Little Orphan Annie
Big Little Books and Comics

Researched and Compiled by
Jon Merrill
President Emeritus
Annie People Fan Club

This is a listing of the dates of the original LOA comic strips as depicted in various book/comic publications covering the 1920s-1940s. Several years ago I sent the information in the comic and giveaway section to the Overstreet Price Guide for publication.

Big Little Books
Better Little Books
and Miscellaneous Books

708 Little Orphan Annie
p. 1-127: 1928, exact dates unknown. I do not yet know the dates of the Mickey sequence, although the Karmetz Premium pinpoints the year as 1928. The 1931 and 1932 copyright dates on a couple of panels towards the end of the Mickey sequence in this BLB are in error.
p. 128-on: 1/4/32 - 8/31/32
716 LOA and Sandy
1/4/33 - 3/30/33
748 LOA and Chizzler
5/29/33 - 9/25/33
1103 LOA with the Circus
p. 1-254 - June-Aug 1926. Each chapter is one Sunday strip.
p. 255-on - Jan-Feb 1930. Each chapter is one Sunday strip.
The text on p. 254 about Annie's getting Willie from the circus is contrived.
More than three years passed between Annie's leaving the circus and Willie's appearing at Annie's house on Christmas morning! Willie entered the strip on 12/25/29 and left it on 2/1/31.

This is the only LOA BLB that uses Sunday strips instead of dailies.
Breakdown of known dates: Chapter 4 - 7/4/26; Chapter 5 - 7/11/26;
Chapter 9 - 8/15/26; Chapter 13 - 2/16/30.

1140 LOA and the Big Train Robbery
1928; exact dates unknown
1154 LOA and the Ghost Gang
3/14/34 - 10/3/34
1162 LOA and Punjab the Wizard
12/31/34 - 5/2/35
1186 LOA and the $1,000,000 Formula
5/6/35 - 8/31/35
1414 LOA and the Ancient Treasure of Am
4/1/37 - 6/10/37
1416 LOA in the Movies
9/5/35 - 1/16/36
1417 LOA and the Secret Well
6/18/38 - 11/18/38
1435 LOA and the Gooneyville Mystery
1/3/44 - 3/13/44
1446 LOA and the Thieves' Den
3/19/44 - 7/26/44
1449 LOA and the Mysterious Shoemaker
3/8/36 - 9/30/36
1457 LOA and Her Junior Commandos
6/18/42 - 11/21/42
1461 LOA and the Underground Hideout
1/4/43 - 4/27/43
1468 LOA and the Ancient Treasure of Am
4/1/37 - 6/10/37 Abridged version of #1414 incorporating only chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13 of the original BLB, renumbered as chapters 1-7 but still ending with the same panel.
1482 LOA and the Haunted Mansion
8/7/37 - 11/14/37
Dell Fast Action Book - LOA Under the Big Top
5/1/26 - 9/2/26
These are daily strips, unlike the Circus BLB which is Sundays in the same period.
Dell Fast Action Book - LOA in Rags to Riches
10/4/36 - 2/23/37
Whitman Famous Hardbound Cartoon Book - LOA and the Big Town Gunmen
10/12/36 - 1/29/37
The last few panels were reworded in order to give the story a plausible ending.
Whitman Big Big Book - The Story of LOA 5/4/30 - 10/19/30 (Sundays only)
Pan-Am Premium LOA in Hollywood
Abridged version of LOA in the Movies BLB; 11/18/35 - 1/14/36
Karmetz Premium Little Orphan Annie
Abridged version of p. 1-127 of the Little Orphan Annie BLB; exact dates unknown
Karmetz Premium LOA and Sandy
Presumed to be an abridged version of LOA and Sandy BLB; exact dates unknown
(I do not own this item as of October 2000.)
Penny Book LOA Gets into Trouble
1928; exact dates unknown (Mickey sequence)
Penny Book LOA Saves Sandy
1/11/33 - 2/21/33
Wee Little Books boxed set
Abridged versions of LOA, LOA and Sandy, and LOA and Chizzler BLBs.
LOA Finds Mickey, - 1928, exact dates unknown (Mickey sequence)
LOA at Happy Home, 1928, exact dates unknown (Mickey sequence)
LOA and Daddy Warbucks, 1/12/32 - 8/31/32 (mostly in summer timeframe)
LOA and her Dog Sandy, 1/7/33 - 2/23/33
LOA and the Lucky Knife, 2/28/33 - 3/29/33
LOA and the Pinch-pennys, 5/31/33 - 6/30/33
Cupples and Leon Hardcover Books
Abridged versions of each year's strips; published annually.
Little Orphan Annie - 1925 strips
LOA in the Circus - 1926 strips
LOA and the Haunted House - 1927 strips
LOA Bucking the World - 1928 strips
LOA Never Say Die - 1929 strips
LOA Shipwrecked - 1930 strips
LOA A Willing Helper - 1931 strips
LOA in Cosmic City - 1932 strips
LOA and Uncle Dan - 1933 strips
Dover Press LOA in the Great Depression
1/1/31 - 9/26/31
Dover Press also did reprints of Cupples and Leon books Little Orphan Annie and LOA in Cosmic City, which are exactly the same material as the originals.

Comics and Comic-like Giveaways

Feature Book 7 - 12/31/34 - 7/17/35

FC (Four Color) 12 - 12/19/37 - 6/4/38

FC 18 - 6/14/42 - 11/21/42

FC 52 - 6/18/38 - 11/19/38
Follows FC 12 in strip sequence

FC 76 - 2/28/40 - 6/24/40

FC 107 - 11/16/42 - 3/24/43
Follows FC 18 in strip sequence

FC 152 - 1/2/44 - 5/6/44

LOA 1 - 5/7/44 - 7/30/44
Follows FC 152 in strip sequence

LOA 2 - 7/21/40 - 9/9/40
Follows FC 76 in strip sequence

LOA 3 - 9/10/40 - 11/9/40
Follows FC 76 and LOA 2 in strip sequence

FC 206 - 11/10/40 - 1/11/41
Follows FC 76, LOA 2, and LOA 3 in strip sequence

Big Shoes Store Giveaway - LOA and Her Junior Commandos
Abridged version of FC 18; same cover art
9/7/42 - 10/10/42

Quaker Sparkies Giveaway - The Rescue
4/13/39 - 6/21/39

Quaker Sparkies Giveaway - The Kidnappers
7/6/39 - 7/17/39

Quaker Sparkies Giveaway
Mr. Gudge - 2/13/38 - 3/21/38
Mr. Am - 4/18/37 - 5/30/37 (these are Sundays)

Popped Wheat Giveaway - 5/3/40 - 6/20/40
The 1938 copyright date is in error.

Super Comics
These were published starting in May 1938 and had Little Orphan Annie in them through February 1949. Each issue contains about a week or two of LOA strips involving three sequences: (1) from about spring 1937 through 1939 or 1940; (2) spring 1942 to about the end of 1934; (3) around 1941. I do not know all the exact dates because I have collected only one issue of Super Comics from each year of issue (12 of them, 1938-49).

Popular Comics
This was a series like Super Comics, but they had LOA strips in them only from about 1936 to 1938. I have #25 (1938) which has 1937 strips in it.

Superbook Comics
Omar Bread giveaways (there were 2 featuring LOA)
    #11, 1945 - 1/14/39 - 2/10/39
    #23, 1946 - 6/29/39 - 7/25/39
Pan-Am giveaway
    #7 (c. 1944 or 1945 - unknown, as I don't have it)

Merry Christmas from Sears Toyland
Two LOA Sundays, 2/27/38 and 2/13/38

References for above data: I own every daily LOA strip (well, maybe a half dozen missing) between July 1929 and February 1948, and about 80% of the Sundays from 1930-1945.
-- Jon Merrill, August 2003

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