Teena
Encyclopedia
Teena is a cartoon panel series and comic strip
about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry. It ran from 1944 to 1966, distributed by King Features Syndicate
.
It evolved from Terry's earlier Sunday feature
, It's a Girl's Life, a collection of gag cartoon
s which first appeared in newspapers on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The format displayed six panels about the reactions of teenage girls to World War II
. Comics historian Don Markstein
noted:
In Denmark, the strip was known as Tina.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry. It ran from 1944 to 1966, distributed by King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
.
It evolved from Terry's earlier Sunday feature
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
, It's a Girl's Life, a collection of gag cartoon
Gag cartoon
A gag cartoon is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a hand-lettered or typeset caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption...
s which first appeared in newspapers on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The format displayed six panels about the reactions of teenage girls to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Comics historian Don Markstein
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
noted:
- They also could be marketed as a daily feature, but wartime paper shortages prevented that. The main characters were named Henny and Penny... In 1943, Harry Haenigsen launched his own girl-protagonist strip, titled PennyPenny (comic strip)Penny was a comic strip about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970....
. In response, Terry dropped hers and started a more traditionally-formatted Sunday comicSunday comicsSunday comics is the commonly accepted term for the full-color comic strip section carried in most American newspapers. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies....
about a similar character with a different name. "Tina" was a good candidate for the new one's name, but the word "teenager" was just coming into vogue, so that was the spelling used. Teena started on July 1, 1944. Teena's much younger sister, Gwendolyn, was added to the cast later. Things went well for Terry and Teena for about 20 years, until a general decline in the newspaper business forced the cartoonist to find work elsewhere. She eventually wound up in the burgeoning field of computer animation, for which she won an award in 1979 from the Society she'd been instrumental in opening up a generation earlier. As for Teena, sources differ as to the exact year of the comic's demise, ranging from 1963 to '66. There is little doubt, however, that Hilda Terry's comics creations are a part of comics history that hasn't been seen in years.
In Denmark, the strip was known as Tina.
See also
- Aggie MackAggie MackAggie Mack was a newspaper comic strip about a teenage girl. Created by Hal Rasmusson, it was distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate beginning in 1946. It had a 26-year run, with a title change to Aggie during the final six years....
- Carl Ed
- Etta KettEtta KettEtta Kett was a long-run comic strip created by Paul Robinson. Launched as a single panel during December 1925, it originally offered tips to teenagers on manners, etiquette and the social graces...
- Freckles and His FriendsFreckles and His FriendsFreckles and his Friends was a popular American comic strip set in the peaceful small town of Shadyside where young Freckles McGoosey and his friends live...
- Hal RasmussonHal RasmussonHal Rasmusson was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Aggie Mack about a teenage girl.Born in Crookston, Minnesota, Rasmusson grew up in Minneapolis, where he attended the Minneapolis School of Art for two years. He started his career doing fashion illustration...
- Harold TeenHarold TeenHarold Teen was a popular, long-running comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed . Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested, and certainly approved, the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip,...
- Marty LinksMarty LinksMarty Links was an American cartoonist best known for her syndicated comic strip Emmy Lou.-Biography:Born Martha Arguello in Oakland, California, she moved with her family to San Francisco, where she grew up...
- PennyPenny (comic strip)Penny was a comic strip about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970....
- Zits