Friends know, however, that she is now married and has a small son. The son, Mr. Martin says, is his only pal, as he himself has three daughters, all of them married, and a granddaughter. Actually, he says, the characters in a comic strip become a part of their creator's own family. Each has individuality and is bounded by propriety in things that can and cannot be done, the same as any individual. Of one thing the cartoonist is sure, and that is that a comic strip misses its point unless it deals with human things in a human manner.
Some fans are really avid.
Recently Mr. Martin received word of one reader who has at least 30 scrapbooks filled with the activities of Boots, from 1921-1951, inclusive. And then he indicates a measurement about three feet off the floor. Actually, it is one of the oldest comics still popular. The cartoonist business is an interesting profession according to Mr. Martin, who thinks that the comics perform a service to their readers. Everyone is involved in humorous, domestic complications, but most of them run a good chance of never reaching Mars or Jupiter.