Motley's Crew

For the heavy metal band, see Mötley Crüe.
Motley's Crew
Motley's Crew
Mike Motley and Mr. Drudge
Author(s)Ben Templeton[1]
Tom Forman[1]
Current status/scheduleNo longer in publication
Launch dateSeptember 6, 1976[1]
End dateJanuary 1, 2000[1]
Syndicate(s)Tribune Media Services
Genre(s)Humor
Politics
Marriage

Motley's Crew was an American newspaper comic strip by Ben Templeton and Tom Forman with satirical social commentary.[1][2] With readership spread among 250 newspapers in the United States alone, the comic strip acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans during its 23 years of operation.[2]

The comic strip, in general, was about a blue-collar worker named Mike Motley and his wife Mabel Motley.[2] Truman Motley (Mike and Mabel's son) eventually fell in love and married a woman named Tacoma. From that marriage came two sons. Mabel's older brother Abel was often collaborating with his wife Buffy.[1] Her role in being the middleman in the "friendly rivalry" between her brother Abel and her husband Mike is ultimately cancelled out by his mutual respect of both Abel and Buffy; they have a desire to visit Mabel on an occasional basis.

According to a 1997 comics poll conducted by the New York Daily News, Motley's Crew was elected as the 28th most favorite comic strip among readers and visitors to the official Internet site.[3] The comic strip was considered to be more popular than B.C. (still in publication) but less popular than Broom-Hilda (still in publication).[3] However, it also voted as the 30th least favorite comic strip in the same poll; indicating that more people liked the Motley's Crew comic strip than hated it.[3] Templeton and Forman created the comic in 1976.[4] It was first syndicated by what is known today as Tribune Content Agency on September 6 of that year. Templeton and Forman were working together on it until Forman's death in 1996. After Forman's death, Templeton continued alone.[4] It continued until January 1, 2000.[5]

The final week's strips dealt with the cast trying to cope with the possible effects of the Y2K bug.[6] Earl had the computers in the factory "bug proofed" but for the year 3000.[6] Mike had to fix the computers so they were ready for the year 2000 instead.[6] On the first day of the year 2000, the final comic strip ever to be printed presented long-time fans and casual readers with a sign with the words "This space for rent."[5]

Since then, Motley's Crew comic strips have been sought by collectors of contemporary comic strips.[citation needed] Archived comic strips can be viewed on Google News Archives by simply typing in the name of the comic strip.[7] However, not all issues of the Motley's Crew comic strip are available to view on the Google News because they stopped scanning old newspapers in May 2011.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference toonpedia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c "Tom Forman's obituary w/ comic strip information". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  3. ^ a b c "Comic strip poll results". Daily News. New York. 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  4. ^ a b "Artist information". Lambiek. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  5. ^ a b "Motleys Crew". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2000-01-01. p. 34. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 11 March 2013. (Scroll to the left for this comic strip.)
  6. ^ a b c "Motley's Crew". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1999-12-28. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 11 March 2013. (Scroll down and to the right for this comic strip.)
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference misterdrudge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).