Every once in awhile, I think of the “Arnold” comic strip that I loved. It ran from 1982 through 1988. Arnold Melville and his friend Tommy Jordan were the main characters. The cartoonist was Kevin McCormick. If you click on these strips, they’ll open larger.

I read it daily in The Miami Herald. Arnold was this big nosed kid and lots of the activity took place in his school. His long suffering teacher was Mr. Arnold.

Almost daily, Arnold would screech out AIEEE! at the most inopportune time. Is there every an opportune time? It always made me laugh, it just came out at the right moment.

Most of the other characters spoke from outside the panels, you wouldn’t see them.

I think the strip ended too early, Kevin ended it, the syndicate didn’t drop it. Kevin had a big hawk fly in in the final strip and eat Arnold. Kevin regretted ending the strip and said it was too late, “the big bird swallowed.”

But again, look at Bobby Ewing and the shower bit. Maybe Arnold can reappear one day and the big bird sequence could just be a dream.

Every time I see these old strips, it brings me back to being a kid reading it. I can remember that period of time so vividly.

You can see some more samples of the Arnold comic here.