Rip Haywire is an American serial

Serial (literature)

In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...

 comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 written and illustrated by North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 artist Dan Thompson. It is a comic version of action/adventure strips like Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones

Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...

, James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 and Steve Canyon

Steve Canyon

Steve Canyon was a long-running American adventure comic strip by writer-artist Milton Caniff. Launched shortly after Caniff retired from his previous strip, Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon ran from January 13, 1947 until June 4, 1988, shortly after Caniff's death...

 for the Dilbert

Dilbert

Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. First published on April 16, 1989, Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character...

 generation. United Feature

United Media

United Media is a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. It syndicates 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core business is the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association...

 launched the strip in newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s beginning 5 January 2009.

Times-News publishes the Rip Haywire comic strip since March 2, 2009.

Main characters

There are three main characters: Rip Haywire, his cowardly

Cowardice

Cowardice is the perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient mental robustness and courage in the face of a challenge. Under many military codes of justice, cowardice in the face of combat is a crime punishable by death...

 collie

Collie

The collie is a distinctive type of herding dog, including many related landraces and formal breeds. It originates in Scotland and Northern England. It is a medium-sized, fairly lightly built dog with a pointed snout, and many types have a distinctive white pattern over the shoulders. Collies...

 TNT and his ex-girlfriend

Ex (relationship)

In social relationships, an ex is someone with whom a person was once associated. As a prefix, ex- can refer to a variety of different relationships; for example, one might refer to a music group's ex-guitarist, or someone's ex-friend...

 Cobra Carson.
In a later strip, they are joined by a orphan kid they dub R.J.

In an interview with Times-News, Dan Thompson described his characters as the following:

• Rip Haywire is "a combination of classic action heroes such as James Bond
  James Bond
  James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
  
  , Indiana Jones
  Indiana Jones
  Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
  
   and Jason Bourne
  Jason Bourne
  Jason Charles Bourne is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the novels of Robert Ludlum and subsequent film adaptations. He first appeared in the novel The Bourne Identity...
  
  ."
• Cobra Carson is "always out for herself ... She's like all the James Bond girls rolled into one."
• TNT is "the opposite of Lassie
  Lassie
  Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...
  
  ."

Reception

According to Madison Taylor, an editor of Times-News, the serial has detractors and fan

Fan (person)

A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...

s among the paper readers. Some dislike serials, some desire more humor and less intrigue. Some like it because "it’s different than anything else" Times-New publish and "it's also got an quirky sense of humor."

External links

• Official Rip Haywire Web Site
• comics.com Rip Haywire page
• Rip Haywire at United Feature Syndicate