Allan Holtz (/hɔːlts/) is an Americancomic strip historian who researches and writes aboutnewspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide blog, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels. In addition to his contributions toHogan's Alley and other publications about vintage comic strips, he is the author ofAmerican Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide (2012). He is a resident ofTavares, Florida.[1]
Holtz's blog Stripper's Guide posts such regular series as "News of Yore" (including news items from back issues ofEditor & Publisher), "Obscurity of the Day" (little-known strips) and a series onGeorge Herriman. One such obscurity discussed by Holtz isThe Captain's Gig, a little-known strip byVirgil Partch; it ran as a daily and Sunday from 1977 to 1979. Other obscurities rediscovered by Holtz go back to the earliest published comic strips. He also surveys the history ofcomic strip syndicates, along with the detailed information he provides on writers and artists. In a 2002 issue ofHogan's Alley, Holtz wrote about his almost accidental discovery in a microfilmed archive ofThe Pittsburgh Leader of F. E. Johnson'sBobby the Boy Scout, which Holtz traced back to August 21, 1911, and regards as the very first seriousadventure comic.[2]
Maynard Frank Wolfe (Rube Goldberg Inventions) praised Holtz as "the extraordinary collector conservator computer wizard and historian of cartoon art."[3]
Holtz is also a contributor toNBM'sForever Nuts: Classic Screwball Strips series, writing biographical introductions for the volumes on Frederick Opper and Bud Fisher, and creating annotations forBringing Up Father and other strips reprinted in this series.[4]
His 600-pageAmerican Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide (ISBN 978-0-472-11756-7), previously available as a subscription CD service, was published by theUniversity of Michigan Press in 2012.[5]
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