Ask Shagg is a syndicated daily
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
drawn by cartoonist Peter Guren since 1980. It is currently distributed by
Creators SyndicateCreators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...
; it had been distributed by United Feature Syndicate from 1980 until 1995. The strip has run in dozens of newspapers including the Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, and
Seattle Post-IntelligencerThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington and the surrounding area...
. In each strip Guren, through his Shagg E. Dawg character, answers questions from readers about the animal kingdom.
The strip features lead character Shagg E.
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Ask Shagg is a syndicated daily
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
drawn by cartoonist Peter Guren since 1980. It is currently distributed by
Creators SyndicateCreators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...
; it had been distributed by United Feature Syndicate from 1980 until 1995. The strip has run in dozens of newspapers including the Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, and
Seattle Post-IntelligencerThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington and the surrounding area...
. In each strip Guren, through his Shagg E. Dawg character, answers questions from readers about the animal kingdom.
Content of the strip
The strip features lead character Shagg E. Dawg answering questions about animals that are sent in by readers. Questions about particular animals are sometimes answered by the strip's other characters, Rosko the cat, Mouth the myna bird, and Slippy the flying squirrel. In 1995 Guren was receiving more than 15,000 letters a year, with about 75% of them from children. Readers receive a free Shagg doll if their question appears in the strip.
The strips generally feature a joke of some sort about the subject animal in addition to providing an accurate answer to the day's question. (For example,
this strip answered a question about hamsters storing food in their cheeks and then compared it to a human carrying their money in their mouths. The last panel then showed a picture of a person holding their money in their mouth.)
Community service
Guren has often used
Ask Shagg to raise money or awareness for causes. His Shagg E. Dawg character was used on information cards about endangered species that were included with kid's meals from Wendy's fast-food restaurants in 1993.
Web site
Guren launched his first
Ask Shagg Web site in May 1996 and began putting the site's address in the newspaper version of his strip. The site AskShagg.com features a search engine with which users can search for "Ask Shagg" comic strips with questions about a particular animal.
External links