Strips from a 1954 storyline (in which Juan Pablo Jones inadvertently composes a tune that sets the music industry on fire) show off some of Del Monte's architecture, including the local musical reparatory, a rare long shot of Pelon's cantina, the local post office and Del Monte's little pink church
The storm abates and returns, including the following week on November 16, 1972, sporting one of Arriola's trademark philosophical punchlines.
November 9, 1972, a storm rolls into Del Monte. Despite the limited space of a daily newspaper strip in 1972, the artwork is finely detailed.
March 28, 1973, and Charley V. Richards of San Bernandino, CA, has some harsh words for Broom Hilda and the other "asinine doltish strips you add to your comic page". At least he's fond of Gordo!
Previously, during one of his visits, (as related here by Pepito to the "guhl nex' dah," Texan expatriate Mary Frances Sevier) Knott had found the solution to writers' block in a hallucinogenic toadstool which uniquely grew only in Del Monte.
From August to December of 1960, Gordo and company are revisited by their old friend Windsor Knott, author of the popular newspaper comic strip "Home Ties." Windsor was Arriola's incarnation of all cartoonists' struggles made flesh, a nervous wreck laboring under an endlessly present deadline.
In early 1964, Gordo does the unthinkable -- he reduces! In anticipation of a reunion with an ex-girlfriend, Gordo goes on a drastic self-improvement program. Unfortunately, as the now-lean lover comes to realize, there's a downside to recapturing one's youth ...
This AP article from December 8, 1984 anticipates the Feb 1985 finale of Gus Arriola's long-running strip. There were many reasons for Arriola's retirement, but he sums it up like this: "Forty-three years of deadlines is enough to kill anybody. I want to get out before it kills me."
For the last one of this batch, here's a showcase of many of Arriola's later-career trademarks: Bold organic sound effects, expressive movement, folkloric design inspiration, soft-heartedness towards wild animals and, lastly, Poosy Gato. (February 22, 1976)
