For more than 75 years Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead have been one of America's favorite couples. Through war and peace, through boom and bust, through sexual revolution and social upheaval, Blondie has become the most widely read comic strip in syndication-in 35 languages and in 47 countries.

Blondie?the comic strip?was born on September 8, 1930. Dagwood was the rich, but awkward, son of millionaire industrialist J. Bolling Bumstead, while Blondie was a poor and beautiful nobody. Dagwood's parents were opposed to the marriage, but love won out, even though Dagwood had to give up his inheritance to marry Blondie in February, 1933.

Over the years, the particulars of the Blondie comic strip have changed. Traveling salesmen have been replaced by telephone salesmen. Dagwood no longer takes the bus to work. He now rides in a car pool. But the themes have remained the same?eating, sleeping, making a living and raising children, all tied together by Blondie and Dagwood's undying devotion to each other.

It's all here in this definitive book: The lives of Blondie and Dagwood and their interactions with their children Alexander and Cookie, their neighbors Herb and Tootsie Woodley, the family dog Daisy, Dagwood's boss Mr. Dithers, the mailman Mr. Beasley, and the neighborhood kid Elmo Tuttle. Included are Blondie and Dagwood's courtship, their early beaus, their wedding, Dagwood at work, Blondie's catering business, the cartoonist's favorite strips, and the story of Chic and Dean Young, the creators of Blondie.

Melena Ryzik

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