The Strange World of Mr. Mum

Irving Phillips' The Strange World of Mr. Mum (January 22, 1961)

The Strange World of Mr. Mum was a surreal humor comic panel by Irving Phillips which was published from 1958 to 1974. At its peak, it appeared daily in 180 newspapers in 22 countries. Initially distributed by the Hall Syndicate, it was later handled by the Field Newspaper Syndicate. A Sunday edition began in 1961.[1]

Characters and story

Mr. Mum is a portly, bald and bespectacled character, who—as his name suggests—remains mum as he observes various odd, surprising or even surreal scenes. He is sometimes accompanied by his similarly silent dog. Mum is described as a "bystander on life's outer limits," and the feature's "anything-can-happen" humor paved the way for later titles like Herman, The Far Side, Bizarro and Rhymes With Orange.[2]

Because it was a pantomime cartoon, its humor translated well internationally. Dutch comics historian Ger Apeldoorn noted that Mr. Mum was "one of the weirdest of the silent strips (excluding the Dutch masterpiece from the same period, Professor Pi by Bo van der Born)... Mr. Mum is a curious man in a weird world, who never gets involved but only observes with ever growing amazement."[3]

Irving Phillips' The Strange World of Mr. Mum (1965).

After the feature ceased publication, Phillips created a few dozen large, full-color paintings based on ideas from the comic series.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lambiek http://lambiek.net/artists/p/phillips_i.htm
  2. ↑ 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics: An Illustrated Encyclopedia By Maurice Horn, Random House Value Publishing Staff Published by Gramercy Books, 1996 ISBN 0-517-12447-5, 978-0-517-12447-5
  3. ↑ Apeldoorn, Ger. The Fabulous Fifties.


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