The very sad news today is that Bil Keane, creator of the long-running comic strip Family Circus that has entertained readers for more than half a century, has died at the age of 89.

Family Circus was one of the best examples of what comic strips could be in their finest form: entertainment for people of all ages. As Keane once said in an interview…

“We are, in the comics, the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment… On radio and television, magazines and the movies, you can’t tell what you’re going to get. When you look at the comic page, you can usually depend on something acceptable by the entire family.”

His friend Charles M. Schulz, the late creator of “Peanuts,” once said the most important thing about “Family Circus” is that it’s funny.

“I think we share a care for the same type of

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