TODAY'S 'MAIN FEATURE':

Monday evening I came across another Facebook Friend commenting on the new Archie postal stamp....

Postal stamp?  USPS?  I hadn't really heard of it. 

So I read with interest Beth Owens Laughlin's post on her Facebook Wall, and followed the link that led me to the most of the info below. My thanks to Beth for bringing this to my attention, so I could blog about it here today!

The following is from the USPS.com web site:

The Sunday Funnies stamp pane honors Archie, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. The stamps will go on sale in July.

Offering an idealized portrait of American adolescence, Archie existed only in comic-book form before debuting in newspapers in 1946. A typical small-town teenager with a knack for goofing things up, 17-year-old Archie Andrews is often torn between haughty brunette Veronica Lodge and sweet, blonde Betty Cooper.

Note from Michael:  Another Facebook Friend, Joe Pepitone a.k.a. JoepeP who is the Art Director at Archie Comics, tells me that he: "set everything up for print so the post office could do their thing. The design of the Archie Characters and placement of logo was done years ago, long before I started at Archie. The main credit should go to Dan DeCarlo who Illustrated the work back in the 1980s". Thanks JoepeP for the additional insight on the stamp shown to the left!

A military strip with universal appeal, Beetle Bailey first appeared in September 1950. Possibly the laziest man in the army, Private Beetle Bailey is an expert at sleeping and avoiding work. His chronic indolence antagonizes Sergeant Orville P. Snorkel, who is tough on his men but calls them “my boys.”

Dennis the Menace follows the antics of Dennis Mitchell, a good-hearted but mischievous little boy who is perpetually “5-ana-half” years old. His curiosity tests the patience of his loving parents and neighbors, guaranteeing that their lives are anything but dull. The comic debuted in March 1951 as a single-panel gag.

Garfield first waddled onto the comics page in June 1978. Self-centered and cynical, the crabby tabby hates Mondays and loves lasagna. He lives with Jon Arbuckle, a bumbling bachelor with a fatally flawed fashion sense, and Odie, a dopey but devoted dog.

Calvin and Hobbes explores the fantasy life of 6-year-old Calvin and his tiger pal, Hobbes. The inseparable friends ponder the mysteries of the world and test the fortitude of Calvin’s parents, who never know where their son’s imagination will take him. The strip ran from November 1985 to December 1995.

Okay... as many of you know, I have the Marvel Super-Heroes sheet of stamps on my office wall, so now I'll have to get another frame for this mini-collection!

Yeah, I do have my favorites of this bunch being sold in July, especially Beetle Bailey! It's one of the few strips that I still read in the Sunday Funnies nowadays.  I would read more strips, but our two local newspapers have cut back on the strips that they carry... booooo!

Thanks again to my Facebook Friends, Beth and JoepeP!