Franklin Fibbs
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| Franklin Fibbs/Little Fibbs | |
|---|---|
 Title panel for Little Fibbs Sunday strips. |
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| Author(s) | Hollis Brown, Wes Hargis |
| Current status / schedule | Ended |
| Launch date | September 6, 2004 |
| End Date | October 8, 2006 |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
Franklin Fibbs is the main character of and the name of a comic strip created and written by Hollis Brown and illustrated by Wes Hargis. The comic is distributed to newspapers worldwide and is a very popular cartoon. It began on September 6, 2004.
The cartoon revolves around Franklin Fibbs, Franklin's bemused and loyal wife Paloma, whose main job around the store is to keep her husband and his imagination in check, and Josh, a neighborhood boy who works at Fibbs' General Store. Josh's curiosity and wide-eyed enthusiasm make him the perfect audience for Franklin's absurd tales. When Franklin's stories are particularly outlandish or borderline pathological, Paloma will often throw Josh a raised eyebrow or toss Franklin a choice retort in her native Spanish.
Daily Ink Archive of Franklin Fibbs
On May 7, 2006, Brown and Hargis changed the name of the strip to "Little Fibbs" and changed the premise, focusing on the younger Fibbs as a precocious boy. The transition from the old format to the new began with the elder Franklin using a time machine to visit his younger self. After a series of strips involving both characters, readers learn that the elder Franklin is just a figment of the younger boy's imagination and the Franklin's elder self disappears. Rose McAllister, from King Features, stated that the change was made to avoid the perception that the strip was only designed for older readers. Paloma is still a character as a young girl, but the strip also features Franklin's cat Roscoe and Clyde, a gila monster. Some readers see an obvious parallel to Calvin and Hobbes.
Unfortunately, the new change did not increase the newspaper sales, and after few months, it ended. According to Rose M. McAllister, Marketing Manager at King Features, the "Fibbs" strip maintained about 25-35 newspapers during its two year run.[1]
The strip first refers to its own demise on September 25, 2006. What follows in the next several days is some of the most creative moments in the strip. At one point, little Franklin "busts out" of the strip and finds himself briefly in Beetle Bailey. In another strip, Franklin suggests that perhaps he could save the strip by taking it even further back in time to "Fetus Fibbs."
The last strip appeared on October 7, 2006. In this strip, the elder Franklin returns in his time machine, and big and little Fibbs consider who to blame for the strip's cancellation. (Everyone but the writer, Hollis Brown.)
[edit] Notes
1. http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2006/10/05/no-lie-little-fibbs-is-coming-to-an-end/
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