American comic strip
Gil Thorp
is a sports-oriented
comic strip
which has been published since September 8, 1958. The main character, Gil Thorp, is the athletic director of Milford High School and coaches the
football
,
basketball
, and
baseball
teams. In addition to the sports storylines, the strip also deals with issues facing teenagers such as teen pregnancy,
steroids
, and drug abuse.
History
[
edit
]
The strip was created by Jack Berrill, who modeled and named Thorp after baseball player
Gil Hodges
and Olympic athlete
Jim Thorpe
.
[
citation needed
]
The setting of Milford is named for
New Milford, Connecticut
when he began writing the strip.
[5]
Berrill continued the strip until he died of cancer on March 14, 1996.
[
citation needed
]
Over the course of his 38 years, Berrill broke ground with many of his stories, often dealing with sensitive social issues of the day. As editorial standards relaxed, he was able to move from stories about jalopies and after-school jobs to topics like teen pregnancy, divorce, steroids,
[3]
and
sexual harassment
.
[5]
When the
Denver Post
had a problem getting a week's worth of strips, the newspaper received over 30,000 calls.
[5]
Writers
[
edit
]
Upon Berrill's death, Tribune Media Services chose author
Jerry Jenkins
(co-author of the
Left Behind
novels) to take over writing the strip.
[6]
Jenkins had been in discussions with TMS about expanding previous
Gil Thorp
stories into a series of youth novels and was a logical replacement. Many of Jenkins' stories were written uncredited by his son Chad Jenkins, a baseball coach at
Bethel College
. The Jenkins stories discussed overtly religious topics which had not appeared in the strip before, including an
Orthodox Jewish
football player
[7]
and a 15-year-old pregnant girl whom Thorp talks out of getting an abortion.
[8]
In 2004, Jenkins was followed as writer by
Detroit News
columnist
Neal Rubin
.
[9]
[3]
In 2022, the Tribune Content Agency announced that graphic novel writer
Henry Barajas
would take over authorship of the strip beginning in July of that year.
[10]
Artists
[
edit
]
The strip was drawn by Berrill from 1958?1993 until
glaucoma
forced him to turn the reins over to his Connecticut Cartoonist Associate colleague
Warren Sattler
. Later,
Frank Bolle
took over. followed by Ray Burns.
Frank McLaughlin
took over following Burns' death in 2000. On February 18, 2008,
Apartment 3G
artist Frank Bolle again took over art chores for
Gil Thorp
on an interim basis. Rod Whigham became the permanent artist two months later.
[11]
The Bucket
[
edit
]
The Bucket was an online forum hosted by the
Chicago Tribune
, named after the teen burger hangout in the strip, The Bucket. It was a lively site for 15 years and featured discussions about the strip and other topics. Members of the community were known as "Bucketeers".
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Ray Burns - Lambiek Comiclopedia"
.
Lambiek Comiclopedia
. Retrieved
July 30,
2022
.
- ^
"Rod Whigham - Lambiek Comiclopedia"
.
Lambiek Comiclopedia
. Retrieved
July 30,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Downey, Mike (September 7, 2008).
"Timeless classic Gil Thorp looks at life on and off the fields of play"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
January 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Gil Thorp comics by Neal Rubin and Rod Whigham"
.
Tribune Content Agency
. Retrieved
October 9,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
Jacobson, David (September 8, 1993).
"True Fans Follow Every Pitch from 'Gil Thorp'
"
.
Hartford Courant
. Retrieved
April 24,
2020
.
- ^
Miner, Michael (February 5, 1998).
"Good Sports, Bad Sports"
.
Chicago Reader
. Retrieved
January 23,
2012
.
- ^
Fleishman, Daniel (August 28, 2001). "Who Was That Yarmulke-topped Man? 'Gil Thorp' Strip Gets Sabbath-observant Character".
Jewish World Review
.
- ^
Miner, Michael (April 17, 2003).
"Gil Thorp Gets Benched"
.
Chicago Reader
. Retrieved
January 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Rubin Debut Ends "Passion of Gil Thorp"
"
.
The Comics Reporter
. April 17, 2004
. Retrieved
January 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Welcome to the team! Gil Thorp comic strip welcomes new author Henry Barajas"
.
Tribune Content Agency
. June 29, 2022. Archived from
the original
on June 29, 2022
. Retrieved
June 29,
2022
.
- ^
"New Artist Set to Take Over
Gil Thorp
Strip".
Chicago Tribune
. March 3, 2008.
External links
[
edit
]