This falls into the category of "Books I'd Like To See Someone Do." I'd like to see someone do a big book that collected the entirety of Conchy, a short-lived but wonderful newspaper strip by a man named James Childress, about whom I know relatively little. I know that Mr. Childress was a newspaper illustrator who came up with a cute little feature about a bunch of people who live on a beach somewhere. It was initially self-syndicated, beginning in 1970, and attracted enough interest that one of the major syndicates took it on. Apparently, that was not a happy association. The strip at times could get serious and philsophical, and the story we heard at the time — I can't swear how true it is — is that the syndicate felt those episodes were costing it potential clients and Childress kept refusing their requests to tone that down. In any case, he finally persuaded them to let him return to distributing it himself. In 1977, for reasons that no one seems to quite understand, Childress took his own life and that, of course, was the end of Conchy.
There were three or four paperback collections, one of which Childress published himself, but an awful lot of Conchy remains unreprinted. And it would be nice if some scholar could collect all that is known about the cartoonist and perhaps interview those who knew him and are still around. This tribute website, assembled by one of his friends, gives us a brief taste. (Click on the photo to enter.)
There are actually plenty of other newspaper strips that never attained the longevity and stature of a Peanuts or even Calvin & Hobbes that are just too good to be allowed to slide into obscurity. Most of the majors are being or will be well-preserved and presented. Let's not neglect the ones that didn't reach that status but deserved to.