Little Lulu
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Little Lulu is a comic strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. She 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 strip ran until 1948.
In the 'mid-1940s, Lulu graduated to animated cartoons and comic books. She appeared in 10 issues of Dell Comics Four Color series (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120, 131, 139, 146, 158, 165) before graduating to her own title. Tubby would also get his own short-lived series as well. With the Dell Comics/Western Publishing split that created Gold Key Comics, Little Lulu went to Gold Key, still being publishing until the 1980s.
Artist John Stanley's work on the Little Lulu comic book is highly regarded. He did the initial Lulu comics, later working with artist Irv Trip. He continued working on the comic until around 1961. Stanley is responsible for the many additional characters in the stories. His work has been collected in a series of hardcovers by Gladstone Comics in the 1980s.
Little Lulu was also hired as a spokestoon for Kleenex. Famous Studios' animated Little Lulu short subjects are considered among their best work, and were in production from 1943 until 1948, when a clone, Little Audrey, was created to prevent from having to pay Buell royalties.
In 1995, Lulu again appeared in an animated series on HBO, this time voiced by Tracey Ullman.
Characters in the Little Lulu series include her friends Tubby, Alvin, Ol' Witch Hazel, and Li'l Itch. Lulu's last name is Moppet.
In 2004, Dark Horse Comics obtain the rights to reprint the classic Little Lulu comics. They have published three volumes so far, with several more in the works.
- Lulu Goes Shopping ISBN 1-59307-270-8 (reprints Litte Lulu #6-12)
- Lulu Takes a Trip ISBN 1-59307-317-8 (reprints Litte Lulu #13-16)
- My Dinner with Lulu ISBN 1-59307-318-6 (reprints Four Color Comics #74, 97, 110, 115, 120)
- Sunday Afternoon ISBN 1-59307-345-3 (reprints Four Color Comics #131, 139, 146, 158)
- In The Doghouse ISBN 1-59307-345-3 (in August)
- Letters to Santa ISBN (in October)
External links
- Toonopedia: Little Lulu (http://www.toonopedia.com/lulu.htm)
- HBO: The Little Lulu Show (http://www.hbofamily.com/programs/jam/little_lulu.html)
- San Diego Union Tribune: "Little Lulu still frolics with pals at age 70" (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040801/news_1hs1collect.html)
- Little Lulu Fan page (http://www.cloudnet.com/~bobpfef/LULU.HTM)
- Michele's Little Lulu Page (http://michelesworld.net/lulu/lulu.htm)
- Friends of Lulu (http://www.friends-lulu.org)