A very long-running comic strip created in 1954 by Brad Anderson. Originally, Anderson was initially aided by Phil Leeming and later Dorothy Leeming, but he came to maintain the strip solo for many years. Eventually, he also enlisted his son Paul Anderson to help (2004 onward).
Marmaduke is a monstrous Great Dane - the comic regularly shows him at least 40 inches at the withers; the largest Great Dane was 44 inches. He's owned by Phil and Dottie Winslow, a stereotypical fifties husband and wife, and their kids, Barbara and Billy. Most of the jokes center on Marmaduke being big, messy, and/or thinking he's human.
A live action/CGI Marmaduke movie was released in June 2010, with Owen Wilson voicing the title character.
Brad Anderson passed away in August 2015, leaving the future of the strip in Paul's hands.
In 2017, an animated film based on the comic strip was announced and was scheduled to be released in 2019. However, the film was later delayed to 2020 and later indefinitely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In 2022, the film was picked up by Netflix in a handful of territories (including the US). The film features Pete Davidson as the voice of the titular character with, J. K. Simmons and David Koechner in additional roles and was released on Netflix on May 6 of that year.
Marmaduke provides examples of:
- Animated Adaptation: The 1980 Heathcliff TV series (the Ruby-Spears version, not the Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats version) featured animated Marmaduke segments. There's also the 2022 animated film.
- Big Friendly Dog: Marmaduke, a very large Great Dane who means well despite the mischief.
- Crossover: Marmaduke appeared at the beginning of a Sunday
Garfield strip. As Garfield realized the fence he was painting his name on was Marmaduke's, he apologized stating "wrong strip". - Dog Walks You: Since Marmaduke is large even by Great Dane standards, him being able to pull his owners around is a regularly recurring gag.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The early comics had a very different interpretation of Marmaduke. While later depictions illustrated him as a Big Friendly Dog, the early Marmaduke was downright malicious, with him constantly making his owners' lives a living hell and being treated with fear, and in a few comics, he was implied to be intelligent. Marmaduke also had a very different design, being clean and angular rather than wobbly, and bearing a constant angry-eyebrowed frown.
- Print Long-Runners: The strip started running in 1954. After Brad Anderson's death in 2015, strips co-drawn by his son continue to be syndicated.
- Troublesome Pet: Marmaduke is a Big Eater, seems to be quite the ladies' man (or dog) and sometimes even manages to throw wild parties while the Winslows are away.
