The Comic strip switcheroo (also known as the "Great Comics Switcheroonie" or the "Great April Fools Switcheroonie") was a series of jokes played out between comic strip writers and artists, without the foreknowledge of their editors, on April Fool's Day 1997. The Switcheroo was masterminded by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, creators of the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip.

According to Brian Walker's book The Comics: Since 1945, forty-six different syndicated artists participated. Note that several of these switches were one for one (Mike Peters trading with Lynn Johnston, Scott Adams and Bil Keane, Jeff MacNelly and Mort Walker), while several comics did more of a three-way or multiple swap, and one artist (Kevin Fagan) just swapped hands for the day. However, Charles Schulz (creator of Peanuts) and Patrick McDonnell (creator of Mutts) were slated to do each other's strips (Schulz doing Mutts, McDonnell doing Peanuts) for the Comic strip switcheroo, but backed out because one of them didn't think it was a good idea. There were no "rules" so to speak; each artist was permitted to do what they wanted.

The one-day experiment proved to be a success of sorts, garnering some publicity and being a harmless yet amusing prank played on the newspapers, the readers, and the comic syndicates.

While characters making guest appearances in other comic strips is not a new phenomenon (Dan Piraro's Bizarro does this often, as does Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine), this was the largest of its scale.

While this prank has not occurred again with as many participating artists in newspaper comics (as of 2005), it still lives on, in webcomics, where Internet cartoonists occasionally switch places with one another. Guest character tributes have also appeared since 1997, notably in May 2000 and on 30 October 2005, both tributes to Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts.

Strips and creators involved

The 1 April 1997 comics were swapped as follows:

• Baby Blues was drawn by Stephen Bentley (Herb and Jamaal).
• Barney Google and Snuffy Smith was drawn by Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace)
• Beetle Bailey was drawn by Jeff MacNelly (Shoe): Skyler got stuck at Camp Swampy.
• Betty was drawn by Dave Whamond (Reality Check).
• Big Nate was drawn by Scott Stantis (The Buckets).
• Bizarro was drawn by Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead).
• Blondie was drawn by Jim Davis (Garfield): Garfield stole one of Dagwood Bumstead's famous sandwiches.
• The Born Loser was drawn by Brian Crane (Pickles).
• The Buckets was drawn by Jan Eliot (Stone Soup).
• Dennis the Menace was drawn by Fred Lasswell (Barney Google and Snuffy Smith)
• Dilbert was drawn by Bil Keane (Family Circus).
• Drabble was drawn by Kevin Fagan (its creator) using his left hand instead of his right
• The Duplex was drawn by Delainey and Rasmussen (Betty).
• Ernie was drawn by J. C. Duffy (The Fusco Brothers).
• Family Circus was drawn by Scott Adams (Dilbert).
• For Better or For Worse was drawn by Mike Peters (Mother Goose and Grimm): The characters of John and Elly Patterson got 'stuck' with dialogue balloons of the characters of Mother Goose and Grimm.
• FoxTrot was drawn by Brad and Guy Gilchrist (Nancy).
• Garfield was drawn by Young & Drake (Blondie), who had Jon and Garfield visit the Bumsteads.
• Hägar the Horrible was drawn by Wiley Miller (Non Sequitur).
• Hi and Lois was drawn by Greg Evans (Luann)
• I Need Help was drawn by Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate)
• Jump Start was drawn by Walker and Browne (Hi and Lois).
• Luann was drawn by Dan Piraro (Bizarro)
• Nancy was drawn by Pat Brady (Rose Is Rose).
• Non Sequitur was drawn by Robb Armstrong (Jump Start).
• The Norm was drawn by Bill Holbrook (On the Fastrack).
• On the Fastrack was drawn by Jim Toomey (Sherman's Lagoon).
• Pavlov was drawn by V. Lee (I Need Help).
• Pickles was drawn by Michael Jantze (The Norm).
• Reality Check was drawn by Bruce Beattie (Beattie Blvd.)
• Rose Is Rose was drawn by Brooke McEldowney (9 Chickweed Lane)
• Sherman's Lagoon was drawn by Kirkman and Scott (Baby Blues).
• Stone Soup was drawn by Glenn McCoy (The Duplex).
• Tank McNamara was drawn by Chip Sansom (The Born Loser).
• Zippy the Pinhead was drawn by Bill Amend (FoxTrot).
• The artist and writer behind Sally Forth switched roles for a day.

External links

• The story behind The Great Cartoon Switcheroonie

References

April Fool's Day | Comic strips