Irwin Hasen (1918–2015)

The second volume of a childhood favorite strip of mine has Dondi still under the horrid Mrs. McGowan, but he gets some relief when she sends him to an exclusive academy to get him out of her hair. There are a host of adventures and misadventures, but the main thrust of the strip is the charm, innocence and warmth of the young orphan Dondi, and how his inherent decency and integrity influences (most of) the grownups who enter his sphere. The strip still maintains the qualities that drew me show more to it as a child. show less

I remember the comic strip "Dondi" from my childhood, and I liked it a lot. Dondi is a 6-year old WWII Italian orphan who stows away on a Navy ship headed for America, to be with his two G.I. buddies. There is a fair amount of drama when Dondi is discovered and his fate is wangled over by the authorities. This is a heartwarming strip that celebrates old-fashioned American virtues. If you crossed "Gasoline Alley" with "Little Orphan Annie" and "The Heart of Juliet Jones", you'd get something show more very similar to this strip, although "Dondi" is not quite in their league. But I have quite a soft spot for the strip; the art is fine, and the storylines and emotions never quite become too cloying. My only beef so far is that the rich dowager who is forced by the terms of her dead son's will to raise Dondi, Mrs. McGowan, is such a hateful harpy that her character becomes unbelievable and two-dimensional. I hope that the second volume reveals some smidgen of humanity in her. show less