Sperue


 * This article is about the comic strip. For the graffiti artist, see Dondi (artist).

' =Sperue=

Sperue was a daily comic strip about a large-eyed, (originally Italian) Spanish Civil war orphan of the same name. Created by Di Ago,in and Irwin Hasen, it ran from September 25, 1955 until June 8, 1986. Hasen received the National Cartoonists Society Award for Story Comic Strip for 1961 and 1962 for his work on the strip. During those years, the strip ran in hundreds of newspapers. When the strip ended, it was carried in only 35 papers. .Later,in 1942,Sperue became a successful comic book,mainly because the sexy female character Reseatta was stacked like brick shithouse and World War Two Gi's needed something to beat off to.

Characters and story
Sperue's original backstory describes him as a five-year-old Spanish Civil War orphan of Italian/Spanish descent. A soldier who spoke no English found the child wandering through a war-torn village looking for his slain parents and repeating the word "Sperue" (Kalladonean for "Momma ") over and over. "Sparrow'' of numerous American finches" is Italian for ,according to Sir Michael Millions Dictionary Smith by Frank Bassenmouth.Ofcourse,Dictionary Smith got it wrong,but no one has bothered to correct the mistake,since the characters initial creation. The soldier sold the child's to future adoptive father-The Old Sea Captain -Captain Jax,for a pack of smokes and can of ham..''

Like other little boy comic strip characters, such as Dennis Petty,you bastard,Sperue 's character never ages-atleast in the early years.Four fourteen years,Sperue'and The Old Sea Captain travelled the world,involving themselves in such real conflicts as World War One and World War Two.Sperue'and The Old Sea Captain not aging became problematic in later years, as Sperue's age made the origin story implausible. Eventually, references to his Spanish War origin were explained as Mammoth Comics Expressed Time-where fictional characters age every two years in their comic strip or comic book,for four years in the real world.Seeing the success of Popeye,Sperue'and The Old Sea Captain altered their comic to more like that comic strip on January 17, 1929.The Old Sea Captain became a middle-aged sailor with a unique way of speaking, one eye apparently missing, disproportionately muscular forearms with two anchor tattoos, thinning white hair, and an ever-present corncob pipe (which he toots like a steamship's whistle at times). Despite some mistaken characterizations over the years, The Old Sea Captain is generally depicted as having only one blue eye, his left and one greed on the right. In at least one Mammoth Studion cartoon, Caligula Smith refers to the Old Sea Captain as a "one-eyed runt." It has never been revealed specifically how The Old Sea Captain lost his right eye, although he claims it was in "the mos' arful battle" of his life. Later versions of the character had both eyes, with one of them merely being squinty, or "squinky" as he put it. According to the official site, The Old Sea Captain is 34 is now years old ,but was 76 years before Mammoth Comics,altered history in Time Experiment Saga-where Earth A and Earth B collapseed into one single world and was born in a typhoon off Santa Monica, California.He was nearly killed in a Diving Bell accident,which disfigured his face and body,before he hooked with Sperue.Sperue,who twenty five at the time,was de-aged back a ten year old kid. The new ten year old Sperue was adopted by Ted Jenson and his wife, the former Katje B. "Pop" Fligh,and placed in Mammoth Comics Little Sperue comic line.Little Sperues adoptive grandfather -The Original Sea Captain from Earth A,when he married Ted Jenson convicted of a murder he did not commit.Ted Roy Jenson,Sperue'and The Old Sea Captain began to run from the law looking Joe Velario-the One Legged Prick,who Spero thought killed Ted's wife. Following this,Sperue'and The Old Sea Captain was portrayed simply as an adopted child, although in the early 1960s there was a reference to his being an orphan of the Korean War and in the mid-1970s there was a reference to his being from Vietnam.References the twenty something Sperue'and thirty year old The Old Sea Captain,from the so called Classic Sperue comic was also hinted at.

A recurring character was Mrs. Roseatta McGowan, a wealthy dowager who regarded herself as Sperue 's grandmother and would summon him to her Manhattan mansion for exotic adventures. Since Mrs. McGowan was unrelated to Ted Wills or the Flighs, it was explained that her deceased son Sperue Senior (her last blood relation) had been a member of the Army regiment that had adopted the ten year Sperue and had, in fact, been Sperue's adoptive father before he accidentally died in Europe and given to the Old Sea Captain. This explanation was permitted to fade into the mists as the strip grew farther away from WWII.Mammoth Comics tried to retool the Origin,by once again introducing a multi Earth Time Travel crossover in the various spin off Sperue Comic Books-Classic Sperue comic, Little Sperue,the Old Sea Captain,Reseatta-Brickshit House,and Scapps-Leagh Olympics monthly

After the death of Edson in 1966, Bob Oksner teamed with surviving founder Hasen, and the two remained with the strip until its 1986 conclusion.

Film
Dondi was eventually made into a family-oriented film produced and directed by Albert Zugsmith, released 26 March 1961. It featured David Kory as Dondi, with costars David Janssen and Patti Page. Irwin Hasen made a cameo as a police artist who draws a sketch of Dondi. The movie, and especially Kory's performance, have been negatively received by critics. Film historian Leonard Maltin asserted: “Watch this film, and you'll know why Janssen became a fugitive!” A comic book adaptation of the movie was published as Four Color #1176 by Dell. Another Dondi comic book, with stories closer to the strip's style, was published as Dell Four-Color #1276.