and continuing until 1990. The
strip was cancelled again in 1993, but the Sunday strip continues
on.

This half-page ad (see above) was taken out in The Atlanta
Georgian on Friday, April 27, 1934 to advertise that the paper would begin
running the Sunday page adventures of Flash Gordon on the following
Sunday. The ad reads: “Now!! 16 Page Comics Every Sunday!” The ad also has panel
examples of the upcoming strip with Raymond art. The bottom half of the page was
an ad for a western strip the newspaper was running.

Similarly, Betty
Boop was a star in her own right. With successful cartoons under Fleischer
Studios, Betty was one of the most popular comic characters of the time, right
up there with Mickey Mouse and Felix The Cat. What better way for a character to
gain more exposure than through their own newspaper strip?

Debuting in
her Sunday page on July 29, 1934, Betty continued her run of popularity from the
Silver Screen through dozens of licensed items and her already existing daily
newspaper strip. The Atlanta Georgian newspaper ran a full-page ad the
Saturday before the strip debuted, reading, “And Now Meet…the World-Famous
Queen of the Cartoon Movies…Betty Boop.” This text was printed alongside a
classic large image of Boop wearing a dress with a heart on it. The ad mentions
other character strips run by the newspaper with a large notice reading, “See
Her Daily in The Atlanta Georgian.”