Top Dog: Marmaduke at 50 [Hardcover]

Brad Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2003

“My daily panel is like a gag, but the Sunday strip is like a little adventure. . . . And with Marmaduke, anything can become an adventure.”
–Brad Anderson

America’s most playful pooch has been delighting fans since 1954. The lovably rambunctious Great Dane currently appears in more than 660 newspapers, in 20 different countries worldwide. Now, in honor of this top dog’s 50th anniversary, Brad Anderson has hand picked his favorite cartoon strips from the last five decades for this beautifully designed volume that will have everyone drooling.

Marmaduke epitomizes the overgrown lap dog, with an irascible streak and a penchant for mischief that is tempered with a deep sense of love and responsibility for his family. In stature and in character, this horse-sized hound stands head and shoulders above the rest. Marmaduke strikes a chord because, quite simply, he is a real dog. Creator Brad Anderson modeled Marmaduke on his parents’ boxer, Bruno. Originally just a big dog, Marmaduke immediately appealed to newspaper readers in part because the emotions he expressed were so very human. The cartoon canine’s antics and mishaps are both hilarious and remarkably familiar to anyone with a dog.

Marmaduke is also instilled with Anderson’s own deep commitment to community and family. Marmaduke and Anderson have long been supporters–and Marmaduke, their “spokesdog”–of the Delta Society’s Pet Partners Program, in which volunteers and their pets visit sick and elderly in hospitals and care centers. The comic strip is not only a welcome respite, it’s also a helping hand, connecting people in hospitals and care facilities with animals, both real and drawn.

This wonderful collection proves that whether Marmaduke is rescuing a stray kitten, seeing the kids off to school, or visiting senior citizens in the park, he always does it in a way that makes millions of fans smile. Nothing’s bigger than Marmaduke’s heart, including those giant paws.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

?My daily panel is like a gag, but the Sunday strip is like a little adventure. . . . And with Marmaduke, anything can become an adventure.?
?Brad Anderson

America?s most playful pooch has been delighting fans since 1954. The lovably rambunctious Great Dane currently appears in more than 660 newspapers, in 20 different countries worldwide. Now, in honor of this top dog?s 50th anniversary, Brad Anderson has hand picked his favorite cartoon strips from the last five decades for this beautifully designed volume that will have everyone drooling.

Marmaduke epitomizes the overgrown lap dog, with an irascible streak and a penchant for mischief that is tempered with a deep sense of love and responsibility for his family. In stature and in character, this horse-sized hound stands head and shoulders above the rest. Marmaduke strikes a chord because, quite simply, he is a real dog. Creator Brad Anderson modeled Marmaduke on his parents? boxer, Bruno. Originally just a big dog, Marmaduke immediately appealed to newspaper readers in part because the emotions he expressed were so very human. The cartoon canine?s antics and mishaps are both hilarious and remarkably familiar to anyone with a dog.

Marmaduke is also instilled with Anderson?s own deep commitment to community and family. Marmaduke and Anderson have long been supporters?and Marmaduke, their ?spokesdog??of the Delta Society?s Pet Partners Program, in which volunteers and their pets visit sick and elderly in hospitals and care centers. The comic strip is not only a welcome respite, it?s also a helping hand, connecting people in hospitals and care facilities with animals, both real and drawn.

This wonderful collection proves that whether Marmaduke is rescuing a stray kitten, seeing the kids off to school, or visiting senior citizens in the park, he always does it in a way that makes millions of fans smile. Nothing?s bigger than Marmaduke?s heart, including those giant paws.

About the Author

Brad Anderson created the character of Marmaduke in 1953. He sold his first cartoons to an aviation magazine while still in high school, and continued to work as a freelance cartoonist while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. A graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts, Anderson won the 1976 Reuben Award for Best Comic Panel, and has created more than two dozen Marmaduke books, which have sold more than ten million copies worldwide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (October 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345464540
• ISBN-13: 978-0345464545
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Marmaduke Lovers- Buy this Book but Don't Pay Full Price, February 28, 2005

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Dog: Marmaduke at 50 (Hardcover)

This collection is A WONDERFUL RETROSPECTIVE on the past fifty years of more than 18,000 newpaper appearances by Marmaduke. Brad Anderson created the beloved character of MARMADUKE when he was in high school, and this collection provides a perspective on the gradual evolution of not only Brad's style, but also Marmaduke's character as well as the changing nature of newspaper cartoons. The book opens with an interesting foreword by Jim Davis and a wonderful cartoon which he penned of Garfield and Marmaduke together. After a brief introduction, the book is divided into six sections organized by decade; each section is prefaced by a brief comment from Brad Anderson.

The sections are The 1950's: Marmaduke Takes Off; The 1960's: A Dog's Life; The 1970's: A Dog for All Seasons; The 1980's: Dog Gone Funny; The 1990's: The Greatest of Danes, and finally 2000 and Beyond: The Modern Times of Marmaduke. As Marmaduke devotees would expect, most of the cartoons are simple single panel black and white incidents which capture the essence of what made the strip so enduring, the constant humor of the situations which seemed to make Marmaduke a real dog who reminded his fans of how human animals can seem. There is also an interesting brief interview with the cartoonist at the conclusion of the book.

What differentiates this collection from the over two dozen previous collections (including an early one which turned me into a lifelong fan while still a high school student in the late 1950's), is that it spans the entire period of Marmaduke's existence, beginning even before he had gradually morphed from a generic huge mutt into the lovable Great Dane that he is today. Usually I can easily pick out a few personal favorites from a collection such as this, but I have tried to do so several times and always come up with a list encompassing at least half the cartoons in this collection. Sometimes the text is the key, but often it is Marmaduke's body language or facial expression that evokes my enjoyment of the scene before me.

In summary, there are some cartoons to smile at, some to enjoy life with Marmaduke, and some that will cause you to roar with laughter whether you are seeing them for the first time or the umpteenth time. In fact, one of the nice surprises was the memories this book occasionally evoked of long forgotten encounters with some of these cartoons. If you have been a fan for as long as I have, this will provide a nice stroll down memory lane. If you are a recent fan, you'll have the joy of discovering some long hidden gems. And this book should be kept in a place where you and your guests can frequently leaf through it for the smiles that it will occasion; it is not a book to be quickly read and then consigned to a bookshelf where in all likelihood it will be forgotten, My only caveat is that my five star review assumes that you will buy this book at a significant discount from its full cover price, which is exorbitant. As a Marmaduke fan, dog lover and long time cartoon aficionado, I am truly thankful that I was fortunate enough to discover this collection during my browsing for some light reading material. I strongly recommend it, and believe that you too will be captivated by the charm of Marmaduke's personality.

Tucker Andersen

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Giant Dog With Moodswings, October 3, 2010

By 

PHILIP S WOLF (SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Dog: Marmaduke at 50 (Hardcover)

This 160 page hardbound book is a celebration of 50 years of cartoon art about a Great Dane that is called Marmaduke. Since 1954 this monster-of-a-mutt has been a star in the comics section of better newspapers worldwide. Along with Snoopy and Fred Basset, this giant pooch is one of the most popular comic dogs on the planet.

From the very first meeting of Marmaduke and his owner Phil Winslow in a downtown pet store in 1954, it is quite simple to see just who is in charge here. As funny as the antics of Marmaduke may seem, he is acting like any real dog that I have encountered in my everyday life. This dipsey-drooler sleeps on the couch, lays on the horn of the car while his owner is under the hood, is smitten with the girl poodle down the street and is the best friend of every (they are tiny!) kid in town.

By briefly scanning this great dogs history from the 1950's into this brand new century, it seems he has mellowed with age. The looks that appear on Maraduke's big mugg in his early days are often more than a bit menacing. Today (and 22,340,684 pounds of dog kibble later) our hero has pretty much become a lot more pleasant and forgiving of the humans that he has to put up with.

The Production of this book isn't that worthy of a classic dog that is over 50 years of age. "Marmaduke at 50" should have a more deluxe (mostly larger) volume to be honored within. The daily strips look fine, and most (but, not all) are large enough. But, the small section of Sunday pages that can be found here, are way too small to really enjoy Brad Anderson's great visuals in the manner that they need to be presented. And very few of the Sunday strips are featured here in color, as they need to be seen.

This book is brief on essay and is almost completly cartoon glory. "Top Dog" is a fair book, but we the fans of Marmaduke are demanding bigger and better reprints of our very favorite giant dog that thinks he's human. This is a good book that deserves to be GREAT!
Three Stars!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great collection of Marmaduke cartoons!!, January 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Top Dog: Marmaduke at 50 (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed Marmaduke cartoons for almost 30 years. His antics such as his taking up the sofa, being the life of the party and going to the neighborhood school, made my family and I laugh. Indeed when we had a huge collie dog, we could not resist comparing his antics to Marmaduke's.

I'm glad that Anderson celebrated the 50th anniversary of Marmaduke's debut with this book. It notes how Marmaduke has changed over the decades--from one about a huge dog to one where the dog is a member of the family with some human traits.

I had one big problem with this book--not enough cartoons. I wanted to see more of them! I did not think of collecting the previous books with Marmaduke cartoons, and I wish I had. There are just not enough enough of them--especially the Sunday ones. Otherwise this collection is fantastic. Four stars.