Sam Barnes

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Eyes: Black
Hair: Blond
Race: Human


Occupation: Sheriff in Upper Duckwater
Legal status: U.S. citizen
Marital Status: Single
Known relatives: Granny Naps
Base of operations: Upper Duckwater, USA


Story: Sam is the small-town sheriff of Upper Duckwater. He lives with his grandmother and spends his days eating, sleeping, and trying to avoid being set to work by the mayor or having to catch any law breakers.


Continuity: Sam & Silo
Company: King Features
First app.: October 18, 1961
Creator(s): Mort Walker
Country of origin: USA


Background notes: When Sam first occurred it was in his own series Sam's Strip in 1961. Walker and Dumas were already cooperating on Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois and Sam's Strip offered an opportunity to use the gags they couldn't use in the other series like meta-gags where the characters steps out of the frames or collects the word balloons, talks to the readers and otherwise breaks the fourth wall. The series also involved a lot of characters from other series, especially old series like Krazy Kat and Happy Hooligan and many of the jokes were in-jokes. The series was highly acclaimed among comic book creators and connoisseurs, but apparently most ordinary readers didn't find the series very entertaining and it stopped June 1^st, 1963 after 504 strips.

Sam's Strip was never resurrected, but April 18, 1977, the characters Sam and Silo were reintroduced as the main characters in the series Sam and Silo. This time Sam was the sheriff in a small town named Upper Duckwater and Silo was his depute. The gags revolved around everyday life in a small town and especially how the two slackers Sam and Silo tried to avoid work.

Walker and Dumas cooperated on the series until 1995, when Mort Walker retired from the series. After this, Dumas continued the series alone. The series is still produced today.

Even though the series has been around for a long time, the series and the characters haven't been transferred to other media.


Examples:







Names around the World:

Denmark	Sam Barnes Fut
Sweden	Sam Barnes
UK/USA	Sam Barnes

Related links/characters: