The Tank McNamara Chronicles

Kansas City, Missouri: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, Inc., 1978. CV1 - A hardcover book SIGNED by Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds on the front free endpaper in very good condition in poor dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has wrinkling, chipping, crease, tears and open tears on the edges, corners and sides, some scattered soiled patches, wrinkling, crease, scratches, scuffing, foxing, stains, and fading, tanning, and shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners and cover edgewear, some light foxing and stains on the cover, page edges and endpapers, tanning and light shelf wear. Foreword by Roger Staubach. 11.25"x8.75", 224 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Tank McNamara is a daily syndicated comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Hinds. The strip debuted on August 5, 1974, with Jeff Millar as writer and Hinds as illustrator. Hinds took over writing after the death of Millar in late November 2012 due to bile duct cancer. The title character is a local sports television reporter who used to be a defensive lineman in the National Football League, hence his name (whether nickname or given name is unclear). The strip focuses primarily on contemporary American athletics, which allows it to remain topical and also to dabble in related subjects such as politics and social issues. Before becoming a multi-sport broadcaster and reporter, Tank McNamara played college football for "Enormous State University" (team name: the Sandcrabs), which serves the role of a generic NCAA Division I university with problem-plagued athletic programs. The local professional teams are fictional American major-league franchises (baseball's "Bashers"; football's "Smashers"; ice hockey's "Igloos"; basketball's "Stuffers"). The strip also portrays fictional sponsors, including "Heavy Beer", spoofing the light beer ads that are so common in American sports broadcasts. It also features caricatures of many real figures from sports. A scientist named Dr. Tszap (also spelled Tzap) develops strange products intended to help sports teams. In earlier years, Tank was portrayed as a buffoon ex-professional athlete (an NFL defensive linebacker, jersey number 55) unqualified to do his journalistic job. Recurring gags focused on Tank's "fumble-mouth" mistakes (such as presenting the "Norts Spews"), and on his tendency to jump on anything loose on the floor as if it were a fumbled football. An annual feature was a Christmas tale of Tank's last minute quest to obtain that year's "must have" toy for his nephew. Tanks' overprotective mother and his father Ed make occasional appearances. Tank has matured with the strip, which has gone on to highlight his loyalty, inherently gentle nature, and good heart. Recent years have seen several sequences dealing with Tank's youthful indiscretions. His behavior is never as damning as he believes it to have been, and he is always deeply sorry for his actions. While these sequences flesh out the background of Tank's character, they show the reader that he has always been a decent human being. Tank, who is a bachelor portrayed as being vulnerable to romantic injury, began seriously dating a woman named Angela in 2005. Angela works at his TV station, and the two met after she beat him in the station's 2005 NCAA tournament pool, despite choosing teams based on their uniform colors. Angela is the single mother of an athletically gifted son to whom Tank serves as a father figure, and she has eschewed competing in sports since a youthful tennis talent took over her life. She accompanies Tank to many work assignments, often assisting him in undercover reporting. In November 2012, Tank agreed to escort a producer named Natalie to the Women in Media Ball. He explained that he and Angela were "taking time off from each other." Angela also confirmed that she was seeing someone else. Tank is still friends with Buck Baker, a quarterback he protected as a lineman. As of 2019 Tank's "main squeeze" is Barb. On May 23, 2020, as Tank is about to ask Barb to marry him, Barb proposes to Tank. Tank's neighbors Nick and Kate had their own comic strip, Second Chances, from 1996 to 2000. . Signed by Author. Hardcover. Very Good/Poor. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.