What a Guy!
Encyclopedia
What a Guy! is an American
comic strip
created by Bill Hoest
and Bunny Hoest
, the team responsible for The Lockhorns
and Agatha Crumm
. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988.
The What a Guy! daily strip
was a single-panel gag cartoon
which was also formatted as a rectangular comic strip. The Sunday strip
grouped together an assortment of three different cartoons with no connecting theme or continuity. Distributed by King Features Syndicate
, the strip was continued by Hoest's widow, Bunny Hoest
and Bill's assistant, John Reiner
, until they decided to end it in 1996.
parents. The strip was launched into print syndication
across the United States and Canada by King Features on March 29, 1987. The strip, like many non-topical gag strips, was mailed to the syndicate in batches of four weeks worth of comics at one time, several months ahead of the expected publication date.
Strip historian Allan Holtz
described the character:
Bill Hoest died on November 8, 1988, from complications of lymphoma
at New York University
Medical Center. His widow, Bunny Hoest, announced that What a Guy! and the other Hoest strips would continue "in perpetuity" with Bunny Hoest as writer and drawing on the "large amount of work" Bill had prepared before his death. Bill Hoest's "cartooning assistant," John Reiner, told Newsday
, "Hoest left up to two years' material in various stages of completion in his files." Reiner, who had already taken over drawing duties, would continue to draw What A Guy! and the five other Hoest comics then in production. (The other five were the syndicated The Lockhorns
and Agatha Crumm
; Laugh Parade
and Howard Huge
for Parade
magazine; plus Bumper Snickers for The National Enquirer
.) This arrangement lasted until the strip ended in 1996.
What a Guy! was one of the comics featured on Morning Funnies
cereal boxes in 1988 and 1989, and the strips were collected in What a Guy! What's the Latest? (Tor, 1990).
to deride the strip as "merely insipid" and that it "warrants no more space than Trudy or Marmaduke
". A Lakeland Ledger reader commented, after the paper dropped What a Guy! in favor of Calvin and Hobbes
, that What a Guy! was "one of the best and funniest comic strips" the paper printed.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic strip
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....
created by Bill Hoest
Bill Hoest
Bill Hoest was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the gag panel series, The Lockhorns, distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries, and Laugh Parade for Parade...
and Bunny Hoest
Bunny Hoest
Bunny Hoest , sometimes labeled The Cartoon Lady, is the writer of several cartoon series, including The Lockhorns, Laugh Parade and Howard Huge, all of which she inherited from her late husband Bill Hoest...
, the team responsible for The Lockhorns
The Lockhorns
The Lockhorns is a United States single-panel cartoon created in 1968 by Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries. It is continued today by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner.-Characters and story:...
and Agatha Crumm
Agatha Crumm
Agatha Crumm is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate. Agatha Crumm was Hoest's third strip, following Bumper Snickers , and it continued until 1996....
. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988.
The What a Guy! daily strip
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
was a single-panel 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...
which was also formatted as a rectangular comic strip. The Sunday strip
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...
grouped together an assortment of three different cartoons with no connecting theme or continuity. 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...
, the strip was continued by Hoest's widow, Bunny Hoest
Bunny Hoest
Bunny Hoest , sometimes labeled The Cartoon Lady, is the writer of several cartoon series, including The Lockhorns, Laugh Parade and Howard Huge, all of which she inherited from her late husband Bill Hoest...
and Bill's assistant, John Reiner
John Reiner
John Reiner is a cartoonist who collaborates with writer Bunny Hoest on three cartoon series: The Lockhorns, syndicated by King Features, and Laugh Parade and Howard Huge ....
, until they decided to end it in 1996.
Characters and story
What a Guy! was created when Bill and Bunny were visiting with Bunny's daughter and her family. Bunny's grandson was an early "latchkey" child. Bill and Bunny were amazed at his very "grown-up" comments and used him as the prototype for Guy Wellington Frothmore, who became the focus of a comic strip. What a Guy! cartoons featured a young boy who "questions life's complexities" and repeats adult concepts overheard from his yuppieYuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
parents. The strip was launched into print syndication
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
across the United States and Canada by King Features on March 29, 1987. The strip, like many non-topical gag strips, was mailed to the syndicate in batches of four weeks worth of comics at one time, several months ahead of the expected publication date.
Strip historian Allan Holtz
Allan Holtz
Allan Holtz is a comic strip historian who researches and writes about newspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels...
described the character:
- The premise is that an elementary school kid named Guy is obsessed with the idea that he's a businessman. He wears a frumpy suit, has a middle-age paunch, worries about ulcers, the whole nine yards. The idea was timely in the go-go 1980s, but Hoest didn't get there first -- the Guy character is strongly reminiscent of Alex P. Keaton from the hit TV sitcom Family TiesFamily TiesFamily Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
. The popularity of the TV show was probably seen as an asset, but it didn't seem to have the desired slingshot effect to propel What a Guy! into newspapers. The feature at first used the tried-and-true model of The Lockhorns for the Sunday page -- a group of panel cartoons that could be rejiggered into many different formats. For unknown reasons this format was dropped in 1988 and the Sunday became a strip feature. From the beginning the daily was in strip form instead of a panel, though the 'strip' was almost always a single panel.
Bill Hoest died on November 8, 1988, from complications of lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
Medical Center. His widow, Bunny Hoest, announced that What a Guy! and the other Hoest strips would continue "in perpetuity" with Bunny Hoest as writer and drawing on the "large amount of work" Bill had prepared before his death. Bill Hoest's "cartooning assistant," John Reiner, told Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, "Hoest left up to two years' material in various stages of completion in his files." Reiner, who had already taken over drawing duties, would continue to draw What A Guy! and the five other Hoest comics then in production. (The other five were the syndicated The Lockhorns
The Lockhorns
The Lockhorns is a United States single-panel cartoon created in 1968 by Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries. It is continued today by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner.-Characters and story:...
and Agatha Crumm
Agatha Crumm
Agatha Crumm is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate. Agatha Crumm was Hoest's third strip, following Bumper Snickers , and it continued until 1996....
; Laugh Parade
Laugh Parade
Laugh Parade was a group of weekly gag cartoons written by Bunny Hoest and drawn by John Reiner. It ran in Parade, a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement....
and Howard Huge
Howard Huge
Howard Huge is a cartoon series written by Bunny Hoest and illustrated by John Reiner. Created by Bill Hoest, the series had 80 million readers, since it ran in the Sunday supplement magazine, Parade from 1980 to 2007, continuing on a website....
for Parade
Parade (magazine)
Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 500 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of nearly 70...
magazine; plus Bumper Snickers for The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc . Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years....
.) This arrangement lasted until the strip ended in 1996.
What a Guy! was one of the comics featured on Morning Funnies
Morning Funnies
Morning Funnies was a fruit-flavored breakfast cereal produced by Ralston Cereals in 1988 and 1989. The name of the cereal was based on the assortment of newspaper comic strips featured on the box. Innovative packaging allowed the back flap of the box to be opened revealing additional comic...
cereal boxes in 1988 and 1989, and the strips were collected in What a Guy! What's the Latest? (Tor, 1990).
Reception
Reader reaction to the strip was widely varied. One person wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer that What a Guy! was one of the "worst comics around" while a couple wrote to the Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
to deride the strip as "merely insipid" and that it "warrants no more space than Trudy or Marmaduke
Marmaduke
Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip was created by Anderson, with help from Phil Leeming and later Dorothy Leeming , and Paul Anderson. The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke...
". A Lakeland Ledger reader commented, after the paper dropped What a Guy! in favor of Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
, that What a Guy! was "one of the best and funniest comic strips" the paper printed.