Alley Oop


Alley Oop is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters and his storylines entertained with a combination of adventure, fantasy, and humor. Alley Oop, the strip's title character, is a sturdy citizen in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo. He rides his pet dinosaur Dinny, carries a stone axe, and wears only a fur loincloth.
Alley Oop's name was derived from the French phrase allez, hop!. In the 1933 press release that accompanied the launching of the strip with its new distributor NEA, Hamlin was quoted as saying "I really can't recall just how I struck upon the name 'Alley Oop', although it might be from the fact that the name is a French term used by tumblers. Alley Oop really is a roughhouse tumbler." The name of Alley's girlfriend, Ooola, was a play on a different French phrase: oh là là.

Story

The first stories took place in the fictional "Bone Age" and centered on Alley Oop's dealings with his fellow cavemen in the kingdom of Moo. Oop and his pals had occasional skirmishes with the rival kingdom of Lem, ruled by King Tunk. The names Moo and Lem are references to the fabled lost continents of Mu and Lemuria.
On April 5, 1939, Hamlin introduced a new plot device which greatly expanded his choice of storylines: A time machine was invented by 20th-century scientist Dr. Elbert Wonmug; the name Wonmug was a pun on Albert Einstein, as "ein" is German for "one" and a "stein" is a type of drinking mug.
Oop was transported to the 20th century by an early test of the machine. He became Dr. Wonmug's man in the field, embarking on expeditions to various periods in history, such as Ancient Egypt, the England of Robin Hood, and the American frontier. Oop met historical or mythical figures such as Cleopatra, King Arthur, and Ulysses in his adventures. In addition to the time machine, other science-fiction devices were introduced. Oop once drove an experimental electric-powered race car, and he has space-traveled to Venus, the moon, and "Earth-Two". During his adventures, he was often accompanied by his girlfriend Ooola and by the sometimes-villainous, sometimes-heroic George Oscar Boom. Laboratory assistant Ava Peckedge joined the cast in 1986.

Syndication history

Alley Oop was first distributed by the small syndicate Bonnet-Brown on December 5, 1932, but this run ended on April 26, 1933, when Bonnet-Brown became defunct. NEA picked up the strip and, starting on August 7, 1933, the earlier material was reworked for a larger readership. A full-page Sunday strip was added on September 9, 1934; the strip also appeared in half-page, tabloid, and half-tab formats, which were smaller and/or dropped panels. During World War II, newspapers eliminated full-page comics to save paper; starting on December 1, 1940, Alley Oop's Sunday comic was offered in a smaller format which could, at an editor's discretion, be further reconfigured to save space. Daily comics were first reduced in size on April 20, 1942, and have become smaller since then, but they have been appearing in color since September 15, 2008.
When Hamlin retired in 1971, his assistant Dave Graue took over. Graue had been assisting Hamlin since 1950 and creating the daily solo since July 15, 1966, although co-signed by Hamlin. Hamlin's last signed daily strip appeared December 31, 1972, and his last signed Sunday was April 1, 1973. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Graue wrote and drew the strip from his North Carolina studio. In 1974 Graue retained an assistant, Dave Olson, to ink and letter the strips. Olson worked on the strip until his retirement at the end of 1990; starting in 1991, Graue hired Jack Bender to finish the daily strips and produce the Sundays.
Graue initially decided to retire at the end of 1991, and the syndicate selected Jack Bender as the strip's new creator. However, Bender was primarily interested in the art chores; he re-hired Graue to stay on as writer and recruited his wife Carole, a calligrapher. This team produced the strip from the last week of December 1991 through the end of August 2001; Graue wrote the strip and thumbnailed the art, from which Jack drew the strip and Carole lettered it. Graue finally retired in 2001, satisfied in having completed fifty years working on the strip. NEA then hired Carole as the new writer, based largely on the strength of an Alley Oop Christmas story that Carole had written and Jack had drawn, separately from the main Alley Oop strip, for the 1997 holiday season. Starting September 3, 2001, Alley Oop Sunday and daily strips were drawn entirely by Jack Bender and written, lettered, and colored by his wife Carole Bender.
In January 2019, writer Joey Alison Sayers and artist Jonathan Lemon took over the comic.
At its peak, Alley Oop was carried by 800 newspapers. Today, it appears in more than 600 newspapers. The strip and collections of it were popular in Mexico and in Brazil. In 1995, Alley Oop was one of 20 strips showcased in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative United States postage stamps.

Licensing and promotion

In 1978, Alley Oop was adapted to animation as a segment of Filmation's Saturday morning cartoon series Fabulous Funnies, appearing intermittently alongside other comic-strip favorites: The Captain and the Kids, Broom-Hilda, Emmy Lou, Tumbleweeds, and Nancy.
In 2002, Dark Horse Comics produced a limited-edition figure of the character in a brightly illustrated tin container. Alley Oop was issued as statue #28 — part of their line of Classic Comic Characters collectibles.
In 2008, to celebrate Alley Oop's 75th year, the Benders conducted a contest for "Dinosaur Drawings from Our Young Readers". The entry Tyrannosaurus rex holding a banner wishing "Happy Birthday" to Alley Oop, by 12 year-old Erin Holloway of Hammond, Louisiana, was published in the comic strip on January 17, 2009.

In popular culture

The long-running success of the strip made the character a pop culture icon referred to in fiction, pop music and dance:

Main characters

A main character is one who is a fixture of a particular setting. For example, King Guz and Queen Umpa are always present in ancient Moo, even if they are not central to every storyline.
Although Ooola is "Alley Oop's girlfriend", and their jealousy of potential rivals has driven many storylines, they rarely showed each other affection prior to the Benders' run. For the first 69 years of the strip's existence, the two kissed only twice: once on August 14, 1945, as a last goodbye when they believed they were going to be drowned, and again on September 28, 1999, when Ooola pecked Alley on the cheek as thank-you for a timely rescue. The Benders made the couple more physically affectionate and even brought them to the altar—but, when they reached that point, Alley and Ooola decided that they made better friends than spouses.
Doctor Wonmug was drawn to look identical to the Grand Wizer. By the end of Dave Graue's tenure, Wonmug and the Wizer had been in each other's company five times; in each instance, the story was told as though the two characters had never met before, and the characters' identical appearances were remarked upon. The Benders addressed the similarity twice by subverting it; that is, the other characters exclaimed that the two looked the same, but both the Wizer and Wonmug scoffed and claimed not to see any resemblance. In the daily strip on June 21, 1969, Wonmug's birthdate is given as May 10, 1900.
Dinny, Alley Oop's pet dinosaur, was designed as an amalgam of different features and was not meant to resemble any known dinosaur. Dinny's species is identified as a "Cartoonosaurus" in the daily strip on April 12, 1968.
NameFirst AppearedDescription
Alley OopAugust 7, 1933A time-traveling caveman
DinnyAugust 12, 1933Oop's pet dinosaur
King GuzzleSeptember 8, 1933Ruler of Moo
FoozySeptember 21, 1933Oop's pal, who talks in rhyme
Pooky, the Grand WizerSeptember 23, 1933Advisor to the king
Queen UmpateedleSeptember 28, 1933Queen of Moo
OoolaOctober 10, 1933Oop's girlfriend
Dr. Elbert WonmugApril 7, 193920th-century scientist and inventor
G. Oscar BoomFebruary 28, 1940Rival and partner to Wonmug
Avery S. Peckedge August 21, 1986Dr. Wonmug's laboratory assistant
PenelopeFebruary 9, 2020Time-traveling child scientist

Supporting characters

New stories typically introduced new characters, especially when those stories were set outside of Moo. Therefore, a "supporting character" is one who has been featured across multiple storylines.
Eeny, the dictator, was a transparent representation of Adolf Hitler. In her first story, in 1937, she recruited "hairshirts", taught them a familiar arm-raised salute, and installed herself as "dictator" while leaving Queen Umpa as a figurehead ruler. In her second story, in 1942, she and her "Moozys", headed by the armbanded "Moostapo", overran the country and herded its citizens into "concentration caves."
The Lemian King was inconsistent during Hamlin's run. King Tunk first appeared in 1934 as a bald man with a stubbled chin, and he remained so through 1938. In 1944, this same character was named Wur rather than Tunk, although Sawalla's King Wur had previously been featured in storylines alongside King Tunk. When Lem was re-introduced in 1954, its king was named Tunk but was clean-shaven and had a full head of hair; the Lemian king returned to his original design in 1959 but was again called Wur. He regained the name Tunk in 1961 and from then on it stuck.
Dave Wowee, Wonmug's great-great-great-grandson, was named in honor of Dave Graue, who typically told people that his last name "rhymes with Wowee".
NameFirst AppearedDescription
WootietootSeptember 28, 1933Guz and Umpa's daughter
Clab TunkMarch 21, 1934Ruler of Lem
Dootsy BoboMay 7, 1934Moovian mischief-maker and rival for Ooola's affections
WurMay 26, 1936Ruler of Sawalla
EenyDecember 28, 1937Stone-age analog for Hitler
ZelSeptember 3, 1938Ooola's cousin and Foozy's wife
JonApril 7, 1939Dr. Wonmug's lab assistant, named for V.T.'s son Jonathan
DeeApril 15, 1939Dr. Wonmug's daughter, named for V.T.'s wife Dorothy
G.I. TumJune 24, 1939Federal agent
Dr. Amos BronsonJuly 22, 1939Historian and Wonmug's friend
Moe, Beau, and JoeJanuary 27, 1943Foozy's triplets
EustaceNovember 20, 1953Alley's warhorse
Sonny BoyJune 11, 1954Dinny's descendant, a twenty-or-so-million-year-old dragon
BrunnehildeAugust 11, 1954Doc Wonmug's barbarian love interest
Jack EastFebruary 25, 1957Riverboat gambler
Oxy Twenty-FourJanuary 14, 1959An ancient moon-man
The GinkSeptember 15, 1970A mind-reading Bigfoot
TokoJanuary 31, 1972a young Moovian boy
FerdyFebruary 19, 1978a good-natured Moovian with much brawn but little brain
Wanda the Witch January 18, 1979A practitioner of magic arts and the Wizer's peer
Dave WoweeSeptember 21, 2002Doc Wonmug's great-great-great-grandson from 2145

Collections and reprints

Magazines

In addition to the magazines mentioned in the table below, Comics Revue has also reprinted Alley Oop daily and Sunday strips. The Menomonee Falls Guardian, published weekly, reprinted one week of daily strips in each issue. The Menomonee Falls Guardian Special #1–3 were sold separately; Special #4 was an insert included with issue #100.
TitlePublication yearPublisherDates reprinted
The Menomonee Falls Guardian Special issues 1–41973–1975Street EnterprisesOctober 2, 1973 – July 27, 1974
The Menomonee Falls Guardian issues 2–59July 2, 1973 – August 5, 1974Street EnterprisesJanuary 3, 1949 – February 11, 1950
The Menomonee Falls Guardian issues 60–146August 12, 1974 – May 3, 1976Street EnterprisesJuly 29, 1974 – March 27, 1976
Favorite Funnies issues 1–12September 14 – November 30, 1973Dynapubs EnterprisesMay 12 – August 2, 1941
Storyline Strips August 1997 – September 2000American Publishing Corp.Two weeks of current daily strips per weekly issue
Yesterday's Comics issue 31974Nostalgia Inc.April 3–15, 1939
Nemo Classics Comics Library issue 61984FantagraphicsSunday strips: September 9, 1934;
January 6 and November 24, 1935;
December 12, 1937;
January 8, April 2, 9, 16, October 8, and November 19, 1939
Alley Oop #1: The Legend Begins1987Dragon Lady PressAugust 7, 1933 – January 27, 1934
Alley Oop #2: Enter the Time Machine1987Dragon Lady PressMarch 6, 1939 – October 25, 1939
Alley Oop #3: Oop vs. Hercules1988Dragon Lady PressOctober 26, 1939 – July 30, 1940
Alley Oop Magazine #0 1997Spec ProductionsDecember 5, 1932 – January 3, 1933
August 7 – September 2, 1933
December 19, 1993 – February 20, 1994
September 15 – November 8, 1980
Alley Oop Magazine #11998Spec ProductionsJuly 3 - September 28, 1940; September 8–13, 1941
June 5–13, 1962
February 27 – March 27, 1994 & May 7, 1995
November 10 - December 25, 1980
Alley Oop Magazine #21998Spec ProductionsJanuary 9–30, 1933 & Bonnet–Brown #49–75
August 4 – December 22, 1996
September 30 – November 25, 1940
Alley Oop Magazine #31998Spec ProductionsNovember 26, 1940 – May 31, 1941
Alley Oop Magazine #41998Spec ProductionsBonnet–Brown #75–101
April 10 – September 18, 1994
May 30 – August 5, 1983
June 3 – July 7, 1941
Alley Oop Magazine #51998Spec ProductionsAugust 8 – October 11, 1983
July 9 – October 21, 1941
Alley Oop Magazine #61999Spec ProductionsOctober 21, 1941 – April 21, 1942
Alley Oop Magazine #72000Spec ProductionsApril 21 – August 13, 1942
January 16 – March 26, 1991
Alley Oop Magazine #82000Spec ProductionsAugust 14, 1942 – January 16, 1943
March 27 – April 15, 1991
Alley Oop Magazine #92000Spec ProductionsJanuary 16 – May 1, 1943
April 16 – July 6, 1991
Alley Oop Magazine #102000Spec ProductionsMay 3 – October 27, 1943
Alley Oop Magazine #112001Spec ProductionsOctober 28, 1943 – May 13, 1944
Alley Oop Magazine #122001Spec ProductionsMay 15 – November 21, 1944
Alley Oop Magazine #132002Spec ProductionsBonnet–Brown #102–120
November 22, 1944 – January 27, 1945
December 2, 1981 – February 6, 1982
Alley Oop Magazine #142002Spec ProductionsJanuary 29 – June 30, 1945
February 10 – March 31, 2002
Alley Oop Magazine #152002Spec ProductionsJuly 2, 1945 – January 11, 1946
Alley Oop Magazine #162003Spec ProductionsJanuary 12 – July 19, 1946
September 23 & 27 and Sunday, December 1, 2002
Alley Oop Magazine #172003Spec ProductionsNovember 11, 1950 – May 21, 1951
Alley Oop Magazine #182004Spec ProductionsMay 22 – December 31, 1951
Alley Oop Magazine #192004Spec ProductionsJanuary 1 – July 5, 1952
Alley Oop Magazine #202004Spec ProductionsJuly 7 – December 23, 1952
Alley Oop Magazine #212005Spec ProductionsDecember 24, 1952 – June 13, 1953
Alley Oop Magazine #222006Spec ProductionsJune 15 – December 31, 1953
Alley Oop Magazine #232006Spec ProductionsJanuary 1 – June 30, 1954
Alley Oop Magazine #242006Spec ProductionsJuly 1 – December 30, 1954
Alley Oop Magazine #252007Spec ProductionsJanuary 1 – July 1, 1955
Alley Oop Magazine #262007Spec ProductionsJuly 1 – December 31, 1955
Alley Oop Magazine #272008Spec ProductionsJanuary 1 – June 30, 1956
Alley Oop Magazine #282008Spec ProductionsAugust 2, 1956 – January 1, 1957
Alley Oop Magazine #292010Spec ProductionsJanuary – June, 1957
Alley Oop Magazine #30Spec ProductionsJuly – December, 1957
Alley Oop Magazine #31Spec ProductionsJanuary – June, 1958
Alley Oop Magazine #322012Spec ProductionsJuly – December, 1958
Alley Oop Magazine #33Spec ProductionsJanuary – June, 1959
Alley Oop Magazine #342013Spec ProductionsJuly – December 31, 1959

Comics

Various strips have also been reprinted in comic-book form. The comic books tended to alter the original reading experience by colorizing the daily strips as well as rearranging, dropping, cropping or extending panels to fit the format. Recap and exposition panels, as well as strips that served as diversions from the perceived "main story", were typically excised.
Famous Funnies and The Funnies re-lettered their Sunday-strip reprints, enlarging the text and simplifying the language, so that the comic would be more legible when reduced from tabloid to comic-book size. Although the first seven issues of Red Ryder Comics' Sunday-strip reprints were unaltered, in every subsequent issue the panels were enlarged, redrawn, rearranged or deleted.
The Antarctic Press series featured a combination of original material, direct reprints of newspaper comics, and redrawn adaptations of newspaper-strip stories. The reprints rearranged, resized, and sometimes omitted panels. These reprints and adaptations are noted in the list of storylines.
IssuePublication DatePublisherDates covered
Famous Funnies #19–25February–August 1936Eastern Color Printing Co.October 28 – December 9, 1934
The Funnies #1October 1936Dell Publishing Co.November 17 – December 8, 1935
The Funnies #2November 1936Dell Publishing Co.December 15, 1935 – January 6, 1936
The Funnies #3December 1936Dell Publishing Co.January 13 – February 3, 1936
The Funnies #4January 1937Dell Publishing Co.February 10–17 & March 1–8, 1936
The Funnies #5February 1937Dell Publishing Co.March 15 – April 5, 1936
The Funnies #6March 1937Dell Publishing Co.April 12 – May 3, 1936
The Funnies #7April 1937Dell Publishing Co.May 10–31, 1936
The Funnies #8May 1937Dell Publishing Co.June 7–28, 1936
The Funnies #9June 1937Dell Publishing Co.July 5–26, 1936
The Funnies #10July 1937Dell Publishing Co.August 2, 23, 30 & September 6, 1936
The Funnies #11August 1937Dell Publishing Co.September 13 – October 4, 1936
The Funnies #12September 1937Dell Publishing Co.October 11 – November 1, 1936
The Funnies #13October 1937Dell Publishing Co.November 8–29, 1936
The Funnies #14November 1937Dell Publishing Co.December 13–27, 1936
The Funnies #15December 1937Dell Publishing Co.January 3–24, 1937
The Funnies #16January 1938Dell Publishing Co.December 6, 1936 & February 7–21, 1937
The Funnies #17February 1938Dell Publishing Co.February 28 – March 31, 1937
The Funnies #18March 1938Dell Publishing Co.March 28 – April 18, 1937
The Funnies #19April 1938Dell Publishing Co.April 25 – May 16, 1937
The Funnies #20May 1938Dell Publishing Co.May 23 – June 13, 1937
The Funnies #21June 1938Dell Publishing Co.June 20 – July 11, 1937
The Funnies #22July 1938Dell Publishing Co.July 18 – August 8, 1937
The Funnies #23August 1938Dell Publishing Co.August 15 – September 5, 1937
The Funnies #24September 1938Dell Publishing Co.September 12 – October 3, 1937
The Funnies #25October 1938Dell Publishing Co.October 10–31, 1937
The Funnies #26November 1938Dell Publishing Co.November 7–28, 1937
The Funnies #27December 1938Dell Publishing Co.December 5–26, 1937
The Funnies #28January 1939Dell Publishing Co.January 2–23, 1937
The Funnies #29February 1939Dell Publishing Co.January 30 – February 20, 1937
The Funnies #30April 1939Dell Publishing Co.November 15–27, 1937
The Funnies #31May 1939Dell Publishing Co.November 29 – December 11, 1937
The Funnies #32June 1939Dell Publishing Co.December 13–29, 1938
The Funnies #33July 1939Dell Publishing Co.December 30, 1937 – January 15, 1938
The Funnies #34August 1939Dell Publishing Co.January 17–29, 1938
The Funnies #35September 1939Dell Publishing Co.January 31 – February 12, 1938
The Funnies #36October 1939Dell Publishing Co.February 14 – March 7, 1938
The Funnies #37November 1939Dell Publishing Co.March 8–21, 1938
The Funnies #38December 1939Dell Publishing Co.March 22 – April 6, 1938
The Funnies #39January 1940Dell Publishing Co.April 6–22, 1938
The Funnies #40February 1940Dell Publishing Co.April 22 – May 3, 1938
The Funnies #41March 1940Dell Publishing Co.May 4–16, 1938
The Funnies #42April 1940Dell Publishing Co.May 17–27, 1938
The Funnies #43May 1940Dell Publishing Co.May 27 – June 7, 1938
The Funnies #44June 1940Dell Publishing Co.June 7–17, 1938
The Comics #3May 1937Dell Publishing Co.June 10–21, 1935
The Comics #4July 1937Dell Publishing Co.June 22–29 & July 10–15, 1935
The Comics #5September 1937Dell Publishing Co.July 1–9 & 16–19, 1935
Four Color Comic #31938Dell Publishing Co.December 11, 1937 – July 19, 1938
Red Ryder Comics #6April 1942KK PublicationsJune 11 & 18, July 2 & 9, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #7May/June 1942KK PublicationsJuly 16 – August 6, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #8July/August 1942KK PublicationsAugust 13 – September 3, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #9September/October 1942KK PublicationsSeptember 17 – October 1, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #10November/December 1942KK PublicationsOctober 8–22 & November 5, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #11January/February 1943KK PublicationsNovember 12 – December 3, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #12March/April 1943KK PublicationsDecember 10–31, 1939
Red Ryder Comics #13May/June 1943KK PublicationsJanuary 7–28, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #14July/August 1943KK PublicationsJanuary 28 – February 18, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #15September/October 1943KK PublicationsFebruary 18 – March 10, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #16November/December 1943KK PublicationsMarch 17 – April 7, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #17January/February 1944KK PublicationsApril 14 – May 5, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #18March/April 1944KK PublicationsMay 12 – June 2, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #19May/June 1944KK PublicationsMay 12 – June 30, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #20July/August 1944KK PublicationsJuly 7–28, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #21September/October 1944KK PublicationsAugust 4–25, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #22November/December 1944KK PublicationsSeptember 1–22, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #23January/February 1944KK PublicationsSeptember 29 – October 13, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #24March/April 1945KK PublicationsOctober 20 – November 3, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #25May/June 1945KK PublicationsNovember 10, 24 & December 1, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #26July/August 1945KK PublicationsDecember 8 & 15, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #27September/October 1945KK PublicationsDecember 22 & 29, 1940
Red Ryder Comics #28November 1945KK PublicationsJanuary 5 & 12, 1941
Red Ryder Comics #29December 1945KK PublicationsJanuary 19 & February 16, 1941
Red Ryder Comics #30January 1946KK PublicationsFebruary 23 & March 2, 1941
Red Ryder Comics #31February 1946KK PublicationsMarch 9 & 16, 1941
Red Ryder Comics #32March 1946KK PublicationsMarch 23 & 30, 1941
Alley Oop #10September 1947Visual Editions Inc.April 15 – November 9, 1935
Alley Oop #11December 1947Visual Editions Inc.November 3 – December 26, 1939; March 15 – April 26, 1940
Alley Oop #12March 1948Visual Editions Inc.
Alley Oop #13June 1948Visual Editions Inc.April 12 – June 21, 1941; July 12 – August 2, 1941
Alley Oop #14September 1948Visual Editions Inc.August 4 – September 22, 1941; October 8 – November 24, 1941
Alley Oop #15December 1948Visual Editions Inc.October 25, 1940 – March 21, 1941
Alley Oop #16March 1949Visual Editions Inc.April 29, 1940, to ?
Alley Oop #17June 1949Visual Editions Inc.August 16 – November 24, 1944
Alley Oop #18October 1949Visual Editions Inc.July 29 – December 2, 1946
Alley Oop #1November 1955Argo Publishing Co.June 15 – September 9 and October 24, 1953
Alley Oop #2January 1956Argo Publishing Co.from 1953: dailies September 22 – October 3, October 12–16, October 27 – November 12; Sundays May 24 – June 14
Alley Oop #3March 1956Argo Publishing Co.March 22 – June 5, 1954
Alley Oop Adventures #1August 1998Antarctic PressTwo original stories, two adaptations, and one reprint
Alley Oop Adventures #2October 1998Antarctic PressOne original story; three original one-page features; two adaptations
Alley Oop Adventures #3December 1998Antarctic PressTwo original stories, later adapted into Sunday strips; one original one-page feature; one reprint; one adaptation
Alley Oop Adventures #1September 1999Antarctic PressOne original story, later published as Sunday strips; two reprints; one Jack Bender tryout strip, later published as a Sunday strip
Alley Oop Adventures #2December 1999Antarctic PressThree original stories, two later adapted into Sunday strips; one reprint; one Jack Bender tryout strip
Alley Oop Adventures #3March 2000Antarctic PressTwo adaptations, one reprint

Original publications

The following publications were original material, not newspaper reprints:
  • Alley Oop and Dinny A Big Little Book No. 763 Whitman Publishing
  • Alley Oop in The Invasion of Moo Whitman
  • Alley Oop and Dinny in the Jungles of Moo A Big Little Book #1473 Whitman
  • Alley Oop and the Missing King of Moo A Penny Book Whitman
  • Alley Oop and the Cave Men of Moo Whitman
  • Alley Oop and the Kingdom of Foo Whitman
  • Alley Oop: Taming a Dinosaur Whitman
  • Alley Oop sheet music Kavelin-Maverick Music, Leeds Music
  • Alley Oop Coloring Book Treasure Books
  • Alley Oop comic book, issues 1–3 Dell Publishing Co.
  • Alley Oop Fun Book Happy House Books

Sunday storylines

The following table is a list of storylines featured in the Sunday comic strips. The ending of a storyline frequently overlapped with the beginning of the next, and actual story titles were provided only on a few occasions. The dates and story descriptions given here are, therefore, not official or definitive delineations but may serve as a rough index to the history of the strip. Most of the Sunday strips from November 1996 onward are available on behind a paywall.
The Sunday strips' continuity ran separately from the daily strips until 2006. In the first few years following the time machine's introduction, Hamlin shifted the setting of the Sunday strip, sometimes abruptly, to match that of the daily storyline, but the Sunday and daily strips were entirely different stories, told in parallel, and they did not overlap. For example, when Oop was first brought to the 20th century, the Sunday storyline showed him doing little more than figuring out modern clothing and calmly running a few errands, whereas the daily strip had him roving all around the countryside in cars, trains, and planes, wreaking havoc and making headlines as the "Phantom Ape". If the same events did occur in both continuities, they were always told differently: before the first time-machine story, for example, Alley Oop acquired the Moovian royal jewels; however, in the Sunday strip, Guz voluntarily installed Alley as king, while in the daily strip Alley took the throne by force.
After 1961, the Sunday strips featured no time travel but were set exclusively in Moo. It is possible that, from 1961 onward, the Sunday stories were meant to have taken place prior to Alley having met the time-machine crew because, in these strips, Alley was shown to be unaware of concepts he had already encountered in the time-travel storylines, such as shoes, or snow, or even the wheel.
Starting in January 2006, through the Benders' retirement in mid-2019, Sunday strips were not new stories but reprinted panels from the previous week's daily strips.
Since late 2019, the artistic team has made the Sunday strips "Little Oop", portraying a young Alley Oop. Little Oop was first set in a land of Moo that is anachronistic in a way similar to the Flintstones' "modern stone age", but he met a time-traveling child named Penelope who brought him to the modern era.

Topper strips

Alley Oop's Sunday page had different toppers starting with the first strip and running through 1944:
  • Dinny's Family Album, September 9, 1934 – February 7, 1937
  • Foozy's Limericks, February 21 – May 16, 1937
  • Prehistoric Cut-Outs in Modern Dress, May 23 – September 12, 1937
  • Fragments, September 19, 1937 – April 9, 1939
  • Scientists Say, April 16 – July 2, 1939
  • Odds 'n' Ends, July 9, 1939 – April 21, 1940
  • Story of a Dinosaur Egg, April 28 – August 25, 1940
  • Foozy's Foolosophies, September 1, 1940 – September 5, 1943
  • The characters argue over who gets to use the space, September 12, 1943 – January 2, 1944
  • Buy War Bonds cartoon advertisements, January 9 – August 27, 1944

Sunday strips

1930s

Start dateEnd dateDescription
September 9, 1934October 7, 1934Alley and Foozy start a trading business
October 14, 1934November 11, 1934Guz wants a dinosaur
November 18, 1934Foozy gives love advice
November 25, 1934Alley solves the rock pile
December 2, 1934December 9, 1934Foozy promotes the Big Fight
December 16, 1934February 3, 1935Ama, the land of wild women
February 10, 1935Foozy the debt collector
February 17, 1935Oop's animal trap
February 24, 1935March 3, 1935Catching a merawow
March 10, 1935Alley and Foozy play axe-golf
March 17, 1935Foozy sells some beads
March 24, 1935April 7, 1935Umpa goes on a diet
April 14, 1935May 19, 1935Alley's new pet dinosaur
May 26, 1935June 9, 1935Alley courts Ooola
June 16, 1935Guz's police report
June 23, 1935June 30, 1935Alley goes fishing
July 7, 1935July 14, 1935Alley's sore thumb
July 21, 1935August 18, 1935gag strips
August 25, 1935September 29, 1935Alley and Foozy have a fire sale
October 6, 1935November 3, 1935Guz's new robe
November 10, 1935January 13, 1936Oop, king of Oompahlan
January 20, 1936February 10, 1936gag strips
February 17, 1936March 15, 1936Dinosaur hunt
March 22, 1936Axe-golf with Guz
March 29, 1936May 3, 1936Dinosaur egg pranks
May 10, 1936June 14, 1936gag strips
June 21, 1936August 2, 1936Munitions profiteering in war with Lem
August 9, 1936Umpa's melon shelf
August 16, 1936August 23, 1936Brontosaurus hunt
August 30, 1936Dinny's day in the jungle
September 7, 1936September 13, 1936Foozy lassos a pterodactyl
September 20, 1936Posies are food for the soul
September 27, 1936October 4, 1936Alley annoys Guz and the Wizer
October 11, 1936October 25, 1936Foozy vs the Wizer
November 1, 1936December 27, 1936Foozy's price war
January 3, 1937January 10, 1937Guz's toothache
January 17, 1937January 24, 1937Fishing for dinosaurs
January 31, 1937March 7, 1937Crossing crocodile creek
March 14, 1937March 28, 1937Alley feeds the Moovian army
April 4, 1937June 20, 1937Alley's prize fight
June 27, 1937October 10, 1937Foozy, tax criminal
October 17, 1937May 8, 1938The Royal Moovian Circus
May 15, 1938June 12, 1938War with Lem over entertainment fees
June 19, 1938July 3, 1938Oop's imaginary jail sentence
July 10, 1938Fishing with Foozy
July 17, 1938November 13, 1938G-man Foozy and Two-Axe Oop: Moovian cop
November 20, 1938December 11, 1938The football game: Moo vs Lem
December 18, 1938January 15, 1939Oop vs Guz
January 22, 1939March 26, 1939gag strips
April 2, 1939July 16, 1939Oop meets the 20th century
July 23, 1939September 17, 1939Alley Oop, millionaire
September 24, 1939October 22, 1939The skeptics visit Moo
October 29, 1939November 5, 1939Oop gets a mule
November 12, 1939December 17, 1939Escape from Troy

1970s

Start dateEnd dateDescription
February 15, 1970March 29, 1970Oop, chief of police
April 5, 1970April 26, 1970Alley has dinosaur troubles
May 3, 1970May 10, 1970Oop and Ooola squabble
May 17, 1970May 24, 1970Alley gets a check-up
May 31, 1970June 7, 1970Alley sings
June 14, 1970August 30, 1970Oop and Guz's golf tournament
September 6, 1970December 13, 1970Oop, king of Moo
December 20, 1970January 31, 1971Peacenik children take the throne
February 7, 1971May 30, 1971The mystery of the missing queens
June 6, 1971September 26, 1971Princess Ceelee of Gonwanaland
October 3, 1971November 7, 1971Oop's spoiling for a fight
November 14, 1971December 26, 1971Spooky shenanigans
January 2, 1972January 9, 1972Dinosaur fishing
January 16, 1972September 10, 1972Baffo tries for the throne
September 17, 1972December 17, 1972The Ohnolun invasion
December 24, 1972February 4, 1973Guz is aphasic
February 11, 1973May 27, 1973Baffo takes the throne
June 3, 1973July 22, 1973Oop's hex picture
July 29, 1973November 11, 1973Messages of cheer and joy
November 18, 1973February 17, 1974Troll troubles
February 24, 1974June 9, 1974Guz goes on a diet
June 16, 1974August 11, 1974Guz returns to Moo
August 18, 1974October 27, 1974Guz and Umpa's marital strife
November 3, 1974December 1, 1974Alley rescues a baby pterodactyl
December 8, 1974December 22, 1974Guz' new club
December 29, 1974March 9, 1975The big-tooth fella
March 16, 1975May 11, 1975Guz's necklace
May 18, 1975June 15, 1975Loony the trader
June 22, 1975August 24, 1975Guz's sailboat
August 31, 1975October 5, 1975Guz has amnesia
October 12, 1975November 2, 1975Guz recuperates
November 9, 1975December 28, 1975Alley's new dinosaur Filmore
January 4, 1976March 28, 1976Swamp apples
April 4, 1976May 9, 1976Three-legged journey home
May 16, 1976August 22, 1976Teeny and Boke
August 29, 1976October 3, 1976Littlebeak and Longbeard
October 10, 1976November 14, 1976The great Moovian pipeline
November 21, 1976January 9, 1977Boomerang rocks
January 16, 1977February 27, 1977Kidnapped by the Boony-Goonies
March 6, 1977July 10, 1977The Outlander invasion
July 17, 1977November 13, 1977Alley becomes Grand Wizer
November 20, 1977February 12, 1978Salads and stunflowers
February 19, 1978July 30, 1978The alien shrink ray
August 6, 1978October 22, 1978Rollerboning
October 29, 1978January 14, 1979Curleyville
January 21, 1979February 18, 1979Pterodactyl riding
February 25, 1979July 15, 1979Prisoner of Outland
July 22, 1979December 16, 1979Princess Krakatoa and Ferdy

Daily storylines

The following is a list of storylines featured in the daily comic strips. Actual story titles were not provided in the strips; the dates and story descriptions given here are, therefore, not official or definitive delineations but may serve as a rough index to the history of the strip.
Although the Bonnet–Brown strips appeared in daily comics sections, their distribution was erratic, so that the strips' handwritten dates did not always match their actual publication dates. Consequently, after February 6, 1933, the strips were not dated but were instead given a sequential number, presumably so that editors could run them whenever they were received. The dates given here may, therefore, not be precisely accurate for every newspaper in which the strip appeared.

Newspaper Enterprise Association

1970s

Start dateEnd dateDescription
February 28, 1970May 30, 1970King Kingston of ancient Athens
June 1, 1970September 12, 1970The fabulous all-electric ghost car
September 14, 1970November 27, 1970Wonmug and the Gink
November 28, 1970April 20, 1971Carl the First, King of Lem
April 21, 1971June 10, 1971Crown swapping with Guz and Tunk
June 11, 1971August 23, 1971Alley's new dinosaur KT
August 24, 1971October 6, 1971Clank, the far-out robot
October 7, 1971January 8, 1972The Zan of Zoron
January 10, 1972January 29, 1972Clank and Clink
January 31, 1972March 23, 1972Toko and Baldy's gang
March 24, 1972May 4, 1972Toko and Aunt Bella
May 5, 1972June 22, 1972The cook-off
June 23, 1972July 24, 1972Clank and Clunk
July 25, 1972November 2, 1972Clank at Ravensbeak Castle
November 3, 1972December 12, 1972Oop retrieves his ax from Bella
December 13, 1972March 26, 1973The giants of Dead Man's Lake
March 27, 1973June 1, 1973The plesiosaur hunt
June 2, 1973September 15, 1973Plesiosaurs in Loch Ness
September 17, 1973December 21, 1973The land of Dinnys
December 22, 1973May 3, 1974Booja berries and the Gink
May 4, 1974August 2, 1974Han Sin's kite
August 3, 1974September 25, 1974Orville Lurch and the Lurchmobile
September 26, 1974November 30, 1974In the land of Nerr
December 2, 1974February 28, 1975Kidnappers in Moo
March 1, 1975March 8, 1975On the road to Florida
March 10, 1975June 2, 1975The Thorn King of Nerr
June 3, 1975November 12, 1975Panamint City
November 13, 1975June 15, 1976The Texas Pterosaur Project
June 16, 1976September 25, 1976Alley meets Christopher Columbus
September 27, 1976January 11, 1977Alexander Dork's strength formula
January 12, 1977February 28, 1977Beebo and Harless
March 1, 1977July 4, 1977The Moovian migration
July 5, 1977October 8, 1977Princess Bahlinka
October 10, 1977November 28, 1977Doc's Uncle Peevill
November 29, 1977February 17, 1978The battle of Adrianople
February 18, 1978May 26, 1978Tunk's daughter Soooella
May 27, 1978June 19, 1978Time-machine modernized redesign
June 20, 1978December 20, 1978Delfon, land of living vegetables
December 21, 1978March 2, 1979Supersnoz, hero of Moo
March 3, 1979April 10, 1979Hooktooth the tyrannosaur
April 11, 1979May 19, 1979Ox and Mandy scout the lab
May 21, 1979July 10, 1979The land of cannibal giants
July 11, 1979September 8, 1979Otto Stain and the time-machine heist
September 10, 1979November 26, 1979Alley in Wonderland
November 27, 1979December 6, 1979The new lab
December 7, 1979February 7, 1980Lontoo, Sendak, and the Megawart

2020s

The slug creature in the January 17, 2020, strip is an homage to V.T. Hamlin's Venusian beast from December 30, 1950.
Start dateEnd dateDescription
November 9, 2019February 1, 2020On trial for time crimes
February 3, 2020March 10, 2020Boston Tea Party
March 11, 2020April 25, 2020Aliens and the Egyptian pyramids
April 27, 2020June 24, 2020Drew Copious tries to rule the multiverse
June 25, 2020July 18, 2020Finding Dinny
July 20, 2020August 3, 2020Ooola and the jewel thief
August 4, 2020October 20, 2020Future amusement park
October 21, 2020November 2, 2020Potato-chip rivalry
November 3, 2020December 1, 2020Ava and Zanzarr
December 2, 2020January 30, 2021The Coalition of Tiny Scientists
February 1, 2021February 15, 2021The cult of the Mighty Feather
February 16, 2021April 10, 2021The murder of Lady Worthington
April 11, 2021June 16, 2021The pinching chrabs of Universe 881
June 17, 2021September 4, 2021The Almighty Frodd on the moon
September 6, 2021October 22, 2021Prehistoric meteors