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"Desperate Desmond" was a comic strip by Harry Hershfield, published in the New York Journal[1] between March 11, 1910, and October 15, 1912.[2]
A parody of melodrama, it depicted a stereotypical villain named Desmond who continually tried to capture a damsel in distress named Rosamond, which brought him into conflict with her and her paramour Claude Eclaire;[3] Hershfield ended the strip by having Claude and Rosamond marry, which meant that Desmond could no longer pursue her.[4]
Coulton Waugh described it as one of the first strips to include genuine suspense; [5] similarly, R. C. Harvey has mentioned its early use of daily continuity.[6]
Don Markstein noted that it was a "probably a response" to the presence of a similar character in C. W. Kahles's earlier strip "Hairbreadth Harry";[3] Maurice Horn, however, called it a "direct imitation" of Kahles's work, but felt that it "showed greater ingenuity and wit".[7]
- ^ Harry Hershfield, at Lambiek; retrieved April 6, 2019
- ^ Obscurity of the Day: Desperate Desmond, by Allan Holtz, at Stripper's Guide; published November 25, 2009; retrieved April 6, 2019
- ^ a b DESPERATE DESMOND, at Don Markstein's Toonopedia; published 2004; retrieved April 6, 2019
- ^ DAUNTLESS DURHAM OF THE U.S.A., at Don Markstein's Toonopedia; "Desmond (...) was idle because his former antaonist [sic]and love interest, Claude Eclaire and the fair Rosamond, had eluded him by marrying"; retrieved April 6, 2019
- ^ The Comics, by Coulton Waugh; first published 1947; 1991 edition published by University Press of Mississippi
- ^ The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History, by Robert C. Harvey; published 1994 by University Press of Mississippi
- ^ World Encyclopedia of Comics, by Maurice Horn, published 1976 by Chelsea House